Spring has been late arriving this year for the Northwest. We are, finally, beginning to have some very beautiful days. When the weather is so nice here, it brings everyone out to enjoy the day. Over the weekend, my husband and I decided to take a little drive in his convertible over to Gig Harbor. There is a little restaurant/pub along the waterfront there that we love to go to....Tide's Tavern...
Tides Tavern is a great place to go on a nice and crisp sunny day. The food is good and the atmosphere is casual. The best part is that Tides is situated right on the water with a large seating deck.
The deck area is usually very popular on a very sunny day... From this spot, you can see the boats in the marina and also have a little peekaboo view of Mt. Ranier...
If the wait is too long or if it is a little cool out, you can opt to dine indoors at the restaurant. There are windows looking out to the water all across the back of Tides Tavern so there is really no bad seat in the house... The next photo was made from inside the tavern. I love the pink hue on Mt. Ranier as the evening passed...
After my husband and I were seated at the tavern, I walked out onto the dock (which leads to the back of the restaurant) with my camera to capture a few of the many boats passing by for you. The next photo shows the dock I was standing on when I made the next few photos...
It is deep enough in the passageway to accommodate some very big boats!
There were a variety of boats that passed while I was photographing...including several nice sailboats...
If you love to sit and watch the boats pass by, you would love Tides Tavern!
You see every sort of boat imaginable pass by... boats of all sizes...large and small...all sailing in harmony on this beautiful day...
If you have a boat and would like to sail or motor over to Tides Tavern in Gig Harbor, they have places where you can temporarily moor your boat right at the restaurant. Someday, we want to sail our little Catalina, Skye, over to Tides...
You would just temporarily moor your boat and walk right up this dock...
On the other side of the waterfront area, you can see several beautiful homes that have a million dollar view of the waterway and boats...
The homes have some nice deck areas and balconies that look out to the water. It would be so pretty to open your french doors in the early morning and late afternoon to watch the boats slowly passing by... I can picture sitting on the deck in the late afternoon or early evening with a glass of merlot, a nice dinner, candles burning, music playing and this view.... Nice!
Sailboats on the deck spinning with the breeze...
Boats moored in the marina...
So many people out enjoying the day today... Looks like this family is having a great time in their zodiac....probably headed in from one of the large boats to the restaurant...
Back inside the restaurant, our food had arrived... I had a warm roasted vegetable salad which I love. My husband selected fish and chips. Both were delicious and the view was awesome from our window seat. When we arrived at Tides Tavern, it was quite busy as the great weather is bringing everyone outdoors to enjoy the day. We took "first available" and were seated in ten minutes by the window overlooking the water. As the evening progressed, the Northwest air got a little chilly. We saw a few people moving indoors that had not brought a light wrap. We were happy to have our water view table inside...
As I am enjoying my dinner, I am thinking about last July, when we brought my younger son, Elliott, to the restaurant. He was celebrating his 21st birthday, and we thought it would be a fun place to go for a family dinner. Here is a photo of my son and I on that day...
Elliott had just been accepted into the University of Washington (Go Huskies!) and I had his cake done in their color with UW as the theme.
A photo of my husband, my son, Elliott, on his birthday last year at Tides Tavern...
A great memory for all of us... My husband and I also took my sister to Tides Tavern when she was visiting from Florida a couple of years ago...
Another view of Gig Harbor waterfront...
You can see Mt. Ranier in the next photo...
My husband and I had a great late afternoon/early evening at Tides Tavern. We enjoyed our food and watching the boats meander by....
After a nice time at Tides Tavern, we drove back in the car with the top on my husband's convertible down again... The evening was cooler, but I had a little blanket to throw over my legs in the car....a nice ending to a beautiful and relaxing evening spent with my husband....my very best friend....
If you live in the area and have never been to Tides Tavern, I hope you try it sometime! It is a fun, casual place to go on a beautiful afternoon. Wishing you a wonderful day today! xoxo Kim
The following was taken from their website and talks about the history of Tides Tavern...
The building that now houses the Tides Tavern was built by Axel Uddenburg in 1910 and served the area as a general store. Located next to the "People's Dock", the town's only public ferry landing, it was called the West Side Mercantile. The ferry dock provided a steady stream of customers through the first half-century. With the end of prohibition in the 1930s, a tavern was added, and a tradition of good times began. Beer was sold for 10 cents a glass, and 20 cents a bottle. The tavern never made much money, but no one cared. Through the years, the building has seen a number of colorful owners, not the least of which was "Three Fingered Jack," a Jerry Garcia look-alike whose tenor voice resonated across the dance floor on Friday and Saturday nights in the late 60s and early 70s. In 1973, current owner Peter Stanley bought the run-down, but well-known tavern, and began a two-month re-construction project which culminated in the memorable opening of The Tides on the weekend of "Harbor Holidays." Soon after, Stanley opened an enlarged kitchen, and a tradition of great tavern food had begun. Since then, the food has expanded to healthy portions of specially made pizzas, burgers, sandwiches, chili, clam chowder, great home-made soups, and the Tides' famous fish and chips. Through several renovations, The Tides traditions remain intact... live music can still be heard on weekends...original signs, painted by Gig Harbor painter Toby Reid, add to the nostalgia of the tavern...and the walls remain covered with snapshots sent in by patrons who have donned their Tides T-shirts around the globe. Since 1973, The Tides Tavern has been a place to celebrate the bond of friendship, a place for us to gather, a place for old friends to re-unite and even a place to fall in love. Today, vestiges of the building's historic past, when groceries and fishing supplies were loaded onto horse-drawn carts, are still visible to those who know where to look. Perhaps the secret of The Tides lies in the comfort it affords people; a feeling that, while it may change with the passage of time, it will always be there.
For more information on Tides Tavern, visit their website at this link:
Kim,
My husband knows Gig Harbor well because he has family that lives in the Seattle area. Mt. Ranier is beautiful. My husband climbed Mt. Shasta years ago with Nel. In fact, she was hoping to climb Mt. Ranier someday. Your pictures on this post are incredible, and I especially like the one of you and your sister. Have a great day.
~Sheri at Red Rose Alley
Posted by: Sheri, Jess, and Nel | Monday, June 06, 2011 at 04:04 PM
Hi Sheri,
Thank you for your nice comments. Mt. Ranier is very beautiful on a sunny day. I love the way the light changes the color of the snow on the mountain. The pink hue is my favorite. I hope that your daughter, Nel, has the opportunity to climb Mt. Ranier someday. I know she has wonderful memories of climbing Mt. Shasta with her father. Thank you so much for your sweet comments on my photos. The photo of my sister and I was taken on her very first visit to our area. She fell in love with the area. Hope you have had a wonderful day! xoxo Kim
Posted by: Bluebirds and Butterflies | Monday, June 06, 2011 at 10:08 PM