Downtown to Defiance

In the immortal opening page of The Cat in the Hat:

The sun did not shine.

It was too wet to play.

So we sat in the house

 All that cold, cold, wet day.

As I've stated in a previous blog post, in the Pacific Northwest, simply plan to do everything in the rain.  That's precisely what we did this Sunday for Tacoma's Downtown to Defiance event commemorating the opening of the last section of waterfront which now allows pedestrians to travel unabated from Thea Foss waterway in downtown Tacoma, all the way to Point Defiance Park Marina.  Tacoma planned a party to commemorate the event, and I imagine, due to the weather forecast, not as many people as expected showed for the event.    It wasn't nearly as desolate as our start line photo seems to allude; we were 40 minutes late for the start.  

We knew from the weather reports it was going to rain.  The only question was; how much?  With our best biking rain apparel, and the temps in the mid 50's, we didn't get hypothermic, but we certainly got our share of soaked.  We fed and bundled the kids, handed them lost of toys, were accompanied by our Canadian neighbor, and headed into the outdoors for some fun.  

The bike trailer we purchased 2 weeks ago did quite well.  More water got into the carriage and pooled in the foot well than we expected, but the kids took it in stride.  We did learn not to bring books next time.

Although I pulled the trailer from our house to the start line, and from the finish back to the house, Sarah enjoyed pulling the kid chariot along the relatively flat shoreline segment of our journey.  She and the kids had enormous fun.  

There were several pit stops along the route with activities for both adults and kids.  Above, we take a photo op at the first stop, Thea's Park where Thea waterway meets Commencement Bay.  

Grace takes some time to make a flag for the bike - see it in many of the photos above and below.  Oh, and we had snacks constantly - on the go, at every stop, and everywhere in between.  

At the second stop I caught a fish "THIS BIG!"  You could actually walk around inside that fish.  It was fun.  Then we saw a train.  Kids love trains.  

Getting the kids in and out of the trailer is a bit of a chore.  After the 3rd reload, we decided not to stop again until the finish line, until we saw some pirates.  

Sarha and Jessie enjoy a photo op with the pirates.  The kids enjoy more snacks and free beads.  

What was our reward for getting soaked and biking 15 miles through Tacoma's neighborhoods and waterfront?  Popsicles!  The delicious treats from Hill Top Pop Shop can't be bought in a store, you have to find them at farmer's markets and local events.  The kids didn't care it was 55 degrees out, they loved their popsicles, shivering lips and all.