kswl

My 14-year-old son, an avid Go player, and I are attending the American Go Congress in Tacoma Aug. 6-14. It will be held at Pacific Lutheran University; we will be housed in dormitories there and apparently eating at the school cafeteria. (Not a luxury trip!)

I am not a Go player, and after the first day or so, would probably leave my son for several hours at a time to go off sightseeing.

Questions: would it be worthwhile to rent a car out there? Is PLU far from public transportation? If I did have a car, is there be **enough** to see within a framework of a few hours, including traveling time?

I have been on PLU's website and it looks okay, but doesn't answer all the questions.
Thanks in advance for any replies!

Wednesday

not a clue, but what a detailed, specific question you posted ! Some get so frustated with vague inquiries, I hope you get some answers !

kswl

Thanks, Wednesday. I get frustrated sometimes with the "need help with itinerary" and have perhaps overcompensated. quot;>

Gardyloo

A car is absolutely essential.

It's in an outlying area of Tacoma, close to a couple of military bases. Small (like, really really small) commercial area near the campus, otherwise suburban big-box landscape.

With wheels you can visit the various downtown Tacoma attractions (Museum of Glass, art museum, waterfront etc.); you can do an easy day trip to Mt. Rainier; Seattle is around an hour's drive or less, visit the State Capitol in Olympia, lots of things. Hanging out around PLU would be pretty low down the list.

kswl

Thanks, Gardyloo. That's the kind of info they don't put on the website: "suburban big-box landscape."

Is the campus pretty at this time of year? A 9-hole golf course was also mentioned--nice or so-so? And for a really specific question, has anyone seen the PLU swimming pool, for which we will be charged $3 per dip?

kswl

ttt

kswl

ttt one last time--thanks for your patience.

Orcas

As Gardyloo says, there is a lot to see nearby if you have a car.

My sister used to live near PLU. I can't speak to the pool there, though I'd imagine it is good, being at a university. There is also an excellent Y in downtown Tacoma with a 20 m. pool, if I recall. You can probably get a pass for a day.

Adding to Gardyloo's list of things to do nearby, another good museum is the Washington State History Museum, which is in the same complex as the Museum of Glass. It is about ten years old and has lots of dynamic and really interesting exhibits. Your son would like it too, if he can escape from his game for awhile. The converted train station nearby has good Chihuly Glass you can see in the lobby.

Also Point Defiance Park is in Tacoma, with the zoo, kayak rentals, swimming in the sound, probably bicycling. It is lovely. I'm sure it has a website.

Old Town Tacoma is down by the waterfront and offers nice walks by the water. There are little restaurants and a few shops in the immediate area.

In honor of Go, I would suggest an excellent Japanese restaurant in downtown Tacoma, Fujiyas.

If you get adventurous and have a little more time, you might want to take the ferry from Point Defiance to Vashon Island and explore Vashon by car. There's not a lot there, though there are some good eateries and a gallary or two. Mostly it's rural in character and the people there have kept out McDonalds and other chains. It's like a step into the past, with pretty views.

I'm sure you'll have fun. Let us know what you have found.

dsquared

Point Defiance Park - big, over 700 acres with pretty gardens, zoo/aquarium, beach, etc. Anthony's restaurant on park waterfront is good. Open for lunch and dinner.

zoo - www.pdza.org

park - http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/page.php?id=24

Gardyloo

And no, no idea about the pool, except I would assume it's a pretty good facility.

kswl

Thank you all for your replies. I'm feeling a bit happier about this trip now that I won't necessarily be confined to the campus. The trip is really for the son's 14th birthday present (with a few days in Deer Valley, UT thrown in for me). There are almost 500 registrants from the U.S., Canada and Japan coming to this event, along with a few from the UK, Russia, China, etc. More than 80 are youth players under age 18. Just wish it were being held in a spa for non-Go-playing mommies.

Orcas

Okay, for a really funky and fun spa day with some of the other Moms with kids in the tournament, check out the Olympus Spa in Lakewood, just south of Tacoma. (Call ahead if you decide to go.)

http://olympusspa.com/

You can easily spend a morning or afternoon there, and they have a little cafeteria, too, that serves Asian food.

For a small price, you can be admitted and take advantage of the multiple small soaking pools at different temperatures and you can read magazines or a book in one of the rooms with heated floors (Each room has a floor with a different substance under the material, like salt or sand).

For more money, you can have a massage treatment and facial. You'll feel like a salad, if you go for the full treatment, being all oiled up, with slices of cucumbers slapped on your eyes. It is really interesting! You get hosed down, ordered about, and come out with soft skin and feeling relaxed.

The ladies that run this place are Korean and it is a really different kind of spa. They give you a robe, but, basically, you have to be okay with walking around naked a lot between pools, and the treatments are done in a room with others having similar treatments, so you have to be willing to set modesty aside for an experience you will be talking about for a long time.

kswl

Thanks so much for the spa website---it looks great! Very inexpensive for the services, if they're good, and at most spas you have to check your modesty at the door, so no worries there. This sounds like a whole day of solitude and exfoliant nirvana, not to mention the heated salt room! Thank you for making this trip suddenly much more appealing.