Tacoma

​It was a cloudy, grey day, but we drove the RV into Tacoma and to the Museum of Glass. Mary Lou's Chihuly radar led us right to it. Designed by Canadian architect Arthur Erickson, the 90 foot, stainless steel, tilted cone that houses the glass blowing studio, is a contemporary beacon rising out of the industrial waterfront. And that day, the clear, flame-like Chihuly glass emerging out of the water pond made a stunning foreground for the dark and stormy skies.

We stopped first at the Hot Shop, a functioning studio where real artists are creating masterpieces out of molten glass. When there are not internationally recognized or local emerging artists at work in the studio, the resident team of glassblowers is at work completing personal projects or museum commissions. The day we visited, they were working on a collection of 75 goblets, each resting atop a glass cheeseburger. Nicole had never seen a live glass blowing studio, so she made her mother sit and watch for hours. It was mesmerizing, watching them pull glowing globs of molten glass from the furnace, blow through tubes to 'make the bubble', work in unison to meld all the goblet pieces together and drizzle the condiment colors around the rims. To see glass so malleable, and yet, so fragile; the transformation is magic.

They were exhibiting a Master Artist's Collection, one recent piece by each of the Master Glass Blowers that had come to the museum on residencies over the past few years. Some of the pieces, like a golden, balloon like Airstream, seemed so solid and tangible. Others, like a thin, green snake hanging from an orchid plant were ethereal. Really beautiful pieces.

And then came the 'Kids Design Glass' exhibition. The museum invites children 12 and under to stretch their imaginations and create original designs that the Hot Shop Team then transforms into glass. The team, led by Ben Cobb, turned the crayon drawings into actual, colorful pieces of art. There were open-mouthed, toothy sharks, and pointy-eared aliens, lollipop eating dinosaurs and one that looked like Kyle's imaginary friend MiddleVottle. They were so amusing, and the letters from the children told about how proud they were to see their imaginations blown into real characters. We loved it! Click here to see!

We walked over the Bridge of Glass, connecting the museum with downtown Tacoma, a 40 foot display case with at at least a hundred Chihuly glass works. It was bizarre to see such fragile glass suspended over the industrial railroads passing below. I'm sure that, on a sunny day, the glowing glass can be seen from all over the city.

We spent the rest of the day walking around downtown, eating burritos, shopping at the Buffalo Trading Company and finding other Chihuly installations in the Court House, pub, and restaurants. On our drive out of the city, the sun shone through the clouds and created a full, double rainbow. We pulled over at the first place we could find, so Mary Lou could take a picture. It happened to be in a church parking lot, right under a giant sign that read, "Jesus Cares About You". It can't hurt. . .