Tag: Vacation

The Wedding Ceremony

We met up with Judge Williams and went to his courtroom to have the ceremony. Thanks to Laurie and Burt for taking these photos. They weren’t just the witnesses, they were the official photographers too!

Signing the paperwork. Burt and Laurie signed too, but there are no pictures of that.

Ring time.

Ceremony done.

Rings on.

Official photo.

Official photo with witnesses. Thanks, Judge Williams!

On our way out, Judge Williams told us that he lives in Tacoma and has a daughter named Sienna. He owns a Toyota truck, but it’s neither the Tacoma or the Sienna. I quite enjoyed that tidbit.

Pre-Wedding Things

After our walk to the glass bridge, Laurie, Matt and I visited Port Defiance Park where we ate some lunch, peered at the fort (we visited the gift shop and didn’t pay to go into the fort) and then took a walk along one of the trails.

We also went on a tour of the Elks Temple. Our tour guide was great, very enthusiastic, and we were the only people, so we could ask a lot of questions.

Then we rested and got ready for the ceremony.

We removed the boxes around our ring boxes.

Burt and Laurie drove us, so we paid for the parking. Marriage ceremonies in Washington happen after 4 p.m. You can see that we arrived right at the end of the metered parking day and paid twenty-five cents for one minute of parking.

Engagement Photos

There were a few hours left of being engaged (what I like to call instead planning a wedding) and so we used the pretty backdrop at the Bridge of Glass to take a few photos.

We had a musical interlude.

We were thwarted by the sun.

But managed to not be too squinty in this photo.

On the way back we took this timer photo that I think turned out quite nice, even with the flare.

And here we join together to create the letter looming over us.

Chihuly Bridge of Glass

After breakfast we finally told Laurie and Burt that we had lured them to Tacoma so they could be our witnesses. They were excited.

Laurie, looking for outdoor things to avoid COVID, had found the Chihuly Bridge of Glass, which was a not-far walk from our hotel. We set out to explore.

Matt and Burt and a traveler.

Looking up is imperative at the glass bridge.

Here is just a bit of what you will see.

There are also these massive sculptures.

A view of the museum.

Then you can explore this wall of glass.

I had everyone pick a favorite and pose.

Laurie’s:

Mine (it had orange):

Matt’s:

Burt’s:

I also liked this one, with the sea creatures.

Morning Walk to Mail Announcements

Though I felt like I was tempting fate to mail announcements before the ceremony, my want to get those envelopes out the door ASAP outweighed my worry about tempting fate. So I set off for the post office. Here’s what I saw along the way.

This gorgeous building, currently not occupied.

I love all the brickwork and detail.

These lovely lights.

This mural.

The actual mailing of the announcements. You can see I was nearly 14 minutes into my walk when I took this picture.

This was my favorite find.

Look at these great stairs. And landscaping!

More great muralage.

A gorgeous old Woolworth’s building. (A thing I just learned from Wikipedia while looking up the possessive situation with the Woolworth name: On October 20, 2001, the company changed names again; taking the name of its top retail performer and became Foot Locker, Inc., which Woolworth started in 1974. The corporate history of Woolworth is legally included in the history of Foot Locker, Inc., which is the legal continuation of Woolworth. Who knew? Not me!)

I thought it was interesting that Idaho ranch land was offered for sale in Tacoma.

This gorgeous quartet of ghost murals. I think a building must have come down fairly recently for that outfitting company’s to be so vibrant. That, or it is a recreation. But see that line above it? I’m leaning toward the first theory.

And more ghost murals.

Who knew that Rossell G. O’Brien started this particular tradition? Not me! (It’s slightly less interesting than the Woolworth/Footlocker connection.)

Even more muralage, this time with the building at the beginning of the post.

This gorgeous mosaic.

And finally, back at the Elks Temple, the joy that is the fifth floor.

Pre-Wedding Dinner

We ate our last dinner as single people at the Over the Moon Cafe, which was just around the corner from our hotel. The food was delicious. It’s very much a place to go for big occasions, like anniversaries and the like.

Aside from delicious food and drink, every table had a small box where people leave notes about their meal and celebration. I left one.

Just to establish the angle of the streets just outside our hotel.

Our Room at McMenamins Elks Temple Hotel

The Elks Temple is a gorgeous little beacon in Tacoma. This was our first time visiting.

We splurged on the room, and it did not disappoint.

It had a very pretty balcony.

And a fun view of the herb garden.

And a gorgeous view of Commencement Bay.

But also, the local person highlighted was a twirler! Yay marching band representation!

Matt contemplates all he missed out on by not joining marching band.

Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge

Stop number two on our journey to Tacoma was this National Wildlife Refuge.

A very fun way to encourage distance.

For a time, this was a kind of corporate farm. A businessman built a huge dike and ran his farm using all the most modern techniques. That included building these two gorgeous barns.

Eventually, the farm was not profitable, and the dike was breached to restore the tidal flats. Now, visitors can take a long walk through the tidal flats. We did this, it was fun.

Us at the end of the boardwalk. There was a woman having a very intense phone conversation, one that would have better been had in private, so we didn’t stay long.

Tidal flats.

There were a lot of birdwatchers. They had a lot of gear. I had a small camera. This was the bird I too a picture of.