For this week’s column, I’m going to tell you fun facts about the Paul Titus Carousel at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma. Why? Because its history is fascinating. And because the kids love it. I like it, too. But … I’m also the Debbie Downer who gets mercilessly ill on anything that dips, tilts and spins. So I decided to look into its history in order to like it more, haha. And it worked!
Seeking some post-Christmas cheer while the kids are still out of school? Here’s the last of the local holiday events, albeit most are in the Tacoma area — but the worth the drive! If you’ve got something to add, email me at tonya.strickland@gigharbornow.org.
Point Anderson Park in Kitsap County trades pokey pebble shores for the warm and fluffy sands of summer.
Last week, the kids and I stumbled on a lovelock bridge right here in Gig Harbor. We’d just gotten our wiggles out by running down the big grassy slope at Donkey Creek Park, then headed up to North Harborview Drive when the distinct glint of boxy brass and steel caught our eye. Sure enough, roughly 150 padlocks hung from the crisscross of cables between the guard rails of the 2013 city bridge over Donkey Creek.
Yep, that’s right. Bowen and I took the kids to see everyone’s favorite minor league baseball team, the Rainiers, at Tacoma’s Cheney Stadium. And it was surprisingly family-friendly!
Read on for the full list of everything kiddo approved there.
Now that Clara and Wyatt’s prime childhood sport-team-ready age is actually here, and I Google “youth sports near me,” there’s not one easy place to find the options.
But fear not, sports newbies!
For I have created the below go-to list to help navigate the various public, nonprofit, and independent youth sports leagues in and around Gig Harbor so looking how to get your kid involved locally will never feel like a chore again! (hopefully).
This family-friendly bit of nature is open to the public from dawn to dusk and quickly immerses visitors into a world of leafy forest fauna, a criss-cross of fallen tree trunks on the sidelines, and at least one manmade stick fort.
This story was published in the Feb. 9, 2023 installment of our new Gig Harbor Now news column. The topic, crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, was originally published here on the blog in 2022, and then updated for the paper last week.
… Tucked behind Discovery Elementary School, The Kids’ Gig is a hidden gem playground designed by students and built by community volunteers 21 years ago.
I’m happy to report that my very first Washington newspaper column is on the cover of Gig Harbor Now today. In fact, my blog posts will regularly appear in this hyperlocal news site as we officially launch a Two In Tow column twice a month to tell stories about places to take kids in and around Gig Harbor.
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