Home » Travel » Washington State » Trekking Through Tacoma

Trekking Through Tacoma

© Jerri Brooker

Hook up with a local walking club such as the Olympic Volkssport Club in Olympia or the Evergreen Wanderers in Tacoma and get a first-hand view of an area. Walk beaches, walk forests, walk along rivers, walk to waterfalls, walk in parks and neighborhoods. Walking is a great way to see sights.

We toured the Seattle Pike Place Market in a past article. Now it's time to get on your walking shoes and tour another site around the state. Print out a copy of this city map and away we go! Destination: Tacoma, Washington..

Downtown Tacoma is finally picking up after a long struggle to revive itself after people left the core of the city to shop at the new malls where parking was not a problem and stores were easier to get to on foot. Time was not kind to Tacoma as it watched merchants leave, but the downtown city has since revived itself and now has some great places to visit. This trip we are visiting downtown Pacific Avenue and the surrounding Tacoma Dome area. The University of Washington Tacoma has a new campus complete with bookstore and Starbuck's coffee on the main street of Tacoma, Pacific Avenue. Usually you can find parking, so just get out and trek around the updated neighborhood. See the US District Court in the old train depot at the Union Station, which houses a miraculous display of Dale Chihuly glass art. It's now a courthouse and houses a downstairs restaurant.

Next door feast your eyes on the Washington State History Museum. It's a relative newcomer to Tacoma, and displays artifacts of our state history, with permanent and traveling exhibits. Experience what it was like to be a pioneer. Plan to spend a lot of time learning about Washington State, then walk across the street to the Harmon Pub and Brewery (a former furniture factory) where you'll be served a tons of whatever you choose! Great food and ale; families are welcome. Visit the local antique shops in the same area.

If you like chocolate of the best kind, save some energy for a walk to the Brown and Haley chocolate factory where you can get some great buys on candy such as Mountain Bars and Almond Roca to send to Aunt Joan. This is where they make them, folks: all 592 Mountain Bars per minute, among other chocolate treats. Be sure to visit the website and check out their warehouse candy sales, too. They don't make them as big as they used to, (or I was so small they looked a lot bigger as a child) but they taste just as delicious as they always have.