A Weekend Full of Greats

What a fabulous weekend! We had a great time at the Tacoma Museum of Glass and saw some great glass blowing - they made it look ridiculously easy. We saw some amazingly great glass sculptures, including an entire gallery full of glass sculpture fashioned after the drawings of children. They select a new one each month and the child and their family is invited to come watch them create the the real thing from the child's drawing. In fact, the child has to approve what they do.

The main exhibit was glass based on the Native American heritage of the featured artist, Preston Singletary. I can't imagine how he made some of the pieces, they were like totems of glass, with the tallest probably about 7 feet tall. And for such a young man, he had at least a hundred pieces displayed. He must never sleep.

The hotel we stayed at, Hotel Murano, was really great. Every floor features a display of the glass art of a different artist along with photographs of their work in progress. There are 25 floors in the hotel. And of course, there is glass everywhere in the lobby and lounge, even at the front of the registration desk. Our room on the 16th floor (displaying a melted-looking glass bowling pin arched over a glass bowling ball) overlooked Puget Sound. Fabulous room, fabulous hotel.

Last night we went to dinner at a funky little place right on the Sound called Harbor Lights. We got there around 5:15 and there was already a 15 minute wait. When we ate, we could see why. When we left, there were no parking spaces to be had and it was like an obstacle course just getting around people to leave. Yet another great experience.

We not only had tickets to the museum, we also bought tickets to blow our own glass at a nearby privately-owned studio called Tacoma Glass Blowing Studio. That experience was beyond great. We each made our own pieces this morning, both of which will be shipped to us thiscoming Thursday. It was so much fun we're trying to figure out when we could do it again and who we might invite to go along. I made a feather design while Mike made a twist design. In both cases you grab the hot glass with large tweezers and manipulate it to leave awesome designs inside the glass. We can't wait to get them.

Then we drove to Alderbrook Resort and Spa for a late breakfast. We were seated in a table looking out at Hood Canal and the sun came out while we were there. After breakfast/lunch, we walked out the pier to get closer to the water and look up and down the canal. We're hoping to be able to stay there over a weekend sometime in the not too distant future.

This entire Valentine's weekend was not just great...it was magic.