Chihuly Glass in Tacoma, WA.

We spent all last week in Washington state visiting Mike's family. They live in Lacey, near Olympia, but we stayed at a hotel in Tacoma (about 28 miles away) because I had Marriott Rewards points to use up. It was kind of a pain to drive back and forth every day but worth it to get a hotel room for only the $10/day parking charge!

The photo above is of a bridge in downtown Tacoma. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it (anyone know?). I'm fond of bridges and thought this was pretty enough to rival our new Carquinez Bridge between Vallejo and Crockett, CA. (or, as it is officially called, the Alfred Zampa Memorial Bridge).

While we were in Tacoma we got a chance to see some of the sights there. We were in the City Center area and within walking distance are quite a few museums as well as the waterfront. The Tacoma Museum of Art had, among other things, Chihuly glass on display plus an exhibit of Renoir etchings both of which I found fascinating. (I hadn't even known Renoir did etchings and lithographs.)

The museum prohibited photography of any kind which was disappointing since I'd wanted photos of Chihuly glass. However, the nearby Union Station, which is now a Federal Court Building, had some that we photographed to our heart's content (after we showed photo ID just to get into the lobby)!

We found out that Dale Chihuly grew up in Tacoma so that is why there is so much of his work around the city. I believe he may still live and work there.

This impressive sculpture hangs from the domed ceiling of the Union Station. It's huge! I can't fathom having an imagintaion that dreams up this type of art and then the talent to execute it.

If you look back at the picture of the Union Station and make note of the domed window, you'll have a better idea where these poppies are situated. They are giant flowers that catch the sun at certain times of the day. A challenge to photograph and I didn't do too well, but they were gorgeous to see in person.

This is a pedestrian bridge crossing over the freeway from behind the Union Station to the Museum of Glass. We didn't end up going into that museum because we had chosen to go to the Art Museum, but we wanted to walk over the bridge. Aren't the blue glass creations interesting? The woman at the tourist bureau said they look like giant blue trash bags. I think they look like rock candy or giant blue sugar crystals.

One part of the bridge had a kind of tunnel with a glass ceiling. Inside the ceiling were hundreds of glass creations of all shapes and sizes. Looks like tropical sea creatures at rush hour!

Something we did a lot of: played cards. Mike's dad and step-mom taught us their latest favorite card game. They call it "Golf" but I think it's more like Baseball because you play 9 innings, or hands per game. It was a simple enough game that I caught on pretty fast and even won a couple of times. Of course, other times I got trounced royally and both Mike and his Dad are the type that totally smirk and gloat when they win!

Told ya! Smirky little brat!