Reviewing Lynden

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We’ve become so absorbed in our travels, we left a few blanks in our blog, and now is a good time to catch up a little.

The first place we really need to add information is about our stay in Lynden, because we really did enjoy our time there. The community and the surrounding area are filled with really nice people, and we had the pleasure and privilege to meet many of them.

We’ve already written about some of the events we attended, so forgive me if I repeat anything, but our time in Lynden was very, very nice, and the people were a very big reason for it.

When we first checked in to the Lynden RV Park, Natalie asked the lady at the desk for suggestions about restaurants, she suggested Burnt Ends, a barbecue place, and spoke in laudatory terms about it, so we tried it out and verified the claims. It became one of our favorites and we returned fairly often. One time, after we had accepted an offer on our home sale, we weren't quite sure we did the right thing, but decided to celebrate at Burnt Ends. We and were contentedly consuming our dinner when one of the employees came to our table and delivered two monster cookies to us, saying a lady had bought them for us, with no further explanation. How often can that happen in one life? In any case, we certainly enjoyed the cookies while taking the event as a bit of ratification of our decision to accept the offer. We did include a photo of one of the decorative signs: “You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream and that’s the same kind of thing.” The only problem is the Sunday we planned to take friends there and found it closed – due to “staffing issues” – when did we stop calling a problem a problem? But then, that’s one of the reasons we escaped Washington, isn’t it? On the other hand, that problem is not limited to Washington state, is it?

Since I mentioned ice cream, one of the features of Lynden and the very nearby area is Edaleen Dairy stores, of which there are several around Lynden and Blaine. And their ice cream is very, very nice. My favorite is Fudgy Wudgy, and it really is good super chocolate ice cream. (and I almost never have anything but vanilla)

Then there was the day Natalie and I went to the Safeway store. After checking out, I tried to fade into the woodwork while Natalie had to get a Starbuck’s. While I was standing off to the side, a lady walking by stopped and sort of stared at me for a moment, which led me to think I was in the way so I moved a bit, but she followed. It seems she noticed the “Flashpoint” on my hat, and we ended up having a very nice discussion about the program, which continued after Natalie joined us with her Starbuck’s. (Flashpoint is a video podcast available on Rumble or at the website govictory.com/flashpoint.) It’s difficult to imagine such a scenario taking place in the metro Seattle area.

One of our friends from Lynnwood has a brother who is the pastor at a church in Lynden, so we just had to attend that church at least once so we could greet the brother. And it proved to be a very nice church. Before we could be seated, several very nice people came to us to welcome us and introduce themselves. They had really nice music with musicians playing just loudly enough to hear and follow the tune, and a congregation that knew the songs well enough to sing along. It was such a new and wonderful experience to hear people singing in worship, we knew we would have to go back for more. As the service ended, they invited us for coffee and cookies on the lawn. We decided to skip the coffee on the lawn, but didn’t get the chance. One very friendly guy stopped us as we were walking down the stairs, and we had a very nice time talking with him, then decided to sample the cookies at least. Long story short, after almost skipping the coffee on the lawn, we were among the very last people to leave. Much like the Thanksgiving potluck, it is amazing how nice it is to just spend time in friendly and pleasant conversation with people you may have never met before, and especially so when religion is not a forbidden topic. We ended up attending this church every Sunday we were in Lynden, and would gladly return if the church could follow us around on our travels.

One week, we were able to attend the Whatcom County Fair, which is like the Evergreen State and Puyallup fairs, except it’s much smaller and less polished. At a state fair, the amount of stuff to see and do can be overwhelming and the crowds can get to be unbearable. At a smaller fair, the same kinds of things are happening on a smaller scale. This one was no exception, and proved especially interesting for many reasons.

One example was the pavilion with the antique and custom auto show. There was quite a variety of cars and buggies on display, but some of the owners were there and more than happy to discuss their vehicles.

In the same pavilion we saw and talked with a mother and her three children who had some handicrafts on display, and they were there to show off their skill. One boy had a jig he used to make monkey fist knots containing marbles, and used the completed knots in a larger project which we can’t remember at the moment. Both mother and son were quite proud of their accomplishments and happy to demonstrate their work.

We even wandered into a barn where we watched a competition with 4H kids showing their dairy cows. It was really a puzzle to me just what they were judging, so I asked one of the fathers what the judges were looking for. Just imagine the sight: a group of 6 or 8 teenage kids, some barely 100 pounds, leading their 1200 or 1600 pound cows around and motivating the cow to stand with her legs positioned just so. The cow is tired and just about fed up with stuff - it's been a long afternoon and she just wants to sit in peace and chew her cud. And the kid is in control! Amazing to watch and realize how much we probably missed in life, and what valuable lessons these kids learn in acquiring the knowledge and ability to control a cow like that.

An arborist had another interesting display which required a bit of study to recognize, because it was 7 or 8 foot tall chainsaw carving, quite well done, representing the Armor of God. Fancy finding something like that in Seattle. And the arborist was sitting back, kind of hidden from the crowd, watching to see any reaction. He did get ours.

We did take a short trip to Blaine and walked the waterfront park, followed by lunch at a food truck that served excellent fish and chips. We did get close enough to photograph the Peace Arch but decided not to try fighting for parking at the Peace Arch park. Instead, we had more ice cream at the Edaleen Dairy store there.

Another day we took a trip to Ferndale, which has a very nice park and wildlife refuge with an extensive and beautiful garden.

A good friend from Lynnwood invited us to their cabin on Birch Bay, where we particularly enjoyed the bay, the sunset, some Edaleen’s ice cream, and wonderful company.

We also had the privilege of hosting several friends and family who came to visit us and check out our new home.

One of our most enjoyable days was the Sunday before we left, when the very friendly guy we met the first day we attended the church and his wife invited us to his farm and fed us an awesome good meal, then took us on a tour of his farm. He now processes and sells compost, but still keeps a few cows and has neighboring farm fields. Our tour included a visit to his milk cows, a drive around the compost in process, and a drive through cornfields. It was an amazing and educational experience for a city boy to see the amazing variety and complexity of life on a farm, as well as to be so thoroughly welcomed into their world after such a brief time to even get acquainted.

To summarize our time in Lynden: Lynden is a wonderful small town, filled with very special and wonderful people. There is much to see and do in and around Lynden, including the view of Mt Baker, the Nooksack river, and beautiful countryside. Perhaps the most important aspect of our time in Lynden was the absolutely unashamed plentiful display of traditional American values: flags, churches, courtesy, and all-around cheerful friendliness that abounded in Lynden. If you haven’t been there, it deserves at least a place on your bucket list.

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