Vacation, Day 4: Foss Waterway Seaport

Day 4 was a rainy, overcast day. A perfect day to be inside. We headed south to the Tacoma Waterfront, to a new museum. Tacoma has a large port, but over time, it's moved to its new location. The older port areas along Ruston, Dock St. and Schuster Parkway have mostly given over to museums, parks and restaurants. There had been an old port building, over a mile long. Part of it burnt down and what was left was probably going to be torn down as well, until it was saved. They shaved off the front and replaced it with a wall of windows, removed the pier and flooring and replaced it with concrete and now it's a new museum. They also fortified the structure itself with new steel beams. The testament to steel, there aren't a lot of beams, so you are still left with this rich, wonderful, cavernous space with lots of intricate wood beams. To enter in, you can tell it's still a bit of a work-in-progress, but there's still plenty to see. You start with a history of the building itself which is really pretty cool. Then there's a section of models and ships in bottles. There's lots of salvaged boat signs and mechanical stuff, some of which I'd be hard-pressed to even explain. If you look out the windows, you have views of the water, the trains, the hillside and the freeways hung from it and all the buildings of downtown up on top of the hill.

There are boats to look at, a boat to play on, lots to read. There are some interactive displays and a children's area complete with areas for pushing around boats (container boats and boats full of cars) and loading onto trucks (a mini-port, if you will) and a section on building bridges using K'NEX. Rachel would have liked to have spent quite a bit more time there. There's also a section that contains a bunch of ancient and contemporary tools so you can compare - like a massive metallic lamp with red glass and a tiny little red beacon (to mount on the side of your vessel) or a giant company and a tiny GPS device. That was pretty neat.

There's a bit of information on the Foss family themselves, but it doesn't have the prominence it deserves and will probably ultimately receive. (Thea Foss started a business renting boats and she and her husband Arthur turned it into a much larger business that eventually was heavily into tugboats and whose design is the design used by most tugboats these days.)

I Wandered the Span

No, I wasn't one of the ones who got up early this morning and ran the span. Truth be told, I didn't know about it until someone showed up from church having just completed the run. (Not that this is the excuse that I didn't run. It was also early in the morning and apparently people ran.) I did later wander the span. 3.6 miles of walking in all. Was kinda cool. Tomorrow the bridge opens to traffic, but today, the only way to cross it was on foot. They estimate more than 60,000 did (according to their blog, they were hoping to get at least 40,000, so, well, good show, eh?).


Even Darth Vader and Boba Fett walked the span. Dude must have been really warm under there. I'm pretty pleased with the photos the phone took. The screen was so washed out I couldn't see any of them until I got home. Man, I need a haircut.

Oh Big Box Mart...

Alicia reports that Tacoma, our next door neighbor (yes, that Tacoma, named after a Toyota truck and home to my alma mater, sort of) has become the victim of a horrible crime. (Clarification... not Alicia's neighbor, Alicia's 'hood. Me and Lori's neighbor.)

That crime? Wal*Mart's announced intention to attempt to build a Wal*Mart in downtown Tacoma. Downtown Tacoma? I just can't picture it. No, I mean downtown Tacoma. Where is that? What is considered technically downtown Tacoma. Is it where all the tall buildings are? If so, why would Wal*Mart want to come in and tear down a bunch of them in order to build a one-story monstrosity with miles and miles of campsites for all the RV-dwelling folk?

Alicia says that residents do want some large chain stores, but they're hoping for more Crate and Barrel less barrel o' bargains. So, I have the perfect solution. Wal*Mart should buy a really large seven story building. They can put a Wal*Mart in the basement and then Wal*Mart parking on the ground floor. On the next few floors, parking. And then above that, a mall, complete with the bigger (nicer) box stores they desire. (The Beverly Connection in Beverly Hills is like this, parking on a few floors with the stores above. It, however, does not have a Wal*Mart in the basement.)