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Perched on the hills overlooking Bellingham Bay with Mt. Baker as its backdrop, Bellingham is the last major city before the Washington coastline meets the Canadian border. Bellingham is 85 miles north of Seattle , 50 miles south of Vancouver, B.C., and near North Cascades National Park. Ferries connect the community to the nearby San Juan Islands and Victoria on Vancouver Island. Bellingham has an active waterfront port that supports fishing, boat building, shipping and marina operations. Squalicum Harbor is the second largest in Puget Sound, with 1,900 pleasure and commercial boats moored. From Bellingham’s ports, passenger ferries leave for whale watch cruises, tours to Victoria on Vancouver Island and cruises to the San Juan Islands. The downtown area has a mixture of restaurants, art galleries and specialty shops, and an award-winning brewery. The cultural district includes the respected Whatcom Museum of History and Art. Originally built in 1892 as city hall, the museum’s imposing brick building is the centerpiece of a four-building campus, including a children’s museum. Hiking or camping? Bellingham is an hour's drive from the Mount Baker National Forest, with casual low-level camping/hiking and challenging high-level hikes (snowshoeing this time of year). Visitors bound for Alaska depart on the Alaska Marine Highway System ferries from the Bellingham Cruise Terminal in the Historic Fairhaven District. Here you can find shops offering hand-crafted products, local restaurants that serve fresh seafood plus art galleries featuring Northwest artisans. Stroll along the gorgeous miles-long seawalk.
Cosmopolitan Vancouver, BC is (according to Rick who is unabashedly prejudiced in his opinion) the most impressive and livable large city in North America. If you go, be sure to visit Stanley Park and Grandville Island. There's really too much to see and do in a short time: Walk or cycle (rentals abound) Stanley Park or Grandville Island. Bard on the Beach, an excellent series of Shakespeare productions in a casual outdoors venue, starts May 29.
The capital city of British Columbia, Victoria (on Vancouver Island) is a transplanted British city where you can often see Orcas from the seawall. Visit world-famous Buchart Gardens, and partake of Afternoon Tea at the Empress Hotel. |
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