Half a Day in Tacoma: Frank Herbert Trail, Glass, Books
Half a day south of Seattle, a free shoreline loop sits a short drive from an $18 glass museum whose main galleries are closed until December 12, with a used-book shop to finish.
🧭 Three stops, one hour south
🌾 A smelter that became a shoreline
Frank Herbert was born in Tacoma, and the city put his name on a paved loop across eleven acres of shoreline. The ground under it was a copper smelter until 1993, then it reopened as a park in 2019. Seattle is about an hour's drive, and the stops are short drives apart, not a walk. Sound Transit route 594 runs daily to Tacoma Dome Station. Mount Rainier stands across Commencement Bay, and parking costs nothing at 5361 Yacht Club Rd.
🔥 The furnace is the museum now
Treat this as a partial visit. The traditional galleries are closed for renovation until December 12, so you get the cone-shaped Hot Shop where blowers work a furnace in front of stadium seating, plus the Education Studio, store, café and Grand Hall's smaller show. Admission is $18 adults, $16 seniors and military, $9 ages 6 to 18, free under 6. Open 10 AM to 5 PM Wednesday to Sunday, last ticket 4:30 PM, 1801 Dock St.
📚 New books filed with old ones
King's Books files new and used titles together by genre, and Frank Herbert's Dune novels sit a shelf away from out-of-print paperbacks. Shelves run deep enough that the staff will point you to something you missed. Resident cats work the rug. It sits at 218 St Helens Ave, five minutes from the museum, opens 11 AM to 7 PM every day, brings in authors for launches and a monthly book club, and a sign outside says it buys books too.
