Hello Everyone! If you’re reading this post in my weekly newsletter, I apologize for not getting it out on Thursday this week, but I’ve been busy catching up with old friends in the greater Seattle area. Spending time with some familiar faces has definitely lifted my spirits and recharged my batteries a bit and I’m grateful to them for making time for me in their busy schedules. I have been enjoying their company so much that I went all week without even opening my computer. But it’s Thursday today and I hope to finish this up today and send it out by tomorrow. I doubt anyone out there sets their clock by my newsletter’s arrival, but if you are used to getting it on Thursday - surprise, it is Friday and the weekend is here. This last week brought me from Centralia through Tacoma and on up into the Kitsap Peninsula where I saw some cool navy boats and spent some time with the Suquamish people. Then I headed down to Bainbridge Island and hopped the ferry to Seattle, where I have been since. I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Seattle in my life, so most of my time here has just been catching up with people, but it has still been an excellent stay. Let me go ahead and jump into what I’ve been up to this week.
When I left you last week, I was on my way towards Tacoma from the old logging community of Centralia, WA. On the way I stopped off in tiny Tumwater for a quick visit to the Historical Park there. I’ve driven by this park for years and was glad I finally stopped in to check it out. The huge brick building visible from the highway is the old Olympia Brewery, now sadly in ruins and falling apart. This brewery was actually shut down by prohibition and the building was sold, so when Olympia restarted brewing beer in 1933 it was in a different building just up the road. The old brewmaster’s house is right up the hill from the old brewery and has been lovingly restored by the community. Just across the street is the old Crosby House which was once lived in by early Tumwater settler Nathaniel Crosby III who also happened to be the grandfather of performer Bing Crosby. Also in the park is the old Tumwater Falls and a very cool salmon ladder which helps the salmon on their upriver journey. It was absolutely packed with salmon during my visit which was cool to see.
From there I headed on into Tacoma and found a spot to park in the Theatre District. There are definitely some cool old theaters there and a few other great old buildings as well. One which I was particularly interested in seeing was the old Elks Temple, now owned by the McMenamin Brothers who I wrote about last week. They bought the building and really jumped into its restoration, creating seven floors of bars, restaurants, a live music venue and 45 hotel rooms. It’s a marvel what they’ve done with the place and as you make your way around the building you can see photos of what it looked like when they got started. They’ve also done a great job of preserving the history of the Tacoma Elks with fantastic old photos and some fun new murals as well. I really love the work that these guys are doing and this was a fun place to grab a beer and just wander through. Leaving the Elks Club, I went just up the road to the Devil’s Reef – a pirate themed bar with an incredible cocktail list and a decent rum selection. I really enjoyed this little spot. From there I went into the middle of the residential area of Tacoma to a little hidden tiki bar called Da Tiki Hut. This is a neat little bar hidden away behind a Hawaiian take-out restaurant. I had a cocktail and a really good pork and chicken platter which was enough to send me off into a good night’s sleep just down the road.
On Thursday my main goal was to see the Washington State History Museum on the east side of town. I enjoyed this museum, especially the section about the geology and changing landscapes of what’s now Washington State. They also had a fabulous model train display on the top floor and some good temporary exhibits on things brought back by local soldiers from their time in the Vietnam War and on Gilded Age clothing styles. These state history museums are an important part of my visit to any state and while this wasn’t the best I’ve seen, it was pretty good and I was there for almost four hours. When I left, I drove down to the old Almond Roca Factory which had an outlet store out front in a tiny building they had bought from the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Almond Roca is apparently a world renowned candy and it all comes from right there in Tacoma. I admit I’m not a big candy eater and had never heard of it, so the ladies in the store told me some of the history and helped me pick up a few pieces to try and they were all really good. They had bags of misfit factory seconds on sale for a dollar a bag and you really can’t beat that.
With my sweet tooth satisfied, I cruised up to the old Stadium District for a stroll and really enjoyed this little corner of Tacoma. The centerpiece of the community is the old Victorian Stadium High School. This grand building was constructed by the Northern Pacific Railway in 1891, but the panic of 1893 caused them to abandon construction. The city ended up taking it over and converting it into a school, opening in 1906. It’s quite a building to see and I think it must be wonderful to go to school there. The school’s football stadium, which looks out over Commencement Bay, and the nearby First Presbyterian Church were also pretty cool to see. By that point I was thirsty, so I went for a quick beer at Bob’s Java Jive, an awesome little dive bar located in a building in the shape of a coffee pot (and which was, at one time, a coffee shop). It put a smile on my face and the bartender was really friendly. Then I popped down the street to South Tacoma to hear a little live blues music at Dawson’s Bar and Grill. It was a good show, but I was pretty tired and wanted to pop down the road to Puyallup so I wasn’t there for too long before heading off down the highway.
Puyallup is a clean and friendly little town probably best known as home of the Washington State Fairgrounds. I was sorry I missed the state fair this year, but happy that I could still visit the fairgrounds to enjoy Oktoberfest Northwest. This festival was going on all weekend and I hit it up on Friday afternoon since admission was free before 3pm. It was a nice setup and I had a few good German beers and listened to some polka music, but I wasn’t paying $16 for a bratwurst. I even joined in a stein holding competition where the goal was to hold your one liter glass beer stein (filled with water) at a 90 degree angle to your body for as long as you can. I thought I had a good chance at winning, but was actually the third of the ten competitors to drop out. I guess I need more practice. There wasn’t a ton to do there so after my disappointing showing in the stein holding I headed back up into town. I wandered around the downtown area for a while but there wasn’t much going on so I decided it would be nice to watch some TV in my van and call it an early night.
On Saturday morning I hit the gym and then spent some time in the library which was one of the better libraries I’ve seen in the state. Then I took a stroll through the local farmers’ market before heading back to Tacoma. I was only passing through, but wanted to stop at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church for some food as they were having their annual festival that weekend. It’s just a little church, but it was really busy and I had a great piece of Greek chicken with all the fixings and some loukoumades (fried dough with honey) for dessert. I enjoyed the music and dancing with my lunch and then shot out of town and over the bridge onto the Kitsap Peninsula. I stopped in Bremerton which is home to a massive naval shipyard to have a look around and check out some of the boats in the harbor. Then I continued on to Poulsbo for the evening. Poulsbo has a long history of Norwegian settlers and they have fashioned their downtown area to reflect this heritage. I love little towns like this and always make it a point to stop in. They’re usually quite photogenic and a lot of fun as well. Dusk was fast approaching when I pulled into town, so I grabbed my camera and did a nice long circuit through downtown to get some photos. The marina was particularly lovely because the water was really calm and reflective. After the sun went down I stopped in for dinner at Tizley’s Europub for dinner. I enjoyed some spätzl, some rotkohl and some German potato salad to make up for not eating overpriced brats at Oktoberfest and washed it down with a local dunkel lager. From there I went down to the waterfront and the Brass Kraken Pub for a couple more beers and some good live music. It was a fun way to end a busy day.
On Sunday morning I stopped into the Sluy’s Bakery for a pastry and then took a few more photos around town with some beautiful morning light. There was a race going on and some runners were already finishing so they must have started quite early. I had seen a sign the night before for a charity pancake breakfast at the Sons of Norway hall so I thought I would check it out. The food was good and the bottomless coffee was even better, but it was also fun to be able to have a peek inside of their building which had plenty of swords, axes and Viking helmets. After my 6th cup of coffee I decided it was time to set off down the road, so I bid goodbye to Poulsbo and made my way on to the Suquamish Reservation. My first stop was at the grave of Chief Sealth, for whom the city of Seattle was named. He was a great friend to the ships passing by and to the early white settlers to the area. Then I stopped into the nearby cultural museum which was small but excellent as well and did a great job of describing the life and times of the Suquamish People. After spending a solid hour there, I continued up the peninsula to the small town of Port Gamble. Founded by settlers from Maine, this little town has a very New England feel, down to the elm trees they brought with them and planted along the roads. It was a cute place for a stroll and a coffee.
Leaving Port Gamble, I drove back towards Bremerton and pulled into my old friend Gabe’s beautiful house just outside of Silverdale. Gabe was a tour guide with the company I spent most of my career working for back in the late 90s and early 2000s. He has since gotten married, had a kid (who is now 20), bought a house and works for the Navy as a civilian. I was so happy that I was able to catch him on this trip and we talked for many hours about old times and new. He whipped up a fantastic tri-tip for dinner and we knocked back a couple of beers and chatted late into the night. Since the government was closed he didn’t have to work in the morning so we had a nice breakfast and continued our conversation into the afternoon, when I finally bid them farewell and made my way on to Bainbridge Island. From there, I caught the ferry over to Seattle and then headed down to White Center where I met up with another old guiding friend, Sean. Sean and I never worked together as he had left the company before I started, but we met at a reunion a couple of years back and have a lot of friends in common. We had a few beers and chatted about guiding and travel and he gave me some great tips for my upcoming visit to the North Cascades. When we finished up for the evening, I headed out to Alki Beach for the night, which was an excellent place to post up for the night.
It was wonderful to wake up at the beach and I enjoyed a long stroll up and down the waterfront and a pleasant morning coffee before I took off. It was only about 15 minutes south of Downtown Seattle, so I cruised into town for a few hours to enjoy the beautiful weather and take a few photos. That afternoon, I drove up to the Northgate neighborhood where I parked in front of my friend Tyler’s house for the night. Tyler and I went to elementary school together and I haven’t seen him in probably 35 years. He is living in a beautiful house with his girlfriend and her daughter and their dog and their cat. They also had another friend in town visiting while I was there. We all headed down to the local brewery for some dinner and a few beers and a fun and stimulating conversation. It was a really nice evening and so good to catch up with Tyler after way too many years.
Yesterday I hopped on the light rail from Northgate and went back downtown to T-Mobile Stadium, home of Seattle’s baseball team, the Mariners. The Mariners are currently in the playoffs facing off against the Detroit Tigers. The game yesterday was in Detroit (at a stadium I visited a few years ago), but they were showing it on the big screen at the stadium here and a few thousand people showed up to watch. I was joined by my friend Amelia who I met when I was working in Japan a decade and a half ago. She is a fascinating person who has lived, worked and traveled all over the world and done some really cool things in her life. Her parents live in Seattle and I was happy (and lucky) to catch her while she was around. She’s quite the Mariners fan so it was great to have her there to fill me in on the game, the players and all of the fun little traditions of the ballpark there. I was particularly fond of the Moose mascot and of the salmon race (they were actually people dressed as salmon just to clarify). Because there were so few people in the stadium (relatively speaking), I felt like I was on the jumbotron every 20 minutes which added to the fun. The Mariners did great in the early innings and everyone was having a blast, but fell apart halfway through and couldn’t recover. The series will go to a final game in their best-of-five series tomorrow here in Seattle. It was still a fun way to spend the afternoon. After the game, I said goodbye to Amelia and had a nice long walk through the new waterfront area of Seattle and up to Capitol Hill. From there, I caught the train back to where my van was parked and then cruised down to the Green Lake neighborhood for the night.
This morning I have been catching up on some errands and such and am currently writing this from the lovely library here in Ballard. When I finish up this post, I’m going to head over to the University of Washington and try and visit my fraternity chapter there just to say hello. This evening I hope to catch some live music nearby and get a good night’s sleep so I can head off in the morning. I was thinking about sticking around for another day or two, and I still might, but October is moving along and I have plenty more to see before winter sets in. This week I hope to visit Whidbey Island and make my way up to Anacortes where I hope to be able to go visit several of the San Juan Islands. I’m not sure where I will be at this time next week, but somewhere in that general area. I hope you’ll come back next week and see what I’ve gotten up to. Until then, have a wonderful week and thank you, as always, for reading.
-Mike