It was so cold on Wednesday night I could see my breath in the air when I woke up. I had the clothing for this kind of weather, but it was still tough to get motivated to get out of bed. I made some coffee as I was tearing down my campsite to warm me up and packed up my car. On my way out of the park I stopped at a few of the scenic stops along the road before arriving at Grove of the Patriarchs trail to do a short hike on my way to Takoma. This was a beautiful trail and had displays along it telling the tale of the forest. It started on a basic dirt trail before transitioning to a boardwalk planked walkway that began with a walk over a tension bridge. The trees in this area were huge and over 1000 years old. The trail was only 1 mile long, so I decided to do it twice to take everything in before departing for Tacoma.

The drive out the park was beautiful with all of the dense trees, I slowly transitioned back to reality as the nature turned into rural towns and then the city of Tacoma. As I was nearing Tacoma a small rock came hurling thru the air and put a dent in my windshield. It was only the size of a quarter, but the damage was very visible. I tried not to let it bother me but was still annoyed at the damage to my new car.

My hotel was beautiful. I had splurged a bit to stay downtown and get a nice corner room with a view. While the hotel, my room and lobby were beautiful, the WIFI at the hotel was absolute shit. Getting some work done or doing research were horribly slow. I would give Hotel Murano 5 stars, but absolutely horrible network connection brings it down to 3 stars and it really slowed me down catching up on work and researching my next steps. If you plan on doing work or need any internet usage do not stay here. I found some dinner and explored some breweries on Thursday Night and made an appointment to seal the dent in my car’s windshield sealed the next day.

I woke up Friday knowing I had an appointment to fix my car’s windshield at 11:30 and spent the morning on the painfully slow hotel WIFI catching up on work and researching my next few days. One thing I had not mentioned earlier are issues with my phone’s camera. About 80% of the time when I go to take a photo the camera is blurry until I shake my phone, it’s really annoying I researched the issue earlier and everything on the internet points to a known issue with a bad camera, but I didn’t have time to get it fixed being on the road and the shake work around made it functional. I found an authorized repair shop that would be covered under my phones warranty and after getting my windshield sealed, I dropped my phone off to get the camera repaired.

It was raining today so I decided against any hikes or bike rides and decided to hit some of the tourist traps of Tacoma. My phone was being repaired so I used my GoPro for photos. My first stop was the Tacoma Zoo and Aquarium at Defiance Park, I had not visited a zoo in ages. It was a bit underwhelming, there were not a lot of attractions to see, and their main polar bear attraction was shut down for a few days. Next stop was the Fort Nisqually Living History Museum. This was a recreation of a late 1800’s fort which was a real nice look at history and how life was back then. One thing that stuck out to me was how many things change, but how some remain the same. The décor of the interiors of some of the buildings actually reminded me of my grandparent’s houses. Next stop was the glass museum which had some interesting exhibits and even featured a live glass blowing demonstration.

After picking up my phone I went and had a delicious meal at the Lobster Shop. I splurged and got 3 courses with calamari, lobster bisque and finished it off with a lobster pasta. It was amazing, I wish I could eat like this every night. I drove back to my hotel then got a ride to some breweries to end my evening. One beer I had was called the POG Slammer Juicy IPA at Black Fleet Brewing. It was the best beer I have had on my trip so far. The brewer added passion fruit, guava and blood orange to the beer and it was amazing. I had a lively chat with the brewer, and we exchanged ideas on brewing techniques, and I grabbed some cans of this delightful beer before heading on my way. I will be trying to recreate this one at home.

I stopped at another brewery on my walk back to the hotel but, the rain was starting to get heavy, so I called a ride instead of getting drenched on my mile walk back. My next stops are the Ape Lava Tubes near Mount St Helens and spending the night in Longview, Washington and then maybe Astoria after, we shall see. By the way, did I mention how bad the internet at Hotel Murano sucks, beautiful hotel but it’s taking forever to post this.

TLDR: Small sightseeing and hike in Mt Rainier. Dent in windshield. Zoo, museum, breweries in Tacoma. Beautiful new beer, WIFI at hotel sucks.

Full Photo Albums
Mt Rainier Day 4 – https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UdHrZUs12SC6HF47
Tacoma – https://photos.app.goo.gl/uz4cqdE3DbTKuiqx6

Featured Photos

The drive out the park was beautiful with all of the dense trees, and I slowly transitioned back to reality as the nature turned into rural s and then the city of Tacoma. As I was nearing Tacoma a small rock came hurling thru the air and put a dent in my windshield. It was only the size of a quarter, but the damage was very visible. I tried not to let it bother me but was still annoyed at the damage to my new car.

My hotel was beautiful. I had splurged a bit to stay downtown and get a nice corner room with a view. While the hotel and lobby were beautiful, the WIFI at the hotel was absolute shit. Getting some work done or doing research were horribly slow. I would give Hotel Murano 5 stars, but absolutely horrible network connection brings it down to 3 stars and it really slowed me down catching up on work and researching my next steps. If you plan on doing work or need any internet usage do not stay here. I found some dinner and explored some breweries on Thursday Night and made an appointment to seal the dent in my car’s windshield sealed the next day.

I woke up Friday knowing I had an appointment to fix my car’s windshield at 11:30 and spent the morning on the painfully slow hotel WIFI catching up on work and researching my next few days. One thing I had not mentioned earlier are issues with my phone’s camera. About 80% of the time when I go to take a photo the camera is blurry until I shake my phone, it’s really annoying I researched the issue earlier and everything on the internet points to a known issue with a bad camera, but I didn’t have time to get it fixed being on the road and the shake work around made it functional. I found an authorized repair shop that would be covered under my phones warranty and after getting my windshield sealed, I dropped my phone off to get the camera repaired.

It was raining today so I decided against any hikes or bike rides and decided to hit some of the tourist traps of Tacoma. My phone was being repaired so I used my GoPro for photos. My first stop was the Tacoma Zoo and Aquarium at Defiance Park, I had not visited a zoo in ages. It was a bit underwhelming, there were not a lot of attractions to see, and their main polar bear attraction was shut down for a few days. Next stop was the Fort Nisqually Living History Museum. This was a recreation of a late 1800’s fort which was a real nice look at history and how life was back then. One thing that stuck out to me was how many things change, but how some remain the same. The décor of the interiors of some of the buildings actually reminded me of my grandparent’s houses. Next stop was the glass museum which had some interesting exhibits and even featured a live glass blowing demonstration.

After picking up my phone I went and had a delicious meal at the Lobster Shop. I splurged and got 3 courses with calamari, lobster bisque and finished it off with a lobster pasta. It was amazing, I wish I could eat like this every night. I drove back to my hotel then got a ride to some breweries to end my evening. One beer I had was called the POG Slammer Juicy IPA at Black Fleet Brewing. It was the best beer I have had on my trip so far. The brewer added passion fruit, guava and blood orange to the beer and it was amazing. I had a lively chat with the brewer, and we exchanged ideas on brewing techniques, and I grabbed some cans of this delightful beer before heading on my way. I will be trying to recreate this one at home.

I stopped at another brewery on my walk back to the hotel but, the rain was starting to get heavy, so I called a ride instead of getting drenched on my mile walk back. My next stops are the Ape Lava Tubes near Mount St Helens and spending the night in Longview, Washington and then maybe Astoria after, we shall see. By the way, did I mention how bad the internet at Hotel Murano sucks, beautiful hotel but it’s taking forever to post this.

TLDR: Small sightseeing and hike in Mt Rainier. Dent in windshield. Zoo, museum, breweries in Tacoma. Beautiful new beer, WIFI at hotel sucks.

Full Photo Albums
Mt Rainier Day 4 – https://photos.app.goo.gl/4UdHrZUs12SC6HF47
Tacoma – https://photos.app.goo.gl/uz4cqdE3DbTKuiqx6

Featured Photos

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