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Valley Deep, Mountain High

July 15, 2023 by Virginia Parker Leave a Comment

Bellingham has bags of charm. It’s the Stars Hollow of the northwest. People stop when I’m approaching a crosswalk and wait patiently for me to get to the other side of the road. The morning air is a fresh and temperate 60 degrees, the afternoons are not much hotter and the humidity feels non-existent. They take their gardening seriously. Not only in multiple community gardens and swanky hillside homes, but along the sidewalks, behind apartments, and even in the parking lots.

succulents galore
raised beds
flowers for parking

Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage race, from Canada to Whidbey Island, and the Northwest Tune Up, a mountain bike and music festival, are in town but traffic is minimal and people are polite. The pastry shops are amazing. You can walk everywhere. I could totally live here.

We drove up Mount Erie, to a surprisingly accessible path that led us to sweeping vistas of Whidbey Island and Deception Pass.

the air is sweet and clean
ta-da!

From there we drove to Christianson’s Nursery in the Skagit Valley, home to many flower farmers of renown like Floret. The show garden was closed, reserved for a wedding party, but we could still marvel at the variety of plants and the gorgeous hydrangea hedge.

so blue

After a reviving coffee from Tweets and a pastry from Breadfarm in Edison plus a Make Bread Not War teeshirt, it was back to Fairhaven for a pre-birthday dinner nap for me and a bike ride for Parker and Robert.

bikers love Bellingham

A perfect mild evening for a celebratory dinner al fresco at Estelle under a fringed white umbrella. It had a fancy tapas vibe. The birthday boy topped off his meal with a celebratory triple scoop of chocolate, cookies and cream, and Madagascar vanilla.


Filed Under: Bellingham

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