Tacoma is no longer in the shadow of Seattle.

My friend Cathy and I arrived from Atlanta and Nashville respectively, on an early July evening. As someone who has made a dozen trips to Seattle, heading south from the airport on I-5 to Tacoma was a new experience. Our accommodation for the weekend was the Hotel Murano, smack in the middle of the clean, compact and revitalized downtown.

Taking a cue from Chihuly, Hotel Murano boasts an international collection of glass artists. The chandelier in the lobby, the front desk, even the door pulls were commissioned for the chic boutique hotel. Every time the elevator opens on a floor, new treasures are revealed, so one evening, I rode from floor to floor, checking out the pieces. My favorite, called “Homage to the Implant or Perfect Pair” was a witty sculpture of enviable breasts on the 7th floor.

Our room was snappily decorated with fire-engine red and sage green accents. There were a lot of cool touches: a pillow menu (I ordered a body pillow) and a “spiritual” menu with choices including the Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Torah and the Bible (ever read the Koran?). The mini bar included a “ mobile intimacy kit” and a toothbrush made of recycled plastic.

Famished after a cross-country trip, we walked a couple of blocks downhill—Tacoma will remind you of San Francisco or Seattle with its undulating urban contours—to Pacific Grill for dinner. Seated in the handsome, brick room punctuated by artwork, our waiter steered us to terrific cocktails, including the kicky tiger lily, a concoction of black pepper-infused tequila with limoncello, fresh squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice and fresh lime strained over crushed ice and served in a tall glass. My entrée, king salmon with a fresh vegetable succotash and sugar snap pea vinaigrette, was equally creative. I tasted the region in every bite.

A Glimpse of Tacoma

The following morning, Cathy and I headed to the waterfront, specifically, Commencement Bay, part of Puget Sound. This is one of the largest public access parks in the country, where the roots of Tacoma’s past and present intertwine. In the mid 1800s, small communities sprung up around a water-powered sawmill. In 1873, The Northern Pacific Railway, the first transcontinental railway in the northern U.S., located its terminus here, creating a boomtown. Today, there are joggers, dog walkers and a group of divers along the lively shore. After a brisk walk, we fortify ourselves with the $20 brunch at The Lobster Shop. The full bounty of this culinary region is made manifest on our plates: a made-to-order Dungeness crab omelet, Penn Cove oysters with sake mignonette, local strawberries, coconut cream pie. It’s a bargain meal that holds us until dinner.

I’ve been a collector of art glass for nearly two decades, so making a trip to Tacoma akin to a pilgrimage. The most successful artist in Northwest history, Dale Chihuly has installations in cities around the world, but more here than anywhere else. Downtown, we can take a self-guided cell phone tour of art in the museum district. There are 12 stops and each is accorded a two- to three-minute narrative. The University of Washington-Tacoma, for example, has a striking Chihuly chandelier that hangs in the library tower, while Historic Union station built in 1911 (now a federal courthouse) has five eye-popping works.

The Chihuly Bridge of Glass connects the Museum of Glass with the rest of the city’s museum district, including the Tacoma Art Museum which has the largest permanent Chihuly collection on display. Though the Museum of Glass doesn’t have any of Chihuly’s works, it showcases numerous stunning pieces by other renowned glass artists who were influenced by the master. It’s a glorious summer day and a pleasure to stroll the sidewalks, visiting museums and galleries, one after another.

But perhaps our favorite—and most unexpected sighting—was at the Swiss Pub, a funky watering hole with eight “Venetians.” We drank a toast to the diminutive, eye-patch-wearing, frizzy-haired titan of glass.

One of the city’s most popular attractions, the Tacoma Glass Blowing Studio, gives visitors a hands-on experience. After selecting our colors, we each twist and turn, blow and shape the molten glass into keepsakes ready for pickup the following day. Cathy makes a bowl and I make a paperweight. And our results are hardly of Chihuly caliber we are pleased with our modest beginner’s creations. We ducked into Hello Cupcake for a sweet reward to our artistic endeavors—strawberry with strawberry buttercream and carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

Our final meal of the weekend was at the hotel’s BITE restaurant. Sipping Latitude 46 cuvee, a red blend from Washington, we shared a generous and tangy Greek Salad, then tucked into a velevety filet mignon with gorgonzola cheese and fig port sauce and a succulent chicken pan roasted with green and kalamata olives and tomatoes.

Welcome to the ball, Tacoma. You’re beautiful.