Gargeous Bremerton

Despite the pouring rain, I was pretty excited to be in Bremerton on Monday. I think this will be a frequent destination for us with this new job, and I am completely fine with that. I’ve been here before and really enjoyed it.

Amazingly, the awesome people at Avian Flight Center let us use their crew car for the entire week. It didn’t apply to me, since I was going to leave town for three of my days during this trip. But it was nice to be able to drive into town without worrying about how to return the car.

Being that Washington is by-far my favorite president, it was fun to keep seeing his profile on all of the highway signs. Look at that hair! He really had it going on in every way.

On the drive to downtown Bremerton about seven miles away, we passed the beginnings of the naval shipyard. That is why Bremerton exists, actually. They built ships here for decades during the early 1900s.

In fact, for about thirty years, Bremerton was home to the largest dry-dock ship building yard in the world!

Last time I was here, I stayed at the Fairfield Inn for a week. It is just across the street from this Hampton Inn, which was our choice this time. Just like every Hampton, it is a beautiful hotel. The best part is its location right on the water! Since I had some travel plans for the week, I was grateful for its proximity to the ferry dock.

Hampton beds are some of the best in the hotel world. Goodness knows I’ve tried them all! Hampton is one of my favorite places to stay.

Later, when I came back to my room from exploring and grabbing some dinner, there was a bottle of water and a pack of M&Ms on my pillow. Do they know me or what?! I felt like I had turn-down service, and that is a rare event in the price range of hotels in which I am usually found!

It was just an unexpected bonus. I don’t know that I have ever said “no” to an M&M. Obviously…

With a view like this, how could I go wrong? I would only be in this room for one night, however, since I was going to trek north for a fun few days.

As soon as I was settled into my room, I left again. I had eaten at Two Blocks Up Café last time I was here and knew it was where I needed to eat a late lunch. Since it is more of a sandwich shop, I was afraid it would be closed when I got there at 3:00 PM. Luckily, it was still open!

It’s a very low-key and comfy café, and it felt good to get out of the 54-degree weather. Which, considering that is half of what it is at home, isn’t as cold as I was expecting!

 

While waiting for my lunch, I got to enjoy a lovely view. Also, they had my favorite magazine to read on their magazine rack. Perfect!

If I ordered a hot chocolate in Phoenix in June, I would probably get some raised eyebrows. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one ordering a hot drink. This hot chocolate was yummy, but I am sure it was mostly due to that pile of homemade whipped cream.

Why haven’t I ever thought of a straw when drinking hot chocolate? Chug chug chug!

Lunch came. I conquered. I got the Turkey Bacon Lettuce Tomato and Avocado sandwich with pasta salad. It was delicious but not as good as I remember from my last visit.

I took a different route back to the hotel, which was only about three blocks away. On my walk, I passed this groovy old-school drawing on the side of a building. They were doing lots of road construction last time I was here in March. It seems like they have painted this in honor of finally being done with the work!

This is just one of the many huge buildings associated with the boat-building shipyard. It is still active and is certainly a busy section of town!

Look at that cool old ship part in front! I know nothing about ships, so that is the official name for this…”ship part.”

There is parking underneath the dock area. This is where people drive to get onto the ferries or just to park underneath while awaiting arriving passengers. Being on foot for my week, I wasn’t too concerned with this area. It always amazes me how cities charge for every square inch of parking space!

I had plans to leave really early the next morning, so I went to the ferry dock to check things out. I didn’t want to be scrambling at 4:00 AM the next day wondering where I was supposed to be, so this visit allowed me to see where I should board the Seattle-Bremerton Ferry just twelve hours later.

This is the ferry dock. Almost every hour for most of the day, these ferries transport tons of people for an hour-long trip over to Seattle. They are really big boats, and lots of cars, motorcycles, and bicycles also board for the ride over to one of my favorite cities.

The Bremerton harbor is so pretty. This is about half a block away from my hotel room, so I can come enjoy this gorgeous view any time I want!

Even without a jacket.

Goodbye, Ferry! I’ll see you dark and early tomorrow morning!

With the lovely overcast layer, you may be deceived that I am eating right after I ate lunch. Actually, this is at 8:30 PM at night! It gets dark so much later here.

I walked across the courtyard in between my hotel and several shops to eat some dinner.

Have I mentioned that I have become addicted to tacos since I truly discovered them a few months ago? If I’m somewhere associate with Mexican food, I usually try the tacos now.

It’s my way of being spontaneous! Am I a daredevil or what?!

I know this comment will lose me some faithful readers, but I am not a fish fan. So I got the pork carnitas tacos. And I was one happy individual.

While the taste of corn tortillas is definitely my favorite with pork, they fall apart easily. I ended up eating most of these two tacos with a fork. But you know what? It didn’t hurt the taste at all!

And I love supporting restaurants with personality. Their subtle advertisements throughout the shop cracked me up. It just made my dinner that much more delicious.

After a rough morning of “work,” it was fun to spend the afternoon exploring Bremerton. I am so excited to be in this neck of the woods through Saturday!