Home is a small community on the Key Peninsula, a long, wooded finger of land reaching into southern Puget Sound west of Tacoma. It has one of the stranger origin stories in the Pacific Northwest: in 1896 a handful of idealists founded an anarchist colony here on the shore of Von Geldern Cove, and for a couple of decades it attracted free thinkers, writers and the suspicious attention of the authorities. The colony faded, but the name stuck.
Today the place is quiet, almost hidden. The Key Peninsula Highway runs down the spine of the land through tall Douglas fir and cedar, with side roads dropping to small coves, oyster beds and boat ramps. It is not a technical road, but it rolls and curves pleasantly, with very little traffic, and the forest smells of resin and salt water after rain. On a clear day, the views back across the water take in Mount Rainier, impossibly large above the sound.
Weather is the main caution. From autumn to spring, damp is the default; moss and pine needles make shaded corners slick, and fog can sit in the hollows until late morning. Deer wander across the roads at dusk. Summer, by contrast, is often dry and gentle, the best time to explore these backroads.
Services on the peninsula are scattered and small, so do not count on finding fuel exactly where you want it. Gig Harbor and Purdy at the northern end of the peninsula are the reliable places to fill up and find coffee and food. From there, the route heads towards Hood Canal and the Olympic Peninsula, where distances get longer and the forest gets even deeper.