There are all the school buses just waiting for the first day of school 🙂 This photo was in the Nalley Valley part of town at the southwest corner of South Tacoma Way and Sprague Avenue. I could only safely capture some of the buses, but the image below (thank you Google Earth!) shows that there are many more buses. I think there is a special star in heaven for school bus drivers!
The Mima Mounds Natural Area Preserve is a designated National Natural Landmark near the Capital State Forest and Maytown. The 3′ to 6′ high mounds themselves are kind of cool, large, rounded hills. The Mima mounds appear in parts of Washington, Oregon, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and California, and also in Kenya, Mexico, Canada, Australia and China. Scientists don’t really know what caused them, but theories include pocket gophers, wind blowing around vegetation, seismic activity, shrinking & swelling clay and, my personal favorite, space aliens.
Fair warning, this park requires a Discovery Pass which can be purchased online here.
It was a lovely day and I strolled the area near Tacoma’s Glass Museum and stopped to capture I-705. I was talking to my dear husband and I said the highway wasn’t built when we first moved here and he said it was. We were both right. I moved here at the end of 1989 and he moved here in the spring of 1990 because he stayed in Texas to sell our house there. The road opened between our two moves.
On my way home from dropping dear daughter off at college, I stopped at the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park in Vantage, WA.There are over 40 species which have been petrified in the 7,470 acre park. Per Wikipedia the area had originally been lush and wet, but much of the vegetation was covered in volcanic ash and eventually became petrified. The park opened in 1938 and much of the work had been done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). I didn’t realize that petrified wood is the state gem for Washington! The site is one of 594 properties to have the National Natural Landmark Designation. I would have liked to have stayed longer, but I wanted to get home, I didn’t have the right shoes for rattle snakes and it was really hot!
Two of the photos below are from the nearby gem shop, which was also very cool.
I dropped my dear daughter off at Washington State University to begin her adventures as a college student. Yes, that was just as hard as it sounds. While there, she told me that I could have one photo and that it would be in front of the book statue by the library. (She’s kind of bossy like that!). Bookin’ by artist Terry Allen was installed on the Terrell Mall in 2006. Terry Allen’s website can be found here.
I only spent a night in Lewiston, ID and didn’t have much time to explore. I came into the city from Washington State and was surprised at just how steep the hill leading into town was. I especially wasn’t thrilled since it was very dark and I was tired. The city fronts on both the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. The city’s website is here.
We stopped at the Red Horse Diner because of it is a 50s style diner, but we loved it for its food! Dear daughter and I stopped for a meal here on the way to dropping her off at college and I stopped on my way back alone. It had been a service station and maintains the original pumps, as well as a bunch of fun 50s signs and paraphernalia. The Pegasus, the red horse, has been the symbol of Mobil Oil since the 1930s. The website for the diner is here.
The evening view was lovely from their parking lot!
So it seemed appropriate on my dear daughter’s last full day with us for a while to go visit her old school to pick up her most excellent high school transcripts. School of the Arts (SOTA) has both administrative space and classrooms in the old Post Office.
I picked my dear daughter up at the airport and she was hungry for lunch. So we swung by Grand Central Bakery at 626 SW 152nd St., Burien, WA 98166. I had the BLT and dear daughter had a grill cheese and both were delicious. In particular the bread for our sandwiches was a treat. The artisan bakery is part of a small chain located in Seattle and Portland. The restaurant space is simple and full of light. The staff was welcoming and patient while we came to our lunch order decision. Grand Central’s website is here.
Treos Coffee at 2312 N 30th St.,Tacoma, WA 98403 is where a Forza use to be. The decor is really lovely. and the backdrop of the bar is very nice. And my husband said the drip coffee was so good that he asked for a refill (free!). He never does that.