The Vitamin Shoppe at 3801 South Steele Street, Tacoma is occupying 1/2 of the space that had previously been Petco. I stopped in the store today because I had some time to waste before I picked up dear daughter. I walked out with a bar of citrus soap, some gummy vitamins, gum healthy gum and a power bar. There are over 500 Vitamin Shoppes across America.
Tacoma’s Urban Exchange at 1983 Pacific Avenue in the University of Washington Tacoma Branch area is pretty cool. I didn’t have much time to look, but they had some really cute clothes and shoes at dynamite prices. The space is in the McDonald Smith Building which was constructed in 1890.
The Galaxy Narrows Theater at 2208 Mildred Street West in University Place closed its doors on January 31, 2013, the same day that Meiers House of Clocks closed. This is another place that I just assumed would be there in the future. Over the years we’ve often watched films there and then we’d go to the frozen yogurt place next door (which is also gone). The Keg Restaurant has also recently left the center.
So I went off in search of cupcakes along Pacific Avenue today, but the cupcake place was closed and it was raining and I wanted to go home. So I snapped a quick photo of the vacant building. It was driving me crazy that I couldn’t remember what it use to be, but then it came to me. It was a Sea Galley. I never ate at this one, but I did go to the one in Puyallup once. It was something else for a while and its been vacant for a while. There is still one left open in Union Gap, WA.
The other day, dear daughter asked why we hadn’t stopped at Fife’s new grocery store, Tahoma Market at 6006 Pacific Highway East, Fife, WA 98424. Well today after the YWCA’s wonderful RAGS show I did stop in. It wasn’t what I expected. I thought it was a small specialty grocery store, but really it is a large convenience store with 24 traditional gas pumps, several electric vehicle charging stations, an extensive liquor selection, several types of brewed coffee and everything one might need for a quick pit-stop. It was extremely clean and service was polite.
The sun was shining, it was relatively warm and dear daughter and I escaped to the Pacific Rim Bonsai Collection in Federal Way. There were very few rhododendrons in bloom, as was to be expected, but that was good because it let us really focus on the bonsai. We left with a little fern, a lovely scarf and two cute magnets.
Ben Gilbert Park, located where St. Helen’s and Market Street in Tacoma is a relatively large pocket park. The park is pretty cool with native vegetation carefully planted and labeled, a fun owl mural and a stupendous mural showing a gathering of baseball fans in 1926 Tacoma. The fans were there to watch the results of the seventh game of the World Series between the New York Yankees (Lou Gehrig) and the St. Louis Cardinals (Babe Ruth). The park was dedicated on August 14, 2010. The interesting history of the park can be found here http://www.tacomahistory.org/SpecialProjects/Ben_Gilbert_Park.html#
Thursday night I met an old friend at Bahama Breeze, a tropical themed restaurant at 15700 Southcenter Pkwy, Tukwila, WA 98188. There are 30+ locations of the restaurant, but this is the only one on the West Coast. The food was very tasty and it was so nice to be able to catch up with my friend 😀
An evening event brought us to the Bellevue Hilton at 300 112th Ave SE Bellevue, WA 98004. Its a nice hotel and they had delicious brownies 😀
Veggies Northwest Fircrest at 1115 Regents Boulevard, Fircrest will be open a year as of April 28, 2013. It primarily sells fruits and vegetables, along with cheeses, beer, wine, nuts and a few miscellaneous items. Really they have a great selection and I’ll be stopping back. There is a second Veggies Northwest location, the original one, in Chehalis. Their Facebook page is here https://www.facebook.com/veggiesfircrest
