Sunday, October 6, 2013

Day-09: Bremerton & Baseball

Friday, October 4, 2013

Destruction Island Light



Yesterday's mystery light?




This was a foggy morning; how do I know you ask? Ship's whistle blasts, the waterfront and the early morning ferry traffic in heavy fog yields many, many long blasts of the whistles.

As planned the morning was dedicated to work, blogs and laundry. Nothing of great excitement but all necessary. By late morning the fog was lifting and blue sky was evident up above allowing for a site seeing walk in the area.


USS Turner Joy DD951


Bremerton is the home to the USS Turner Joy DD-951 of Gulf of Tonkin Incident fame. The ship anchors the local naval museum located in the marina area adjacent to our hotel and the convention center. The ship evokes memories of B&W 1,200 PSI steam plants. The TJ was built in the Puget Sound area.






By noon or so, the Rays vs Red Sox game was to start. What do we do? Watch the game of course, just can't do that everyday; must remember we're tourists and must do tourist things. For those wondering, yes D.J. Kitty was again "in the house", not a happy kitty in the end.








Following the game we boarded a local ferry for a quick ride over to Port Orchard. The town seems to be a working town with a downtown like so many, trying to revitalize itself. There was little there other than wanna-be artists, tattoo inkers and fortunately a great candy shop. Can't pass a good candy store without a sample of chocolate covered toffee and several variations of fudge, including a cabernet fudge; it's actually the color of wine.


Puget Sound Naval Shipyard



The ferry ride back to Bremerton offered a close-up view of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard dock areas. 






I was surprised by the number of ships and boats, sitting in what appears to be a ship graveyard. Looked like 3 or 4 aircraft carriers, including the Kitty Hawk (CV63). 


Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate

There were at least 15 submarines awaiting their final dive into the depths or scrappers' torches. Some of the noteworthy boats included ten of the Los Angeles class, e.g. Birmingham (SSN695), Phoenix (SSN702), Hyman G. Rickover (SSN709) and Salt Lake City (SSN716). 







One of the most interesting hulls was the ex-Long Beach (CGN9), a late-50's vintage hull if I recall. I actually had a Revell plastic model of the Long Beach, way long ago.




The shipyard also displays as a memorial to sailors and shipyard workers, the bow of CGN37 South Carolina. So many of these ships and boats that I viewed many years ago as new and world class are nothing more than scrap metal now; just another sign of aging I guess, the ships and me as well.


Once back in Bremerton we took off looking for dinner and after a brief drive came upon the Boat Shed, a recommended seafood establishment in the area. True to expectation, the meal was great with us both downing salads and servings of Halibut. As an aside, we were sitting across from Seattle Seahawk's #24 ML or a look-a-like. Not too tall but muscularly huge wearing the #24 jersey. Since the real ML is on my Fantasy team, I can only hope he was eating healthy; I probably should have helped him out, don't want any trips or falls that could disable my star RB.



With a view of the water and the Seattle ferry departing Bremerton, I'll close the post for tonight.

Will see what tomorrow brings.


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