Category Archives: Other Local Places

North Shore Easter Decorations

Posted on March 16, 2013 | 1 comment

Bunnies, chicks, eggs, and more


They decorate their property for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. Now another holiday can be added to the list. “They” is a family who owns a home on North Shore Road just west of Belfair State Park. In the past, I have seen spooks and goblins, Christmas ornaments, and hearts hanging from the trees along their road frontage.

When I posted the Valentine’s Day photo last month I wondered if the next set of decorations would be for St. Patrick’s Day. But instead of seeing shamrocks and leprechauns on a cold, wet bike ride yesterday, I noticed all things Easter (see photo) in the area that I call “holiday woods.” The only thing the Happy Easter message from Hood Canal’s North Shore needs is some warmer weather to go with it.

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North Shore Valentine

Posted on January 26, 2013 | 1 comment

Happy Valentine’s Day


From previous bike rides along the North Shore Road, I know that a family who owns property not far from Belfair State Park likes to decorate it for Halloween and Christmas. However, until today I didn’t know that they also put up a Valentine’s Day display (see photo). I’m not sure how long it’s been there as I seldom bike the North Shore Road this time of year. They probably didn’t beat local merchants though, who began showcasing Valentine’s Day items in the first week of January.

Now, I’m wondering what other days that we celebrate rate a display at what could be dubbed “holiday woods.” If we ignore the presidents, the next up is Saint Patrick’s Day. I will check back in late February or early March expecting to see shamrocks. Hopefully by then the weather will be good enough to rate at least a weekly bike ride along the Hood Canal.

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Heron Gates

Posted on December 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Unusual security gates


I don’t have a security gate because my driveway is too steep and I also don’t want to discourage the few visitors I do get. But if I did I would want it to be a heron gate (see photos). At least I think the birds are herons, although they might be cranes. I’m going by the crooked necks and long bills.

Great blue herons are regular residents of Mud Bay. By day you see them stalking the mudflats, patiently spearing fish in the shallow water when the tide is out. At night you hear their painful-sounding squawks in response to some threat real or imagined.

The owners of the gates in the photos must also feel that herons are symbolic of their waterfront properties. The top gate is from a home on Rich Passage off Beach Drive in Port Orchard. The exquisite bottom gate secures the driveway to a home on Erland Point in Dyes Inlet. I see the gates frequently as both locations are on regular bike rides. The photos were taken last weekend.

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No Mail from Fife

Posted on October 10, 2012 | Leave a comment

Enforcement depends on the direction you are driving.


Every afternoon last week I checked my mailbox for an official-looking letter from Fife. On Sunday I learned that I won’t be getting any mail from the small city that straddles I-5 just east of Tacoma. And that’s a good thing.
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Would You Have Stayed at This Motel?

Posted on October 8, 2012 | 3 comments

Was this motel for real?


From what I can find out there really was a Norman Bates Motel in Fife, Washington. The motel, located on Pacific Highway East (Highway 99), was razed several years ago. All that remains is the sign (see photo) and a cement pad, broken up by a carpet of weeds, at the back of the lot where the foundation used to be. The picture, taken yesterday afternoon, seems appropriate to post with about three weeks to go until Halloween. I wonder how creepy the site is at night.

I generally watch one scary movie a year. A couple of years ago my movie-critic friend recommended Psycho as that year’s Halloween night movie. As I watched it, I remembered some of the scenes from seeing the movie as a kid. But I must have been in the lobby or hiding under my seat when Janet Leigh, caught in a storm, checks in to the Bates Motel. After watching the movie as an adult, I can answer the question posed in the post’s title this way: No way. Not even if it was the only motel in western Washington with a “Yes” light on.

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Bremerton Construction Projects Updates

Posted on October 6, 2012 | 1 comment

Looking south toward the 11th and Warren intersection


The Mud Bay Blog played a role in getting Bremerton to start providing more timely information about construction projects in the city. Well, not actually the blog, but its purveyor. That would be me. But what does it matter who gets the credit as long as Public Works keeps updating the Construction Projects Status and Updates page on the city’s web site?
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Haunted Scrapyard

Posted on October 2, 2012 | 1 comment

Are all scrapyards haunted or just this one?


I have toured a few haunted houses without wetting my pants, but this is a new one for me—a haunted scrapyard (see photo). For the last few years, Belfair Auto and Truck Wrecking on SR 3 has been scaring the Holy bejesus out of anyone brave enough to visit their automobile graveyard on weekend evenings in October. According to the man I talked to, the gore is unsurpassed. Bringing kids is not recommended. Their web site is called Scrapyard Massacre.

This sounds a lot scarier than Christine, the Stephen King novel and movie about a haunted 1958 Plymouth.

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Duckabush II

Posted on September 27, 2012 | 2 comments

My oldest brother and his wife have fond memories of a backpacking trip we took along the Duckabush River in 1990. They still talk about it. So when their son visited me earlier this month, it was important for him to see the Duckabush. He had heard too much about the river not to go there.
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My Knees Held Up

Posted on September 8, 2012 | 3 comments

Marmot Pass from the east


The photo and this post’s tags relate to what people might be interested in—a day hike to Marmot Pass in the Olympic National Forest. However, what’s important to me is that my knees made the 10.6-mile roundtrip with its 3500-foot gain (and loss) in elevation without complaining. A couple of days later the rest of me is still sore. But my knees are fine.
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Buoy ID

Posted on August 29, 2012 | 1 comment

Next time add an email address.


The latest addition to my buoy collection has almost enough information for me to commit identify theft. About the only things missing are a social security number and a date of birth. In the photo above it’s the one covered with black Magic Marker writing.
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