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Excited about my Tacoma Day, 2010!

Published on 08/13/10 - 0 Comments

Hi everyone,  I'm new to this community and to blogging in general.  We live in Renton and the Pacific NW for oh, 7 years now and love it.  My spouse military ID just expired and my hubby is getting a promo so we're trekking to Tacoma and making a whole day of it!  Here's my itinerary and can't wait to blog it later on www.tdyfamilytravel.com  Any feedback is warmly welcome!

Our tentative itinerary:

1)      6 am, we drive down to Camp Murray for DH (Dear Husband) 5 min ceremony at 9 am and most importantly, for Pauline to get her military ID. :-)

2)     If we don't drive w/ DH so early in the morning we may take Rt 560 bus which leaves from Renton and has only one stop at SEATAC to final stop, Lakewood via Rt 574. From Lakewood, DH would have to pick us up, but it’s only 15 min drive to base.  (Lakewood is in between downtown Tacoma and Camp Murray)

3)      As I get my military ID, we can explore Camp Murray which is by the water and has hiking/stroller trails.  There’s also the PX exchange which has pretty good deals on alcohol.  (sad, but true).

4)      Later, the kid and I will take DH's car and drive up to Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, the highlight of our trip.  There’s a highly rated sandwich deli and old fashioned soda shop for lunch.  Pt Defiance is in a huge park by the water, so hopefully it will be slightly cooler there.

5)      By the time it gets really hot and time for the kids' 2 hr nap which can start as early as 11:30 or as late as 2 pm, we’ll head over to the Tacoma Art Museum/Glass Museum, which I hope is air-conditioned.   I read that the upstairs area of the Tacoma Art Museum is kid friendly, so I am hoping he can sleep in the stroller  while Mom reads.

6)      We have free passes to the museum which you can get from the Bellevue Library.

7)      North of the art museums, there is also a Children’s Museum in Tacoma and I think we have free passes to that as well, thanks to our annual membership to KidsQuest Museum... I'll have to search the desk drawer...where did I file those pesky coupons?

8)      DH gets done w/ drill at 4 pm, and there is also Jefferson Park, a few miles west of the art museum area which has a new water spray feature for the kids.

9)      It’s about 20 minutes from downtown Tacoma to Camp Murray/Ft. Lewis.

On Sunday, we have no plans but in the early evening, when it is supposed to get really hot, we may check out the Renton water park which is a lot of fun.  If I don't feel like cooking/grilling, there's a tasty, el-cheapo Mexican take-out place where we can get takeout to eat in the water park and bring beer.