A case of wanderlust, a sense of adventure and a full tank of gas will drive new column beyond the confines of Kitsap County.

Attention.

This is the first edition of a new series, a profound new page of stories in What’s Up, whose text will travel to destinations outside of county lines, from the Olympic Mountains to the Tacoma Narrows and beyond.

Then, perhaps, we’ll take on the world.

It’s What’s Up, Beyond Kitsap.

One column, once or twice a month, devoted to that global spirit of exploration.

We will, however, be keeping it local, like we always do, keeping it West Sound, keeping close to the underground, aiming to spark ideas of adventures to take, that won’t break the bank to fill the gas tank. (Which is can be a task with prices like this).

Needless to say, we’ll also be taking as much mass transit and alternative transportation as can possibly be obliged, and as always, try to tread lightly.

However we get there, it should be an adventure.

It should be a journey laced by the common threads that connect us.

Expect the spontaneity of the road, uncertainty of the unknown and the true grit of the traveler. A first-person account of a stranger wandering from town to town throughout the West Sound, looking to make friends and open his mind through experience.

Ideally, this account and upcoming announcements will provide readers with reason for a road trip, or at least the occasional adventure to be had without ever leaving the La-Z-Boy … or coffee shop or wherever your place may be.

The emphasis here is on activity and community. Living and traveling, away from the strains of the daily grind, away from screens and the same old things.

Adventure is always lurking right outside your door. And it’s out there, Beyond Kitsap.

We’ll be digging into What’s Up Beyond Kitsap with a trip North and across Hood Canal, to a place where the chamber music almost never stops during the summertime — the 25th anniversary season of the Olympic Music Festival.

Founded in 1984 initially with the idea of a summer retreat for the Philadelphia String Quartet, the Olympic Music Festival, a.k.a. those “Concerts in the Barn,” has grown to magnificent proportions. What began as a small get away is now a 12-week long event, attracting more than 10,000 people annually to hear music from incredibly talented, distinguished, prestigious and seasoned chamber performers from around the country. Concerts are every weekend, starting at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, from late June through Labor Day.

Pianist and viola player Paul Hersch will be kicking off the 25th anniversary festival this year June 28 and 29 with Beethoven’s last sonatas.

And while it might not sound all that riveting on the surface, a summer-long chamber music retreat, you know what they say about that one time at band camp.

What’s Up will be there.

Look for that column the second Wednesday of the month, falling into a new rotation of our opinion section that features The Screening Room and Film Cynic movie columnists on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, the West Sound Independent Booksellers’ knowledge on second Wednesdays and Lovin’ from the Oven and other local food and wine specialists on the fourth Wednesday of the month.

As always, Washington State University’s Master Gardener Peg Tillery will keep the garden trim and lush in her column Dig This throughout each month.