Tacoma’s Museum of Glass

by Adrienne Wilson on

Bummed? Yes, I’m a bit bummed and undecided on my recent trip to the Museum of Glass. Before I get down on what disappoints me let me tell you what’s hot and worth your $10. Upon entering the facility your attention is going to be directed to the Hot Shop on the left. Inside the Hot Shop museum-goers can kick back in the warm auditorium and watch the glass making process live. This is really cool if you know nothing about how all those fancy designs or simple glass vases are made. During the session I caught, there were three gentlemen working with the glass and an interpreter explaining the whole deal. The art, science and history of glass making are all explained. When the temperature inside the Hot Shop became too much to handle I excitedly walked off to head into the gallery where I was almost positive I would find tons of glass exhibits – not so much.

To my disappointment there were few glass installations. The ones featured were pretty impressive, but as I moved deeper down the halls I saw more contemporary art craziness; oversized stuffed horses making love and some questionable paintings. The horses were apart of the Fresh! Contemporary Takes on Nature & Allegory and overall I think they were indeed fresh, but it would have been better if they were glass. I haven’t a clue where the paintings came from, but there was an awesome one comprised of various greens blending in the swell of an ocean wave. Still there wasn’t enough glass in the building and that goes to include the building for my needs. Perhaps I expected too much, I mean how many glass artists are out there in the world?

That’s my take. Been to the Museum of Glass? What’s your opinion?

The Museum of Glass is located at 1801 Dock Street, Tacoma, WA 98402.

Idaho’s Black History Museum

by Adrienne Wilson on

As you may have noticed by now most of my travel over the last few weeks has been throughout the Mid-West and in the Mid-West you tend to find nothing, but museums built around the history of the Mid-West. Makes good sense right? Well after so many stops at these places the history all starts to sound the same and another buffalo or Indian tale begins to become a little on the played out side. For this reason I decided to skip any state focused museum and check out a more specific one. That is how I found myself at the Idaho Black History Museum.

The museum which used to be an old church is nothing huge, but the little information found tucked inside the four walls goes a long way. Their current exhibit, the Invisible Idahoan 1805-Present shows how few Blacks there are in Idaho and highlights the major achievements made by many of them. One of the things that stood out in my mind is a map showing all the active hate groups across the U.S. as of 2004. What I saw was not only shocking, but incredibly sad. It was the first time I had seen a map with such information. On my way out I was told by the curator that I must return next year as some very exciting things are planned. There will be a big Black History month celebration in February, an evening with the Regina Carter Quintet and the 49th Annual Ebony Fashion Fair will all be happening next year.

So far Idaho has not popped up on my 2007 radar, but just in case it should come up on yours you may want to look at their event calendar now.

The Idaho Black History Museum is located at 508 Julia Davis Dr. (Julia Davis Park), Boise, ID 83702. Ph. 208.433.0017

Ice Cream Capital of the World

by Adrienne Wilson on



One of the joys of a well constructed road trip is that it isn’t as well constructed as you would have liked to it to have been, but it is here where fluke accidents occur. Some may call it a glitch in the matrix, but I say it is ice cream heaven on Earth. We didn’t anticipate going there because we never knew of its existence, but along a long stretch of Iowa highway rests a small quiet kind of town named Le Mars which has been proclaimed ICE CREAM CAPITAL OF THE WORLD! I shouted at my pal to pump the brakes and hook a quick left into the parking lot. My senses went into hyper-active mode and my emotions felt tangled. I was beyond feeling overjoyed, but in slight panic that we could have missed this lotus land for ice cream lovers. Once inside I felt my feet lift from the ground as I whiffed and followed the sweet scents from the various ice creams, frozen yogurt and waffle cones. As much as I LOVE ice cream I’m a fairly boring person when it comes to flavors. My personal favorites being natural vanilla, French vanilla, butter pecan and strawberry, I tend to stray from anything too exotic or containing explosive peanut butter filled chocolate bunnies. But that’s just me.

I ordered a cup of the homemade vanilla which wasn’t too bad on the pocket book ($2.19) and my companion had a strawberry cheesecake frozen yogurt on a waffle cone. Considering how incredibly warm it was in Iowa at this time of year (86 degrees) we decided to take our delicious desserts outside to bask in the afternoon sun. We walked around the big white Blue Bunny truck and stole a peek inside the museum which was closing in five minutes. Had we known about the place we might have been able to plan ahead and take a tour of the place, but once we finished our cones we were back on the open road and ready for the next big little secret spot to jump out at us.

Wonder why Le Mars is considered the Ice Cream Capital of the World? I did too, so before hitting the gas I asked and was told Le Mars is known for housing the largest family-owned ice cream production in the world. Owned by the Well’s family who still resides in Le Mars, Iowa it has little to do with taste or varieties, although they do have 37 different flavors. Find out more about Le Mars from their Visitor Guide and plan your own trip into the town.

GADLING’S TAKE FIVE: Week of September 3

by Adrienne Wilson on

Time for our weekly fav’s. Want to hear em’, here they go:

5. Passport Rules Changing:
This one was just posted today, but let’s just go over it once more – know the passport rules before getting to the airport. There are some small changes like needing a passport to get into Canada and others. With the changing times there are changing passport rules. Don’t be fooled my friends.

4. Salmon Festival:
Having just discovered all the amazing wonders found in a nice succulent piece of salmon over the last two years I was reeled into this Salmon Fest piece. If you’re heading northwest this year place this on your itinerary, radar or whatever. The event takes places September 28-October 1. Be sure to send some my way.

3. Museum Day:
Free admission into museums is blog worthy. So what if it only costs you $6-$10 dollars for entrance in the first place. A savvy traveler knows the wonders on saving an extra buck or two. On September 30 save some of that dinero when some 500 museums across America will waive admission fees.

2. Sagrada Familia: Construction Update:
These are the kinds of updates you may never find in your nice little guidebooks. Thanks to Iva and her watchful eye we discover that the never ending construction on Spain’s Sagrada Familia is still going on. Has that kept it from being one of Spain’s top visited attractions? Of course not, but the updates are always welcome!

1. Lifelist: Inca Trail:
Looks like Erik is reviving the Lifelist feature and I’m more than glad. To kick it off he goes into the How, When, Where, What and Why’s of visiting the Inca Trail and why (if it already isn’t) you might want to jot it onto your own Lifelist.

MSN’s Top 10 Museums to Make You Go Hmm…

by Adrienne Wilson on

I like the term off-the-beaten track because it doesn’t necessarily have to mean running off to Cambodia or some place far away, usually costing hundreds of dollars. Using that same term you can apply it to small and big city excursions in the beautiful land of America. MSN has a great top 10 list to prove it. Their list feature’s what their editors consider the top 10 most bizarre museums in the country and trust me they are weird! The only one I’ve heard of was the Museum of Bad Art, but there are several others are new and strange to me. Hanging out in Houston? Go to the National Museum of Funeral History. Crazy about Mardi Gras? Check out Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World in Algiers, LA.

Others include a Giant Shoe Museum, Untidy Museum, and Mutter Museum to name a few. See their full list and start exploring some very off-the-beaten track museums.