Landing in Bellingham

View from our new front room.

Posted by Thane
On our way from Glacier we stopped in Spokane to see some of the old places that Dave, my Stepdad lived when he was a kid. He would talk about his childhood but as a child I never got to go there. It is a beautiful city of about 200,000 people. The neighborhoods seem great with plenty of parks and a nice sized downtown. I called my Aunt Jean to find a couple of addresses of where Dave used to live as a kid. This first house was where he lived when he was in grade school, what a mansion! The next house was when he entered Junior High. It was on a tree lined street with a large parkway down the center of the street. I think I could live here! On leaving Spokane I changed my mind though. Heading south toward Oregon it got pretty dry and desert like. I need moisture. We traveled on to Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge and then the backroads by Mt. Hood. Beautiful orchards in this area, just in time to bring some fresh fruits and berries to Stef and Paul (Melissa's sister and brother-in-law) in Corvallis. We mostly rested in Corvallis thanks to Stef and Paul. Thanks you for the wonderful stay, with gourmet meals, and a fluffy bed with beautiful views of your garden. These pictures are from the year before because I was so rested I forgot to pull the camera out here! It has grown exponentially since these pictures were taken. We also visited Melissa's Mom and showed her some photos on the computer. She's not too computer savvy and following a blog wasn't in the cards. We finally were able to get in to our Bellingham house on the 3rd of July just in time for fireworks out on the Bay. We lived with no furniture for about a week until this badboy came.They're having fun up the steps. Looks like we have some weeding to do! They had to back the truck up for 4 blocks to get out of here! Kat, Melissa's daughter, had plans to move in to the downstairs apartment but it looks like it needs a bit of remodeling before that will happen. Luckily we have a back bedroom and bath upstairs that she can use till the apartment is finished sometime in August. She already has a special ed teaching position in Mt Vernon about 25 minutes away which start around Labor Day.

From the house we have been walking almost every night. It is 10 minutes down to Boulevard Park on the water and then you can travel the interurban trail along the water either south to Fairhaven or North to Downtown Bellingham. Both are about 15 minutes either way from the Park. Most nights a sax player plays here at sunset. It gets dark about 10 or so now but we usually stay out later getting a gelato or a beer at Archer's Ale House, the local pub. Here you can nurse one of their many fine beers and play cards or darts or have some pub food. It reminds me of Cheers. Everybody say a big HI to Alicia, the best waitress in town! We went over to Whidbey Island where Penn cove Mussels are raised. Even Kat , who always hated them, now loves mussels. These really are the best! Here is a shot of Mt Baker from the Island. After unpacking boxes for several days, we needed a day off so we all piled into the car and headed out for a drive. We ended up on Lummi Island with more great views. Must have been laundry day on on Lummi!


From the house we can see the Olympics, Mt Contstitution on Orcas Island, the Canadian Cascades, and Whistler - also in Canada.
We went down to the wharf to get fresh Halibut. Melissa had this cooked up and served less than an hour after I bought it at the wharf.Our neighborhood is called South Hill - it is the green hill in the background on the right - this shot was taken from the dock where I bought the halibut. This great local produce and flower market called Joes is all organic. They don't even use organic pesticides so I guess you could call it all natural.. We've been cleaning up the garden with the help of Green Man gardening. He has been hauling off truckfuls to the Greenwaste at the community garden. Here is a picture of the front of the house. It was built in 1907. It has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, a dining room, sunroom and living room upstairs with about 1600 sq feet. It has a basement downstairs in the back half and a studio apartment in the front half with about 500 square feet. It is on a little over 2 lots with the house on one lot and the garden on the rest (to the right in this pic). Spring in the garden - with all the blooms from last year. We haven't managed to escape those nasty deers - they walk right through our yard. We had 3 big bucks in the yard the other day. These little guys are next door under our neighbors porch! A shot of the kitchen. And the bath. More pics to come as we fix Kat's apartment and unload the rest of our boxes. Meanwhile we will be looking out at this and thinking of ya'll.