Kingston
Marinas
Monday Walks
A Walk through Downtown Kingston, WA
Monday, November 14, 2016TheCambrians
What is it about Kingston that keeps us coming back year after year? Is it the location? Is it the price? Is it the marina? Or is it the community itself? The answers are simple and they’re all the same – yes, yes, yes and yes. There’s something really special about Kingston, a rural seaside town that manages to maintain a level of innocence that can be hard to find nowadays: The pace of life is slower. People know each other. And there’s a real sense of community in the air.
Kingston isn’t officially a town. It’s a “census designated
place” (whatever that means) and covers 2.4 square miles. Wikipedia lists the
population as only 2,099 people (from the 2010 census), but it feels larger
than that because of the surrounding neighbourhoods . . . and the traffic. The
main road into town, NE State Highway 104, ends at the water’s edge where
there’s a Washington State Ferry terminal. Traffic flows regularly in both
directions every day of the week and, yet, it’s still very quiet here (I’m sure
the summer months are a different story). But the best way to see Kingston is by foot, so let’s take a walk.
It gets pretty ordinary from there. On the eastern side of the street, there’s a strip mall with a post office, grocery store, hardware store, a book store, a framing shop and a couple of small restaurants (including a Subway). After that, there are a few offices, mostly financial planning it seems, and the old Kingston Lumber yard that’s still for sale (they moved a couple of miles out of town years ago).
For
me, all walks start at the water’s edge and the Port of Kingston where Cambria has made her winter home for
the last four years. The POK owns and maintains the land along the waterfront
which is also a public park. The tallest mast in the picture is Cambria (if you squint, you can make out her backside and
boom) and the ferry terminal is in the background.
Businesses
and shops say a lot about a community and here in Kingston they scream, “We like to eat, drink and be merry.”
Walking north along the western side of
the street, the first place you come to is Drifter’s Sports Bar and Grill. But
we’re more interested in its next door neighbour, the candy shop (the pink sign).
Next
up is the Majestic Mountain Coffee Roasters which, as you may have guessed,
sells coffee and baked goods. Their new neighbours are Mi Sueño (Mexican
takeout) and the Kingston Ale House (pub fare and some higher-end dining).
On
the opposite side of the road closest to the water is J’aime les Crêpes where
you can buy sweet and savory crêpes. It smells really good and gets busy on the
weekends, but we’ve never eaten there so I can’t offer an opinion.
Further
up is Kingston’s newest business, a psychic (I wonder if they
know I’m writing this).
Next
door to them is Mora Iced Creamery. We’ve been to the one in Poulsbo and it’s
very good but this one closes down for the winter – bastards! Behind the shops,
the Harbor View Plaza finishes the block with businesses offering
financial services, pizza and vaporizers.
That’s the official end of
the downtown area but, wait, there’s more!
But
this post is getting a little photo-heavy, so I’m going to stick to pictures of
the hightlights and skip some of the less interesting buildings, starting with
the western side of the road where there’s a wine bar, florist, hair salon,
bakery and a day spa (the bakery and spa are not pictured).
Across
the street is the Filling Station, a local pub that was once nicknamed the
“Felony Station” because it was a little rough. We’ve been there several times
to watch college basketball but haven’t been back since David almost got us
thrown out 18 months ago (I’m not kidding). I don’t want to go into too much
detail, so I’ll just say that both David and I can be passionate about sport (it
was a big game) and that we go out of town to watch now.
Up
from the Filling Station is the former library and community center. They built
a new on one off the main road near the Village Green (see map above). Just
beyond the old library there’s a Thai restaurant and the sheriff’s office. It
always looks closed, so I’m guessing we don’t have a lot of crime here. I’m not
sure what the false front is all about, but there are several other buildings
downtown that have them.
Most
of the action takes place on the western side of the road. Across the street from
the church, there’s the Firehouse Theater and a motel.
After
that, there’s a taproom called Downpour (nice beers!), The Cup and Muffin (good
coffee!), the McDonald’s and an ARCO gas station.
Yes,
you read that right. Kingston, with all of its 2,099 people, has a McDonald’s
(think ferry traffic) but the locals know where to eat fast – across the street
at the Grub Hut (as in food, not bugs).
It gets pretty ordinary from there. On the eastern side of the street, there’s a strip mall with a post office, grocery store, hardware store, a book store, a framing shop and a couple of small restaurants (including a Subway). After that, there are a few offices, mostly financial planning it seems, and the old Kingston Lumber yard that’s still for sale (they moved a couple of miles out of town years ago).
Back
on the western side of the street and beyond the ARCO station, there’s a coffee
kiosk (in the Pacific
Northwest, there’s no
such thing as too many coffee shops). And a new chandlery in the old Bank of
America building, but David says it’s not very good (or photogenic). And last,
but not least, we have another strip mall. This one is much smaller, but
equally as important for one reason: The Borrowed Kitchen Bakery (and espresso
in case you need another coffee!) where you can buy the world’s best slice of
three-layer chocolate cake – I kid you not!
There’s a lot more to Kingston than the
downtown area – walking trails through second-growth forests, beautiful homes,
parks and farms. But that wraps up our walk for now. I hope to bring you more
walks through some of the other great places that are nearby over the coming months
– Point No Point (great name!), Poulsbo, Port Gamble and so on. In the
meantime, if you’d like to read more about walks through interesting and unique
spots around the world, check out the blog at
Restless Jo and Jo's Monday Walk.
How about
you? Have you been on an interesting walk lately? We’d love to hear from you in
the comments section below or on our Facebook page.
