I adore you, Port Gamble!

30 miles further up the Kitsap peninsula from my home is the enchanting little historic town of Port Gamble, Washington.  This morning was our first trip to this town, but it will not be our last.  As we strolled down its main street (which is literally one block long, goes in one direction, and has a 10mph speed limit), I had visions of characters reminiscent of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. It reminded me of the river towns of my youth due to its position of sitting on a small hill overlooking the mouth of Hood Canal, which is part of greater Puget Sound. The little town is preserved and pays homage to its history in the logging industry, and it’s filled with cute little shops, antique stores, and even a museum and cafe. Take a look at this cutie-pie town – there is a reason it’s on the list of US National Historic Landmarks!

Historic homes everywhere! Now they're being utilized as businesses and tourist attractions.

Historic homes everywhere! Now they’re being utilized as businesses and tourist attractions.

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Re-purposing old furniture into a vegetable “Victory” garden

I’m impulsive and driven by nature. Once I get an idea in my head about something I want or need to do, it won’t leave my brain until it’s either in my hands or it’s done. We’ve recently undergone (and are still undergoing) a lot of changes to the house we bought six months ago.  We’ve painted the place, gutted and rebuilt the front porch (which is now beautiful and needs to be shared on my blog), demoed out our deck and finished off the privacy fence, and our outbuilding is currently being re-sided with fiber cement board.

Demoing the old, rotten deck was great, but it left us with a problem – what do we do with the 16’x16’ patch of dirt where the deck used to be?

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A visit aboard the LST-325

The LST-325 docked for tours at Madison, Indiana on 09/14/2013.  This LST (Landing Ship, Tank) was used on D-Day +1 to offload tanks, trucks, jeeps, and troops at Omaha Beach and to transport injured soldiers back to England for care.  It was utilized in Korea & Vietnam before being decommissioned and sold to the Greek government.  When the Greeks were ready to scrap it, it was purchased by a group of veterans who have worked to restore her as she was during World War II.  Her home port is Evansville, IN, but she sails during the summer so that others may board her and explore a piece of history.

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(more pictures under the cut)

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