Co-founded by PLU alumni couple, Pretty Gritty Tours is a love letter to Tacoma

We started at Fusion, a donut shop in the Brewery District, with an americano brewed with Dancing Goats Coffee beans. Sipping the first brew, Staudinger shares “Dancing Goats got its name from an old legend about how coffee was discovered. A thousand years ago in what is now Ethiopia, a goatherder noticed his goats were dancing around after eating red cherries they’d found on the ground. And so we have goats to thank for our coffee habits.”

A self-identified “coffee snob,” Staudinger brought the group to four locations, lacing together Tacoma history, coffee lore, and plenty of jokes. It felt less like a traditional tour and more like hanging out with a really interesting friend.

Pretty Gritty Tours brings history to life — the fun, the weird, and the unsavory — through storytelling and experiences. The company was co-founded by husband-and-wife team Chris Staudinger ’08 and Tawny Clark ’08, both PLU alumni. While the company’s bread and butter is in Tacoma, they’re branching out and offering tours as far as Olympia, Seattle, and even Tri-Cities (Staudinger’s former stomping grounds). 

“Being a tour guide leans heavily on everything I learned on stage and also pulls on my writing degree,” Chris says. A double major in theatre and creative writing, Chris treats each tour like a performance: researched, written, and delivered with a storyteller’s flair. “I find that actors often make the best guides,” he said.

His wife and co-founder, Tawny Clark ’08, studied global studies, French, and religion. Though their paths overlapped throughout their time at PLU, they didn’t officially meet until their senior J-Term trip to Tanzania, a fitting way for the two travel bugs to connect. “We climbed Mount Kilimanjaro together on a travel writing and videography course,” Chris reminisced. 

After a decade of international travel blogging, videography, and writing — Tawny earning bylines in USA TODAY, BBC Travel, and National Geographic — the couple decided to return to Tacoma. The big impetus? Starting a family. “Pretty Gritty is 9 years old and so is our oldest kid. We launched a kid and a tour company at the same time,” Chris said. “The idea of starting a tour company was something I had always wanted. Getting the chance to celebrate Tacoma was a big pull.” The result: a business as homegrown as it is worldly, balancing their travel obsession with local love.

Both credit PLU with shaping the careers they’ve built. “When I graduated from PLU, I knew I wanted to see the world. I’ve always had a passion for travel and exploration,” Tawny reflects. Those early instincts — to explore, learn, and take risks — still guide their decisions today.

“PLU was always so intentional about the education,” Chris says. “The relationships I forged there have carried me for years.” Tawny agrees: “I think PLU encouraged and emboldened me to be creative when it came to my profession. My current line of work didn’t even exist when I was at PLU, but I was given the tools to pivot and adapt.”