When we left Birch Bay, which was our northernmost point in Washington this year, we planned to go to a campground near Port Townsend, Washington. We had a decision to make. We could either drive over four and a half hours down to and around the Seattle /Tacoma area and fight horrendous traffic, or we could drive 90 minutes to Oak Harbor and take a thirty minute ferry over to Port Townsend. Hmmm. Even with the cost of gas, the ferry was the more expensive way to go. So, take the much longer way through terrible traffic and spend less money or shorten the trip by more than half, enjoy a leisurely scenic trip on the ferry but spend more money. What would you do? Yep, we took the ferry!
From the ferry we had a short ten mile drive to our campground in Chimacum, just outside of Port Townsend, where we had a very nice campsite.
On Sunday we drove down to Bremerton. On the way we stopped in the charming little town of Poulsbo and on the advice of our friends Peter and Beth we stopped at Sluys Bakery. We waited in a line stretching out the door and had the best donuts we had ever eaten in this little family owned bakery. The very picturesque town of Poulsbo, overlooking Liberty Bay, has a strong Scandinavian heritage which is evident throughout the town. In the 1880’s ninety per cent of the town’s population was Norwegian.
After finding a couple geocaches we stopped at the nearby U.S. Naval Undersea Museum, an official naval museum which talked about the ocean environment, submarine technology, undersea weapons as well as diving and salvage.
This is one of ten Navy museums operated by the Naval History & Heritage Command whose purpose is to preserve and collect Naval undersea history and science. Exhibits included U.S. torpedoes including the Howell torpedo
and a simulated control room from the USS Greenling.
Other exhibits show the NOMOADS underwater suit.
How the US Navy uses marine life to augment searches.
Next we continued on to Bremerton, home of the Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton and the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard established in 1891, the city’s largest industry.
Bill took a tour of the USS TURNER JOY, a former U.S. Navy destroyer 1959 to 1982.
The vessel was named after Admiral Charles Turner Joy and constructed here a Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The USS TURNER JOY has been restored to her Vietnam War configuration and most of the rooms and facilities are open and appear to be operational.
Every fifteen years stationary ships must have their keel cleaned. Last year the USS TURNER JOY was moved to a shipyard to have the barnacles removed.
On Tuesday we did some geocaching in Port Townsend, including at Fort Worden State Park where the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman” was filmed.
On the way home we came across a doe and her two fawns. The fawns were happily prancing along the side of the road.
Next up we continue west to Salt Creek Recreation Area near Port Angeles, WA.