Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market

The first time I ever went to a Farmers Market was when I lived up in the U-District.  Being a girl from the suburbs, I used to think that it was a uniquely Seattle CITY thing to have a Market on a Sunday.  We didn't really buy anything, but we did go a few times to just check out the handicrafts.  

The best Farmers Market that I'd ever been to in Seattle is probably the Fremont Sunday Market.  It's huge and has a lot of great antique things to checkout.  

We've been going down to the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market every Saturday to restock on fresh produce to make baby food.  The Farmers Market is located right in the parking lot of the Des Moines Marina.  

The Saturday Farmers Market is a lot better than the Wednesday one because there are more vendors out…probably because a lot more people are free on the weekends.  The Market opens from 10 am - 2 pm from June to September.  

***Views of the Des Moines Farmers Market!***

It's a really great way to spend part of a Saturday.  There is food, music and a lot of fun for the kids (face painting…running around catching Pokemon…the usual).

Fun Fact:  Another Farmers Market, which is pretty nearby to Des Moines is the Burien Farmers Market.

Des Moines Museum

I'm all for visiting a museum when I'm in a new place.  When my sister and I went to Washington DC for the first time, we tried to hit up all the museums that weekend.  The most impressive museum I'd ever visited, besides the Smithsonian!, was the Holocaust Memorial Museum.  

In high school, we spent most of Junior year Lit reading fiction based in the WWII-era and discussing in detail anti-Semitic themes (Elie Vesel's Night, Joseph Heller's Catch-22, Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice), so reading up on the experiences of the Holocaust in the Memorial Museum was an amazing experience.  Also, walking around and visiting the memorials (which was like visiting a huge outdoor museum) was just something that was on my bucket list for ages.  

When we went to Tokyo for the first time, my sister and I also tried to visit all the museums in the Ueno district (…zoo included as an animal museum!).  It was our trek to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum that reignited my interest in visiting art museums, actually.  The museum was exhibiting works of art from Alphonse Mucha at the time…I think, before going here, I hadn't been into any art museum for over 10 years!

There is so much to be learned about through visiting museums, no matter how large or small they are!

While on one of our walks down to the Des Moines Marina and around the Des Moines Marina District, we discovered that there was a museum a block away from the abandoned Des Moines Theater.  The Des Moines Museum is maintained by the Des Moines Historical Society.  

Des Moines Museum Info:
Location
730 South 225th St.
Des Moines, Washington

Hours
The museum starts running after Memorial Day and before Labor Day on Saturdays from 1 - 4 pm.

Free Admission (Donations welcomed)

***Views of the Des Moines Museum's Collection***

It was pretty neat to see all these ANCIENT artifacts of the Des Moines town!!!, which our guide said was mostly donated.  It was also quite nice to have someone who grew up in the area give us a personal tour of the museum.

Hearing stories from the past and also about how the community changed made me think about how so much has changed from my own life since I moved out of Washington.  It made me think about starting scrapbooking again, actually!

It was a great few hours at the museum!

Des Moines Marina District

It's been nice being back in the Seattle area…

South of Seattle there is a little town called Des Moines, which is about halfway between Seattle and Tacoma.  The area is mostly residential, but there is a Marina District of Des Moines that is really nice to have a coffee at one of the cafes in, take a walk along the waterfront, shop around in one of the secondhand shops, have a bahn mi at the local Vietnamese sandwich place…

Though the Marina District may be too quiet for some, it is a nice little town to chill in when you do want to find some peace and quiet!

***Views of the Des Moines City Marina District***

On most days, you can easily find parking down here.

Des Moines also has a History Museum located in the Marina District.  The museum is volunteer run by the Des Moines Historical Society.  It contains a lot of THINGS in such a small space (just like HK).  We went to check it out, so wait up for a future blog post about what treasures this small, but mighty museum holds.

Besides the full service Marina on the waterfront, there is also a boat repair shop in the area.  We went down there just to check out how much some of the boats were selling for (there was a boat in the back lot for sale, btw).  It's a nice place to see boats up close…besides walking the docks at the Des Moines Marina.

There isn't a big chain supermarket located in the Marina District, which is quite nice to see.  There is a local grocery store, though.  It has a bit of everything, which reminds me of life in Mui Wo!  If you are in need of a birthday card, you can find them there.  If you are in need of drinks for a last minute house party, you can find them there.  If you need some bandaids from cutting yourself while gardening, you can find them there.

On some blocks of the Des Moines Marina District there are plazas where you can find a lot of shops (butcher, framing, yarn, etc).  It's one of the nice things about this small area, you can walk around and see what shops they have!

Back when I was in high school, this theater was functioning.  It was where movies that were a few months old would be shown at a discounted price.  Now, the theater is abandoned.  I wonder what it'll become when I come back next summer…if anything!

I haven't tried a lot of the restaurants in the area, but there is quite the variety down here.  There is a Thai restaurant, teriyaki, sushi…Chinese restaurant…There is a Red Robins down by the Bank of America.  There is a sports bar at the other end of the block from the Des Moines theater.  There are also quite a bit of local seafood places.  Before I leave for the summer, I definitely plan on stopping by the Lighthouse Lounge…it was one of the spots on our Pokemon Go game…and it looks like a great place to dine.

At one of the plazas, we found a shop that is totally my kind of shop:  second hand treasures!  It's called Castaway and there (like the Marina Market and Deli) has a bit of everything.  It's such a fun place to scour through and find a few treasures!

Though most of the area is commercial and residential, there is a little Inn located on 7th and 223th.

Because we're down here for the summer (just half an hour from downtown Seattle), we've been spending a lot of time down at the Marina.  It's just a nice place to take morning walks to.  There are also a lot of events going on in the summer…

I love little communities like this!

Another great week back home gone by!