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Tall Ships Tacoma - Volunteer Center LbNA #19362 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Nov 20, 2005
Location:
City:Tacoma
County:Pierce
State:Washington
Boxes:1
Planted by:teamCatnip
Found by: Arboramour
Last found:Sep 29, 2007
Status:FFFFFFFr
Last edited:Nov 20, 2005
Tall Ships Tacoma 2005 Letterbox (series? we hope!)
Volunteer Center
by teamCatnip
We volunteered for this event and it was very enjoyable and worthwhile. This was the biggest event in a long while for Tacoma, and we were proud that Tacoma won "Port of the Year" over all the other Tall Ships hosts. To get to the starting point on the Thea Foss Waterway:

From the south:
1. Head north on I-5
2. Take the I-705 N exit 133 to City Center - go 0.2 mi
3. Bear left onto the ramp to City Center/Tacoma Dome - go 0.5 mi
4. Merge into I-705 N - go 0.2 mi
5. Take the WA-509 N exit to Port of Tacoma - go 0.2 mi
6. Bear left onto the S 21st St ramp - go 0.0 mi
7. Turn left at S 21st St - go 0.1 mi
8. Turn right at Pacific Ave - go 0.3 mi
9. Turn right at Hood Ave - go 0.1 mi
10. Turn right at S 15th St - go 0.1 mi

From the North:
1. Head south on I-5
2. Take the I-705 N exit 133 to City Center - go 0.7 mi
3. Take the WA-509 N exit to Port of Tacoma - go 0.2 mi
4. Bear left onto the S 21st St ramp - go 0.0 mi
5. Turn left at S 21st St - go 0.1 mi
6. Turn right at Pacific Ave - go 0.3 mi
7. Turn right at Hood Ave - go 0.1 mi
8. Turn right at S 15th St - go 0.1 mi

The ramp coming down on 15th resembles a single leaf of a cloverleaf. Turn right at the end and right again into the first driveway. You should be parked at a stand of trees on a small lawn.

To the South is Johnny's seafood, and North is a building painted light blue/aqua. It used to be a Western Produce, but during Tall Ships, it was the Volunteer Center. Walk over to the loading dock. We would go up the dock and in the doors to the registration tables to check in and maybe grab a donut (Krispy Kremes abounded) and water or coffee, and find out if our assignments had changed from the schedules we'd signed. The security staff desk was upstairs, as is the bathroom, which was a valuable piece of information if you don't like sani-cans. We checked in there, signed out a radio and orange vests, and went either to our patrol area or to one of the gates for bag checks. Hopefully we can place letterboxes in those areas in the future.
Walk along (not on) the loading dock toward the water. At that end of the loading dock was a large barbecue station where hamburgers and hot dogs were prepared for volunteers' lunches and dinners. At this point you are standing where the communications van was situated, in a fenced-off area to further control entry. It was the Pierce County TAC (Tactical Area Communications) mobile command unit. We monitored all the security, operations and marine radio traffic and relayed messages between them. It was much more pleasant duty than security!
Now that you have checked in, turn south and walk to the fenced-in enclosure. When you can see the waterway to the right of it, walk to the first light pole. From the light pole, walk south about 80 steps. You should find yourself on a wooden walkway leading to a pier. The letterbox is under your feet, level with the manhole cover on the other side of the railing. The stamp is wadded up in a cloth, and has a ship on one side and Figaro's footprint on the other. Please rehide well.