Baxter's adventure in Tacoma (part 2)

 Hello Blog readers, as you might remember my plan to look for free public art by Dale Chihuly was not as fruitful as planner.

That's ok, this bear can readjust.  First, take  a brain break, time to play some pinball.  That ought to take my mind off of the failed exploration.

Ajdin would like this machine.

I decided to continue looking at free art and went to the Mcmenamins Elks Lodge in Tacoma.  McMenamins is know for lots of art to look at in their restaurants.

Ooh, a scavenger hunt.  This is right up my alley.

Nope, this isn't it.  Comfy chairs in the lobby :)

Nope, no little green men but I like the animals in the upper left corner. 

Argg, someone save me. 

Maybe I should go outside to explore. 

Aha! Found it. Time to celebrate with a beer. 

Wait, where the pictures? Well, you know....humans do I need to say more?

What a nice day, time to take a walk back to the bus station and head back to the cottage.

If you ever get a chance to vistit Tacoma you have to go. It's a beautiful city. 

This fox is hungry.  Perhaps the humans will stop at Burger Ranch for dinner?  According to this sign they have the best fish (makes sense, right???)

No Burger Ranch but we did get some great Vietnamese food at a local spot in town.  Plus saw some cool glass (not Chihuly) art lit up at night. 

Thanks Tacoma for a great weekend.  

Baxter's adventure in Tacoma

 Hiya Gang,
Baxter here. This post is a tad outdated (shocker) but I'm in Tacoma for Veteran's day weekend. First up is a night of German beer and food at a new German based beer pub in town.  I like the mugs but my roommates said they were too expensive to buy me.  Hmm, maybe after a few drinks they might change their minds....

Nope. No mug for me.  The next day we started bright and early and took the bus to downtown. The bus was pretty empty but that works for me as I got my choice of seats.  Today's  adventure is to find all the public (I.e. Free) Dale Chihuly glass around town.

Chihuly grew up in Tacoma and studied extensively in the area.  He has been instrumental in getting more glass artists to the area.  He's definitely a local icon. 

The humans found the tour online from many years ago.  It starts at the Tacoma Art Museum and I know this isn't a piece of Chihuly glass but it certainly speaks to me.  

Stop 1 is the Union Station.  There are like three or four installations inside but it's no longer a train station (it's the federal courthouse) so unfortunately it's closed on Saturday. 

The back of union station looks cool.  This bear wishes it was still a train station.

The bridge of glass is pretty amazing.  There are a few Chihuly installations. 

Here are a few professional pictures of the bridge. 

Next stop is the University Library to see a chandelier that he created.

Hey, where's the picture?  Well, of course the library is closed today.  Off to the Swiss Restaurant.  Rumor has it that when  Chihuly was installing some features nearby he and his team would eat lunch or have a drink after work at the Swiss Restaurant.  He liked it so much that he gave them some of his work to display. 

 

Hey, the restaurant closed during the pandemic.  Sigh, no glass art to view.

This bear needs to rethink his Tacoma adventure. Stay tuned. 

Baxter's choice part 2

 Hello Blog World.

Baxter here again.  Hope Halloween treated y'all well.  As you might recall my last adventure took me to the Tillamook State Forest and a nice fall hike on at the forest center.

30 miles west is the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  Here's the old building (before the remodel). The Co-op has been around since the early 1900s and still owned by about 100 farmer families (wouldn't it be nice to be one of those descendants???).   

Goodbye old building, hello new. Of course there were a ton more people than this picture shows. The new building is nice, it focuses on 4 things: 1) Cheese making process 2) Ice Cream Sales 3) Food sales (think cheeseburger, grilled cheese, mac and cheese) and 4) Tillamook products to take home.

They were packaging cheese today which is unusual on a Saturday. Today they are packing their cheddar and their sharp cheddar. 

The line was moving pretty fast till break time at 2pm when the floor emptied.  That's ok, cheese workers need their breaks too. 

The pandemic has changed a few things at the tour.  Now the cheese samples are pre-packaged but they still have the free samples.  The humans and I were too busy collecting the cheese samples that they were not able to get any pictures of me. 

The line for the food was crazy long but the line for the ice cream was super short.  The heck with lunch, time to get some ice cream.  They have a ton of flavors but I settled on a 3 ice cream "flight" with Oregon Dark Cherry (gotta support the home team), Monster Cookies (think Cookies and Cream with M+Ms candy) and a seasonal flavor Campfire Smores.

No more time to blog, must eat before it all melts.
Baxter out.