Bremerton/Kitsap county

[the dufferz]

Located just 16 miles west of Seattle, Bremerton and Kitsap county have the distiction of being a place that you cannot get to from Seattle in less than one hour.

This is because Kitsap county is located on the Washington Penninsula with the puget sound separating Seattle from Bremerton.

To get there you have two options. South across the bridge, west across the ferry.

Tacoma Narrows bridge

You can drive south through Tacoma and cross the tacoma narrows bridge. This bridge, while I don't believe is available for foot traffic, is a beautiful bridge with a not so beautiful history. I think everybody has to have seen the footage of the old narrows bridge during a windstorm in 1940, as it twisted and buckled and eventually collapsed into the water. Nicknamed "the galloping gertie" it was only in service for four months. Nobody died, but a small dog in one of the cars on the span bit a gent who was trying to save her, so he had to leave the doggy behind. When I read that as a young boy, I cried for the pooch.

Currently there is no toll for this bridge, but soon they will be completing a new bridge and a toll rumored to be $3.00 will be in place.

Gig Harbor

Once over the bridge you will soon find yourself going through Gig Harbor. Typical for many small towns, the highway bypasses the town, so you need to venture off the highway to find the town just about a mile away. This is a very nice small town. the area is a high demand area for retired folks. Once there you will see why. Short trip to Tacoma for all the big city needs, but a real small town country feeling surrounds you, not to mention an abundance of waterfront and puget sound views.

The rest of the trip from Gig Harbor will feel like a drive through the country, not many homes are towns are visible from the highway.

Bremerton

You will eventually find yourself in the little "town" of Gorst. Here the highway will make a hard right turn to take you around the bay. as you travel toward bremerton you will begin seeing the ship yards. Here the navy has the homebase for one aircraft carrier (the uss stennis). Repairs and refits are made here at the shipyard. If your luck, you may get a look at an aircraft carrier if it's in dock. Just left last week or so for a few months though.

Downtown Bremerton is an old city that has had much trouble and many areas are pretty rundown.

to the north of the city is Silverdale which has the largest mall on the penninsula. While in bremerton and surrounds you can go visit the naval undersea museum in Keyport, north of Bremerton. This is a unique museum that shows the history of submarines. They even have a partially working mock-up of an old sub control area from a WW2 sub.

Once you are ready to leave this area (and there are a lot more things that you can do and see) you will find yourself ready to take the second mode of transportation between Seattle and Bremerton.

The Seattle Bremerton Ferry.

If you are site seeing, either as a visitor or a native, the best bet for getting back to Seattle from Bremerton is by Ferry. The ferry terminal is in downtown Bremerton. Next to the terminal are lots of navy and nautical things to see and do, including a tour of a navy ship (the turner joy). So if you arrive early and have to wait for a ferry, get out of the car and walk around.

Once on the ferry and underway you will soon find out why this ferry ride is worth every penny. The first 20 minutes of the journey you travel through an inlet. On both sides of the ferry you have beautiful scenery and cool beachfront houses. The view along here is really great.

Eventually you find yourself heading to open water. Across the way you will begin seeing the Seattle water front. The space needle on the left, the sports facilities on the right (safeco and quest fields) and if the day is clear, mount rainier in the distance to the south.

Now here is a tip that will make this trip unforgettable.

If you are sight seeing, plan your return trip to board the ferry within an hour of sunset. If you are lucky enough to do this right, you will get to see the sunset on the buildings in Seattle. I cannot describe in words what you will see, but imagine looking over deep blue water to a cityscape that is lit in soft warm sunset colors with mount rainier glowing in the distance.

Paul Harvey once mentioned the sights he considered to be the most beautiful in the world, and seeing seattle at sunset while flying in an airplane was one of those sights.

So, this in short is another day long excursion in the puget sound area that is well worth the time and effort regardless of being a visitor or a residence.