We headed up to Port Townsend on Friday, leaving on the 12:05 ferry from the Edmonds dock as passengers. This took us into Kingston, where we met up with my friend and drove over to Port Townsend. When we got there, we wandered around downtown for a while — Amanda had pizza for lunch, and I had a hot dog with relish, onions, ketchup, and mustard from a little place called Dogs-A-Foot at the corner of Water and Madison. Presumably, they make authentic foot long New York hot dogs. Well, I’m not sure about authentic, but it was good. As we walked over to get some dessert, I snapped a picture of a silver Prius that I had noticed before lunch and had been watching since. Perhaps I’ll post the photo later.

We had dessert at the Elevated Ice Cream Company, which makes its ice cream fresh. All three of us had the local raspberry flavor, which was quite good. Nice follow-up to the hot dogs.

We wandered around downtown for a while, then walked along the beach and up into one of the local parks, where we played around on the swings for a while. I had forgotten how dizzy a swing can make you — what can I say, I’m a big wimp. Went back to the house and hung around a while, having dinner and watching movies until we went to bed.

Woke up on Saturday morning and had some breakfast, after which we drove down to the Jefferson County Fair. Shockingly, I was allowed to borrow a car, since I was the only one among us with an actual driver’s license. Great little Ford Contour – responsive and nice to drive. Anyway, we got to the fair and wandered around a while, looking at the usual — rabbits, chickens, art — and the not-quite-so-usual — the Port Townsend Rock Club. We had lunch, after which I just had to grab a raspberry mocha with extra raspberry — it had been too long. Wandered ar ound a little more, then went back and hung out the rest of the day. We went back down to the park and sat around for a while, talking about, of all things, modern adaptations to Shakespearean plays. We also got to talking about the reasons wars are fought. In one of the books I’m reading for next quarter, I seem to remember that George Bush is quoted as saying that the war on terror should not have been called the war on terror; rather, that it should have been called something like the war against countries and organizations that harbor terrorists. I have yet to find that quote again, which makes me think I might have dreamed it up, but I somehow find this unlikely.

We spent Sunday morning finalizing our idea of what a possible road trip next summer would look like. We decided that it would probably be a trip down the West Coast, with possible stops to see some haunted houses or places on the Lewis and Clark Trail. We’ll see — this is still an endeavor that’s in the intensely theoretical stage. We’d still need a car and one more person that’s actually licensed to drive so that I wouldn’t be doing all the work. We went back to the Jefferson County Fair at about noon to grab lunch — we had a free barbecue meal included with our meal ticket, so we decided to take that opportunity. It was quite good – roast beef with bread, coleslaw, beans, and barbecue sauce. Worth going back for, even though it wasn’t more than about ten minutes away.

We went back after lunch (and after I picked up some new buttons to put on my backpack), packed, and sat around talking until it was time to return to Kingston. The rest of the day went without problems — we got to Kingston on time, boarded the ferry, rode over, and got off. While we were waiting for my mother to pick us up on the Edmonds side, I happened to notice a black Prius being loaded onto the ferry. I had heard of them, but never seen one until now. Cool.

All in all, a very relaxing trip. Hopefully, we get the chance to go back there sometime.