Day Trip Day! Like in Portland, I wanted to make sure one of the four days I had allocated to Seattle was set aside for a day trip, and the first one all the guidebooks bring up is Bainbridge Island, a geographically large island that is conceptually a small seaside town, across the Puget Sound from Seattle.
Getting there is fairly straightforward: the first step is to get to Colman Dock downtown, which we did by bus from our apartment in Eastlake. Upon arrival I was delighted to discover that they finally got rid of the monstrous Alaskan Way two-tiered highway that cut off the piers from the rest of the city, and which I remember complaining about on my last visit. It is now a regular road with a lot more open space and none of the eyesore.
Once at the dock, there are ferries to Bainbridge Island about every 50 minutes and they are very convenient for pedestrians: the tickets can be bought right next to the gate for just under $10, with the added benefit that they only charge you for the ride to Bainbridge: the ride back to Seattle is free of charge! (I guess they make all their money from the cars)
The sight from the ferry ride is as much of a reason to take the trip as the actual destination, especially on such a clear and sunny day as today. The piers offer a peerless (but pierful! …I’m sorry) view of the skyline from the start, and then as soon as the boat leaves, the view expands to also include the Space Needle. I never get tired of looking at it, and it only grew cooler from the sea when it was framed by the mountains in the background.
I was impressed by the width and breadth of the Puget Sound. By looking at the map there are so many islands and peninsulas that the space looks crowded, but in real life there’s a vast expanse of water where some corners of the surrounding land are barely visible in the distance.
All that said, it only took us 35 minutes to make the trip to Bainbridge Island, the Seattle skyline now tiny on the other side. Upon approach, the island appeared dotted with single-family houses with stairs leading directly to the rocky beach (we would later find that a 2-bedroom house like that can set you back two million dollars!).
When we got off the boat most people ran off into town (to make a beeline for the Pegasus coffee shop, according to my guidebook), whereas we took it easy and started our carefree stroll down Winslow Way, the main street of the island. There’s a museum of art that is free of charge (donations encouraged, you know) right at the beginning of the street, although we spent more time at the shop than browsing the collection. Unlike other museum shops with mass-produced souvenirs, this one stocked items from local artisans -and they were priced accordingly.
The rest of our stroll saw us walking in and out of various gift and craft shops. The atmosphere reminded me more of a mountain town than a seaside town, maybe because of the omnipresent Pacific Northwest pines and the fresh, cold air. All the buildings were small and all the shops and cafes were local, making us feel like we’d traveled very far from the big city. If you look at the map, Bainbridge Island occupies almost as much land as Seattle itself, but this tiny town is its biggest development.
Looking for options for lunch, there are Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indian restaurants in addition to grills. My guidebook recommended a fish & chips shop, but we’ve already had that twice -I do wish it was easier to just eat regular fish here- so we ended up at a charming old-fashioned American diner where we each had a terrible burger. This is not my most gastronomically successful trip so far… but also not the least.
After lunch we took a walk down to the marina to try to see the water a little bit. There is a proper, clearly designated marina trail that can take up to an hour for those who want to hike around the coastline, but the sun was beaming down on us by this point so we just took a quick look at the moored sailboats and quickly retreated back to the shady main street.
All that was left for us to do was to retrace our steps along the other side of the street, back to the ferry terminal. If you want to spend more time on the island there’s the Bloedel Conservatory, but you have to take a bus and pay another ticket and then get bus and I’m just not sure it’s worth all that; me, I’m getting my garden fix from the Japanese gardens.
The way back to Seattle was uneventful, and like I said, free (they don’t even check for your one-way ticket), save for the fact that upon exiting the ferry terminal we walked pretty much directly into Top Pot Doughnuts, Seattle’s own artisanal donut brand. I thought Portland was it for my gourmet donut experience, but here I had a lemon frosted old-fashioned that was delicious if not quite Blue Star level.
That and a bus ride home is it for today! Bainbridge makes for a satisfying and very easy day or even half-day trip, depending on when you set off and how much you want to see.
Tomorrow is our last day in Seattle, so I should review what loose ends I want to tie up before we leave…
This Is A Lake 