Washington, Part 3: the 2nd of February

Bremerton, WA (population 37,000) - despite being home to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, "the Pacific Northwest's largest naval shore facility and one of Washington state's largest industrial installations", the downtown area is a very quiet place. Thanks to a massive and ongoing construction project that has resulted in a hotel/conference complex and a government center, however, the central business district looks much better than it did when my parents moved up to Washington from California in the early 1990's.

The view of the city center area from the top floor of the garage where we parked our rented Aveo

Latte in hand (this is the Pacific Northwest, after all), Amber and I prepare to see the sights of downtown Bremerton

Amber takes a stroll through the Harborside Fountain Park. The cone-shaped (and dry on this winter day) copper fountains in the background are meant to resemble the conning towers on submarines

The Puget Sound Navy Museum is housed in a late-19th century commandant's house and administration building. Free of charge to enter, it has displays on local navy-related history, as well as an exhibit detailing what it is like to serve on the USS John C. Stennis aircraft carrier. Here, Amber is listening to examples of orders being given on the ship

Another free museum (though I did leave a donation) in downtown Bremerton is the Aurora Valentinetti Puppet Museum. There are displays of puppets from around the world, with my interest being directed towards the puppets from Kure 呉 in Hiroshima prefecture 広島県, one of Bremerton's sister cities:

There is also a small room where Amber could make her own puppets and put on a show. The museum was the first of several kid-centered attractions that we visited on this trip

Down the street from the puppet museum the 4th Pacific Arts Building, which displays the many works of the gallery's owner, Amy Burnett, as well as those of other artists who have rented space there. Ms. Burnett is especially proud of her collection of Pyrex glass cookware, and took this photo of us in the Pyrex Museum

Our last stop on our walking tour of central Bremerton was back at the waterfront, where the destroyer USS Turner Joy, one of the ships that got us into the Vietnam War (see the "Gulf of Tonkin incident") is permanently moored as a floating museum. The $31 admission charge (¥2600/NT910) for the three of us was on the hefty side, but we were allowed free reign over virtually the entire warship:

On the bridge of the Turner Joy was this chart, "Plans on the West Coast of Taiwan". Curiously, the place names were rendered in the Japanese pronunciations, though neither Pamela nor I could figure out in which part of Tái​wān​ 台灣 "Hotei Hakuchi" was located

Just like on this particular Wednesday, most of the days we were in Washington were gloriously sunny. And while the temperatures were chilly, sitting in the low 40's Fahrenheit (less than 10 C) most of the time, it felt warmer than back in Taiwan, probably as a result of the fresher air outside and the central heating inside.