We came in December during a train event without having realized the trains were on display. It was…read morea happy coincidence, as my kids really enjoyed the displays and talking to the hobbyists. The actual history museum had a lot of interesting and well put together displays. The exhibit on native people was very interesting and informative. I grew up in the area and moved away without ever having learned much about the local native tribes and their history, so it was great to learn more as an adult. My kids are 8 and 5 and this place held their attention for over 3 hours. We probably could've stayed longer, but our tummies were growling so it was time to find lunch.

What a wholesome experience for the entire family! 5 floors of different type of Model trains while…read moreyou go through the states history as well. If you are here for the train displays with your kids, you need to cover floor 1 as the last stop. Floor 1 has play area with Legos and Toy train tracks and the toddlers don't want to go anywhere else! Super friendly staff at each display who are eager to interact with the kids and the adults. I missed it last year, now, we might end up coming here every year!

My friends and I went for the eclipse showings, and had a fantastic time. The presenter was super…read moreknowledgeable and clearly loves sharing their passion for astronomy with visitors. The showing we attended had about 10 young children in it who were fairly roudy and asked tons of questions and constantly interrupted our presenter, but the presenter was a total champ and was amazing at answering them. Their knowledge of how to operate the actual planetarium's video system (the whole point of the planetarium) was great, and they even did an on-the-spot trip to the moon to look at a lunar eclipse from that view. Overall fantastic trip, and glad that I found this hidden gem.

Read the reviews; Drove to see for myself with + 1 kiddo; and "Closed" :-( Please OPEN :-)read more

Admission to the Pacific Bonsai Museum is free and there were a vast amount of bonsai trees on…read moredisplay. I loved that the exhibit is located among the Pacific Northwest trees. I enjoyed seeing the variety and reading about its history from the original owner who started the growth of the tree. This museum is next to the former Weyerhaeuser headquarters which is now vacant. Highly recommend this museum whether you are a bonsai fan or not.

Oh my godddd; easily one of the most incredible hidden gems we've found. Simply WOW…read more It's free (donation-based) and an absolutely lovely time. Some of the trees are hundreds of years old, and we learned so much about the art of bonsai while exploring the huge variety of beautiful trees on display. We spent a little over an hour wandering around and honestly could have stayed longer. A stunning, peaceful, must-visit spot for any tree lover!

I was able to visit this museum for free on the third Thursday of the month. There was also a…read moreworkshop studio and I created a nice journal cover. It was a great experience. Please come and create your own adventure.

Came on a slow weekend morning and it was perfect. Although this is a smaller museum, it packs…read morequite a punch. I really appreciated the flow and how you can start at the second floor and then magically find your way down to the first. A lot of the exhibits are very much anchored in its state and town's history which I greatly appreciated as someone visiting from out of town. I learned so much! One thing I will note is the Haunted exhibit. There's a piece that is an audio-visual projected onto a wall. Cute, until the screaming starts. While it was relevantly disturbing and added spooky texture to the larger exhibit, because the museum is small and all interconnected by long hallways, those screams echoed and followed us into the other exhibits. We laughed it off but it's definitely something to consider if you're very easily spooked. Like I'm just calmly looking at some cool Chihuly glass and then "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

I happened to be in the area and saw a sign for the Meeker Mansion, so I decided to check it out…read more Diane was very sweet and gracious and gave me a brief history of Ezra & Eliza Meeker. "Ezra was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail migrated from Iowa to the Pacific Coast. Once known as the Hop King of the World." A lot of good history of Puyallup. I didn't have time for the tour, but I appreciated seeing the mansion and getting a glimpse of this city's history. Next time, I'll have to do the tour. Thank you again, Diane, for being so nice and friendly!

I loved finally getting to tour this beautiful home. I am impressed by how well it is maintained…read moreand presented. Go see it. Take your time and don't miss the writing on the walls.

This is a gorgeous and intriguing museum that I highly recommend - although be advised that right…read morenow they are renovating. They will re-open their main galleries in the fall of 2026. To help soften the blow, they have lowered admission price in the interim. The hot shop is also still open and you can watch live glass making there. There are a few exhibit cases on view. There are lots of fun works that kids' designed that are also on view on the main lobby and down the hall. We went for a glass making class, which was tons of fun. I'm sure attendance varies widely - ours was not crowded. The person monitoring the class, Audrey, was friendly; she explains everything and then you have at it. She is there to help, which includes cutting glass pieces to suit whatever design you are making (this probably depends on the style of glass you are making). FYI the gift shop is really nice and is available even if you don't go into the museum. You can purchase works by glass artists who have been at the museum - so it's more than your average gift shop.

This museum is located in Tacoma which is 30 minutes away from the Seattle airport. It is located…read moreby the Tacoma Museum of Art as well. We stopped by here before a flight, please allow for 1 1/2 hours to explore this small museum. It could be longer if you want to watch the glass artists create a piece from beginning to end. We really enjoyed watching the artists create! Parking is in a lot below the museum, there is a pay station. We took the stairs up to the main museum and then walked the bridge above the museum that leads to downtown Tacoma. I found the glass artists create displayed beautiful.

Children's Museum for free! Yep! They ask for donation and I was happy to donate! The staff are…read morecourteous and helpful and even caution the unruly kids running around! Water play area is definitely the most high activity zone. My kid almost spent an hour playing in that area. The air flow duct with scarves is another fun area for the kid. Among all the other museums I have visited, the painting, arts & crafts area is quite unique to this museum. The wooden boards and the net at the end of the museum is another adventure for all kids and not available in other museums. This was the first time I saw my kid feeling the courage to climb over the ropes and explore. The paid parking area near the museum has good number of spots but the signs can be confusing as it says "only reserved" and you tend to wonder if you will get ticketed. Park Mobile app location 50271 is good and confirmed by museum folks! Or there is street parking too!

This isn't a very large children's museum, but my 5 and 8 year old had a ton of fun playing. It's…read moreso nice that it is pay what you can so that anyone can come. We were impressed by the cleanliness. Though, I didn't look closely, nothing jumped out as being gross. If you're in the area, it's worth a stop, but I wouldn't go too far out of the way for it.

Free! Donations appreciated Great local museum in a…read morespacious building. Was great learning history about the area. They have scavenger hunts for the kids and a small gift area.

The venue itself is awesome. Great views and lots of space. However we somehow got a ticket on…read moreprivate property. Not sure how that's a thing. Wasn't clear that we needed to pay for parking either. The ticket thing ruined the otherwise good experience.

Great bridge to see the city view and the high way. The bridge connects the city to harbor and…read moreglass museum. It has great promenade on other side of the bridge to connect the harbor. On the bridge it displays some of the beautiful glass sculptures. You will pass cover walkway with flower type glasses on top. Then it is two glass pillars. Then follow by the grass sculpture cabinet. It really beautiful.

Free and a magnificently beautiful walk. I saw a small inconspicuous sign and followed it to a…read morebeautiful public display of Chihuly glass art. Please come and create your own adventure.

A must visit in Seattle- Stunning blown glass exhibit!…read more If you'd like a vibrant artsy experience in Seattle, drop by here to see Dale Chihuly's masterpieces. The museum houses his exquisite and intricate blown glass with a myriad of colors and designs. There is also an outdoor exhibit with several blown glass art entwined in the garden and the space needle towering overhead as a nice backdrop for photos. Glass blowing demos are shown, which is pretty interesting to see the soup to nuts creation of a glass blown bottle or vase. The tickets are a little expensive (~ $40) but worth for those who are passionate about the arts!

This is a stunning museum and exhibition center, located right next to the Space Needle. Our…read moretickets were part of the CityPass and we reserved our entry time few minutes before walking into the building. The check-in process was super quick. The first few halls were displaying artworks made out of glass. There were so many different sizes and shapes of colorful glass sculptures. It was so stunning, each photo seemed like a perfect shot for my phone's wallpaper. The hallway continues to a glass ceiling hall of the building with some more glass artwork. There was a cafe located in this area. Outside the building was a beautiful garden, with walkway all around. They were also doing a demo of making colorful vases from scratch using glass mold from furnace. On the other side was the entrance to the second building that had a theater playing a short movie about creating these glass art pieces. The exit was next to the theater that led to the gift shop. The gift shop was fascinating here. There were so products and artwork representing the glass sculptures inside the center. There were also many other souvenir items like stickers, magnets, apparels, cups, mugs, hats, books, stationery and so many more. We bought couple of magnets from here. Prices were decent. Staff members were really friendly here, both inside the exhibition and at the gift shop.