tripgeek

We celebrated our daughter Shriya's 3rd birthday at Seattle Children's museum this year. We had booked the Jungle Room  as we decided to do a Jungle theme Party for her. We visited the museum for the 1st time and had real fun! Party Hours: 1-3pm.  Even though we get the party room for 2 hours, the admission to the museum is open all day, ie 10 am to 5 pm. Some of the kids came in early to play and some stayed late till 5pm. Invitees: We were allowed to invite 40 people as per the capacity of the jungle room. I have invited all her class mates and their parents. We had a party of around 30 people for the birthday celebration. Decorations: The room itself has the jungle theme back drop and green colored tables and chairs, so really not much would be required for the decorations. I got some Mylar helium balloons, plas

Thea's Park     Our next stop was at the Thea’s park. It is one of the Metro Parks of Tacoma. Thea’s Park (3.4 acres/established in 1997) is located at the entrance to the Foss Waterway in Tacoma’s downtown waterfront. It’s a wonderful place for a stroll or to spend an evening with family and friends. The scenery is beautiful. You can watch ships and boats coming and going. I liked the huge globe at the park.   Point Defiance Park        The last destination for our trip was the Point Defiance Park. On our way to it we saw many Metro Parks of Tacoma. They all looked clean and beautiful. The Point Defiance Park has an area of 702 acre. The park is huge! Beautiful landscape grounds, with tons of space for various activities. There is no fee which makes it even more fantastic. There is a beautiful rose garden, fuchsia garden, dahlia garden, rhododendron garden as well as a Japanese garden. Since we reached there around 8pm the

Washington State History Museum   The history museum is full of informative displays and artifacts on the history of Washington. Again we got free admission to it because it was a third Thursday. The interactive exhibits displayed there are interesting both for children and adults. There were various themes which included geology, geography, industry, ethnicity, exploration, development & commerce in Washington State. The History museum is fascinating and there is plenty to see and learn. It highlighted much of the local industrial history, as well as history of the native people. I especially liked the tree whose branches were wagons, chairs, toys, door, and other items that are crafted from wood. Upstairs they have a nice model train display and had a transient bike show which is exceptional. It’s very good for kids and student. They have a good gift shop too. It’s worth visiting this place if you stay in Tacoma or Seattle. I highly recommend it. When you come out fro

The Museum of Glass Visited on: 15th August 2013 We visited Tacoma on a Thursday evening and covered a lot of interesting places. The Glass museum is the first place we entered. We reached around 5pm. Parking fee was required till 6pm, so we had to pay for an hour only. The site for the museum is directly adjacent to the Thea Foss Waterway.   The outside courtyard has some beautiful pieces and you are right along the waterfront. The general admission fee for the museum is $12 but we visited it for free since it was the third Thursday of a month. It’s interesting to know that three important museums of Tacoma are free to visit on the third Thursday of any month. The Museum of Glass hosts internationally-acclaimed and emerging artists. It is an amazing museum with various glass arts- blown, painted and shaped. The exhibits are phenomenal. We took half an hour to see the exhibits and then proceeded towards the “Hot Shop”. The Hot Shop is a workshop where you can see artis

Visited on: 21st April 2013 On our way to the state park from Skagit Valley we saw many farms. We reached the Deception Pass Bridge in less than 40 minutes. We stopped our car to take some photographs. The view was very scenic. The best part was the weather. The sun had come out from its hiding and the sky was all clear. Before I start to write about our adventure at the state park I would love to share about the history of the Deception Pass. Deception pass is a strait separating Whibdey Island from Fidalgo Island in the northwest part of U.S. the state of Washington. In the spring of 1792, Captain George Vancouver sent Master Joseph Whidbey and a small exploring party through the pass. Vancouver had already dismissed the pass as a large river due to the strong current. Whidbey proved the narrow passage we call as deception did not lead to a small bay as chartered by the Spaniards, but was a deep turbulent channel. This channel completely divided the mainland from i

ROOZENGAARDE Visited on: 21st April 2013 The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is the largest festival in Northwest Washington State. Spring is the season when the Skagit Valley shows her colors. Each year more than 1 million visitors come to experience over 300 acres of brightly colored tulips. Skagit Valley Tulip Festival was held from April 1-30. We visited it on the third week of April. The weather dint look good that day. It was drizzling. It almost always rains in Seattle! It was predicted that after 3pm it will be sunny. But still we hoped that at Skagit valley the weather will be fine. We reached Skagit valley around 10:00 am. And it was actually wasn’t raining there! The sky was partially clouded and partially blue. We had two options to choose from- the RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town .   We chose the RoozenGaarde . Roozengaarde was established in 1985 by the Roozen family and Washington Bulb Company, Inc. The Roozen family business of growing Tulips, Daffodi