Bye Gig Harbor/Bye USAJul 25, 2012
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New Orange Top
Narrows Bridge
Union Station
We’ll be heading for Canada in the morning. It’s been a good visit to Gig Harbor. We noticed something different about the Space Needle in Seattle this trip. It seems to have taken on a new color on the top. I suspect that opinions vary regarding the color change.
We have crossed the Narrows Bridge four times each way since we came from the mountains. It’s free westbound but sets us back $5 each time we cross it going east from here to Tacoma. We’ll find out tomorrow how much it costs to take a motorhome towing a car across.
We crossed it on Monday and headed for downtown Tacoma and a look at some Chihuly art. Dale Chihuly is the glass blower/glass design artist whose museum we visited in St. Petersburg a few months ago. He is from Tacoma and contributed a great deal of work to the refurbishing of the Union Station Building. The building now serves as a courthouse, but the lobby welcomes visitors to view the large Chihuly exhibits there.
There is also a bridge connecting Union Station with the Glass Museum. The bridge has a couple glass art pillars, a tunnel-like section with artwork on the ceiling, and a wall of glass boxes containing many examples of vase work.
We didn’t have time to visit the museum itself because we wanted to catch our second movie at the Grand Cinema in downtown Tacoma. The Grand (http://www.grandcinema.com/ ) is managed by a non-profit group dedicated to art in Tacoma. It is a great place to catch independent and foreign films. The two we saw, “Your Sister’s Sister” and “Moonrise Kingdom”, were a little more mainstream but still slightly offbeat.
The highlight yesterday was a rock concert in Gig Harbor. Sue had reserved us a lawn spot using her exercise mat and we drove into town at about 4:00 for a 6:30 concert. We parked about a half mile to the west of the concert location and began to walk to the east. As we walked along Harborview Street we were chatting when Sue stopped and said, “Look!” Rising to the east above the trees in front of us was …………. You guessed it! ………………. Mount Rainier!
Anyway, we went to the Tides Tavern for dinner, stopped for an ice cream cone at Kelly’s and settled in for a concert by a group called The Beatniks. Well, I had settled in. As soon as the music started (they were a good band) Sue was up and headed to the front of the park where folks were beginning to dance. She danced a lot! She returned to our chairs about an hour later. It was a good concert.
Today was a quiet day. This morning I got my second run in on the Cushman Trail that follows a power line route up and down some pretty severe hills. Sue has also jog/walked on the trail and can attest to its challenges. Then we crossed the Narrows Bridge once more to take Arnie for his follow-up visit with the vet and another supply of his old folks’ pills. Tomorrow morning we pack up, fill up the propane tank, head up the road for a fuel stop for the See Ya, and then cross the border into Canada. We have arranged to temporarily suspend our contract with AT&T so our communication will be limited to wifi sites along the way and internet access.
