Walkable

 


At our last place, we walked up 200+stairs to get to where the F-150 is parked. But if you wanted to


keep walking instead of going for a drive, you were only about halfway up the hill. You were within walking distance of historic Fort Nisqually (complete with living history reenactors), a zoo/aquarium, and a fantastic park with giant trees. Much else would start to stretch the bounds of what most people would define as “walking distance.”

Not so with the new digs. We got together with our friends (both of them!) last night. They suggested a place called Zen Sushi Burrito prior to going out to a movie. Ann asked me if it was walking distance. Not being altogether oriented with exactly where it is I am currently living in this city yet, I said, “No, I don’t think so.” Then I plugged it into Google maps. It was just barely over a mile away, or about a 20-minute walk. Roughly the same distance as walking from our house in Columbia to a downtown restaurant, which was one of our favorite things to do. So walk we did.


It’s a pleasant walk, through a quiet residential area, past a hospital with a lot of new construction, and by some businesses with impressively large trees in their small front lawns. In the last bit we walked through Wright Park, the same Wright Park we lived next to when we first moved to Tacoma. We’re not that far from where we lived then, but the neighborhood is very different. Our house on 2nd Street was on the line between gritty urban and opulent historic mansions. Our current neighborhood is less extreme on both fronts.

As for the restaurant, I’d seen these Sushi Burrito places around, but had never been to one and didn’t understand what they were. I was naively thinking it was some kind of Japanese/Mexican fusion, and they were talking about legit burritos. I learned that a Sushi Burrito is actually a big, fat burrito-sized sushi. My friend got one, and it looked pretty good. I had Chicken Dupbap, a South Korean chicken and rice dish that was quite good. Ann had a salmon Poke Bowl, similar but more Hawaiian in origin. They also had ramen bowls. K-Pop was on the TV. The servings were generous, almost more than we wanted, and prices made me feel like I was back in Missouri, ranging


from $13 - $16. They even had a Terra, a South Korean beer, for $1 a can on Friday nights. I think it was our cheapest meal out since we left Missouri, unless you count the nights that we shared an appetizer as a meal.

Post dinner we went to the historic Grand Theater and saw Tuner. It’s a movie about a piano tuner, and is way more exciting than that sounds. It’s also about problems with our health care system, class warfare (with a touch of eat the rich), living with a disability, caring for the elderly, following your dreams, falling in love, pianos and Dustin Hoffman making one more movie (he’s got to be close to 90). There was something there for everyone. And it was very good. Highly recommend.

Although vibrant downtown Tacoma is only a 20-minute walk away, the hip and happening “6th Ave” district is less than half that, practically in our backyard. We look forward to exploring over there soon. 

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