Goodbye, Tacoma. See you in September

Every Saturday since mid-September I've spent 2 and 1/2 hours waymarking and drinking coffee in Tacoma while my son has orchestra rehearsal. I've learned so much about the history of Tacoma, it's art, it's museums, its coffee. But today was the last full rehearsal before the end of the season concert and my freewheeling waymarking Saturdays are now a thing of the past.

To mark the end of this great "waymarking/symphony season" we decided to hunt down some waymarks for my new favorite category - Neon Lights. I had googled "Neon Tacoma" during the week and found 3 signs that I just had to waymark, and so we headed out this morning in search of great neon. Great neon we found. The thing about these signs is that in context they might seem cool and maybe a bit funky but nothing to make you gasp. The peeling paint and broken tubes tend to blend into the transitional neighborhoods that they are often found in. But once you get home and upload your photos, you realize how great they really are. A close-up photo crops out the tacky storefronts, city dumpsters and beat up cars. All you see is the sign - every flake of paint and broken tube. For me, the timeworn look of a neon sign is part of the beauty. It says, "been there, done that." It becomes a glowing, buzzing memory of what was and a truthful tale of what is.

Last September I thought these Saturday's would be a dreadfully boring, but I've had so much fun waymarking in Tacoma that now I'm sad to see the season end. Saturday mornings spent waymarking and finding new coffee shops will become Saturday mornings spent working in the yard. Ugh. Maybe I need to declare Saturday mornings as waymarking time. That way I still get to enjoy the calm quiet of waymarking for a couple of hours before life catches up with me. So maybe I won't wait until September to get back to Tacoma, after all.

Along with a few waymarks in other categories, we posted waymarks for 4 neon signs in Tacoma today. If you're interested in checking them out, the signs are the Flying Boots Cafe & Spur Room, the Golden City Cafe (seen above), the Lucky Silver Tavern, and Tacoma's Elephant Car Wash.

Happy waymarking,

Hikenutty