The above photo is a shot of Jessica, Laney's daughter, working the off-loading of the Edmonds-Kingston Ferry at the Kingston Ferry Terminal. I got
another photo of her working the off-loading on the Edmonds side, which is a far better photo of Jessica herself, but the above shot is a better one of her in the context of doing that particular task at her job.
Laney and I took four ferry rides today, on two different transit agencies:
Kitsap Transit, riding their Fast Ferry to Kingston (a 40-minute ride, and easily the fastest way to get to Kingston from downtown Seattle); and
Washington State Ferries, specifically the
Spokane, which Jessica currently works on.
To be more concise: Laney and I met at her apartment building this morning at 9:50, giving us plenty of time to catch a RapidRide G bus to the Seattle Ferry Terminal, where we caught the 10:45 a.m. Fast Ferry to Kingston. That got us to Kingston at about 11:25, giving us half an hour to then catch the vehicle ferry from the same terminal to Edmonds at 11:55. That crossing is about half an hour, getting us over to Edmonds at 12:25; we turned right around and bought our ticket back ($10.25 for my adult fare; about half that for Laney's senior rate—eastbound ferries are free for foot passengers on Washington State Ferries) for the ferry returning at 12:40. That then got us back to Kingston at about 1:10. We all then went out for lunch and drinks, which we finished basically right at 2:30—the exact time the last Fast Ferry back to Seattle was leaving, which we therefore missed (and basically planned to miss; Laney didn't want to rush having lunch with Jessica) and so we took the next one available, which left at 4:10. That got us to the Seattle waterfront at 4:40, and we were on a returning RapidRide G bus at 5:10, having barely missed the previous one ten minutes before that. I think it was about 5:30 when I actually got home. As you can see, it was a very long day—but worth it! And fun to do rather than going to work.
This was actually the second time I have taken the very convenient Fast Ferry from Seattle to Kingston—I previously went with Danielle, and I didn't realize it was so long ago already: that was in
October 2022, almost three years ago now. Now that I've done it twice, of course, I now have a
Kingston collection going on Flickr. The 2022 album has 25 shots; the one from today has 16, and I padded that from the merely 12 photos I actually took today, with two shots of Washington State Ferry bridges I found online, because I wasn't allowed to take photos in the one I was in today; I also took screenshots of web pages about the vessels we rode in each transit agency today.
In doing all my research for this prior to starting this post, I discovered Kitsap Transit is having
both a fare increase and a policy change as of October 1. I'm going to get clarity on this at work next week, but I think I am interpreting correctly that after that date, I will no longer be able to use my work-issued Orca pass to ride Kitsap Fast Ferries at no cost. They are aligning their fare policy with Washington State Ferries, and all along I have had to pay full fare as a passenger on those vessels rather than using my Orca Card pass. This is a bummer, I've been raving about this benefit for ages, but oh well; paying $15 total for a round trip on Kitsap Fast Ferries isn't the end of the world. I don't ride them
that often.
Anyway! The above shot was apparently taken, by someone else, on the bridge of the
Spokane—the very same vessel Laney and I rode from Kingston to Edmonds and back today—nine years ago, in 2016. Laney had told me sometimes Jessica gets to drive the boat, and she
might be able to take us up to the bridge. She made it clear there was no promise of this, but in the end, we did get to go inside one of them, on the ride back from Edmonds. These vessels have a bridge at either end, so they can just drive from either side depending on which direction they're going, and she took us to the back one that was not in use when we were headed back to Kingston.
She did tell us we were not allowed to take pictures, though. Again a bummer, but understandable; I'm sure there are security concerns. I figured I could find some photos of others already online, though, and I was not wrong. I found the above shot on
this blog post, with no writing or photographer credit besides "arbeam," from February 8, 2016. The title of the post was "Washington State Ferry Tour," and just by chance it also happened to be on the
Spokane—a vessel
built in 1972 and rebuilt in 2004, with a passenger capacity of 2000 and a vehicle capacity of 188. It's 440' long, which is roughly the equivalent of a 40-story building on its side. That makes it much bigger than it looks, I think.
Anyway, I saved a copy of that photo mostly because of the literal steering wheel seen in it—which Laney and I also saw on the bridge when we visited. I can't remember if the wheel was designed exactly the same today; I think it may not have had the knobs extending outside the circle. But, I can't remember for sure.
I also saved
this photo, much more recent, from
a Seattle Times article about hoped-for improvements to the Washingston State Ferries—the largest ferry system in the country (and, incidentally, is the
second-largest vehicle ferry system in the world, just behind BC Ferries)—first published in November 2021. That shot is quite clearly not taken on the
Spokane, it was one of the fleet's 20 other vessels and I have no idea which one. But, again, the equipment seen there is very similar to what we saw, particularly the half-circular lever seen at bottom foreground.
I can't speak to the "tour" someone apparently did in 2016 as that doesn't strike me as overtly professional, but I do wonder about the photos taken by the
Seattle Times in 2021. Presumably there were still security concerns, and I wonder if Washington State Ferries had to sign off on what photos could be published, maybe with certain more sensitive equipment not visible. Either way, it makes more sense for them to trust a photojournalist more than they woul a random schmo like me.
It was really cool to get in there to see that space, in any case. We were led through low-ceiling, very narrow hallways to get to it, with a coupe of rooms with bunk beds and lockers in case crew may need, for whatever reason, to stay the night at any time. Come to think of it, that would be kind of fun to do just for fun, even if the ferry were docked. I know they wouldn't do that kind of thing. I'm just saying it would be fun!
On the Edmonds-Kingston ferries, Laney and I spent most of our time sitting on an outdoor bench on the upper deck. Jessica came to say hi to us very briefly on the ride to Edmonds, and spent just a few more minutes with us on the ride back to Kingston, when we got the tour of the bridge. She was still on the clock, after all. Jessica gets up at something like 3:30 every morning for s shift that starts super early, which was why her shift ended with the return of the ferry to Kingston at 1:10. Her shift must have started at 6 a.m., give or take.
So, from there, Jessica went to fetch her truck, and Laney and I walked through a parking lot where Jessica could come and pick us up. We then went to a restaurant Jessica had recommended called
Filling Station. It wasn't actually "Happy Hour," but I did get a super-refreshing Moscow Mule cocktail for all of ten bucks; a two-topping 10" pizza for $13.95; and with tax and tip my total came to $30.50, for a meal for which I had budgeted $40. Under budget, hooray! My projected budget balance of -$18.21 changed to -$8.71. (Granted, I budgeted $100 for Dad and Sherri's visit tomorrow, and hopefully I won't spend nearly that much.)
It was way too hot today, a high of 87° higher humidity than usual made that feel worse. The forecast for tomorrow is 83°, which is moderately better, and actually slightly lower than the forecast of 84° that was showing as of this morning. We'll see how that shakes out.
Now I'm doing laundry, and updating my blog again, and I shall chill for the rest of the evening, before getting up even earlier tomorrow for a day of adventure with Dad and Sherri on the Seattle Waterfront tomorrow.
[posted 7:40pm]
