Our tour of the south Sound rapidly turned into a tour of Tacoma. We spent two nights out in Ruston, near Point Defiance, courtesy of the Tacoma Yacht Club, who have a lovely facility there, then moved in to the Foss Harbor Marina near the mouth of the Thea Foss Waterway.
Along the way, we tasted and tested the currents of the Tacoma Narrows, and decided there wasn’t enough time (or good enough sailing) on the other side of that vast gate to bother venturing through. We contented ourselves with the views from the huge park at Point Defiance, and decided to take in downtown Tacoma next, or as much as we could manage in a day.
On the way in, we happened to notice Lotus tied up at the Foss Waterway Seaport. After spending a spell on Lake Union at the new South Lake Union Park next to the future home of the Museum of History and Industry, Lotus was making her own tour of the south Sound, spending a week here next to the Foss Waterway Seaport before heading down to Olympia for another festival.
The Foss Waterway is a little disconnected from downtown, but such connections as it has are grandiose and memorable: the Tacoma Museum of Glass, with its wild, twisting, other-worldly Chihuly sculptures, forms the primary corridor between a revitalized and condoized stretch of waterfront and the old downtown area.
We wandered across the bridge and found ourselves at the classy, understated campus of UW-Tacoma, where we fell upon the first Starbucks we saw like thirsty barbarians in need of caffeine on the way to the sack of Rome. It had been almost a week since we had last seen the inside of a coffee shop… clearly far too long for two Seattleites.
Along the way, we ran into Christian Gruye, who runs the Lotus foundation. One of the small pleasures of cruising, whether around the world or around the Sound, is running into familiar faces in unfamiliar places. She hadn’t seen Rosie yet so we invited her over for dinner.
Although checking out Tacoma was one goal, the primary reason we had stopped was actually for groceries, which we found not far away at the City IGA on Pacific. A block up and a block over, the Tacoma Farmer’s market was in full swing. We stocked up on fresh goods and produce. At the Farmer’s Market, Mandy met up with some other old friends, who she invited down to Rosie as well. We had a good chat with them and then an excellent dinner with Christian.
What with all the socializing, we didn’t actually see many of the marquee exhibits that comprise the Tacoma experience. We had a grand time at Point Defiance Park, with its sweeping views of the Sound and Narrows, and the untouched tracts of primeval forest, haunted with bird calls and teeming with wildlife. And we swung through the Museum of Glass gift shop, very carefully, so as not to damage or defile any of the monstrously expensive glass trinkets available there for purchase. But we entirely missed the Museum proper, the Washington State History Museum, the LeMay Car Museum, or any other of the surprisingly prolific number of cool things to see and do in Tacoma.
And with all that neat stuff, with a totally free downtown streetcar within easy reach of the waterway, and a series of affordable and well-appointed marinas along that waterway, it struck me that it’s just too bad about Tacoma. The downtown area seemed utterly abandoned on the weekdays we were there… no busy crowds of business-people hustling to work, no other tourists strolling the promenade. Most stores were closed. The marina we were at was active enough, but mostly with residents and marine tradesman, not other cruisers. The city seems to be trying hard, but meeting with little success. But if you’re in the South Sound, it’s worth a stop.