12 July - Bremerton WA and Lunch with Doreen's Cousin Mary Simon

12 July
This morning we hit the road northbound to Bremerton WA to meet up with Doreen's cousin Mary Simon for lunch.

We headed out a bit ahead of time as my brother-in-law Jim Nantz and his wife (my sister) Karen lived in Bremerton when Jim served in the Navy during Vietnam.  Yesterday Karen sent me the address of the apartment they lived in and asked if I would check and see if it is still there.  It was:

We also passed the Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton and snapped some pictures of one of the ships on which Jim served.  The aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) was decommissioned May 12 2009 at Bremerton, Wash., after more than 48 years of service and remains "in mothballs" today.  

The USS Kitty Hawk at Bremerton today.

If you look closely, you can see the numbers 63 in white under the plates in this picture.

We then headed to the dock near the restaurant we were meeting Doreen's cousin. We checked out the USS Turner Joy, a Forrest Sherman-class destroyer. She was named for Admiral Charles Turner Joy USN. Commissioned in 1959, she spent her entire career in the Pacific.  They also have a gift shop and for a small fee you can tour the ship.  

The harbor was filled with beautiful ships of all sizes and shapes.  We walked around and admired the view.  

A huge propeller commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in 1991 

May be difficult to see, but this propeller is full of ornate engraving 

One of the ferries that boards here

The ferry picking up passengers and vehicles.

We met Doreen's cousin at Anthony's Restaurant and enjoyed a nice lunch there.  

They talked about many things, shared some photographs and some laughs.  After lunch we headed outside and got a couple pictures:

On the way home Doreen took a picture of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.  Getting closer, she noticed some workers climbing the spans and apparently doing some inspections!  Quite the sight!

 Finally, Mount Rainier came into view and she took a nice picture of that.

Tomorrow we are going to Boeing to tour the plant.  Our stay at Ft Lewis Travel Camp has been very enjoyable so far.  The biggest down side is the traffic delays due primarily to construction.  I do not enjoy spending my vacation waiting in line at a dead stop on a freeway.  Unfortunately there are places we would like to see while we are here but will probably opt-out of due to this.  I like the sounds of a relaxing day on the lake in a canoe!