Last night there was a light dusting of snow in the Seattle area– and I mean light— it wasn’t even a quarter-inch. This morning, schools were delayed for two hours for who-knows-why. It was thirty-something degrees and the snow had already melted off the roads, but apparently there’s hardly ever any snow in this area so it was a big deal. I mentioned to Julian (who was able to sleep in an extra hour) that back in Denver, we have a foot of snow on the ground and it’s been ten below zero in the morning, but our kids are still walking to school. Both ways!
Anyway, the day was pretty laid back. Thom and I hit The Hut for some lunchtime pizza, continuing our tradition, although I forgot to snap a traditional photo of him giving a thumbs-up to the standard pepperoni and beef. After that we decided to spend the afternoon wandering around downtown Tacoma.
We started at a place called the Tacoma Sound Spot, which is a little spot just off the main sidewalk where you can stand and face Puget Sound, and if you talk you can hear a cool echo. Apparently it has to do with the layout of the surrounding buildings. Some experimentation showed that if you step even a few feet from the spot, or face a different direction, the effect is lost. Pretty cool stuff.
Today’s theme was architecture– I thought I’d take some shots of interesting buildings, both old and new. Here are some selections:
Also, it may not be architecture, but near the Museum of Glass (who knew there was such a thing?) were these huge pillars that look like oversize pneumatic tubes:
The highlight of the day for me was stopping in at a quirky little store called Tinkertopia. These guys have the craziest mix of, well, junk. It’s stuff you’d only need if you’re working on a weird craft project or opening one of those restaurants whose walls are covered with random retro kitsch. But the bins and shelf displays are clever and hilarious. For example, consider whether you may ever need some “super holy” organ keys, hundreds of little cardboard circles, or maybe a handful of doozer sticks!
For those who don’t know quite what to get for their sweetheart on the upcoming Valentine’s Day, maybe something from the Collage Box of Miscellaneous Awesome would be appropriate:
My favorite one of all? A box full of honest-to-goodness vacuum tubes:
I don’t know where else on the planet you could buy vacuum tubes, except maybe Amazon.
The store owner was a cool guy, and I spent a few minutes talking to him… partly because Thom and I were the only customers, and I felt a little bad for walking around the store taking pictures of the bins and chuckling, but not actually buying anything. Still, what a great little place.
For dinner, Julian chose Red Robin. We had a great time chowing down on some burgers.
Afterward, we scored an extra special Red Robin platinum club membership! How cool is that?
