Who else is trying to find more ways to give the gift of an experience rather than something tangible this year? As someone who gets a lot of joy from adventuring, I’m always on a quest for a way to share this with the people I love too. I was really excited when I heard about a new Tacoma Museum Pass for kids and grownups and I was invited to visit Tacoma and try it out. This pass offers 25% off the regular admission you would pay to the six musuems participating in the pass and you can visit all of the museums at once, or you can visit them one at a time throughout the year. This kind of pass would be great for families in Tacoma who would like to check out museums in the area but who don’t want to commit to a whole year membership.
Six Tacoma Museums at 25% off
The six museums on the pass are The Washington State History Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, The Museum of Glass, Tacoma Children’s Museum, LeMay Car Musuem and Foss Waterway Seaport. We have been to most of these museums on some of our past visits to Tacoma and we still really need to get to the Foss Waterway Seaport to check it out.
Washington State History Museum
We started our day at the Washington State History Museum where I parked our car for the day. (Most of the museums are walkable or along the free streetcar/link lightrail line so Tacoma is such a great place to go car-free!). This museum is incredible and this was our first time visiting. An exhibit on immigration had just opened when we got there and it is such a visually appealing and educational exhibit. My kids really enjoyed the grand hall and there was so much to see that they didn’t know where to begin. Thankfully one of the museum volunteers gave them a scavenger hunt and it helped us frame how we explored all the exhibits. We learned so many things about Washington that we didn’t know before. We also tried to see the train exhibit on the 2nd floor but it wasn’t working the day we were there. It was still neat to see such a giant model train exhibit and we still had a fantastic morning exploring the museum. We even worked up quite an appetite and we left with our stomachs growling.
Freighthouse Square
I thought we would go for lunch across the street at Harmon pub but someone at the museum told me how to use the free streetcar and that we should try and eat at Freighthouse Square. I’m so glad we listened. We had the loveliest lunch from Paya Thai and Little India Express. Because the building is foodcourt style, it’s perfect for families because everyone can get a different meal if they want. We had a great time chatting and eating and I couldn’t believe how gorgeous (and delicious!) our fish and chips were. We caught the streetcar back to the Washington State History Museum (I think the cars run every 15 minutes or so) and carried on with our adventure.
Museum of Glass
I thought we were going to go to the Children’s Museum after lunch but when we walked by the Glass Bridge, the kids decided that they wanted to visit the Museum of Glass instead. They love the hot shop and the kids’ art making room and because the Museum of Glass was also on our Tacoma Museum Pass it was an easy change of plans.
We spent way longer at the Glass Museum than I thought we would and ran out of time to see the Foss Waterway Seaport which was also on our itinerary for the day. Instead we headed home with a stop at the little outlet store in the parking lot of the Almond Roca Factory. We can’t come to Tacoma without stopping here-I ask every time if they have tours of the big factory in the hopes one day they will start making tours. I totally would love to visit the inside of the Almond Roca Factory itself but the cute little store in the parking lot is also a fun place to grab some treats.
Because our pass is good a year from the date we first used it we still have four musuems we can visit in Tacoma before this time next year and I know we’ll be back-we always have a fun time when we visit and Tacoma is only about an hour from Seattle (just check the traffic before you go!). Here is another itinerary from our a past trip with our kids to Tacoma too!
Have you been to Tacoma, Washington or do you live in the area? Do you have any tips for visiting families in Tacoma or recommendations of places to see or visit with kids in this city?
Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys. She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live. She is also known as Scout’s mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)
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