Bellingham

Shane and I had a day off together and I was itching for an adventure.  I thought about Princeton, 2.5 hours away and how beautiful the drive would be.  I thought about hiking in Manning Park 1.5 hours away, but remembered how much Shane dislikes hiking.  I thought about Seattle, far far away and how much I wish see.  I decided on Bellingham.  It is an hour away, so we could easily spend the day there.  I'm sorry to say the only piece of Bellingham I knew was the Guide Meridian, to and from Costco!  So it seemed a good place to explore.  We left around 10:00 in the morning, waited 20 minutes at the boarder.

We arrived around 11:45, starved and ready to eat.

 Thankfully I had found a place, The Boundary Bay Brewery in advance.  We got ourselves some beer, house-made of course and admired the atmosphere.  The walls were covered in sails, paintings, strings of lights and silly fall decor which made a real hodge-podge collection.  The service was great at this sort of restaurant, sort of pub. And the beer was fantastic!

 We each had our own beer-pork-sandwich and smoked salmon clam chowder.  It was delicious.  The last time Shane and I ate out together was in Europe, which made this a real treat.

We drove over to the Fairhaven district, downtown if you will, to Village Books.  This is an independent bookstore full of character and good deals.  They had a nice selection of cookbooks and many preserving books.  The only thing I left with however, were 7-used Berenstain Bears books.  What a nostalgic trip!  I grew up reading these books more than any other!  Over and over again, my mother must have hated them by the end of it!  We wandered up and down the floors, playing with iPads (I want!) and wondering who in the world has the sort of money they are asking for them.  We left after a while but I'm already anticipating our next visit.  

 

I got a recommendation from the bookstore lady to find Papa's Sweets.  She said their we could find Chocolate Necessities, a very good Bellingham chocolate maker.  We ventures across the street and asked Papa what to get.  He suggested Papa's Coffee Bark.  It was Chocolate Necessities' chocolate and his roasted coffee beans, together.  We were sold of course and bought a bag.  

We wandered in and out of stores finding an olive oil tasting room with over 50 kinds of oil and vinegars to sample!  We loved the few we sampled but we didn't buy any, I suppose we were feeling thrifty.

Shane and I bought lattes and found the ocean.  The boardwalk in Bellingham is so cool!  It actually comes away from land and over the water.  We found a bench to enjoy the view.  Sitting along the ocean is a favourite of ours and we'll stay out there until we get good and cold.  The air is cool, salty and refreshing.  A real breath of fresh air.  

On our way back to the highway we stopped at Rocket Donuts.  Their donuts were super fresh and delicious, we gobbled them down.  Shane's was a fantastic boston creme and I think next time I'll try a bacon one.

American towns are so much different than Canadian towns.  They are charming and sweet.  They are patriotic and have tons of character.  I do love to visit them.  Shane and I have said a few times that we would live in the States if we weren't so afraid of their healthcare system!  The following pictures were taken once we crossed the border back into Canada.  I drive this same route every single day for work.