Chasing a Dragon

D&D DISPLAY: On Wednesday, we made a last minute, super quick trip to the Renton Historical Museum. It was our first visit there. We'd been meaning to go all summer to see their exhibit "Hero's Feast," about the game Dungeons & Dragons. We went on the day it closed. And had to fit it into about a 25-minute window.

While the game Dungeons & Dragons is a world-wide phenomenon, it has a special link to Renton. Wizards of the Coast is the company who create the game, and they were founded in Renton.

I am not going to spend a lot of time here typing about our visit. Instead, the photos will do most of the talking. I took a bunch, because Christian wasn't able to accompany us, and I knew he'd be interested to see what it was all about. 

 They had a D&D game set up. It looked like our dining room table does from time to time. 

 This vantage point gives the dungeon master's view. 

They had some artifacts from the early days of D&D on display.

This D&D set up is a little more elaborate than most gamers'.

D&D is definitely a cooperative, collaborative effort. I think that's one of the reasons it's so popular.

Unfortunately, due to things that had really nothing to do with the game, D&D has been viewed with an unfairly suspicious eye by many. 

Once upon a time, D&D was definitely thought of as a guys-only endeavor. That's definitely not the case any more.

Today's Annabelle's birthday and (don't tell her), one of her gifts is a 3-session art and writing class with one of the women mentioned on the poster below.

The exhibit featured a magnetic board where people could place characters, items and such.

 Annabelle was drawn to a table where visitors could draw their own D&D character.

 Here's a collection of others' drawings.

 And here's a close up of Annabelle's.

The exhibit wasn't large, and it wasn't spectacular, but it was a nice overview of the game, its history, and its appeal. I'm glad we went.

SHAKE DOWN: On Thursday's to do list was talking about earthquakes. Worldwide, October 17 is Great ShakeOut day, where earthquake preparedness is taught. 

I shared this graphic with the kids. We talked about where we'd stand in our house if an earthquake hit. When we were at the grocery store, we looked around and talked about where would be safer zones. 

MOMENTOUS WALK: Friday morning, we watched some history being made. We tuned in to watch NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir perform the first all-women space walk. 

One of their tasks was replacing a power controller on the International Space Station's exterior. 

This will be Koch’s fourth spacewalk and Meir’s first. The two women are close friends. What a cool experience for them, and it's a milestone long overdue, IMHO.