Tacomawa: Tacoma Summer + Simon Seattle

Simon Visits + Seattle

Simon and his friends David and George have been traveling the country this summer on a research grant. Geographies of Logistics: Organization and Culture in the New Company Town. Their first stop was Seattle, so we had a great day seeing the city with them. (Next was San Francisco, then Las Vegas, then home to NYC.)

 

Simon's high school friend Ben also joined us, talking a weekend off from his PhD studies at WSU. Our first pilgrimage was to the Seattle Public Library, a Koolhaus design.

Stephen, Simon, George, Ben, David

Other exciting places to visit- Freeway Park is begging for parkour, and the Olympic Sculpture Park (part of Seattle Art Museum.)

The next day, the guys made a trek on a Mt. Ranier trail. Their goal was Camp Muir, a base camp for mountain climbers planning to reach the summit. They made it 2/3rds of the way, and enjoyed views and snow at 8,000 ft.

Tacoma WA

Back in Tacoma, Brock and Jill adopted an adorable Wire haired Pointing Griffon named Sprocket. He and Clementine made instant friends, and added to summer bbq fun.

Julie and Jason, with their sons Issac and Seth showed us around Sequim, WA. On the beach, our cells phones texted us, "Welcome to Canada!" and informed us of new rates. (We could see the Canadian shoreline across the water, but not sure why we were connecting with their towers.)

Sequim is home to the Olympic Game Farm, a drive-through petting zoo where feeding the animals is encouraged. The animals think it's a great idea and do their best to join you in the car.

Stephen made friends with a baby bison.

Summer camping has a new outlet- we bought kayaks this summer! There are many places to get out on the water here, so we're trying to find the best. American Lake, Lake Steilacoom, Alder Lake, or in the Puget Sound: Owen's Beach, and Titlow Park. Kayaking in the ocean is a bit more intense- we spent most of an evening trying to reach the Tacoma Narrow's bridge. After resting for two minutes, the current carried Ginger backward a distance that had taken an hour's paddling to achieve. So, we gave up for that day. Maybe by this time next summer we'll have stronger arms.

Ginger spent many happy hours this summer painting and redecorating the Stem Coaching Center, where she tutors Math and Reading. The center was formerly painted white and red, but after several coats Ginger changed it to a Spring green. She added two trees, which will be covered with origami cranes made by the students over time.

Other projects- a world map where readers can pin the locations of the stories we read, a giant ruler to measure their height, and a rubick's cube.

Coast Swap: New Home Tacoma WA

We took house #5 from the our apartment hunting. We're so excited to live in a house! (Especially after two weeks in a hotel.) Special thanks to Brock for helping us move in our furniture. Stephen's RI boss was in Tacoma for the weekend, and recommended North Tacoma as a great place to live.

Stephen spent his first month in Washington working from Absher's main office in Puyallup, but now has an office on-site at his new project: a $15 million housing redevelopment in South Tacoma.

Stephen has made a couple business trips to Seattle for meetings and conferences. He got to tour this new building, which lets in too much daylight, causing office workers to hide behind umbrellas!

We celebrated our 4th anniversary with a visit to Seattle. We got couples massages at the Little Red Day Spa. Stephen also wanted to show Ginger the new Seattle Public Library, designed by Rem Koolhaus. 

 

We walked down by the piers and visited fun shops.

A hipster band played outside the original Starbucks. 

We visited Kelsey and Peter, who just bought their own home!

Stephen's friend and coworker Jason has returned home to Puyallup after two years working for Absher in Rhode Island. They spent a day hiking and touring a bed and breakfast with treehouses!

 

Ginger is volunteering with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship with the possibility of returning to part or full time work. She is planting a chapter at Tacoma Community College. Subscribe to her prayer letter here. Ginger is also working part time as a cake decorator at Albertson's bakery. She loves doing silly kid's cakes, and also learned to make giant roses.