Not much has been happening with us to blog about since we’ve been buried in resumes and job applications, spending hours at the WIFI station daily perusing employment ads and sites. Really nothing yet has broken and mid-September saw us pass a one year anniversary without a job. To say things are tedious is to put it mildly.
We are enjoying the area, although we haven’t ventured far due to monetary constraints. Everything here costs money it seems and although there is just a ton of neat and interesting things beckoning us, we are keeping a very close watch on the wallet. An admittance into a museum for instance, will buy a tank of fuel for the Saturn.
Today we did get out to enjoy the marvelous and still warm and sunny weather this area has experienced since we’ve arrived, to help Rachael haul some boxes of wedding magazines down to her employer’s wedding event at the Tacoma Convention Center (in her husband’s truck). There will be a big event all weekend so we got a sneak preview of the setup. Downtown Tacoma is actually much smaller than I envisioned and quite hilly, much as some of San Francisco. The feel, minus the very tall high rises, is so similar, as one looks out over the Pacific bay, islands and peninsulas which just unfold mere blocks away. We drove through the area known as Ruston (waterfront) and noted, mouth-watering, all the gorgeous and likely expensive waterside dining establishments. Moms were out pushing strollers; people were walking a ton of dogs and we wondered how all these people came to be here on a weekday? By the way, if one were looking for a unique place to stay, we noted the Tacoma Silver Cloud Inn sitting stunning surrounded on three sides by water with what looked like a water view from every single room. Not too shabby.
From there it was a short hop into Defiance Park, which features very thick old growth forests where even the Madrone trees tower a hundred feet tall. We bypassed the zoo and made a short stop at the living museum replica of Fort Nisqually, of which the original built by Hudson Bay Company is actually located in DuPont in the middle of Rachael’s subdivision! (Or at least a bare minimum of footprint left of the original.) The view of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and watching boaters cavorting on the water was sublime. On the way out we passed an outdoor logging museum with interesting old steam equipment.
Out of downtown, back onto I-5, we headed south and east towards Enumclaw to check out a potential short term construction remodel job. The territory changes out in this area, gaining elevation and leaving the thick fir forests behind for a mix of deciduous, fir and pine. Enumclaw appeared to be an old (small) town, but very well kept and sleepy. It has been very interesting to note in this area not only the physical characteristics changing, but also the tone of the cities and towns. Paper maps are deceiving; distances all seem much more far flung than we think so it is nearly dinner time by the time we arrive home. Tomorrow being Saturday, perhaps it is time for a redo of the Olympia Farmer’s Market!
