Port Townsend Tour: Day 8 Fort Townsend State Park to Kistap Memorial State Park

The morning is bright and dry. After breakfast Christine and I pack up camp and explore a bit more along the water at Fort Townsend State Park before we roll off down the road.

Strictly speaking it's really too early for us to be stopping for lunch at the Chimacum Cafe but it's certainly time for elevenses and if you've never had a slice of pie from the Chimacum Cafe then your life just isn't as good as it could be. I love my wife even more than I love pie, I want what's best for her and until now she's never been to the Chimacum Cafe. Of course we stop.

We split an order of biscuits and gravy, which actually turns out to be too much food for us because we also each have pie, blueberry for Christine and coconut creme for me. Then we waddle out to our bikes and roll south on Center Road.

After a lovely stretch of riding on Center Road we turn east on SR-104 which is busy and hilly but features a good, wide shoulder. After a bit we come upon a broken down Toyota pickup on the shoulder, lights flashing, hood up, driver distraught. "I've been here at least an hour and no one has stopped," she explains, nearly crying. Apparently the driver, Christine & I are the last three people on earth without cell phones (I run my phone as wifi only & use my Kindle for email and Twitter in the boonies) but I promise we'll call the State Patrol as soon as we get to a spot with a phone. We roll on and at the information center by the junction of SR-104 and the Beaver Valley Road I call the troopers and report the driver's plight.

After the traffic and drama of SR-104 it is very nice to turn onto the quiet and beautiful Shine Road.

Of course there's one wickedly steep leg stretching section.

Back on SR-104, Christine bravely tackles the Hood Canal Bridge.

We're back at one of the lovely and secluded hiker/biker sites at Kitsap Memorial State Park for the rest of the day. We set up camp and make dinner.

The low sun shines on the still waters of the Hood Canal and we settle in for another quiet night in the woods.

Port Townsend Tour: Days 6 and 7 in Port Townsend

There are a myriad of things to do in Port Townsend and Christine and I fill the days as we often do, seeking out the simple things we enjoy. After breakfast in camp we walk along the beach up to the Point Wilson, watching the birds and fisher folk, listening to the lapping of the waves, enjoying each other's company.

We bike into town, park our bikes and wander. We approve of the Broken Spoke's choice of rental bikes.

While Christine and I love our Kindles (they save room and weight on tour and space at home, letting us carry the equivalent of a library something smaller than most single books), we also love old paper books. The word is that William James Bookseller will be closing at the end of the year when its owner retires but it's still open now and we spend at least an hour wandering the stacks. Despite the weight of paper, we wind up buying a little something.

Of course there is also lunch and ice cream and looking at the water.

Sunday we pack up camp and roll back into Port Townsend.

Christine loves old church buildings and Port Townsend's St. Paul's is a real gem.

After church, we wander downtown. Because it's film festival weekend, movie folks are in town. This makes always odd Port Townsend just that little bit odder.

As we're having a late breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham (ham, cheese & spinach all scrambled up, really good!) at the Blue Moose Cafe, I can't help but think that three year old me looking forward in time half a century would totally approve of the life being lived by fifty-three year old me.

We check out the ReCyclery, which is still under construction and closed but obviously awesome. For those of you keeping score at home, for a town of about 9,000 people, Port Townsend is pretty darn rich in bike resources.

As we roll out of town, I see Port Townsend's Victorian Bike Lady riding along. I'm not quick enough with the camera, but my pal Bob did a nice blog post about her earlier this year.

The naval military history of the area has left this part of the world rich in parks. After spending the past two nights at Fort Worden State Park, we ride just a few miles south of town and settle in for Sunday night at Fort Townsend State Park.