Hometown: Brownsville Marina, Washington

I'm going to start this weekend hometown series with my hometown. This is not where I'm from originally. We'll get to that town later. But it is my home at this time, and it has been for nearly two years. Brownsville is not its own city. It is part of East Bremerton, and my address reflects that, sadly enough. Brownsville, with its unique character and flavor, is light years away from East Bremerton, even though it is only a few miles away. Brownsville is a very small village really, consisting mainly of a marina, which also houses what I am told is a world famous deli, a fire station, and a general store of sorts. I walk down to the deli sometimes for a quick sandwich or snack of some sort. I also walk down to the marina to get my mail, since Brownsville residents (and there aren't many of us) have our mailboxes all together right at the marina. In fact, in at least one of the photos and website links, you'll be able to see my mailbox. You'll also be able to see my house on the water, if you know exactly where to look. The Brownsville volunteer fire station is in nice condition, although I've never actually ever seen a firetruck of any kind there. It is a well-maintained, if not often used, building.

The first link is the official Port of Brownsville website. The top photo on the home page shows my house plain as day, if you know where to look. It's a little hard to explain where it is, so you can just trust me on this. It also shows, in the backdrop, the Olympic Mountain range. Before I moved here, I lived on the other side of Kitsap Peninsula on Hood Canal in unincorporated Poulsbo. I had a nice view of that mountain range from my cabin there. I can still see the mountain range from many places around this area, and nearly always do see it if I'm running errands, so I'm never far from it. I have a small view of a piece of the Cascade Mountain range at the very edge of my front yard along the water's edge. The view from my living room windows is of Puget Sound. Burke Bay is the name of the small protected harbor that Brownsville marina calls home.

http://www.portofbrownsville.org/

The Port of Brownsville website also contains numerous links to the history of Brownsville, as well as an event calendar, so you can stay up to date with whatever is happening around here. There are two events that happen yearly here, which I like the best. The first is when the tall ships come for a stay in Brownsville marina during Brownsville Appreciation Days (BAD) in August. The Lady Washington sailed into port the day I signed the lease papers to move into my little rental here. I think it was an auspicious event to mark my arrival in this unique little spot in the world. My second favorite event is the parade of the Christmas ships, when the members of the Brownsville Yacht Club decorate their boats with Christmas lights and sail along the waterfront, circling around in front of the marina and then finally settling back into port for the night. The yachts generally stay lit up for about a month during the holiday season.

One of the neatest things about living on the water at Brownsville is that the view changes constantly. Varying weather and light changes, as well as tidal shifts, provide a nonstop array of light and rippling effects on the water. My favorite times are sunrise and tidal changes, when it appears that the tide is both coming in and going out all at the same time. Natural changes are exciting, but even the change in what sort of vessels are passing by provides endless hours and days of visual stimulation and entertainment. At night, you can sometimes see the spooky green lights on the vessels as they sail past or into port. The marina lights below the hill upon which I live provide a scenic view at night if you turn out your inside lights and look out.

I've included photos of a few of the sunrises I've experienced here. They're not always this dramatic, but I haven't seen a bad one yet.









Editor of AGNADL