Priest Point Park

Priest Point Park and the literally hundreds parks in the area are all really awesome places to go for a walk or jog, or just a picnic. Some, like Priest Point have lots of little shelters with grills as well as hiking trails that run all up and down the sound.

I've been feeling a bit sedentary over the past couple of days. Phil's diving longer days during the beginning of this month so that he can take a week sometime mid-month (probably next week) and pull the boat out of the water to give it a makeover, new bottom paint, possibly deck paint and some basic rigging work.

Anyway, so my afternoons haven't been quite so thrilling lately... and I figured it was time to venture outdoors and get a workout!

Priest Point was really awesome for that. They have a few miles of trail that circle the sound... and they allow joggers during the dry months (June-September I think). So, I started running up the main trial and saw the oddest thing... horrid picture quality, I know... I was running, so it was hard to hold the camera still while maintaining my target heart rate.


Ever wonder why they call it the 'Evergreen State'?


This whole area is OBSESSED with salmon. Many salmon species travel all the way into the southern sound from the Pacific, making their way inland up the rivers and streams to their spawning grounds. Another of the parks in the area actually has a hatchery where they try to aid the process. Salmon in the region were almost extinct in years past because of damning along the rivers.



What a cool tree!


It's one of those that's soooo tempting to climb out onto...


But it's a LONG way down!


This was pretty much the scene along the sound coastline.. beautiful!


Anyway, it was a good walk... I know I'll be back there many times.

Tacoma

Well, the interview process continues. I got my reference sheet together this morning and sent it off to Consona's hiring manager. I made a few phone calls first, just to let folks now to be expecting a phone call, turns out that one of my scripts from a job I held 7 years ago (it does email encryption) is still in use!!

Anyway, Kat, Phil and I decided on a whim yesterday morning to go get some breakfast at this really hip little old-style restaraunt. Really neat place, built up like an old-tyme country store.... and their breakfast was absolutely the best I've ever had! It was an odd eclectic little mix of things... avocado, zucchini squash, spinach, tomatoes (yes, i'm finally trying to expand my palette a bit :), apple sausage and a muffin! That was several plates, but we all ordered something different and kinda split it all up since no one could make a decision on one thing to order :)

This place was so unique that I had to get a few shots. Here's a couple shots of the front porch.




And another, down the side...


We left there and headed toward downtown Tacoma and check out the Tacoma Glass Museum (turns out that the guy who is most famous for using glass as an art-form is originally from Tacoma and started a school and has been selling glass pieces worldwide now for many years, so there's glass sculpture EVERYWHERE! Pretty neat stuff really.

The glass museum is right on the water, in one of the many trade channels that run from Commencement Bay (South Puget Sound) into Tacoma. This entire channel was basically one gigantic marina.







All over the waterfront area there were these old buildings that had been turned into fancy condos. I was tempted to walk into the leasing office just for entertainment purpose, but managed to hold my curiosity back... I know they're waaaay more than I'll be able to afford for quite a while.



The glass museum had this HUGE thing sticking up out of the ground. It was pretty neat lookin.... I kept referring to it as the 'cement mixer' but It was meant to be the 'afterburner' of a downed spacecraft (a play on the space needle's landing coverup? j/k)



At the top of the stairs, just up from the marina was a good size reflection pool, fed by (man-made) waterfalls that stretched down from the top of the building...


Here's the feeder falls...


I got a kick outta these... they were up all around the many reflection pools surrounding the museum.


And now for the highlight of the museum...


These were all on a bridge over the interstate between the two main sections of the museum in a huge outdoor exhibit.


They're all lit up at night... neat display.




Here's a shot of the bridge (that all the glass is on...). The big blue things look like rock candy or balloons as you approach from the interstate.


They separated the two exhibits... the second was all a part of the ceiling of a covered part of the bridge.


I tried to get a few shots to get perspective....


... and one close enough to get some detail


The old train station had been restored and converted into the Tacoma courthouse.


A random shot across the street... they had historical figures up on banners all over the area.


Lots of archways.


Phil and I got cozy with the traveler (outside the front entrance to Union Station -- now the courthouse)




Really neat architecture everywhere...


After the museum we decided to just hike around the city center.

There were these cool little parks in random places throughout town, great place to sit and eat lunch, or just reflect.




The old Tacoma clock tower -- this thing was HUGE!




We also saw the 'largest totem pole in the world' in Fireman's Park.


Or so the inscription read...


Another really cool building, hard to tell here, but that brown granite had water flowing over it.


Looking up...


Some say that you haven't really seen a city until you've spent some time in it's alleyways :)


After our walk we found a neat bar downtown, just up from the University of Washington Tacoma (go figure eh?) that was having a benefit blues jam. There were some great tunes there, so we spent the rest of the evening here.


That's all folks! Well, at least until next time anyway.