Ashton Woods Retreat

You really need you check out...

by brokebrother

You really need you check out the state park .The veiw of Seattle and Mt.Rainier is awesome! Well There isn't one best memory or one thing I miss the most about the Island. The veiw of either mountain
range is magnificent.The many beach acesses are great for boating or swiming...if you like cold water. I gues I'd say I miss my friends and family the most. People are what make living any where worth while.If your comunity sucks then who cares what it loooks likes.

hands on history

by ChefSalt

on the South side of the island is an area of very wealthy people and below the mansions on the hill along the waterline I once found and I still have a 5million year old fossil of a snail with its shell still intack.

Bainbridge Island Ferry in the Dark

by glabah

On September 20, 2010 I decided to take a trip to Port Townsend and back on public transit:

+ just for kicks

+ to test to see how well it actually works

+ I don't like waiting in the huge lines for driving onto the ferry

+ It looked like it was going to rain, so doing stuff outside wouldn't be as pleasant, and most museums in Seattle are closed on Mondays

+ I'm cheap

+ I like looking at the scenery

+ What the heck?

To do this properly, I would have to leave the house I was staying in at 5:15 or so in the morning. I took the earliest bus to downtown Seattle, and got the first Ferry to Bainbridge Island.

It so happened that the Seattle skyline in the early morning hours are quite attractive, and so here are a few photos of those early morning hours as Seattle is waking up.

You never know what you might see out on the water around Seattle. Sometimes you might see an Orca Whale if you are very lucky.

Or sometimes some ships loaded with eccentric cargo.

During my trip to Bainbridge Island on September 20, there was a cruise ship arriving in Seattle. This late in September, I would expect this to be one of the last Alaska cruises before the ships head south for the winter.

The deck of the ferry allows you to see the city from a much different perspective.

The Space Needle sure looks prominent from here. There are few tall buildings around it still, and so it is possible to imagine what this thing must have looked like when it was built, and few tall buildings existed in Seattle.

The lighting at night really makes it stand out too.

Unfortunately the motion of the waves and the vibration of the ship sometimes made it hard to get good photos, as the camera was really wanting some long exposure times for these night shots.

A stationary camera support, was just not in the offering, however.

South of downtown the lights make the Port of Seattle an attractive sight at dawn, plus the multi-colored clouds. During the day, this area isn't as attractive as then all the heavy industrial structures and port facilities become much more obvious.

It is possible to see the blue arch of the stadiums on the south side of downtown Seattle on the far left of this photo.

The trees on the land at the far right are on Duwamish Head, and mark the start of West Seattle and eventually the Alki Peninsula.

Just before turning the ship into Winslow, there is one last view of downtown Seattle as the light is getting brigter.

Bainbridge Island happens to be the location of the maintenance shop for the Washington State Ferry system. The facilities are looking awfully empty today - ony one ship is here. I suspect it is the Chetzemoka. This is the new ferry that is currently undergoing sea trials and the hope is to enter it into service very soon.

Last year, the port was filled with a number of older ferries. They have now all been sent south to Mexico for scapping.

Is the knowledge of that what makes this ferry seem so lonely, stashed away in the harbor at Winslow?