We crossed back to Tacoma using the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. (I had remembered the story of Galloping Gertie and how the first bridge collapsed). Our next stop (or rather destination as we didn’t actually stop) was to drive through the University Place and Fircrest neighborhoods (kind of west/southwest Tacoma). A Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s store are located in this region. I really liked the neighborhood with plenty of trees and nature (also it is quite close to the water. The houses ranged from similar to what we had in Sacramento to some largest houses (in Fircrest). However the lots didn’t appear to be that large and so you had small yards and were close to neighbors.

From Fircrest, we drove through the Oakland neighborhood to see the area where Costco was located. This whole area felt much more commercial/industrial (think lots of auto body shop type business, construction, etc). This area didn’t feel quite as quaint and cozy as University Place.

The man who had checked us into our hotel the previous night had suggested Owen Beach as a nice place to walk around so we headed up towards that area. It is located within Point Defiance park, which is something we had on our list of places to visit already. We stopped at the Waterfront Market at Ruston for some lunch. This is an indoor marketplace with various booths/vendors – unfortunately most of the stalls were closed and there were quite a few vacancies (not sure if this is due to time of year, possibly they’re more full/busy during the summer season). One of the places open was Taco Street, serving food from the Chihuahua region of Mexico. These tacos were quite good – I had the Tacos Al Pastor since it was their special for the day.

We then continued up to Point Defiance park. This reminded me of Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC. There is a zoo and aquarium in this park along with what looked like miles of walking trails through the forest. We drove up to Owen Beach in the northeast part of the park, parked (free), and walked up and down the rocky beach. Our hotel person said that possibly you could see whales, sea lions, bald eagles. While we didn’t see any of that, it was quite peaceful and relaxing to just walk. Also I enjoyed the sounds of the pebbles underfoot.

From the park we drove down towards New Tacoma. And then we circled back a little into Hilltop. We stopped at Olympia Coffee in the Proctor region and also drove past the University of Puget Sound. The area around the university was cute.

For dinner we elected to try Sushi Tama. The chef has over 50 years of experience. By far the best thing was the Agedashi Tofu but the sushi was delicious as well. After dinner we stopped at a little Tiki Joint, which was deceptive because it just looked like a counter service place but had a “secret” door to the tiki area.

My overall thoughts on Tacoma is that for the most part I really enjoyed it. There are certainly areas that remind me of the more industrial parts of LA (auto shops, etc) but the neighborhoods are varied and cute. The proximity to the water also was quite nice. I didn’t like how compressed it felt though with houses built so close to one another.

The next morning after breakfast in our hotel, I went for a run along the water front. There was a great walking/bike bath along Ruston Way along Commencement Bay. It was quite chilly (mid 40s) and overcast but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

We then checked out and drove to Maple Valley to meet our friend JAG who had recently bought a house there. He has a great house in a cool neighborhood. Just south of where he lives we had lunch at the restaurant Europa (focus on German food). This reminded me of when JAG came to visit me in Michigan and we went to Frankenmuth (aka Little Bavaria).

We then made our way east to check out Snoqualmie Falls.

We drove through the Issaquah Highlands and older Issaquah region to check it out. The Highlands were a little bit too much of a planned community and felt a little too sterile. D and I want some history to wherever we do end up. Continuing to north of the city we drove along Lake Sammamish and past Redmond and Woodinville. This area has some nice homes but also the prices are a bit out of what we’d want to spend. We checked into our hotel in Everett and then walked to dinner. We tried out The New Mexicans and were pleasantly surprised with it. Would definitely recommend – especially their fry bread.

The following morning after breakfast in the hotel our first stop was the Evergreen Arboretum and Gardens. This small free park area was quite peaceful.

We drove further north up to Marysville (reminded us a little of the outskirt areas of Sacramento county) and over to the Lake Stevens area. While the houses here were more to our liking and looked like there may be a little bit more space, it was kind of too rural and far away from the city and other services. We eventually made our way back south and into Snohomish. We are fans of the HGTV show Unsellable Houses and the hosts are based out of here. Right away we spotted their company (Lamb & Co.) building. It was slightly raining while we were visiting. For lunch we settled on the Snohomish Pie Company (I won’t say no to a good pie). They had a lunch deal for a sandwich and slice of pie.

We then headed southwest and drove through Millcreek and stopped to get a coffee at Visible Coffee Roasters. My drink was much too sweet.

We continued back north and west and drove through Eastmont/Silverlake area (passing Boeing and Paine Field). We stopped at the Lighthouse in Mukilteo. Afterwards we continued south on the 99 towards Edmonds. The area along 99 is super congested and also much more urban and built up (did not like this area). Edmonds and down into Shoreline did have some pretty nice areas and houses (especially the $1+M houses that have water views). However the amount of people and crowdedness seemed to detract in my mind. Seems like we did a lot of driving and that is certainly the case – but I expected it and overall didn’t really mind it.

For dinner we decided to try out Anthony’s HomePort Everett (part of a local chain of seafood places). I had to get the chowder and try the salmon, both of which were good.

Prior to checking out of our hotel in Everett, we walked over to Narrative coffee for some morning caffeine and breakfast. It was nice to see that many locals stopped in to get some coffee or were having their coffee in the cafe.

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Choux Choux bakery for some pastries. Everett itself was a nice quiet little town that has potential but also is a bit north and you’d have decent traffic traveling south towards Seattle. D wanted to check out the cherry blossoms and they were supposed to have a nice showing in the quad at University of Washington, however we were just a little bit too early (they would bloom a day or two after we visited). We did get to see some cherry blossoms in the neighborhoods up in Everett (and the single tree on campus).

While we were there, we did get to stop at Cafe Allegro, which is known as Seattle’s oldest espresso bar.

We had booked lunch at Sushi Kappo Tamura, which was fabulous.

Post lunch we went to SAM (Seattle Art Museum) and they were having an exhibit on Ai Wei Wei (who I hadn’t heard of but did find his art fascinating).

That was the extent of our actual visit in Seattle proper as we then drove over to Bellevue for our final night stay at the Hyatt Regency (I had a free night with my card). My GI wasn’t cooperating so we elected to just get some dinner nearby in Bellevue Square. It was neat that they had the hotel connected to Lincoln Square North and to Bellevue Square with elevated walkways (it was raining again). For dinner we had Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya (not too bad) and then picked up a slice of Cheesecake factory cheesecake for dessert.

The following morning we woke up very early (had our treats from Choux choux) and made our way back to return our rental car and hitch a flight back home. Over our 3 full days visiting, we drove around 400 miles.

Final thoughts on the greater Seattle area. Overall I think there were some areas that I could see myself living though for the most part it seemed like the housing situation isn’t ideal for what we are looking for. I think to get more space/land, we’d have to go further away from the city and I don’t know if that’s something either of us are looking for. We had thought about getting a small place (like a condo/townhouse) and I could see that maybe in the Tacoma area closer to the water. We didn’t much explore the many islands nearby. Next up is the greater Portland area.

-StewsCat