Scenes from Port Townsend, WA

May 29, 2014 Comments Off read Pacific, Travel, USA, Washington, West

My dear friends Aisling and Chris got married in Port Townsend, which was an excellent excuse to poke around the town when we weren’t otherwise occupied with festivities. This wasn’t my first trip to Port Townsend, but the last time was a day trip for the Wooden Boat Festival, and I spent the majority of it playing sea captain. Downtown Port Townsend is cute in a carefully cultivated in order to appeal to tourists way; I can’t envision the locals providing enough business to keep the combination pirate and steampunk store open. Outside of downtown, things get real pretty quickly. Our hotel, booked sight unseen as they were the only one that took online reservations, looked like the spiritual sister to the Breaking Bad hooker motel; we could hear every bump and shuffle in the surrounding rooms, which meant that they, in turn, were treated to my yowling rendition of “Roxanne” every time I turned on the red light in the triangular bathroom. The rehearsal dinner was at The Pourhouse, and in addition to their great selection of beer, cider, and wine, they have a killer patio and the best policy with regards to food: they encourage you to bring in outside food and/or have food delivered, so you get to pair what you want to pair with your beer instead of being stuck with bar food. It’s a policy I wish more taphouses would adopt! They also allow dogs on the patio, and I was completely taken with a patron’s puppy. I kept sneaking peeks at it from across the patio, and it was almost always looking back at me…and so was its owner, so I suppose I understand why he left because he probably thought I was about to attempt a googly-eyed dognapping. Another delicious Fire and Blood beer and I might have considered it.

Masticating with Mellzah: A Burger With Lots of Lettuce

May 27, 2014 Comments Off read Attractions, Masticating With Mellzah, Pacific, Travel, USA, Washington, West

It’s the exterior of places like Fat Smitty’s in Discovery Bay, WA, that draw me in because I’m a sucker for chainsaw carvings and California Raisins, but even the kitschy exterior can’t prepare you for the interior: hundreds (possibly thousands) of marked-up dollar bills are pinned to every surface and hanging from the ceiling. The atmosphere they create is a bit uncomfortable, as even in the bright of the day, the room feels dark, dirty, and almost claustrophobic. However, we were hungry, and despite the atmosphere, Fat Smitty’s has a reputation for good burgers, so we stayed. We each ordered the Fat Smitty burger, though we should have taken more notice of the giant burger outside and planned on splitting one–when it lands in front of you, it feels like a 1:1 scale replica.

The Tacoma Museum of Glass

May 26, 2014 Comments Off read Attractions, Pacific, Travel, USA, Washington, West

Now that the Chihuly Garden and Glass has been installed at Seattle Center, it seems like Tacoma’s Museum of Glass is being overshadowed, much like Tacoma is by Seattle. Ask anyone who lives Seattle and they’ll tell you about “the aroma of Tacoma” from the paper mills; what they’ll neglect to tell you is that the air actually doesn’t smell anymore. It’s like a game of “he who smelt it dealt it” between cities and the stigma is permanent. It’s unfortunate because Tacoma and this museum have a lot to offer, and yet I know plenty of people who will never go because of zip code snobbery.

The Museum of Glass houses a permanent collection as well as special exhibits and (what I consider to be the best part), a hot box, where you can watch live glassmaking demonstrations from a team of in-house glass artists as well as invited guests. We were there while Joe Cariati was visiting (I’m the slack-jawed yokel who asked about getting burned sometime around the 50 minute mark), and were able to watch the team working on a clear and black-striped vase. It was astounding to me how much work and how many people it takes to create one glass item, which is something I’d never considered before when looking at prices on glass art.

This piece is called “You have a coat” which is the opposite of my dog-owning experience: the nastier it is outside, the more likely he is to want to dillydally, sniff everything, and clench his dog buttocks as long as possible.

I’m torn on this piece: on one hand, it’s beautiful, and on the other, I’m sad a unicorn had to die.

I really enjoyed the “Look! See?” exhibit by Jen Elek and Jeremy Bert. They had a series of displays that were meant to be touched, worn, and otherwise interacted with, their desire being to encourage visitors to think about how they are marketed to as well as creating an active museum experience: art as something you encounter and not just see.

You can’t put me in a room with a bunch of light-up moveable letters and not expect me to spell my nickname. Well, maybe you could expect it, but it’s not going to happen.

On one hand, I love the way this flame vase glows. On the other hand, I don’t have $925, so I will have to stick to appreciating it from afar.

I like that there’s a little window into this glass bird’s brain, intentional or not.

I will never for one second believe that the nipples on their watermelon boobies are anything other than intentional.