We took a three-week road trip around the Pacific Northwest in the summer of 2017, and I am recounting our trip in a series of blog posts. You can read the previous posts here: Ashland, Portland
Days 7-8: Bellingham, Washington
Alex and I had vowed to each other the night before, between tall pints and extra dirty vodka martinis, that we would be on the road by 9 am. No excuses. Our journey to Bellingham would take at least 6 hours if we wanted to visit Multnomah Falls along the way. If we didn’t leave Portland by 9 am, we would be driving through Seattle rush hour traffic at the worst possible time. Alex and I were in complete agreement: leaving after 9 am the next day would be unacceptable.
So it came to be that we left Portland at 10:30 am the next day and set a course for Bellingham. We were all moving a little slower than we had anticipated and I was nursing my first hangover of the trip. I learned a very valuable lesson that day: driving for 6+ hours is actually the worst way to cure a hangover. I would not be repeating that folly again for the entire trip.
We stopped along the way to appreciate the splendor of Multnomah Falls, the largest waterfall in the state of Oregon. About 10 days later the area surrounding the falls would be threatened by wildfires (coming out unscathed, thankfully) and be closed to the public, so we were happy we got to experience it when we did.
As predicted, we hit Seattle rush hour traffic which added another 90 minutes to our journey. It was extremely frustrating, but we took the opportunity to discuss our plans for Seattle when we returned – from the other direction – in six days. Once we were north of Seattle, the road opened up and led us through some of the most beautiful scenery of our entire trip. In the golden light of the setting sun, we could fully appreciate the beauty that is northern Washington on the cusp of autumn. It was extraordinary.
We finally rolled into Bellingham in the early evening and the rest of the night was spent enjoying our cozy AirBnB house.
Now you might be asking yourself: why Bellingham? It’s a fair question and one that I cannot answer without being honest about the fact that Alex and I did not agree 100% about every destination on this trip, and you could say that Bellingham was the “settlement” I received after much negotiation. In exchange, Alex got Kalaloch. You see, for many years I have been a big fan of a podcast that frequently references the city of Bellingham. Although it seems dorky, I would not be able to live with myself if I passed this personal Mecca without stopping to visit. Besides my personal connection with the city, Bellingham is an attractive getaway destination in its own right. The city plays host to Western Washington University, Watcom Falls Park, and Bellingham Bay. It was the perfect place for us to rest in between the big, busy cities of Portland and Vancouver.
Our first morning in Bellingham we planned to visit the famous (to me, at least) Watcom Falls Park. But first, coffee needed to be procured.
You can find these neat little coffee kiosks all over the PNW. No bigger than a shack and usually manned by just one person, you can either drive-thru or walk up to the widow and be served. I was absolutely smitten by these little coffee shacks and frequently exclaimed to Alex how much we needed these to become popular in California. There was something just so cozy about their mere existence, and it put me in mind of another life (when traveling, I frequently daydream about what it would be like to live in every new destination) wherein I get my coffee from the same kiosk every morning on my way to work. In the rain or snow, the person manning the kiosk (let’s call him Jim) would have my Americano waiting for me, and Jim would say something like “How about this weather, eh?” and I’d be all like “Right?!” and we’d laugh awkwardly. I could imagine myself looking forward to that every day.
Coffees in hand, we made our way to Watcom Falls park. It was already a warm day but within the park, it was cool, damp, and GREEN.
Ladies, get yourself a man that will wear your senior pomeranian in a backpack. In public. Happily.
Next, we visited Bellingham Bay where we discovered that Cosmo is apparently not a fan of walking on pebbles. Eventually, he protested walking altogether and Alex had to carry him along the shore. Spoiling Cosmo is something that we indulged in on this trip since we knew that he was experiencing all of these new places in a completely different way than we were. And hey, it was his vacation too!
We really loved the nearby town of Fairhaven where we spent an afternoon just walking around, eating pizza, and enjoying the sites.
We made plenty of time for R&R while in Bellingham. Our AirBnB was a small house on a quiet, residential street and it was fun to get cozy and relax when we had the chance.
On our last night in Bellingham, we visited Aslan Brewery. I didn’t know until a few days later that Alex was not familiar with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe connection to the brewery, thinking that the logo was just some “cool lion”. He is right. Aslan is a cool lion.
Bellingham has a thriving craft brewery scene and Aslan was packed with people. Apparently, there was some football game on that night featuring a Washington team (I think they were called the Ocean Birds or the Water Chickens or something like that).
We loved Bellingham and can’t wait to return someday.
Our next destination would be the halfway and northernmost point of our road trip: Vancouver, BC.
