Photo Steve Ringman/The Seattle Times

Today marks a couple of milestones….Paul has only three more weeks of work, and it was the opening of the new Tacoma Narrows bridge.

Sunday was a festive day where more than 60,000 people walked and ran across the bridge to mark the occasion. Today when Paul crossed the new bridge he had his easiest commute in almost seven years. Too bad it didn’t open sooner so he could reap the benefit for more than three weeks.

The new bridge is for eastbound traffic – from the West side of Puget Sound, where we live – to Tacoma. The old bridge (which replaced a suspension bridge nicknamed Galloping Gertie for the dramatic way it broke apart shortly after being built in 1940) is for westbound traffic now.

I haven’t crossed the new bridge yet – but I think the most exciting crossing for us will be when the car is packed and we are on our way to Mexico!

If you’d like to see video clips of the collapse of Galloping Gertie, here is the link: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bridge/meetsusp.html)