Tacoma – Riveted

Tacoma Narrows

Laura Domela — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 22:21:49 +0000

We timed our departure from Tacoma this morning to start through the Tacoma Narrows right around slack tide and at the beginning of a flood. (Flood flows south, ebb goes north.) So at slack the current is still, and as it turns to flood, the current starts south and gives us a little boost in speed. For instance, we usually cruise at around 2200rpm and make between 7-8 knots, and through the Narrows today we were at 2200rpm and going 10-11 knots, so we had about a 3 knot boost from the current.

Farewell committee at the marina:

Some shots as we exited the Thea Foss Waterway:

There were a lot of seals and porpoise (and fishermen) around Point Defiance today. I managed to luck out and get this Dall's porpoise as it did a cute little jump!

Moody landscape on the bluff:

Some shots of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge as we passed underneath:

We had a nice cruise down to Anderson Island. It was pretty and fairly uneventful (read: no whales). We're now anchored here on our new Rocna 20. So far so good!

We took the dinghy out for a bit to check out a derelict (but cool!) 1923 ferry that's over here in the bay (more about that in the next post), but it started raining pretty good so we motored back to Airship for a cozy evening and a bit more work.

Here we are in the rain:

And here's today's track – 24.2 nautical miles. And tonight will be Night No. 70 aboard Airship. Woohoo!

Museum of Glass

Laura Domela — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 21:52:25 +0000

This morning before we left Tacoma, we popped over to the Museum of Glass (since it's only about 20 steps from the marina, and wasn't open Monday or Tuesday). The highlight of this place (for me) is usually watching the artists work in the Hot Shop (the glass studio inside that big silver cone-shaped structure):

Looking to the top of the cone from inside:

The artists were working on a vase commissioned by a bank (I forgot which bank) to give to a valued employee. Nice gift!

We wandered through the galleries, and we had two favorite things: (1) these glass "stones" by artist Meg Holgate in the exhibition called "Coastal Alchemy":

As someone who often picks up shiny rocks at the water's edge, I was super into these. It's good that they were under glass, because I REALLY wanted to touch them!

The other thing we loved was this exhibit called "Kids Design Glass Too" where kids made the designs, and then the glass artists realized those drawings for them:

Kind of perfect, aren't they? (I wish I'd have photographed one or two of the drawings, but they looked JUST LIKE the sculptures.)

It was a fun, quick, museum stop before we headed south to the Narrows.

Last Night in Tacoma

Laura Domela — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 13:16:00 +0000

Our friend Ingrid met us at the boat yesterday at the end of the day, and we all headed over to her part of the city to have dinner at a spot called Marrow. The cocktails and the food were fabulous (dijon beignets with gruyere sauce and crispy prosciutto, squash confit, house-made pasta with clams and pork belly….), but the company and conversation was the BEST. Such a fun evening!

Here are the photos I take when I first turn my camera on:

I like these Chihuly rock candy pops (that’s what I call ’em…they probably have a different name) on the bridge to the glass museum:

Yarn-bombed bike racks outside of Marrow:

We caught a ride back to the marina via Uber and OMG we had the most hilarious driver. Uncle Kenny! Here are just a few tidbits of the in-car conversation:

Kenny (while discussing the economics of Uber income): “My brother is a high IQ kinda guy. He can multiply and shit.”

….then….

Us (trying to help him navigate to the marina): “It’s right by the glass museum.”

Him: “I don’t go to no museums! I’m from the ghetto!”

He was actually quite charming, and has his own business cards (which, as he tells us, other Uber drivers think is “brilliant” and he says “That’s just what you call business intelligence!”)

We may go to the glass museum before we leave this morning (since it’s RIGHT there) and then head out to catch the Narrows at slack tide as we head south.

The LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma

Laura Domela — Wed, 04 Feb 2015 03:10:45 +0000

This afternoon we took a walk over to the LeMay Museum (about a mile from the marina). We've driven past this cool building countless times on the way to and from Seattle. It's just off of I-5 next to the Tacoma Dome, and is definitely worth a visit. The LeMay collection earned a Guinness Book world record of over 3,500 vehicles in the mid-‘90s, and the museum itself houses around 350 cars of all kinds (with rotating exhibits). It's nicely done, and we enjoyed the floor-by-floor stroll through time.

Loving the fonts and hood ornaments:

Cute little 1951 Nash Rambler:

Nice Caddy:

Beautiful 1948 MG TC just like my mom used to have:

There's a pretty deluxe slot car track you can play for three bucks:

Great-looking BMW:

Not only cars, but motorcycles:

And scooters!

This 1958 Triumph TR3A was one of my favorites:

View back to the marina (we could actually see our boat from here!)

Seattle to Tacoma in the Fog

Laura Domela — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 22:47:07 +0000

Yesterday morning our friends Kathy and Pete met us at the boat and we cruised over to the town of Winslow on Bainbridge Island for some breakfast. The day was gray and the water was a bit choppy, but we had a totally fun cruise!

We tied up at the City Dock in Winslow and then walked over to Doc's Marina Grill for breakfast. (I'm pretty sure Kevin and I were the only ones not wearing Seahawks jerseys. For real.)

Breakfast was really good (Kevin and I both had the Dungeness Crab Eggs Benedict, and I added spinach and tomato to mine). (There's also a Doc's Marine Grill at the Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend, but I don't remember the food being as good at that location.)

We got back to Seattle at around 1pm so Kathy and Pete could make it to their friends' Super Bowl party, and Kevin and I walked about a mile up to a hardware store (closing at 3 for The Game) to pick up an 8mm hex wrench so we could install our new anchor (priorities, man).

The anchor swap went smoothly and the Rocna looks great on the bow of Airship (not as great as the super shiny $1800 stainless steel version would look, but apparently stainless is for people who don't anchor, and we plan to anchor…plus, an extra $1500 for stainless steel hardly seems necessary).

We whipped up some Super Bowl snacks (homemade guacamole, tortilla chips, and stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapenos) and watched the game on Airship (in the mostly deserted marina):

There were fireworks from the Space Needle at half time (and again after the game, which seemed weird since the Seahawks lost, but maybe they had leftover fireworks loaded and just needed to shoot 'em off already, loss or no loss).

After the game we had more visitors (Bee and Bob, who live over on Mercer Island…hi guys!) and we grilled up some fresh salmon for some salmon tacos. I made a slaw with cabbage, sour cream, lime juice, cilantro, chili powder, and pomegranate seeds (invented on-the-spot, turned out great!), and some frijoles negros. Fun visit and a nice last night in Seattle.

This morning we headed out at about 10am for a gray, drizzly, foggy cruise south to Tacoma. I piloted the boat while Kevin worked on finishing his article for this week. (That's getting to be a common cruise mode for us…me at the helm, Kevin working on his laptop next to me.)

It was super foggy, and visibility was quite limited much of the time. We have good navigation tools though (radar, GPS, AIS) and it's always good to get more practice using radar!

As we entered the Thea Foss Waterway (the waterway running north-south, immediately east of downtown Tacoma):

We're moored at the Dock Street Marina now (doing laundry!!) directly in front of the Tacoma Glass Museum (Airship's got a new hat!):

We'd planned to hit the glass museum tomorrow, but it turns out they're closed on Tuesdays as well as Mondays, so either we'll go on Wednesday morning before we take off, or we'll skip it this time (since we've been before). We may try to get over to the LeMay Car Museum while we're here though.

View from the boat tonight:

And here's our route from today (30.2 nautical miles):