So my wife wants to spend Christmas with her sister and family in Tacoma. I’ve been dreading this for 12 years now… I knew it would come eventually.
Because I have zero desire to spend a week cooped to in a tiny house watching basic cable, I’m putting together a list of things to see and do in the area while we are up there. Cheaper is better, free is best, obviously, and I’m hoping to find day-long adventures to keep myself and the kids (aged 7 & 5) occupied. I would like to avoid tourist traps, but I suspect we will visit the Space Needle. That’s basically all that’s on my list right now.
Any Seattle / Tacoma Dopers have any suggestions for a week-long itinerary?
If music is your bag, the EMP in Seattle is definitely worth a visit - they’re currently running exhbitions on Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, and Nirvana, and the attached Science Fiction Museum has some pretty interesting stuff as well. The Pacific Science Center (conveniently located next door to EMP) is running an exhibition of the relics of King Tut’s tomb through the end of the year which is definitely worth checking out as well, and the Space Needle is right there if you feel like riding the elevator up and checking out the view.
If you’re so inclined, you can make a pilgrimage to Jimi Hendrix’s grave in Renton, or to Mud Bay in Olympia where Kurt Cobain’s ashes were scattered.
I’d suggest a visit to Mt. Rainier National Park. It’s gorgeous up there and isn’t really all that long a drive from Tacoma. I know of which I speak, I’ve lived in Tacoma and now Puyallup most of my life.
If you visit Mt. Rainer stop at Longmire, there’s a little place there with some springs and trails to run around. Further up from Longmire is Paradise (now the Henry Jackson Center) which has a little musuem and interactive displays along with a movie about the area. Plus, well, snow and kids love snow.
There’s also Point Defiance Park and Zoo in Tacoma. You have to pay for admittance to the zoo, but the rest of the park is free and it’s quite nice.
Additionally, there is NW Trek which is a wildlife park. They have an area to walk around, as well as a tram where you ride through several miles and see the animals in the “wild”. Again, you have to pay for admittance, but it’s something to do. It’s located near Eatonville and, depending on where you’re staying in Tacoma, a 30 to 45 minute drive.
Mt. Rainer is on the list, assuming we can drive up that far. I’ve been to the Point Defiance zoo years ago, and enjoyed it. I’m sure the kids would like it. We might do Pike Place market. We will be staying in Spanaway FWIW.
I’ve been told there is some sort of nature preserve / wildlife area along the water south of Tacoma. Apparently some sort of converted industrial area? That conversation was years ago and I don’t remember the details, perhaps that was the NW Trek Taters refers to.
I do believe you’re referring to the Nisqually Reserve, Lancia. I’ve never been there, so I can’t speak to it.
If you’re staying in Spanaway, you’re even closer to NW Trek and Mt. Rainier. NW Trek is probably about 13 miles from Spanaway. To get to Mt. Rainier from Spanaway, you literally just follow Hwy 7 all the way out there and Hwy 7 (Pacific Ave before the Roy Y) is the main drag through Parkland/Spanaway.
Seattle and all it’s attractions are nice and all, but getting up there through the traffic just gets on my last nerve. Parking is expensive and there is always construction. But, that’s just me; some people really like it up there and don’t mind all that, especially if they are just visitors.
Did that used to be industrial, though? Maybe it’s just been cleaned up from the industrial residue that tends to wash downstream to places like that.
There’s also an old gravel pit just north of Steilacoom that got turned into a golf course (quite a good one, I hear). Nothing much to see there, unless you golf, but I helped build the playground next door.
Museum Row in downtown Tacoma used to be pretty run down, but has spruced itself up considerably in the last couple decades. Speaking of museums, the LeMay Auto Museum is open now. I’ve never been, so can’t personally recommend it.
Last May I returned to Tacoma, where I’d lived from 1994-2005. I honestly missed the old downtown, much as some New Yorkers miss pre-Disney Times Square. So I walked uphill from the Elephant Car Wash neon sign, past the music store with the orange piano on the roof, over I-95 through the bungalow belt, where it seems nothing new has been built since 1962. (True, they put in hundreds of houses in Salishan, but they look like old family houses)
There’s Lincoln High, overshadowed by Stadium High, right next to the Vietnamese shopping district. The street lamp banners have Abe and a Chinese dragon, making it look like he’s wearing a feather boa.
On Pacific Ave there’s a little shop straight out of a John Collier story, with a little old man surrounded by hundreds of old canes and walking sticks. If you go far enough, you reach the legendary B&I shopping center: less a mall and more like an Arabian souk or a Tijuana side street.
Then you’re on the edge of Ft Lewis, so the Korean town starts; legacy of our military involvement in that country. There’s a Korean women’s spa where milady’s steamed and soaked on scrubbed with sea salt, and emerges smelling like an exotic spice cabinet. There are war surplus stores with piles of either sturdy camping gear or niche S&M equipment.
I only made 26K/year when I lived there, so I didn’t get up to Seattle much.
My sister works at Pt. Defiance Zoo. Tell Heather I said hi.
Keep in mind, though, that it’s usually cold, rainy, or both this time of year, so if you plan on spending much time outdoors you should dress appropriately - long coats, hats, and umbrellas recommended.
If you take the kids to Pike Place, make sure you go to the famous Pike Place Fish Market. Rather than load the fish in through the back, they just throw the whole fish over the counter in front of everyone. I think everyone in the crowd gets some kind of prize if they drop one, but I’ve never seen it happen. Make sure your kids (at least the older one) gets right up close to the display to look at the monk fish. It’s super ugly and weird looking, and the staff puts a long metal rod through the fish so that when a kid gets really close, they can make the fish “jump” up and lunge at the kid.