How to Get to Seattle From Bremerton

Since we had no work plans for the week, I got approval to head north to visit family. That family just so happened to be staying on a giant yacht in a marina in Vancouver, British Columbia! When they found out that I was so close and had the week to do whatever I wanted, I was invited up for a short stay.

Isn’t that fun?! Sometimes my life doesn’t even seem real because I get to do such fun stuff.

This is a picture of the Bremerton Transportation Center just a few hundred feet from my hotel. I am glad it was so close. I had no jacket, it was forty-four degrees, it was pouring rain, and it was 4:30 AM.

After I boarded the ferry, I took a picture of my luggage. It was soaking wet from just that short walk run to the ferry dock! I love rain. But…be warned. Apparently the rain had adverse affects on the pictures from my entire week. I think a little water got on my lense and stayed there for most of my photos. Sorry. I am just now seeing it now that they are large on my computer screen.

Isn’t that annoying?

No ticket is required for trips into Seattle, but I didn’t know that and bought one anyway. I’m glad I did, since my return trip a few days later was really rushed to get to the ferry in time. It was nice to know that my ticket was already purchased.

What does this mean? It means that next time I’m in Bremerton, I can go to Seattle for the day and back for only $7.70!

The ferry was pretty neat. There were lots of people on board heading into the city for a day of work. Of course, most of them camped out for the hour-long ride and slept. These aren’t homeless people…they are paying ferry customers!

Except the guy on the right in flannel. He very well could be homeless.

Who can sleep when there is this much excitement about going to Vancouver? During my entire trip north, I felt like I was on an adventure. I felt so spontaneous! Never mind that I had all of the ferry and train schedules memorized, just in case. It was really fun. I never do last-minute trips like this, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Maybe I need to get out more?

We are half-way to Seattle. And it’s only 5:00 AM.

I tried to head out to the front of the ferry during the ride to get a good picture, but it was pouring rain and rather nippy for someone wearing a t-shirt. This is all you get, folks.

We wound our way through several peninsulas before getting into open water just before landing at Seattle.

Have I mentioned that Seattle is one of my favorite cities ever? I love it here.

Hello, beautiful Seattle! No, I’m not staying long today, thanks. I am headed to catch a train at King Station. Why, thank you. I will ride your ferris wheel next time I’m here.

Thank you very much.

Here is wonderful downtown. I am giving you the awful ferry lights glare free-of-charge. This could have been a pretty cool picture without those lights getting in the way…

Just after my ferry arrived, another one arrived in the dock next to us. Lots of people are crazy enough to be up this early! Seattle is one hopping city!

Have I mentioned that I like Seattle? No? Well, I do.

After I disembarked with my luggage, I turned around inside the ramp to take a picture. Rain does terrible things to cameras, and I don’t think that Hubby would let me get the camera of my dreams just because of a little rain on my point-and-shoot. I’ll have to be more careful next time.

I wasn’t playing the part of tourist at all. After I took the picture, the ramp worker asked if I had just gotten off or was trying to get on. I took that as my cue to head out of the ferry station.

Just kidding. I took more pictures first. Take that, Ramp Lady.

Do you see all those numbered lanes beneath me? Those are folks lining up to board the ferry back to Bremerton. And that is a pretty view of downtown Seattle.

Man, I love Seattle. Look at the clouds on the tops of the skyscrapers! Isn’t that cool?!

Look how politely everyone waits his turn? Even bicyclers can ride over on the ferry!

I had a 0.7-mile walk to King Station from the ferry station. I considered taking a bus, but none of the locals would acknowledge me to help with directions because I was the idiot without an umbrella in pouring rain.

This shot was taken under some supposedly-protected-from-the-rain trees. I  try to capture memories so I can come back and look through these pictures and know exactly what was going on.

I’m getting very close to the train station now! Here I am just a block away from the Amtrak trains at King Station. I know this because of the baseball stadium here. It was on my map and was very close to the station. (Yes, I had a map. I guess I’m not as spontaneous as I thought). Lots of construction going on here. I can’t believe they timed that during the regular baseball season!

It’s kind of like the crazy people in Phoenix who schedule all road maintenance during the summer. Do they not know it’s 120 degrees?!

Ooooo, a clock tower. That looks promising…I think I’m getting closer! Can you believe how light it is for only 5:30 AM? It stays light until about 10:00 PM, and it gets light around 4:45 AM. These northerners have so much light!

Too bad they can’t see any of it, thanks to all the rain clouds…

Yippeeee! I made it in time! My arms were tired from dragging my luggage, but apparently I am in the right place to catch a train out of Seattle.

Yep. Definitely in the right place. I can almost reach out and touch the train station.

With lots of construction outside and inside, it was nice to see that the cool art deco architecture isn’t being harmed. I love old buildings like this. This was my view after buying my train ticket to Vancouver, BC! It just felt nice to be out of the rain.

Canada, here I come!

Back in the Saddle Again

You, like me, have probably noticed that the number to the right representing my weight loss goals hasn’t changed much in the past few months. But I, unlike you, have been wracked with guilt over such an observation.

It was one year ago this month that I began my journey to looking and feeling better about myself. It tapered off for a few months until my friend, Jari, suggested that we begin training for a 5K in December. I avoided her texts for a few minutes until I finally realized that it would be a very good thing to have an end goal in sight to help me keep on track with losing weight!

So I did it. We trained for 13 weeks to prepare for running a 5K. I had never participated in an organized run like that before, and it felt great to be so consistent with my training. I’m no superstar by any means, and you runners out there may scoff at my race time. But I met my goal and finished the race faster than I aimed. And it felt great.

Weight loss happened the entire 13 weeks. It was wonderful.

I don’t think that I’ve mentioned this, but along the way I acquired quite a fun little injury. About four weeks in, my right heel started to hurt. It wasn’t debilitating by any means, so I continued to train and ignored the pain. The unfortunate part is that I was doing enough damage to impact me in more than just running. I now feel my hurt heel with every step taken.

After I finished my race with my sister and sister-in-law on December 17th, I decided to give my heel some rest. Through careful research online (who needs a doctor’s opinion?), I discovered that I had several micro tears in my Achilles Heel. And it hurts ALL the time.

I have to be careful when I first get out of bed, because that is when it feels the tightest. Or after sitting for a few minutes without use (shame on me for ever sleeping or sitting!). Basically, the heel needed to heal by giving it a few months of rest.

So I did. And Valentines candy and Easter candy pretty much ruled all of my decisions for a few months. I enjoyed it at the time, but that nagging voice in my head said that it would come back to haunt me.

When April rolled around, my heel still was no better. But my lack of consistent exercise and my healthy diet of chocolate had taken its toll. I had not only forgotten to lose weight for a few months but had started to gain some of it back. All of that hard work for months last fall was going to waste!

Here I am today, seven pounds heavier than I was when I finished my 5K in December. My self-esteem has plummeted once again. Not so much because I don’t like how I look, but more for the fact that I haven’t done anything about it for almost six months!

I attempted to run a few weeks ago for the first time, and it was a mistake. Even with my new shoes and insoles (which would have prevented this injury in the first place, by the way), the running was too painful on my heel. It’s the lift-off motion, like rolling off it for a layup in basketball, that hurts the worst. And that motion is used a lot in running. Yikes!

Taking my still-prevalent injury into consideration, I made a new goal to reignite my weight-loss goals again this morning. I will simply find low-impact exercises to avoid damaging my heel. I have a doctor’s appointment for later this week, and my heel will be looked at then. I need to overcome the pain so I can get back on track.

Most people work out and then feel better about pigging out. “I worked out this morning, so I can totally eat that container of ice cream!” I am the complete opposite. When I work hard in the gym, the last thing I want to do it waste it on eating unhealthy. So, for me, working out is a necessary part of losing weight! I know that eating healthy is about 80% of the battle, but exercising is what motivates me to eat healthy and keep consistent. So I need to do one to be good at the other. Does that make sense?

Hubby helped me devise my plan, though it all had to come from me first. I would love to be 15-20 pounds lighter when I see my family in the next few months. And that would keep me on track to lose my original goal of 50 pounds by the end of this year.

In the dark last night, Hubby asked what I was going to do to avoid being derailed this time. I told him that I need to be healthy and happy before we can start a family, which is scheduled for 2014 after my student loans are paid off and we are in a good position financially to bring little monkeys into our situation.  Scheduling when to have kids is completely normal, right? I want to be happy with myself before little ones are added to the equation. I need to be healthy (body and soul) so I can raise them in a great environment.

And I want to look and feel good in my clothes. I’m so tired of being self-conscious of my poor appearance all the time! I’m tired of not being able to feel good in half the clothes in my closet!

So it all begins today. It helps that I am home from work for the next few weeks while Gladys is in maintenance. I won’t have any excuses to avoid working out every day. By eating healthy and doing exercises twice a day, I think the weight will begin to melt away, and my self-esteem and happiness level will only increase!

Doing something goes a long way with me.

Do you want to join with me? Become a better and healthier you? I’m starting today, and you can, too! I’ll make progress reports and would love to hear from your happy results.

Take that, Achilles Heel.

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!