Kennewick Real Estate Blog

If you’re new to Kennewick, or just don’t know where the Tri-Cities Convention Center is, don’t rely on Google Maps to help you find it. If you click this link to see West Kennewick and the area around the Toyota Center, you’ll notice that Google has the Convention Center a little too far to the north.

That building isn’t the Convention Center; it’s the old Joe’s Sporting Goods/Wal-Mart building. Odd to see a mistake like that on two well-known buildings, neither of which is exactly new at this point.

If I asked you to name it, I’m guessing you’d say the new roundabouts near the Blue Bridge. But those aren’t technically an intersection, are they? I’m thinking not.

The intrepid reporters at KEPR-TV (my old stomping grounds) are reporting that the actual winner of most dangerous intersection in Kennewick is Clearwater Ave. and Columbia Center Blvd. Hmmmm. Not much of a surprise, is it?

They’re basing it on the 17 accidents that happened at that intersection in 2009. That makes it the worst intersection in the whole Tri-Cities. KEPR says it’s been the most dangerous intersection in Kennewick since 2003.

So … be careful seems to be the thing to say right about now.

This photo is of a lighthouse on the Desert Course (I think) at Golf Universe mini-golf in Kennewick. It seems to me that this should be the only lighthouse in the city of Kennewick.

But the Port of Kennewick is moving ahead with plans to build a lighthouse at Clover Island. Yep. It’s a $1 million project that involves building a 62-foot tall lighthouse to draw people to Clover Island and create an “icon” for the area. The project also includes a plaza, a gateway arch, and walking paths between the island and downtown Kennewick. And it includes a lighthouse.

A lighthouse!

Lighthouses are pretty cool. They’re unique. They’re kinda fun to look at for a moment or two. And they’re built to mark a hazardous coastline and assist boats and airplanes with navigation. Thanks to modern technology (like GPS and more sophisticated navigational tools), lighthouses are pretty much a thing of the past. They certainly don’t serve much functional value at this point, and that’s all the more true on Clover Island. I read the paper and watch local TV news regularly, and have done so for 15 years, and I can’t recall a single occasion when a boat ran aground on the shoreline at Clover Island. Did I somehow miss the news that this has become a dangerous stretch of water/land?

Look, I’m as much a fan of the Clover Island area as anyone. Cedars and Ice Harbor Brewery are two of our favorite restaurants. Continuing to develop the area and make it attractive to visitors and businesses is terrific. But, in light of the current budget situation and the need to spend money as wisely as possible … is a lighthouse really the best idea?

This is too cool to NOT post about: Vondalee Paulson has posted a brilliant tip on her blog about how to get rid of Morning Glory in a garden:

“In talking about it with my DH, we came up with the idea to buy little flower tubes, those things florists use in flower arranging, fill them with Roundup, stick ‘em in the ground with the ends of the plant thrust into the cap.”

How genius is that? Make sure to read the full post because Vondalee has some more tips about speeding up the process. Too cool!

Even though Cari and I have lived in the Tri-Cities since late 1994, and Ice Harbor Brewing Company has been around since 1997, we never ate there … get this … until Sunday night. Seriously! But trust me when I tell you we won’t be waiting that long to eat there again. We had a friend visiting from Seattle, also had the kids with us, and all five of us really enjoyed the meal.

We arrived at the restaurant (the Clover Island marina location) right around 5 pm Sunday, and it wasn’t crowded at all. The waitress was very quick to greet us and (try to) get our order. I say “try to” because it took us a while to decide — the menu’s pretty big and lots of stuff looked good. But she was patient and didn’t force us to order before we were ready.

I had the Garlic-Pesto Chicken Flatbread, which was delicious. Cari had “Tess’ Awe-inspiring Homemade Meatloaf” and said that was good, and our friend enjoyed the Prime Rib Dip. The kids both ordered the chicken “Tiny Bites” and liked them. We also tried the home-brewed root beer, which was quite good — but not as sweet as what you’re familiar with if you buy root beer from the grocery store. We also tried the Chocolate Spooncake dessert, which was incredible. And there was a new dessert, some kind of rainbow cake, that was also pretty good.

Service was good overall, but it slowed down a bit toward the end of our meal. I’m guessing someone called in sick cuz there only seemed to be a couple wait staff people serving tables as the restaurant got more crowded. Only other drawback — well, more of a surprise — was that the kids’ drinks were not included in the price of their dinner. Most restaurants we go to don’t charge extra for the kids’ drinks, it’s included in the meal price on the kids’ menu.

But those are minor quibbles, and we’ve already agreed that we’ll be going back to Ice Harbor again soon.

[where: Ice Harbor Brewing Company, 350 Clover Island Drive, Kennewick, WA 99336]