Sunday, February 14, 2010

Valentine's Day in Tacoma

There was a lot of confusion about what we were doing today.

The original plan was Gig Harbor. Then it changed to Whidbey Island. Then it changed back to Gig Harbor again.

And then we woke up this morning after a night of almost constant pouring rain. We were both tired. And a combination of those two things pretty much made our decision for us. We were going to have a mostly restful day at home and perhaps venture out to the Museum of Glass later.

So I went back to bed around 10 and woke up at noon to...bright sunlight?

That settled it. Something outdoors then.

I decided on Wright Park, which is part of Tacoma's Metro Parks system. They had a conservatory there, art scattered throughout the park, plus it is located in the middle of the historic and architecturally interesting Stadium District, which we'd never been to before.

Just to give a pop culture point of reference - the main landmark in the district is Stadium High School, which was featured prominently in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. We saw that today as well, but we couldn't find parking close enough for me to get out and photograph it. It's a very impressive building.

Anyway, the park is lovely and seems quite popular. It was busy today. The W.W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory, which changes its displays every month, had a beautiful predominantly red and pink themed display with tulips, hyacinths and other early spring flowers. They had musicians performing romantic music inside the conservatory as we walked around (I recognized "Romeo & Juliet" but everything we heard them play was lovely).

We were only in the area for about an hour, but I could've stayed longer. It's a charming district and I think I would like to go back and meander about a bit more and explore more of what it has to offer.

Now for some pictures and links about the area:


My Wright Park photos (slideshow)

Wright Park Information - Tacoma Metro Parks website

Stadium High School

Karpeles Manuscript Library (across the street from Wright Park - closed today)

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