by Alan K. Lee
The Tacoma Museum District consists of four museums within easy walking distance of each other: the Museum of Glass, the Washington State History Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum, and the Children’s Museum of Tacoma. In addition, two other museums, Foss Waterway Seaport, and LeMay – America’s Car Museum, are less than a mile form the four central museums.
On a recent trip to Tacoma, my wife and I had an opportunity to visit the Museum District. Our first stop was the Museum of Glass. I love sculpture, be it stone, wood, metal, ceramic, or glass. And I’ve long been a fan of Dale Chihuly’s glass artistry, so I was eager to see the museum’s display of his work, as well as the works of other the artists featured.
Chihuly is a native of Tacoma, and the city is rightfully proud of its most famous son. He is one of the world’s foremost glass artists. His works can be found in museums and galleries around the world. I was a little disappointed that the collection of his work at The Museum of Glass, at least what is on display, is modest. You can see much more of his work at Seattle’s Chihuly Garden and Glass. And the Tacoma Art Museum has a large collection of his works. More on that below.
Outside the Museum of Glass there is much more of Chihuly’s work displayed on the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, a pedestrian bridge that spans I-705 and connects the Museum of Glass to the Washington State History Museum, the Tacoma Art Museum, and the Children’s Museum of Tacoma.
The Museum of Glass is not as much about Chihuly as it is about the diversity of Northwest glass artists. There was a large exhibit of works by Native American artist Preston Singletary when we visited. The museum also has a large collection of works by many other glass artists. There was also an interesting display of works designed by children and made at the museum by the Hot Shop Team.
Inside the distinctive and massive Cone, you can watch members of the Hot Shop Team at work as they create glass art works. There are also workshops at the museum where you can actually work with the Hot Shop Team to create your own glass art pieces.
After taking in the Museum of Glass, we crossed the Bridge of Glass and made our way to the Tacoma Art Museum. TAM has developed a national reputation in recent years as an outstanding regional mid-sized museum. Its focus is on Northwest artists and Western American art.
The majority of TAM’s collection of more than 5000 works of art are by Northwest artists, and the recently added Haub Family Collection makes TAM the premier museum in the Northwest for Western American art.
The In the Footsteps of My Ancestors exhibit of contemporary works by Native American artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith was a nice compliment to the more traditional depictions of Native Americans in many of the Haub Family Collection works.
TAM also has a large collection of glass art by Dale Chihuly and other glass artists, much of it donated by the Benaroya family. I particularly liked the Arboria exhibit of works by Debora Moore.
We didn’t have time to visit either the Washington State History Museum or Foss Waterway Seaport on our last trip. We’ll save those for another time. I would have enjoyed the LeMay car museum, but my wife had little or no interest, so we skipped that. And we didn’t have any of the grandkids with us on this trip, so we skipped the Children’s Museum, also. The information below was gathered from the websites of the other museums in the Tacoma Museum District and various other websites.
The Washington State History Museum is owned and operated by the Washington State Historical Society. The Society was founded in 1891, the original museum was dedicated in 1911, and the current museum opened its doors in 1996. In addition to the museum, the society also operates the State History Research Center, and publishes Columbia magazine.
The Children’s Museum of Tacoma is unique in that it does not charge an admission fee. A donation is requested, but not required. Everyone is welcome regardless of their ability to pay. The museum is dedicated to the idea that play is central to children’s learning, and the museum has six “playscapes” that let children explore, play, build, and learn. In addition, the museum sponsors Play To Learn programs for children under six and their adults at more than twenty locations around Pierce County.
Foss Waterway Seaport houses historic maritime exhibits, an education center, the Heritage Boat Shop, and event spaces in the Balfour Dock Building on the Thea Foss Waterway. The Seaport also has docks and floats on the waterway for educational and recreational use. Foss Waterway Seaport is located on Dock Street, a little less than a mile north of the Museum of Glass.
LeMay – America’s Car Museum is located south of the main group of museums, just west of the Tacoma Dome. During his lifetime, Harold LeMay (1919-2000) of Spanaway, Washington collected more than 3000 cars. At its peak, the LeMay collection was the largest privately owned automotive collection in the world. America’s Car Museum houses some 300 cars from his collection. In addition to the museum, the LeMay Car Show, held on the last Saturday in August each year, offers the public a chance to view more than 1000 vintage cars from the LeMay collection.
If you’re planning to visit more than two of the museums, purchasing a Museum District Pass can save you some money. The pass is available for purchase at any of the six museums and can also be purchased online from the Travel Tacoma website. The pass is good for one visit to each of the six museums and is valid for one year from the date it is first used.
Originally posted June 30, 2019. Most recently updated June 26, 2023.
Photo Notes:
The featured image at the top of this post is a work by Shayna Lieb titled “Dawn” displayed at the Museum of Glass (photo by the author)
The photo of the Washington State History Museum was taken from Wikimedia Commons (credited to “Visitor 7”)
The photo of the the car at LeMay – America’s Car Museum is also from Wikimedia Commons (photo credit to John Lloyd, Concrete, Washington)
The photos of The Children’s Museum and Foss Waterway Seaport are taken from their respective websites (photos not credited)
All other photos © Alan K. Lee
Boise is Idaho’s capital and largest city, with a metropolitan area population of around 750,000. It’s large enough to have many of the amenities of a big city, but small enough to still retain something of a small town feel. And it’s a surprisingly modern and cosmopolitan city, blending elements of both West Coast and Rocky Mountain cultures.
Many fine Victorian houses and architecturally interesting buildings can also be found in the downtown area.
Anne Morrison Memorial Park on the south bank of the river, and the Julia Davis Park, just south of the downtown area on the north bank, are large urban parks with a variety of open spaces and tree lined paths along the river.
Julia Davis Park is also home to the Boise Rose Garden and Zoo Boise. Idaho Botanical Garden, a mile or so southeast of downtown, is also definitely worth a visit.
Boise is definitely worth visiting, and southwest Idaho has many truly unique, beautiful, and enjoyable places to visit, all within a short drive of each other. For more on those, check out my other Exploring Southwest Idaho posts:
Seals often haul out on the bergs to rest and sleep. At the head of the inlet you’ll get a close up view of South Sawyer Glacier. How close you get will depend on the boat that you’re on and the amount of ice in the water, but you will get a spectacular look at the face of the glacier and there’s a chance that you’ll witness large blocks of ice calving off the face and crashing into the water below. The cruise was one of the highlights of our trip. We didn’t have time to repeat the cruise on latest visit, but if you can fit it into your itinerary, I highly recommend that you do so. You won’t regret it, and the cost is reasonable (less than $200 per person) for what you get.
The High Desert Museum consistently rates as one of the top attractions of the Bend area, and it recently won the 2021 National Medal from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. My most recent trip to the museum came as part of a family vacation to the nearby 
“High desert” can be a bit of a misnomer, as the term is often generically applied to all of central and eastern Oregon. The Bend area actually straddles the boundary between the ponderosa and lodgepole pine forest of the eastern slope of the Cascade Range and the sagerush and juniper lands to the east that are more typical of true desert habitat. The High Desert Museum is located in an area of pine forest, so the museum has no true desert habitat. But that does not detract from its appeal.
The Miller Family Ranch, one of the museum’s permanent outdoor exhibits, is a historically accurate recreation of an early 20th century homestead. The exhibit includes a cabin, barn, bunkhouse, root cellar, woodshop, and sawmill. Volunteers give visitors hands-on experience of what life on the homestead was like. Mrs. Miller and her son James will put your kids to work doing chores – and the kids will like it! The kids can also play some of the games that the children of the pioneers played.
Other features of the museum include a Forest Service ranger office built in 1933, vintage logging equipment, a forest service fire truck from the 1930s, and a WWII army motorcycle made by Harley-Davidson.
Inside the main building, the Desertarium Exhibit showcases some of the animals that make the High Desert home, including snakes, lizards, and desert tortoises. Other permanent indoor exhibits include Spirit of the West, which documents the history of the people of the region, and By Hand Through Memory, a look at the history and culture of the Plateau Indian Nations.
In addition to enjoying all the museum’s exhibits, you can get made-to-order sandwiches and wraps, and a variety of beverages at the newly remodeled Rimrock Cafe inside the main building. The cafe features locally made food and drink from Big Ed’s Artisan Bread, Humm Kombucha, and Strictly Organic Coffee. And souvenirs of your visit and books and other educational materials are available at Silver Sage Trading, the museum store.
Plan on spending at least several hours at the museum, especially if you have kids in tow. There’s too much worth seeing to experience it all in less time. Check the museum website for hours and admission fees. Tickets are available for purchase on the website, but advance purchase is not required. Face masks are currently required both indoors and outdoors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and some hands-on experiences may not be available.
We spent the rest of the day exploring the city center, including Basel Cathedral (Basel Munster), and the Basel Town Hall, and sampling Swiss cuisine. All in all, Basel was a delightful surprise, and a fitting end to our Rhine River cruise.
Our tour guide was a graduate student working on his doctorate in history at Heidelberg University, so we got a wealth of local history during our tour, told in an entertaining and often humorous manner. The castle ruins are a treasure trove of photo opportunities, as well. I could easily have spent a full day, or more, at the castle, but had to move on with the group.
We spent an hour or so exploring the old city, then stopped at a sidewalk cafe at one of the hotels for lunch. While there, another of the couples on the cruise joined us. Fran and Victor, from Santiago, Chile, were one of the few non-American couples on the cruise. Coincidentally, Victor, who is a surgeon, had been sent to Heidelberg some time previously by the university hospital where he practiced (they had some sort of reciprocal relationship with Heidelberg University), and had stayed in the same hotel at which we were dining.
From Kehl, the ship sailed that evening to Breisach, Germany. Our excursions on the following day took us to Freiburg, Germany and Colmar, France. Look for an upcoming post on those outings.