Hi Again,
On to talk more about our weekend getaway to Wa, specifically Tacoma and the Olympic Peninsula.
We made Tacoma our home base, as my hubby used to be in the military and lived there.
Tacoma is south of Seattle, about 30 to 40 ish miles away. It is a significantly smaller town, with a small downtown and few business districts. Luckily for residents, there is also a small mall. Small (relatively) is the theme. More residential with a downtown park, Wright Park, which has ponds, fountains, playgrounds, and a greenhouse. It served as a great place to have morning walks with our dogs.
Tacoma reminds me of how Portland may have been (before Portlandia and before us Californians took it over). Lots of small, bungalow houses in neighborhoods. We were driving distance from 6th Ave, which is a street with bars, restaurants, and kitschy vintage stores. Other stores include an Irish Pub, tattoo/piercing parlor, and of course a record store. We also found the local Original Pancake House, which used local berries. There is also a donut shop, Legendary donuts, which promises unique flavors. If I wasn't already full from my pancakes I would have bought some and compared them to Portland donut shops like Voodoo or Blue Star. We also passed by a store with an insanely long line, going out the door. Of course I had to google that, cuz it must be good. It turned out to be Ice Cream Social, a local area ice cream parlor using local ingredients. The new Portlandier in me wished I had time to compare it to our Salt and Straw. Again so many things to try in our return trip.
We ended our trip visiting a friend currently stationed at the joint military base. Apparently the new rule is that if you want to visit the base, you have to have your passport. I understand the safety issues, but I think it is ridiculous for me (a US Citizen) and my husband (a veteran) to need to have a passport to enter. Unfortunately we got turned away, leaving our friend to walk all the way from his barrack to the visitor parking lot. He did get to see a deer and its baby though on his hike to the parking lot. After brunch, we dropped off our friend whose military ID got us in and was able to drive the several miles in the base to his barrack. This brought many memories and stories to my hubby's mind as he reminisced about his military days. We ended up getting $1 Chinese food, one of the few restaurant options outside of base. My husband loved the Orange Chicken saying it was the best he had, but then also states this was a time when he was generally eating chow from the military canteen. I thought it was tasty.
