Here’s an outing that’s frugal and unique!
It’s a free bus tour of the Port of Tacoma.
If you’ve got a lover of transportation and big rigs, he’ll get a kick out of this behind the scenes tour of Port operations.
Now, these events fill Crazy fast, so do make a reservation if you want in on the next one in May. You can email, or call and leave a message.
Kids do have to be 6 and up to go.
I’ve never done this tour, but we did something similar years ago. The boys enjoyed it. I thought it was right up there with watching paint dry (and keep in mind tours are a generous 75 minutes), but this is just not my area of interest.
I’d love to hear what you think if you’ve gone.
The Port also has a pretty cool observation tower you can climb up for free, and loads of free, educational materials that would be perfect for your home schooling lessons on geography, commerce, and all kinds of other topics. You can head here for educational information. Be sure to look in the sidebar to the left for additional downloadables.
You can also get good views of the working waterfront at the Dick Gilmer kayak launch (We don’t kayak, but we’ve had plenty of fun just mucking around here. You can almost always see seals out near the log boom. Yes, there is kind of a weird sheen on the rocks. It’s a beach for exploring, not picnics or sun bathing). The working waterfront museum at the Foss Waterway Seaport will re-open in a newly renovated space May 11th. It’s Excellent, and would be a great destination for your group. This is an old post about an afternoon Henry and I spent there.
As always, I’d love to hear about your favorite South Sound frugal fun finds! Leave a comment or drop me a note!