Tacoma Excursion

Recently we decided to take a little trip to see some new places and meet an old friend who just moved up from Utah. The first place we stopped was the Washington State Capitol.

We happened to come on the same day as the State of the State address, so there were a lot of people there and we even got to see the Governor.

Here is the Rotunda. The chandelier is the largest ever made by Tiffany Studios.

This bust of Washington is a thing to see here. It is very large and Magnus wouldn’t get very close.

Our next stop was Flaming Geyser SP. At one time there was a 15 ft. tall geyser of flame and water (100 years ago), but now it is only about 4-6 in tall, with a trickle of water. We knew this going in, so it was still pretty interesting. To think that a pocket of methane gas more than 1000 ft. down has been burning for more than 100 years. That’s cool. There was also a bubbling pool and some pretty rivers.

Magnus seems a little unsure about the Flaming Geyser.

It was cold, but that made for some neat ice formations:

Before going to see our friend in Gig Harbor, we stopped to see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the new Narrows bridge recently built. You may have heard of the first bridge known as “Gallopin’ Gertie.” Dana likes to photograph bridges and these are very pretty ones. We looked at them from the east side then crossed and went to a small park to see them from the west.

The park had a nice view and a beach to walk around on. And if you were high enough you could see Mt. Rainier in the distance.

We then spent the evening with Prince, our friend from Utah. Thanks for letting us hang out with you.

Holiday Times!

Our holiday time was filled with good times.

There was some fun added this year because Magnus was more aware of what was going and got excited for many of the activities. He really liked looking at the Christmas trees.

We spent Christmas Eve with Farmor. We had fun listening to Elina play carols, have a fire in the fireplace, and eating delicious ham.

We even did the traditional dessert of ris a’lamond. Dana found the whole almond this year and won the treat.

Magnus thoroughly enjoyed the gift opening time. He had gotten elf gifts every morning this month, so he was pretty skilled at tearing through the paper. He really liked the gifts he got, especially the car ramps.

By the time we went home he was all tuckered out, though he insisted in carrying this present to the car.

 

 

 

Santa visited during the night to Magnus’s delight:

Back at Farmor’s for breakfast, Magnus found this tent left by Santa for him. He made both of us climb in with him, while barring any other person from entering.

We then headed down to Salem. Terry always decorates so beautifully!

The next week was filled with some birthdays and then on New Year’s Eve it snowed, but mostly only at Farmor’s house. Magnus thought the snow was weird. Dana took the opportunity to build a snowman before midnight.

At midnight, we toasted each other and celebrated the beginning of a new year

Happy 2013, Everybody! And thank you for sharing 2012 with us.