On Your Way to Port Townsend…
It’s no secret that Port Townsend is a great place to visit. The annual Wooden Boat Festival, Centrum Arts Center, Breathtaking Fort Worden, sentry of Puget Sound, and Quaint victorian shops make this bustling historic seaport a mecca for tourists.
But for tourists looking for something a little less …well, touristy, there’s a wealth of well kept secrets along the way
Chimacum Valley Farmland
where your food is grown
The Chimacum valley is a boutique of small local farms and a close knit agricultural and culinary community. Flanked by the imposing Olympic Mountains, the lush green valley provided the perfect backdrop for Betty MacDonald’s humorous novel The Egg & I. Egg & I road is still home to the Bishop family, whose ancestors inspired the book’s Ma and Pa Kettle.
- The Chimacum Corner Farmstand
- Chimacum Cafe featuring a wall of “just try pies”
- WSU Extension College is a very active part of the farming community and 4-H. Go here for information on farm tours, local fairs etc.
- Farm’s Reach Cafe
- Chimacum Valley Farm Loop Bike Ride
Historic Waterfront in Lower Hadlock
Lower Hadlock waterfront is such a well kept secret, you can easily miss it (look for the Ajax Cafe sign). Watch shipwrights hone their exquisite craftsmanship, dine in style, moor your boat, stay in a quaint historic cottage on the water, kayak or paddle around Skunk Island – or just stick your toe in the water.
- Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding
- Old Alcohol Plant
- The Ajax Cafe
- Marrowstone Island, and Fort Flagler
The right stuff at Jefferson County Airport
The hangars at Jefferson County airport house the most interesting mix of old war heroes, modern captains of industry and back country adventurers, including a new generation of pilots who earn their keep at the Aero Museum youth program. The airport provides charter flights, flying lessons, U.S. customs as well as a museum and cafe.
- Spruce Goose Cafe where pilots from all around fly in for a taste of aviation history
- Jefferson Airport’s Port Townsend Aero Museum
- Biplane rides at Goodwin Aviation
- Annual Airport Daze
Port Hadlock “Airport”,
A Bermuda Triangle of Bizarre
London has Trafalgar Square, Paris has the Champs Elysees, Hadlock has its…Whadyacallit. A plain dirt parking area serves as an epicenter for a maelstrom of the bizarre. On the left is Bloomers Landing – a 5 star burger joint hidden inside a Boeing nosecone. On the right is an old pick up truck adorned
with hundreds of bottlecaps, dinosaurs, doll parts, robots, etc. in a makeshift Road Warrior Museum. In the center is the Big Pig Thrift Store, where the volume of stuff divided by the cubic feet of shop space defy the laws of physics.
- Bloomers Landing
- Ferino’s Pizza
- Valley Tavern, home of the killer jalapeno burger
- Hadlock Library
(Plus lots of other Thrift Stores) We don’t mind giving the competition a plug. Hadlock has 4 thrift stores in all – each with their own unique brand of stuff. So plan on stopping by on the way to/from Port Townsend and spending an afternoon on a bargain hunting safari!
For the Kids
Dragon Tracking Game – the first GeoCache
Hotels
RV Camping
