We decided to embark on a mini-adventure this past weekend. The inspiration came from our tickets to the Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn show in Bremerton, and rather than squeeze 3 hours of driving and a concert into one night, we packed up the kids and made a quick vacation out of it. Luckily both the weather and kids cooperated and we had a short and sweet trip.
The ferry system in the Puget Sound region is pretty top-notch. Aside for some long lines on busy days, it’s an efficient system that is almost always on time. We hopped a boat after the big one got out of school and made it across the Sound in an hour. The kids got to run around and have some snacks, and we saw some beautiful scenery along the way. The nice thing about Bremerton is that the core of the city is right off of the ferry terminal, so we were at our hotel in minutes, just in time for dinner. We sampled food from both The Curry and El Balcon, and everything was delicious. The kids enjoyed a movie and Joe and I saw an incredible show at the Admiral Theatre.
The next morning we walked around the city and read about Bremerton’s rich Naval history. Just about everywhere we looked, we found some sort of water feature on display. Seriously, there were fountains everywhere. The best by far were at the Harborside Fountain Park. Five nautical themed fountains surrounded by shallow pools with choreographed eruptions of water from the top of them. The park itself had beautiful gardens and fun rock sculptures to play on, we ended up spending the whole morning having fun there!
We wrapped up our time on the Kitsap Peninsula with a visit to one of our favorite summer hangouts, the Kitsap Live Steamers. These are model trains on steroids, run by volunteers every other Saturday. The rides are free and they are supported by donations from the public. The track runs through the forest and is actually quite nice, even though I sometimes feel kind of silly when I realize that I am an adult riding on a giant toy train. But kids absolutely love it, and there is always a line of excited tots waiting to jump aboard. Adjacent to the depot is a large field and playground, plus several trails through the forest. Great for a picnic and an afternoon of train rides, hiking, and climbing!
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