And now for something completely different

Yesterday I took a vacation day, which also happened to be my sister Lynne's birthday, and in honor of her birthday, I went to look at really old things.

America's Car Museum is down the road in Tacoma. (One wonders how many people would think, without that specific name, "Hm, is this perhaps Canada's car museum?  Or perhaps Australia's car museum?")

It is cavernous, with 300 cars on three floors which involves a lot of walking.

It was Tina's idea to go there so we could try sketching cars.  We did try sketching cars, though mostly we spent three hours there admiring cars and sitting on benches a lot.

I was most attracted to the really old cars (Lynne, isn't this just like your first car?):

This one had curtains and a small flower vase inside.

I'm not sure where they had room for an engine in this little vehicle.

This is a Stanley Steamer -- cool!

There were also many (many!) cars from all eras up to the present.

And then there was the mock-up of the human-powered "car" from The Flintstones.

I don't remember now what this one was....

My friend Mary just posted on her blog about the fabulous things people miss out on when they drive around in cars, and mostly I agree wholeheartedly.  But when I saw this little Citroen, I wanted to hop in and drive it out of the museum and never stop.

The oddest two cars were this electric car from 1981 (!):

And this more recent solar-powered car:

Those are solar panels all over the top!  Not exactly a winner in the Pacific Northwest.

I am hardly a car nut -- I mean, come on, I've been driving a 1998 3-cylinder Geo Metro hatchback for the past 15 years.  But I enjoyed the museum very much, and I felt a little sad that none of those fabulous automobiles would ever get out on the road again.

This is long enough so I'll share the sketches tomorrow.