Budget
Travel magazine put the Bainbridge-Seattle route on
its list of the most beautiful ferry rides in the United
States.
Here’s what the mag had to say about the Bainbridge trip:
“Glide past sailboats and cruise liners on this quick hop across Puget Sound, with views of Seattle’s skyline and the snow-covered flanks of the Cascade Range. Weather permitting, you can even make out the 14,410-foot peak of Mount Rainier, about 100 miles away. Disembark on Bainbridge and spend the day exploring the island’s hiking trails and downtown cafés (try the caramel pecan French toast at Café Nola), then time your return trip to watch the dusk settle over Puget Sound, and the city itself.”
So put down your newspaper (unless it’s the Sun) on your next trip and take in one of the best views around.
I worked on the ferries, on the Seattle- Winslow run ,back in the 70s and made thousands of round trips, and the best view was always either seeing Seattle fade in our wake, or Bainbridge getting ever closer off the bow. For all of the things that are happening on this Island, both good and bad, this is a great place to come home to.
Why would a trip over open water be more beautiful than open water PLUS Rich Passage? Both the Bainbridge and Bremerton routes converge on Seattle at the same place. On the West side, you have Bremerton cafés plus Port Orchard’s, a foot ferry away from the same dock area.
It sounds like some one was impressed enough with caramel pecan French toast to skew the real judgment of ferry trips. Epicureans apparently don’t make good judges of travel except between restaurants.
I recently brought some visitors to downtown Bremerton for a day visit. I would agree that the trip through Rich Passage is a beautiful trip but the destination is not. It’s a ghost town.
Bremerton is working on rejuvenating it’s core but they are many years away from their goal.
You’d be hard-pressed to show me a Bremerton cafe that is even close to the level of food at Cafe Nola.