Puget Sound and the Kitsap Peninsula

The US Navy Undersea Museum

We were impressed by the professionalism of the presentation of all the exhibits here, from the bathyscaphes to the stories about the families of the sailors on the nuclear submarines that spent months at sea totally incommunicado. I loved the way they presented the development of the torpedo, from the first bomb on a long pole to today’s smart weapon. They poked fun at themselves over their early torpedoes which often scored own goals due to their preference for running round in circles. The “fruit machine” which set the firing of torpedoes on a WW2 worked.

The story of divers through history was really well explained and it is a sober reminder that people were working on the seabed to recover treasure in the 1700s using diving helmets and surface air pumps to supply them. They also showed the background of female divers in the US Navy and laid out the hurdles placed in front of those who tried to qualify.

Some of the exibts came from an early nuclear submarine and this included the "sail" as they call the conning tower and the control room for the periscopes which worked and we were to check on the Trek from inside the museum.





A mornings flying

The Tri Area Flyers flying site was within a couple of miles of our RV park and I got a few flights in while Carol and Charro were able to enjoy some record breaking temperatures on the grass. That evening the local news was full of the warm temperatures which had caused the rivers to run high with snow melt and a few misguided individuals who had gone swimming and been swept away, mostly to their deaths.

The Olympic Game Farm

We went rather reluctantly as our two previous visits to similar parks left us unhappy about the condition the animals were kept in. First the good news, we were able to drive the Trek through the park hand feeding sparrows
to peacocks and gophers to grizzlies. Many of the animals were able to run free in large enclosures and seemed happy and in some cases pretty fat. The exceptions were the bad news bit. There were several wolves kept individually in small pens with no enrichment in sight.
They were clearly bored and in some cases exhibited repetitive behaviour. These small cages also held a pair of tigers and a pair of lions who looked healthy enough but their cages were clearly unsuitable. This was bad enough for us to start looking for the contact details of Zoo Check and drafting a letter.