Kingston

Kingston is a little town that sits across Puget Sound from Edmonds. In fact, being the other end of the Edmonds ferry is the main feature of this community. The town has a cute main street with a few shops and restaurants, mainly catering to tourists on their way to or from the Olympic Peninsula.

Seasonality:
Kingston is very much affected by the tourist seasons. During summer weekends and holidays, the town gets busy, and the wait for the ferry can be 2 hours or more, so it’s usually better to arrive early! On days with particularly heavy ferry traffic, there’s often a police officer handing out entry tickets to cars in line, so that people can’t take a side road and cut in line after you’ve been waiting for hours. I’ve heard rumors that there will be a reservation system set up in the future to help ease the situation, but so far it’s all talk and no action.

In the winter, Kingston becomes relatively empty, however, with the exception of holidays. I’m not sure how some of the smaller places stay in business, but most of them are open during the off-season. Even the ice cream shop!

Housing:
One benefit of living in Kingston is that rent is much more affordable than across the water. So for people working in downtown Edmonds who would like to live somewhere less expensive and more rural, it would not be a bad commute to walk on the ferry in the mornings and sail over to work. Although, since Kingston is so small, your options are limited, so you may have a bit of a wait until something that suits you becomes available.

Art:
The Olympic Peninsula overall is known as a bit of an artist’s haven, especially for retired folks who have more time to dedicate to their creativity. Kingston does an occasional self-guided art tour, where you can walk and drive around to different artist’s studios and view their creations. The art comes in many different mediums, from your traditional oil paintings to felted yarn to silk scarves to jewelry and sculptures.

Kingston has also been putting on its own summer art festival in July, one of many on the Olympic Peninsula.

Food:
There are a handful of decent restaurants and cafes here, both near the ferry terminal, and further up the road. Here are the ones I’d recommend:

J’aime Les Crepes: This is where I usually get a snack when I’m parked in the lot waiting for the ferry. They have both sweet and savory crepes. My favorite is the Mediterranean!

Mirracole Morseles: On the second floor of an old-fashioned victorian building, this one is easy to miss. Though they’re not open as often as I’d like, they do delicious baked goods, including gluten free.

Mystic Mountain Coffee: Once in a while I like to have a lazy day, take the ferry with a friend, and cozy up in this café for a long catch-up session.

CBs Nuts: A couple of miles out of town, this little peanut roaster has been steadily growing over the past several years. Their specialty is all-natural, organic peanut butter ground daily from nuts they roast themselves. It’s a little pricey, but so delicious. Recently, they’ve added pumpkin seeds to the product list, which I can say first-hand are very tasty.