Tacoma, Washington
April 19–27, 2022
April 19–27, 2022
I spent eight days in Tacoma with my friend Tristen, another VCFA graphic design grad. I parked Vincent in her driveway, right next to her adorable vintage camper, Miss Bliss. Much of the week was spent playing with each other’s pets—her dog, Hauschka, and her cat, Winston, are hilarious, adorable goofballs. I spent some good times walking my boys around the neighborhood and checking out the explosion of spring flowers and weird trees.
One of the highlights was venturing up to Seattle to have dinner at Oddfellows Cafe + Bar with Dave Peacock and Lorena Howard-Sheridan, two VCFA faculty members. Dave was my thesis advisor, and I had gotten used to our monthly Zoom meetings and frequent check-ins, so it was fantastic to catch up. And I finally got to give him his copy of my painstakingly hand-bound thesis book! We also got tasty ice cream at Molly Moon’s to round out the evening.
Tristen, Ranin (her fiancé), and I went back to Seattle a couple days later to visit the Frank Gehry-designed Museum of Pop Culture and get drinks and snacks at two branches of the McMenamin’s establishments. (Tristen and Ranin have funny little McMenamin’s passports that they get stamped for visiting each one, ordering certain things, completing puzzles, etc. I was planning to help Tristen out by earning the Tacoma location’s “bike to the bar” stamp for her, but we ran out of time.) We also stopped at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and got overpriced but super delicious whiskey-barrel-aged cold brew.
On Sunday, we got brunch on the patio at Alma and yummy follow-up pastries at Proof Patisserie and Café, then I took a bike ride out to Point Defiance Park, with it’s mossy trees and “dangerous cliffs.” Tristen gave me a little lesson in how to make resin art, we got pedicures, and we watched a zillion episodes of the terrible (and terribly addictive) Netflix show Married at First Sight. I hadn’t seen Tristen since my last visit to Washington in June 2019—right before I brought home puppy Mochi!—and it was such a delight to spend over a week together.
Speaking of people I hadn’t seen in ages, one night I drove out to the Peninsula, past Gig Harbor, and visited Ben Roy and Katie Weller, two Vermont friends who moved out west a few years ago. They now have a sweet, spunky daughter named Maggie and a shy cat named Mochi(!), and I van-camped on the many acres of land they live on. We stayed up late playing Exquisite Corpse and taking photos of the elaborate still-life scene we created around the bizarrely beautiful, wrinkly egg one of their chickens laid while molting. Santa cocktails are electric for King Egg!
One of the highlights was venturing up to Seattle to have dinner at Oddfellows Cafe + Bar with Dave Peacock and Lorena Howard-Sheridan, two VCFA faculty members. Dave was my thesis advisor, and I had gotten used to our monthly Zoom meetings and frequent check-ins, so it was fantastic to catch up. And I finally got to give him his copy of my painstakingly hand-bound thesis book! We also got tasty ice cream at Molly Moon’s to round out the evening.
Tristen, Ranin (her fiancé), and I went back to Seattle a couple days later to visit the Frank Gehry-designed Museum of Pop Culture and get drinks and snacks at two branches of the McMenamin’s establishments. (Tristen and Ranin have funny little McMenamin’s passports that they get stamped for visiting each one, ordering certain things, completing puzzles, etc. I was planning to help Tristen out by earning the Tacoma location’s “bike to the bar” stamp for her, but we ran out of time.) We also stopped at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and got overpriced but super delicious whiskey-barrel-aged cold brew.
On Sunday, we got brunch on the patio at Alma and yummy follow-up pastries at Proof Patisserie and Café, then I took a bike ride out to Point Defiance Park, with it’s mossy trees and “dangerous cliffs.” Tristen gave me a little lesson in how to make resin art, we got pedicures, and we watched a zillion episodes of the terrible (and terribly addictive) Netflix show Married at First Sight. I hadn’t seen Tristen since my last visit to Washington in June 2019—right before I brought home puppy Mochi!—and it was such a delight to spend over a week together.
Speaking of people I hadn’t seen in ages, one night I drove out to the Peninsula, past Gig Harbor, and visited Ben Roy and Katie Weller, two Vermont friends who moved out west a few years ago. They now have a sweet, spunky daughter named Maggie and a shy cat named Mochi(!), and I van-camped on the many acres of land they live on. We stayed up late playing Exquisite Corpse and taking photos of the elaborate still-life scene we created around the bizarrely beautiful, wrinkly egg one of their chickens laid while molting. Santa cocktails are electric for King Egg!
