April 10, 2021 - Scenic Start

 

The sights from a ferry crossing Puget Sound - the Great Wheel, the Space Needle, the changing skyline, the mountains, the ships and boats - can be at least as scenic as your destination.  The excursion this day started aboard the M/V Walla Walla for the 35 minute crossing to Bainbridge Island.

The M/V Sealth heads west to Bremerton, a route that takes it around the southern end of Bainbridge Island.

The skyline  continues to evolve  between the bookends of downtown, the Smith Tower, built in 1914, and the Space Needle, built in 1961.  At the time each of those structures was built they became the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  Currently there are about 43 cranes in Seattle, tied with LA for the second most in the country.  (The crane at the Climate Pledge Arena, due to open this fall, just recently came down.)  

The demolition of the double-decker Alaskan Way Viaduct was completed in November of 2019.  This has accelerated the opportunities for development to connect downtown with the waterfront.  (For reference, the photo of the skyline and waterfront was taken in 2009.)   

    

Two 35,000 ton Panama-flagged bulk carriers were anchored in Elliott Bay.  The Omishima Island, recently arrived from San Marcos, Mexico and the brand new Juno Avenir, recently arrived from Niigata, Japan.  

 

The Marshall Foss, one of 90 tugboats in Foss Maritime fleet, heads to another job.  Thea Foss started the business in 1889 in Tacoma with one rowboat she painted a sharp green and white.  Before expanding into powered tugboats, the company fleet was made up of rowboats, many built by her husband.  Today the Foss name can be seen in ports throughout North America.

The M/V Suquamish heads to Seattle, passing her partner on the Seattle-Bainbridge run.

Retired ferries, including the M/V Klahowya and M/V Hyak, at the Bainbridge ferry terminal.

June 20, 2016 - Summer Solstice Sunset

The Washington State ferry Walla Walla docks at the Edmonds Ferry Terminal on the end of the longest day of the year - the summer solstice.  

While the sunset at 9:11pm was mostly obscured, Mount Baker was still visible!

June 23, 2015 - Port Gamble

On a bluff, of a small bay, on the Olympic Peninsula, near the start of the arm of Puget Sound known as Hood Canal, is the small historical community of Port Gamble.  A logging town founded in the mid 1800s, the nearby forests of the Olympic Peninsula provided an abundance of lumber that was milled and shipped from Port Gamble.  By 1862 over 19 million board feet of lumber were being exported from the Puget Mill Company to countries around the world.

The restored examples of mid-19th century colonial architecture that comprise the Port Gamble Historic District have been designated a National Historic Landmark.

Port Gamble is on the way to places with names like Quilcene...

...or Lilliwaup or Robbinswold....

...and the best way to get there is by ferry.

...and if you miss a boat, well you just take in the view until the next one.