The lesser known Washington Peninsula is home to some of the most spectacular bioluminescence in the US. Here's how I planned my trip.

As I paddled, the black water sent up lightning-fast white fireworks. Hood Canal's bioluminescence wasn't the blue I'd expected. There were countless invisible stars submerged in the water, and all it needed was a little stirring.

“There are lots of places you can see bioluminescence,” said John Kunz, owner of Olympic Outdoor Center. Travel + Leisure“You just can't see it because of the light pollution. You're lucky it's still dark out here.”

Paddle the Kitsap Peninsula National Water Trail just beyond the lights of Port Gamble, Washington. Nestled between Seattle and the more famous (and larger) Olympic Peninsula, the Kitsap Peninsula is two hours from the Cascade Mountains and 90 minutes from the Olympic Mountains, almost forever in the shadow of both. Bainbridge Island, the largest island on the peninsula, is famous as a summer getaway for Seattle's elite, but the world only recently discovered it. rest of the peninsula — and how it shines.

Hood Canal surrounds Port Gamble, an old wooden town often used as a movie set. Modeled after East Machias, Maine, it's a place of neat company housing, Victorian architecture, colorful “Skittles” houses and manicured lawns. (Local legend says it's home to a ghost named Gustav Engelbrecht.)

This morning, I'm riding my bike to Port Gamble Heritage Forest Park, just seconds from the town's main drag. While much of Port Gamble has been logged, this site remained more or less untouched. Today, the site is home to some of the best hiking and biking trails on the peninsula, along with 60 miles of multi-use trails and a mountain bike ride park. Some sections are drooping with moss and overgrown with trees the size of dining tables; other sections are still young, but logging continues. (The county is buying the land back, and the next battle is to buy the timber rights.)

After a few miles and lots of stops for photos, I biked back to Butcher & Baker Provisions, one of my favorite places in Washington and one of my favorite cheesecake places. Known for dishes like the pimento cheese fried chicken sandwich, you'll likely wait longer than it takes to eat your meal. But that doesn't matter; it's just extra time to find Gustave.

I try to meditate (while eating a pastry) wherever I go, it forces me to slow down, notice the details around me, and focus on the sweetness and beauty. With that in mind, along with some cheesecake, I head to Point No Point, a wild beach overlooking Puget Sound, to try my luck at spotting orcas and sea glass.

When it's quiet, like today, Point No Point can feel a little somber. This is where the S'Klallam, Chimacum and Skokomish tribes signed the Treaty of Point No Point and ceded their land. It's quiet and calm on the sand, but the waves are lapping, the seagulls are crying and Mount Tahoma looms majestically in the distance.

I eat slowly, which is the only reasonable speed, and while the orcas don't make an appearance, the seagrass, in shades of white, amber and green, does.

From here, head down the peninsula to Porsbo, where Norwegian was the official language until 1947. Porsbo sits beside Liberty Bay, a small fjord. Nicknamed “Little Norway,” the town's downtown is filled with art galleries, upscale boutiques, and the famous Sluis Bakery, which always has a line. Stop in for a sniff and a bit of window shopping, then head to Sogno di Vino, ready to mop up with olive oil.

The cozy restaurant with a fireplace is next to Hotel Scandi, the oldest hotel in town, now a newly designed hotel/Airbnb hybrid with nine rooms and shared bathrooms. Guests can self-book and enter their rooms. Like Kitsap, this historic spot is a balancing act between the times.

I'm out hiking in the Green Mountains with some friends for lunch. Though only 1,700 feet above sea level, the mountains offer 25 miles of trails and views of the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges, the Seattle skyline, and Mount Tahoma from the top. Our friends are Navy brats, and they recommend we visit Bremerton, a naval town. “If Poulsbo is an art gallery, Bremerton is the art center,” one of them says. studio. ”

Bremerton is a low-rent city, a maze of upscale landscapes and former Navy shipyards where water rushes in and out of every crevice. It's one of those places where serial entrepreneurs open boutiques and bakeries and thrift-store wine bars and tacky arcades. It's nerdy and artsy, gritty and creative, an underdog story with a spark that might make it go the way of Austin and Asheville, but waiting for the end.

I start the night off with a half-pour of the house red and a tarot card reading at Grumble & Wine. Afterwards, I eat crab cakes at the bar at Hound + Bottle and meet up with local Erin, who kindly confirms all my suspicions. She tells me about the locals rallying together to buy the Roxy Theatre, how the city's leadership is majority queer, and how downtown is recently in the midst of becoming a capital-Creative District. Everyone here seems to dream in the shadows of their efforts. As Erin says, “Bremerton is… not a place for precious things.”

I thank her for her nice turn of phrase, pass on dessert, and continue my exploration. I peruse the pink shelves of locally made goods at Life in Mauve, where, as the name suggests, everything is literally mauve. I count the bakeries and make a list to buy later. And then, in the morning, I turn to Café Corbo. I walk toward the water, rippling black and gold with the harbor lights. It's hard to tell from here, but I'm pretty sure it's sparkling.