2012-06-09 47 -122

Location

A Chevron station in Tacoma, at Sprague and S. 11th.

Participants

OtherJack
User:Stand, apparently

Plans

This is outside on the pavement - should be really easy. Meet at 4pm unless you post an alternate time. I'll bike there if weather looks good, bus there if it doesn't, and bus back. --OtherJack 12:06, 8 June 2012 (EDT)

Update - now planning on more like 3pm. Again, post here if you prefer a different time. --OtherJack 04:09, 9 June 2012 (EDT)

Stand's photo

My first geohash. In Tacoma at the museum. @47.2511,-122.4610

OtherJack's expedition

Weather cooperated with cycling there, but my drink intake last night did not. So spent a lazy morning at home and then took the bus down. In the process of planning this, I realized that even if the bus was on time it would be something like 3:15 before I reached the hash on foot. It was late as it turned out, arriving in downtown Tacoma at 3pm, and the bus back to Seattle I had to catch was at 3:50. So 50 minutes total to walk there and back, and I was thinking it might be a 25 or 30 minute walk each way which would make running for a bit and/or relying on the local bus a necessity. I should have left earlier.

But luckily it only took 20 minutes, so I had time to very briefly photograph the area (and use the men's room at the bar across the road) before needing to head back. The hashpoint itself was towards the back (east) side of the gas station pavement, near the little rock wall depicted in User:Stand's photo below. It was an utterly normal Chevron station.

The walk there (and back) was also kind of interesting, and passed through what seemed like four distinct neighborhoods: first old, dense, built-up downtown Tacoma at the bottom of the hill by the harbor, followed by several blocks above with nothing going on except huge empty parking lots and lots of bail-bonds places (I didn't see the courthouse but I'm sure it was close by.) Further climbing led to the appropriately named Hilltop District, which was a more normal neighborhood with groceries, restaurants, etc. which transitioned into the neighborhood of the hash, which was very residential, quiet and open (except for the gas-station intersection itself). The whole area had definitely seen better days... lots of streets seemed really wide relative to the level of activity.

At one point I overheard a girl telling her boyfriend that professional wrestlers were going to be coming to the Save-A-Lot across the street at some point. I was quite confused, but hey, if that's actually true, it would be great. I mean, I for one want to see Stone Cold Steve Austin restocking vegetables at my local supermarket.

When I got home (after the thing I had to be on time to) I saw User:Stand's photo, from about an hour later. Congratulations on your first geohash! If you go again, feel free to check the Seattle, Washington page and/or its talk page to see if there's already a trip planned.