SR 16, the busy Washington state highway that connects I-5 in Tacoma and SR 3 in Gorst, is missing a couple of miles. I don’t mean that it’s not all there, just that there isn’t as much of it as you might think if you go by the official state mile posts alone.
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Category Archives: Other Local Places
About Those Missing SR 16 Miles
Golfing in Manette
Concentrating like a pro
There’s no place to play golf in Manette. But depending on your range of thinking, there’s a place to practice. At least there is for the man in the photo.
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A Creative Car Show Ballot
Lots of ways to win
I haven’t been to the Taste of Hood Canal Car Show for several years. Since the last time I attended the show, the organizers have expanded the ballot for voting on what used to be a simple people’s choice award (see illustration). It might be the most creative car show ballot around.
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USS Long Beach (1959–2012)
USS Long Beach—hiding in plain sight
The USS Long Beach, the Navy’s first nuclear-powered surface ship, had been quietly moored in Bremerton, Washington, since being deactivated in 1994. Not any more. This week the big cruiser was towed away from its berth at the Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility (see photo), ending any chance for an easy photo op.
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Posted in Friends & Family, Government, Other Local Places
Tagged Bremerton, USS Long Beach
A Mossy Roof
A nurse roof?
Nurse logs are common in the rain forests of the Olympic Peninsula. However, until this week I had never noticed that two old cabins at NAD/Soroptomist Park in Bremerton have what could be considered nurse roofs (see photo). The roof in the picture won’t go through the complete nurse-log cycle, but it will be interesting to see how tall the Western Hemlocks that sprouted there get before it collapses or the building is torn down.
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Dancing Man in Port Orchard
Where’s your smart phone?
Readers of the Mud Bay blog know I can’t resist stopping to take a picture whenever I see a dancing man in Kitsap County. Clearly I haven’t found all of them. I spotted a new one today during a rare weekday trip to Port Orchard. The dancing man outside Talk’s Cheap on Bay Street (see photo) might have been jumping for joy for months about the store being an authorized Verizon retailer. I wouldn’t know. I only pass through the county seat on Sundays on my way to Annapolis, where I park and ride my bike along Beach Drive.
Duck Sighting
Duck and truck
Amongst cows and other barnyard animals, the mascot for the Great Kitsap Duck Race was spotted yesterday in Gorst. It was a beautiful day so the sunglasses were definitely needed. The reason Big Yellow was hanging out with the Mattress Ranch menagerie is that the quirky Gorst business is one of the race’s sponsors. Or maybe it was because, as a great philosopher once said, “You have to be somewhere.” Note the replica of the duck on the Nissan pickup truck shown in the photo.
This year the Great Kitsap Duck Race is scheduled for Sunday, July 29 during the Whaling Days Festival. Sponsored by the Silverdale Rotary Club and about 30 other businesses and organizations, the race raises money for civic groups in the community. To participate you pay $5 for each rubber duck that represents you in the race. At race time the popular bathtub toys are dumped into a boomed-off area at the Silverdale Waterfront Park. The ducks that splash across the finish line first win great prizes. Top prize is a Nissan pickup.
Dancing Man in Silverdale
Just in time for President’s Day
First Silverdale took much of Bremerton’s retail business away. Now they are copying our advertising ideas. Today I noticed a new dancing man (see photo) boogying for business in front of Mattress Depot on Silverdale Way across from Arby’s. Judging by the dancing man’s enthusiastic moves and the like-new condition of his svelte balloon body, I don’t think he’s been on the job for long.
Silverdale is by far the biggest retail center in Kitsap County. And it’s growing. But a business needs to do more than just open its doors there to make money. With at least three other mattress stores in Silverdale—one of which advertises itself with a giant cow—Mattress Depot has plenty of competition. Plus it’s in a retail sector where success is based almost entirely on marketing. The dancing man is going to attract the attention of some passing motorists. Whether they will return later for a mattress upgrade is another question.
For the record I bought my last new mattress at Arnold’s Home Furnishings in Bremerton. A dancing man was not involved. You would probably see the pope in a tank top before you saw a dancing man at Arnold’s.
North Shore Art
Taxi!
There’s always something interesting to see at the corner of Beck and North Shore Roads in Belfair. For one thing the owner is a car collector so in good weather you can usually catch a glimpse of some of the vehicles in his collection, which includes a beautiful 1955 Ford Crown Victoria. But old cars aren’t the only decorations in the big yard that’s across the street from Belfair State Park. On my bike ride today I noticed a new metal sculpture (see photo). It wasn’t named, so let’s go with “Balancing Act.” The torso is fashioned from an old water heater. The statue’s hard noggin looks familiar, but I can’t place it.
There’s another sculpture after the jump.
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The Dalby Waterwheel
Big wheel keep on turning
I have always wanted my own waterwheel. Since I have never owned any property with flowing water, the next best thing is to visit the Dalby Waterwheel (see photo) whenever a day trip takes me along Hood Canal’s South Shore Road. The old waterwheel, now an historic landmark, is located on State Route 106 near mile post 7 just east of the Alderbrook Resort. Water from Dalby Creek has been turning the old waterwheel for almost 90 years.
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