Bellingham

July 21, 2019

We’re behind again, after spending the last two nights in Bellingham visiting with friends and stepping behind from the blog temporarily. So we’re going to have a brief exercise in speed blogging here. We’ll give you just enough details of our day so that you can use your imagination and fill in the blanks.

First, lets have a preview:

Video sound track: New Jersey Left, by Laurence Juber

We enjoyed a nice home prepared breakfast of store-bought cereal, bananas, and bread with peanut butter; and then coasted down from our hill-top aerie. Just few miles later we were biking through Peace Arch Park and up to customs. And only a half hour later we passed the last customs stop on our border crossing and wheeled into Washington. A bit slow, but far faster than if we were in the half mile long queue of moter vehicles.

A couple of points about crossing the border here. First, note that there is a sign with an arrow that seems to direct you into one of the traffic lanes, but don’t believe it. After cutting into the front of the line, we were instructed at the booth to cross four lines of cars and go inside with the pedestrian traffic.

Secondly, make sure you have a trustworthy lock with you. You can’t take the bikes inside, you can’t see and keep an eye on them once inside, and you’re apt to be inside for quite a while, hoping they’ll still be waiting when you finally step outside again.

Passing through the Peace Arch. From the map it looks like the arch sits right on the international boundary, so in theory Rachael is about to roll into Washington here.

Looking across Boundary Bay toward Port Roberts.

From the international border, our route traces the shoreline for the next fifteen miles, first skirting Semiahmoo Bay, then rounding a small headland, and then gliding along Birch Bay and through the state park. It’s a very pleasant, quiet ride with one fine view following another. At Birch Bay we stopped to sit on a driftwood log beside the road and eat our lunch.

The view north across Semiahmoo Bay toward White Rock.

Semiahmoo Bay. This was really a colorful shoreline, worthy of multiple stops.

I think I recognize this species (a young Haliaeetus leucocephalus, if I’m not mistaken) but perhaps Bill can confirm my identification.

We bike the rest of the way to Bellingham along the same route we followed last year on a day ride to Birch Bay en route to the Canadian Rockies. It’s as pretty as we’d remembered it, beginning with a traverse of the private Cherry Point BP reserve on a paved, chipseal road open only to foot passengers and bikes. It was a fine ride then, but it’s even better today because the sky is clear and Mount Baker highlights the eastern horizon.

We arrive in Bellingham right about four and head straight to the home of our friends Jamie and Seong who graciously invited us to stay with them when we passed through. We’ll be here for two nights, so we’ll stop for the day here and pick up again in the morning.