Our Big Back Yard




We live in Point Defiance Park, on the north side of Tacoma. The driveway to our parking lot is through old-growth forest, and there are several hundred acres of forest and great trails throughout. Although we’ve been here a few months, half of our six-month lease, there are a few elements of the park we haven’t gotten around to yet. Today we did two of them. 

The first was at 8 a.m. We met with a running group that runs a 5K in the park every Saturday morning at 8 a.m. The course is mostly road with a little trail, and mostly flat with a little hill. I hadn’t run a 5K for time in a long time, and if you looked at my time today, you’d say I still haven’t. But it is always nice to get out and meet new people, and it’s pretty handy to have a running group in my backyard. 



Post-run we had a berry crepe and meaty wrap at the Jewel Box Cafe, and then after changing clothes and letting Mary out, we returned up the hill to the other side of the park and went to the zoo. 


It’s a significant zoo, with considerably more to it than we thought we would find. It includes two large aquariums, one focused on the Pacific aquatic life of this area, and another with tropical fish. 


I took Ann to a zoo and aquarium in Omaha on Valentine’s Day when we were living in St. Joe more than 25 years ago, so this was kind of a throwback. 







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