Kitsap Adventure

An adventure to Kitsap Peninsula in Puget Sound is on the docket today. Just before we left Ken's phone rang - great news... the rack is in and we'll get it installed on Monday. We are back on track sort of. We can leave Elma on Tuesday for Bellingham.

Driving happily up 108 E to 101N to Shelton through the spring countryside with tons of yellow flowers along the road every where. We turn onto Rte 3 that will take us to the heart of Kitsap Peninsula. Rte 3 runs along a ridge looking down into little inlets and channels. We stopped at the Sunny Day expresso stand. Washingtonians love their coffee and there are these little expresso stands all over the place.

Our next turn takes us onto Rte 302 E down a woodsy incline past beautiful cottages and homes along Case Inlet. The gardens here are full of dogwood, azaleas, and rhoddys. Soon we turned again toward Vaughn to take the little road to Key Peninsula in Longbranch. We explored great little villages and towns like Home and stopped at a state park at the end of the peninsula. We are seeing fresh produce stands now with Asparagus and fresh Corn, and we wondered where it was coming from.

Turning onto Rte 16E we point the Jeep towards Gig Harbor. This is a picturesque harbor resort community on the Hood Canal. We walked north through town and window shopped the upscale galleries along Main St. We found the Tides Tavern right on the canal. From our window seat we watched the sailboats and leisure boats pass by. We marvelled at the lavish homes across the canal with fantastic tiered gardens and long staircases that reached to the water. After a nice lunch we strolled down to the pier and looked at the pleasure boats.

Continuing up Rte 16E to Bremerton we saw our 1st view of Mt. Rainier between the clouds, as a backdrop to Puget Sound. Bremerton is a big ferry town for folks coming from Seattle. We watched a ferry cross the sound and then headed north on Rte 3 to a little village called Seabeck. Out of Seabeck we took one of those "little black roads " on the map which led us along the Hood Canal. We could see the Olympic Range covered in fresh snow in front of us in the distance. We stopped at Big Beef Creek which runs into the canal and then ambled further along the road. The canal here is mostly obscured by trees, but there were great mountain views. Each turn gets better and better. Riding down Dewatt Rd we stopped on a ridge and then soon found ourselves back in the forest. We are now heading for the town of Union...we thought. We were ignoring Adora (our GPS) because we thought she was trying to take us back to Rte 101 and we thought our little back road connected to it also. Heading to Union, we thought, we followed Windy Rd along the canal to a neat looking cabin out on a point of land. Unfortunately a "private property" sign stopped us. Continuing to the town of Tahuya (fun to say) the wind suddenly came up and was whipping the canal into white caps. Following the twisty Northshore Rd we found there was no way across the canal---- so we retraced our steps and followed the road to Belfair to pick up Rte 106 and eventually Rte 101 (Adora was right). Gorgeous trees and gardens line the road and give privacy to the homes along the canal and makes a great ride. Brilliant colors of vivid red rhoddys, pink and white dogwoods and daffodils. These are also the roads to drive if you want to know where the locals eat - like Pats Little Rd Barn which was packed. We finally found Rte 106 and took the Purdy Cutoff Road to 101 and then Rte 108 to camp.

We did about 250 miles today on our little adventure. It was too long a ride for a side trip.

Pictures: Gig Harbor, Big Beef Creek (2), Dewatt Ridge Mountain View (2)