The first day of summer (in Tacoma)

The local high school team was at the state meet in Tacoma this weekend. Sister #3 is a star runner, so we headed down to watch her run! After she PR'd by 2 seconds in the 800m, we had a few hours until the next event, so we took Sisters #4 and #5 and headed downtown for an adventure in the sunshine. 

leaning slightly left at the Glass Museum

 We parked near the UW Tacoma campus and walked down towards the waterfront. UW Tacoma has an old railroad track running through the park that has been turned into a plaza. The art installations and Japanese Maple trees were neat, but we were most fascinated by a clump of purple and white flowers that looked like something out of a Dr Seuss book!

It had a boop!

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass was beautiful in the sunlight. We walked under a coral reef of bright glass shapes and looked at a wall of imaginative blown vases. The waterfront had a pool with white glass fire and a set of steel marimbas that we rocked out on for a few minutes. By the time we had reached the end of the walkway, we were ready to dash from shade to shade on the way back to the car. It was at least 80*f in the sun, which lit up the glass sculpture, but we nearly roasted!

 Before heading back to the track meet, we stopped for burgers and shakes at Shake Shake Shake, followed by a walk in Wright Park, an arboretum with beautiful paths and many species of trees. At least half of the trees were tagged with the species and the year it was planted. At least a handful had been there since 1895 and were beautifully maintained. There were also fearless squirrels.

Admiring a fellow arborist's work