11/3/2022 – 11/5/2022
On the 3rd I toured around Bremerton, WA and then went to Tacoma, WA. On my way into town I saw there was a naval shipyard in Bremerton and a museum ship in the harbor. The museum ship was the USS Turner Joy a destroyer from the Vietnam era. I didn’t pay to tour it, but I walked around it in the marina.
After the marina I walked around the shoreline, even though it was raining, and found the Puget Sound Naval Museum. This wasn’t the best museum that I’ve ever been to, but it had a few interesting exhibits. The big exhibits were the PT Boats and the USS John C. Stennis. They had a history of the shipyard too. I didn’t think the PT boat exhibit was going to be that interesting, but it turned out to be the most interesting in the museum. I had never heard of the hydrofoil boat program. It was weird to see a ship that large floating on hydrofoils.
Outside of the museum they had the sail of the USS Parche, one of the most decorated, if not the most decorated, ships ever in the navy. After the museum I walked to the fence of the shipyard to get a pic of the hammerhead crane. I saw one of these in Norfolk, VA too.
The whole reason I went this way was to see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. For those that don’t know, the Tacoma Narrows bridge was one of the worst bridge disasters ever. The original bridge resonated with the wind over the bay and tore itself apart. I wish the weather was better, but this is the fall/winter in the PNW.
On the 4th I explored downtown Tacoma, WA. The downtown area was smaller than I expected. I checked out Union Station, the WA liberty bell, Chihuly Bridge of Glass, and the two main roads downtown.
I found that the Brewallup Craft Beer Festival was going on today and definitely had to hit that up. The admission was $30, but that included live music, a taster glass, and six tasters. I ended up getting ten or so by the end of the night. There were only a few that I really liked, but there were too many to try. The only band that I thought would be interesting was the last one of the night. I think that’s why I got so many free beers. The Alex Britton Band was quite good. They did a bunch of rock, pop, and classic rock covers.
On my way back to the van I stumbled across dirt bike and quad racing, also at the fairgrounds. I hung out for about an hour watching kids to adults race on this tiny indoor track. I forgot how much I missed the smell of 2-stroke exhaust.
