Hood Canal’s bioluminescence wasn’t blue like I expected. It was more like the millions of stars we can no longer see had settled in the water — they just needed a bit of stirring up.
Set between Seattle and the more well-known (and larger) Olympic Peninsula, Kitsap Peninsula is two hours from the Cascades and 90 minutes from the Olympics — and has spent nearly forever in the shadow of both. Bainbridge Island, the peninsula’s largest, is a well-known getaway for the Seattle elite, but it’s only recently that the rest of the world has discovered the rest of the peninsula — and how it glows.
Hood Canal wraps around Port Gamble, an old timber town that moonlights as a movie set. Modeled after East Machias, Maine, it’s all trim company homes, Victorian-esque architecture, colorful “Skittles” houses, and manicured lawns. (And, according to local lore, there’s one ghost named Gustave Engelbrecht.)
Port Gamble Heritage Forest Park, just seconds behind the town’s main drag. While most of Port Gamble was cut down, this spot was largely spared. Today, it offers some of the peninsula’s best hiking and biking, with 60 miles of multi-use trails and even a mountain biking ride park. Certain sections drip with moss and claim trees the size of dining room tables; others are young — and yet are still being cut.
Come back down to Butcher & Baker Provisions, one of Washington spots – cheesecake purveyors. Famous for their pimento cheese fried chicken sandwiches, amongst other things.
When head down the peninsula to Poulsbo, where Norwegian was the official language until 1947. Poulsbo sits on Liberty Bay, a sort of mini-fjord. Nicknamed “Little Norway,” the downtown overflows with art galleries, high-end boutiques, and the iconic Sluys Bakery, where a line regularly flows out the door.
The cozy, fireplace-lit restaurant is next door to Hotel Scandi. It’s the town’s oldest hotel, which is now reenvisioned as a freshly designed hotel-Airbnb hybrid. There are nine rooms and shared baths, and guests can book and access rooms on their own. It’s yet another historic spot tasked with balancing eras — much like Kitsap itself.
You can hike up Green Mountain. Though only rising to 1,700 feet, Green Mountain has 25 miles of trails and, at the top, provides its companions with views of both the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, the Seattle cityscape, and Mount Tahoma…
You can visit Bremerton, here was and is a naval shipyard, with water whooshing in and out of all its crevices — a lower-rent town in a maze of high-dollar views. It’s one of those spots where serial entrepreneurs are opening boutiques and bakeries, thrift-store wine bars, and sticky arcades. It’s nerdy and artistic, gritty and creative. It’s got a spark that could go the way of Austin or Asheville, an underdog story awaiting its ending.
