Glass and then Bainbridge

After being overwhelmed at the Bridge of Glass on arrival, we could not wait to see the Museum. Although they would not allow pictures taken, several contraband are seen below. Apparently, the Italian artist, Lido Tagliapietra, is considered among the best, along with Dale Chihuly. He is featured in the Museum along with Chihuly's work, and much of the display is his work. He is considered to have envigorated the art, and gave the Pilchuck School of Glass many inovative techniques and styles that had never been tried before. He is "the genius of the art"...





Here is the "hot shop" where the work is actually done. They have it accessible to visitors with a narrative of exactly what they are making and doing.


The lobby of the Murano Hotel. Christy had read that they have an huge assortment of work on display, so we had to find it. It seems so incredible to have museum caliber work displayed in the hotels...the first 4 floors are accessible to visitors, but the work is throughout the hotel. The
4th floor bar has a small room next to the bar with sofas and low lighting. It is the make out room. We tried it out and it works.


But my favorite of all the glass work I've ever seen, is this "sheer transparency" of beautiful breasts! Incredible, in life size, with "points on their own, up proud and high"....this is in the lobby of the Murano Hotel.

Even the bathrooms are decorated, as you can see here...


This is glass "pie and pie-plate"....







Then it was off to Bainbridge Island. This affluent Island is about 10 miles across Puget Sound from Seattle, and was a good place to visit on our return north...here is the view from the boat...


And the view of Seattle across the Sound...



The town at the Harbor is called Winslow...


But we finally had warm weather and sunshine, so we took advantage of the weather...



And Chris on the flybridge laying out the Mexican Train tiles for another game...

On the run the next morning,

Dale Chihuly

Today has turned out to be one of our favorites. We decided to head north to either Bainbridge or Bremerton, but Chris remembered not being able to see the Dale Chihuly museum in Tacoma last summer. So we decided to detour. The route looked like a 4 hour cruise, and since we have most of the time in the world, decided to make that our new destination...




This was the view departing Olympia heading north. The Capitol was a great visit, but Chris had her heart set on Tacoma and the Dale Chihuly museum...


So off we went, leaving at 9:00 on Wed April 23rd...


Along the way, these water-level homes with their piers are located just under the bridge in the Tacoma Narrows...


Entering the Tacoma Harbor, Chris pointed out that the name here reads.."Proteus from Pireaus", Pireaus of course being a major port in Greece near Athens...it's good having her along.

And several important structures are seen, but we don't yet know what they are....for example:
I'll post later what we find out about this.


As we approached the harbor in Tacoma this is the view of the 17th Street Bridge:


And as we docked, several interesting boats surrounded us:



Last summer, on a trip with Jan & Greg Brown to this area, we wanted to get to the "Glass Bridge" in Tacoma. Dale Chihuly is from here, his operations are based here, and much of his work is here. Last summer we never made it, and so today as we departed Olympia, Christy wanted to get us here, if a marina was convenient. We found a marina in Tacoma, and what a surprise that it was right at the entrance to the Museum, and thus the glass bridge, and the courthouse, and "the Bar".

This is truly amazing! We haven't even been in the Museum yet, and already we are overwhelmed at the work. We have seen his work while touring at the Birmingham Museum of Art, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, and in Columbus, IN at a major display, but never like this...the pictures speak for themselves, but can't capture the magnificence or enormity of it all.

Here is the Museum right next to the marina...


And walking up to the "Glass Bridge", with Union Station to the right. That was the old station for the RR, but now is the home of the Federal Courthouse, indeed the 9th Circuit Court so famous for being overturned (the most liberal court in US history)

Notice the sculptures hanging in the windows. More pictures of them from the inside coming up.

..This view is approaching the art objects lining both sides and the ceiling over the walkway..


Looking back toward the marina..


This is only one of a panorama of 7 frames that it takes to capture these pieces on the "Bridge"!! If you haven't seen this, you must..


This is the ceiling over the "Bridge"....it takes another 7 frames to see the enormity of it all..the sculptures are amazing, colorful, and mostly hard to believe. They are backlit by the sun, and I took about 20 pictures to cover the entire length, but will post them on the Picassa site, rather than the blog...

And then we by-passed the real Museum to look at the Court House...

Notice the center chandelier, the window pieces to the left, and the display to the right, with closer pictures below...








After leaving the Court House, we headed up to the UofW Tacoma library where this Chihuly chandelier hangs in a conference room..


And leaving the Union Station, this sculpture:


Chris had read about a bar in downtown with many Chihuly pieces in the bar. Well here it is:

We met many "locals" there, most from elsewhere. Chas (pictured to the left) is from San Antonio, and he told us where to get fried okra, mashed potatoes, and fried chicken. He even knew where to buy grits...

So, tomorrow will be the Museum itself, and a park at Deception Point near the narrows.

Olympia the Capitol

Wednesday, April 23rd:


After departing Gig Harbor, we turned south to head through the Tacoma Narrows. The currents thru this passage reach as much as kts, in either direction, so it's important to time your passage. We waited for the full "push", which was over 4 kts today, and this is the view of the Galloping Gertie. The name was applied after the original bridge was built in July of 1940. The winds would set up an oscillation and bouncing as much as 35 feet up and down, thus the name. Then in July of the same year, during winds of 40 mph the bridge collapsed into the Narrows. When this occurred, there was only one person driving across, and he abandoned his car and crawled to safety. When rebuilt, it has established enormous commerce that was unavailable using ferry's.

And the view after passing, taken by Christy..


This is an example of some of the magnificent homes along the way to Boston Harbor, just north of Olympia..

Then we arrived at Boston Harbor..
This smallish marina is out of the '40's, with old wooden docks, only 20 amp power supply, and no shops or stores. The marina office is popular, however, with the "freshest and cheapest" seafood anywhere! They will receive a fresh load of seafood, and immediately send out a mass e-mailing to hundreds of loyal customers who flock to the marina and purchase. They also have three items in abundance....Croc's, knitted stockings, and fresh baked pies. The "pie lady" lives near by, and we bought a blackberry that was delicious indeed. The next day, we headed to Olympia and met her in her shop in downtown. She told Christy that she started out selling pies at events and after seeing that she could make $1,000 per day, she went into it full time. She gave us two more pieces at the store...


The grounds around the capital are beautiful, as these pictures will show...

And the dome from the inside, with a gold-leafed seal on the floor...



This is the view looking toward the capitol from the Sound, but the view from the offices is toward the water...

Rhododendron everywhere...

And these Daffodils were "double bloomers"...note the greenhouse just for the grounds surrounding the campus..


The "totem" memorializing the original inhabitants



The WWI memorial was impressive...









The Vietnam memorial is unique

This is the WWII memorial, which has the names of the fallen inscribed in the shadow form of soldiers...


Although turned sideways, the barnacles on the pillings reveal the level of tides, which are 14 feet from high to low...we are leaving Olympia heading back north to either Bainbridge or Bremerton this morning...