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Published: July 13th 2005
The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.__Ellen Parr
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June 15, 2005, Wednesday. We left Bothell and started north toward Bellingham. We made a side trip to Mt. Baker in the Snoqualmie National Forest. We stopped at a National Park/Forest Service visitor’s center. Both of these entities work cooperatively here, which is unusual. They were very helpful routes and hikes and also informed us of a lovely waterfall. We drove the Mt. Baker Scenic Highway for about 50 miles. The scenery is lovely on this “Bob Road”. Mt. Baker is 10,776 feet, ski resort. It holds the world record for snowfall in 1998. It had 1,140 inches, which is over 100 feet of snow that particular winter. They actually had to shovel out the chair lifts. They had just opened Austin Pass so that was as far as we could go. As we drove we could see Mt. Baker, Mt. Shuksan and Mt. Chuckanut. We are glad we missed that experience.
The view included densely wooded slopes, and snow capped peaks. This is a part of the western Cascade Range - a chain of volcanoes that start in Oregon and move north and include a volcano in Canada.
While driving along, we saw logging operations, and this was our first experience with clear cutting and new growth forest after 20-years. There were examples that made us wonder how they ever got those logs off those steep slopes.
Our day ended by driving back to a campground where we had reservations at Bellingham RV Park. Obviously, it’s very popular for people on their way to Alaska, so we got settled in, had a nice dinner, and it was already late. We had been driving most of the day, so we were ready to close up shop.
June 16, 2005, Thursday. Getting the digital photos put onto a Cd was our first job. We want the cameras ready for Alaska.
Then we continued onto REI in Bellingham where Bob got the name of the manager in the new REI coming to Pittsburgh. Hopefully REI will help with the North Country Trail Conference next summer.
Our stop at the ferry was useful. We were able to get our boarding passes for the entire trip. The young woman was helpful in explaining the procedure, what time and where to bring the RV. She also clarified
the kind of berth we had reserved. It sounds good.
Bellingham, or an area of Bellingham called Fairhaven. It is a neat outdoor town with lots to do. After a stop at the bookstore, we decided to save the sightseeing for tomorrow. We need to be on the dock and leave the Bothan for several hours before departure.
Of course, Bob found the brewery and we did a sampling along with a delicious lunch. This brewery is the Boundary Brewery in Bellingham and it’s nationwide recognized as one of the best breweries in the country. So of course, we had one of their samplers and tasted several of their beers, which were very good. We had a very nice lunch/dinner. Then we came home and tried to get our things all set for tomorrow. We’re doing laundry, we have to bring clothing - the good news we heard today was that we can return to our RV three times a day during the ferry ride. Previously, the information we had received was that we cannot return to the vehicle at all. So this will help organizing and planning and getting clothing or food or whatever we might need,
rather than bringing oodles of things with us that we won’t need. Again, we’re still organizing but we’re getting very excited about tomorrow. We’ll keep you in touch with what’s happening. That’s it!
Bellingham, Washington, is a very interesting little town of about 75,000 people right on the ocean inland seaway - jumping off point to Alaska. We are taking the ferry from there up through the inland seaway for two weeks. Bellingham is very interesting because you’re right between the ocean water and the Cascade Mountain Range and some very beautiful wilderness. You’re also about an hour from Seattle and an hour from Vancouver. The town is a very nice little town; they have one of the best breweries in the nation called the Boundary Brewery. They have won all kinds of medals, and it’s just a neat place. We ate there; I had a lamb burger, which I had never had before - it was very good. We sampled some of their beers. Bellingham is a nice university town, a good REI, it’s got everything you’d want in the way of outdoor recreation - kayaking, bike trails galore. While I was here, I was amazed by the
coffee phenomena in Washington, so I sampled and talked to people about this. There is a coffee house/espresso place on every corner. Starbuck’s has two stores in every mall. They started by Starbucks in Seattle. Anyhow, you can get a coffee any way you want it almost. So I talked to a few people and decided to try it. What also makes it very interesting is that right next to Bellingham is a suburb called Fair Haven from which the ferry actually leaves. It’s a small historic district, which is very upscale, with shops and they had several good coffee stores. The one that was near the RV park was the one I sampled. It was a chain of 8 stores from in and around Bellingham. This coffee shop just happened to be near the RV park out in the middle of nowhere, and that coffee shop did $1,700 a day selling coffee. I would go over and buy one or two and I would sample a latte, which was with milk, and you could get it with skim milk. You could get regular or decaf, which they make in an espresso machine by pressing through the grinds of the
coffee. You could get it with one,
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Joan Roolf
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Mt. Baker in 1962
Way back in the summer of 1962 a group from Pittsburgh AYH backpacked the national forest around Mt. Baker. That was in the days when you could still build a campfire, dip your cup into a pristine stream for a drink of water, and dig a latrine with a view of the moon coming over the mountains. I was among that group. It was the year the space needle was finished for the World's Fair in Seattle. The Cascades have retained their beauty.