a day in the Peninsula(s)

Friday JT and I drove out toward Bainbridge Island. We stopped anywhere that looked interesting, and the scenery was spectacular. Our first stop was Gig Harbor, just across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It was cold! but a beautiful harbor and town.



On our way through Bremerton we rounded a curve and there they were--four huge ships parked side by side. I couldn't fit them in the camera's viewfinder together, they were just immense.


Next we crossed the Hood Canal bridge, which connects the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas. At 7,869 feet long, it is the longest floating bridge in the world located in a saltwater tidal basin, and the third longest floating bridge overall.

And the views from the bridge!!!!!

We originally planned to take a ferry from Bainbridge Island across to Seattle, but thought better of it; we would still have to drive from Seattle to Tacoma, and it was New Year's Eve. So we skipped Bainbridge and headed for Port Townsend instead.This is about as far north as you can go on the peninsula, and this headland is across the Sound from Victoria, Canada (although Port Townsend faces eastward, so you can't see Victoria from there).
As I stood enjoying these views, a man nearby said, "Turn your head to the right." And when I did I couldn't believe my eyes:

This sub was heading out to sea with a Coast Guard escort. Wow!

Where we stood watching the sub, our backs were turned to a marina. We explored that next, and found some beautiful wooden sailboats moored there.

The Pleiades

the breakwater for the marina

This was a clam cannery, opened in 1885. The doorway is covered in sheets of copper.

note the ironwork on the doors--clam shells

old dockworks behind the clam cannery

Port Townsend is an artist's town, with many shops and galleries. This handcrafted wall caught my eye:

much of the original architecture of Port Townsend is Victorian

Johnson County Courthouse, in use since 1892

this lamppost was out on the edge of the shore--doesn't it look like Tumnus the faun should appear?

a last view of the Olympics on the way home across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

The bridge was rebuilt after the 1940 version collapsed in high winds; a parallel span was added in 2007. The 1950 and 2007 bridges are now the fifth-longest suspension bridge spans in the United States, and the 31st-longest in the world.

Whew! we fit in so much scenery and adventure in one day--can't wait for summer to do some more serious exploring. Anybody coming?