A Narrow(s) escape

My wife, Barbara, and I went to Tacoma this weekend. Our trip was twofold—to visit one of our daughters (and family) and for Barbara to indoctrinate her and one of her friends in pickle making procedures. While they were involved with that, I headed out to the Scott Pierson Trail to cross the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (hence, a Narrow(s) escape.) The trail starts near 25th and Sprague however, I chose to use the Park & Ride near Cheney Stadium.

The trail is very well maintained and through judicious use of decorated walls and shrubbery, the noise level from the adjacent highway is quite muted.

There are a couple of places where signage could be better, but I was able to figure out where I had to go. The first glimpse of the bridges comes as you cross above highway 16 on a pedestrian/bike overpass.

The bridge on the right opened in 1950 and was the replacement for ‘Galloping Gertie’ which collapsed in 1940. The bridge on the left opened in 2007 and has a 10 foot wide, two-way bike/pedestrian walkway.

From the center of the bridge there is a sweeping panorama of the south sound and adjacent communities.

Also, while on the bridge you can capture Mount Rainier through the bridge suspension;

after crossing, you can see the mountain and both bridges.

On the way back to my car I stopped at the War Memorial—a tranquil respite on a very warm day.

Upon arriving home I found the pickling process nearly complete—a good day for everyone.