Indoor Wilderness

After Tina and I participated in the urban sketch group outing to the Meeker Mansion in Puyallup last Saturday, we decided to make the long drive worthwhile by adding a second outing.  Also, we were very hungry so lunch was in order.

 We went to the Bass Pro Outdoor World store in Tacoma (where the sketch group had once gone but it was new to us).  Goodness, what an enormous place -- I can see why you'd want to draw stuff there.  Murals on nearly every wall, and wildlife dioramas all over the place.

The restaurant was next to the bowling alley (yes, there's a bowling alley inside the store), which was modeled on an aquarium.  It was called the Fish Bowl.

We had about a 15-minute wait for a seat at the restaurant, so we parked ourselves behind some bowlers and sketched a little.

The restaurant also had an underwater, coral reef theme going.

While waiting for our food, we got some more sketching in:

After lunch we wandered around the place more, checking it all out.  We decided not to try any drawing in the store itself -- we were tired, and a bit overwhelmed -- but it would be a good spot to return to, and if the Tacoma group decides to visit again, we'd definitely be up for that.  Amazing place.

And now I am about to find out what Week 1 of retirement feels like.  (Note:  I successfully slept in until 7:00am this morning!)  It probably won't feel much different from a week's vacation -- I doubt it will truly hit home until it's been at least a month.  We shall see!