Museum day! Looking and learning

Day One of my spring road trip!  After some last minute packing, I loaded up my trusty Blazer...just reached 260,000 miles...kissed my cat goodbye, and headed south to Tacoma.  At only a couple of hours from home, I didn't exactly go too far, but I didn't have to. There are three great museums all within a mile radius of each other... LeMay America's Car Museum, Washington State Museum and Museum of Glass.  I went to the car museum first.  The building itself is pretty impressive.

Inside are several levels of cars on display, from the earliest models to the present.  There was a special exhibit on Volkswagens, most of the cars were the universally recognizable Beetle.

One car that immediately caught my eye was the 1965 Ford Mustang.  My favorite musical artist John Ondrasik...better known as Five For Fighting...has one.  It's a family heirloom, and he even wrote a song about it, aptly named...'65 Mustang.  The particular model at the museum was a convertible.  And, right across from it, a more primitive kind of wheels.

  

Yes, that's the car...if you want to call it that...from the movie The Flintstones.  My next museum was the Washington State History Museum.  I ended up spending two hours in this one, taking my time going through the very interesting exhibits covering native tribes, industry and agriculture over the years.  There were also two special exhibits on naturalist David Douglas...the Douglas Fir tree is named after him...and Civil War Pathways.  I love history, and this museum does a really good job covering all the bases.  

Last, but not least, my third museum of the day was the Museum of Glass. This museum is most famous for glass artist Dale Chihuly's works.  As I walked to the museum, I passed through the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, with displays in the ceiling overhead and a wall of unique glass pieces.

Once inside the museum, I walked through the gallery, which contained unusual pieces by several different artists.  I really like modern art, and the glass art pieces definitely fall into that category.  The museum also has a glass workshop, where you can watch artists creating glass pieces.  The ovens containing the molten glass were red hot! 

 

Tomorrow, I hear the weather is going to be great...sunny and 70s.  Perfect for a zoo visit, and this one has been a long time coming.  And, another Barcelona show!  Stay tuned...