Sailing the San Juans: Begin in Bellingham

After returning from Boston, we had six days to prepare for our next adventure, three weeks in the state of Washington, starting with a visit to the San Juan Islands with Natural Habitat Adventures. This is the same company we traveled with to the Great Bear rainforest in British Columbia, in 2009, and many of the same people from that trip would be with us; it was another group pulled together by Candice Andrews.

Given the long chain of our route (Columbus to Cleveland to Seattle to Bellingham), we flew out a day early. Being early, we planned to take a taxi to the group's hotel, the Chrysalis Inn, but our NatHab guide for the trip, Melissa Scott, had some time and so met us at the airport. This was an unexpected bonus and set the tone for the trip.

This is an overview of the area near the Chrysalis Inn, which is very close to Fairhaven, a community in the southern part of Bellingham.

View Larger Map
From our room we could see southern end of the South Bay Trail and Boardwalk, which is over the water on the southern end and then travels overland to downtown Bellingham. You can see it in the lower left of the map above.

The boardwalk gave me a good viewpoint to take a picture of the Inn.

Yes, that's an operating railway right in front (but slightly below) the Inn. In the Bellingham area and for a good distance south, we could see that development (homes, roads, railroads) favored a strip near the ocean. Perhaps everything grew up near the ocean originally because that was the easiest method of transportation. And ocean views are now the most desirable. As for the Chrysalis Inn experience, the railroad was not a true nuisance. It wasn't a location where the trains were obliged to blow their horns, so there was just the rumble of the trains going by every once in a while, and earplugs were available for those with sensitive ears.

Joan and I explored the boardwalk north to the Boulevard Park, returned to the Inn for an excellent dinner, and turned in. Our body clocks were still 3 hours ahead of the clocks on the wall.

The next morning we were on our own; our other group members would be trickling in during the day. Joan and I started off by adopting one of Melissa's suggestions, to see Sehome Hill Arboretum. The road rose steeply for several blocks as we walked east from the Inn, and then we went down a pedestrian path to the southern tip of Western Washington University, and arrived at the Arboretum. We immediately plunged into the walking trails.

It was remarkable to experience a wooded getaway tucked in between the university campus and, not so far away, Interstate 5. We even did some bird watching, and I took a few pictures of flowers. Back in Columbus spring was definitely over by late June, but here in the Pacific Northwest the climate was different.

After completing a loop at Sehome Hill, Joan and I walked down to Fairhaven through well-maintained neighborhoods with compact but expensive houses. The city was launched in 1889 in anticipation of a railroad terminus to the Pacific being built here, but a few years later, its investors were bitterly disappointed when the railroad went to Seattle instead. The historic district is well preserved and full of shops -- bookstores, cafés, arts and crafts, and other commercial businesses. Joan and I had some ice cream from Papa's Sweets before embarking on a longer walk on the Interurban Trail, a bike/pedestrian trail along the route of an old interurban railway. This trail includes dirt paths, gravel paths, sidewalks, indeed just about any surface, because the interurban rail had died many years before the trail was constructed, and much development had transpired in the meantime.

We felt like exploring and wanted some exercise to help our body clocks adjust. I did take one good picture, where a retaining wall of interlocking concrete blocks hosted some sun-loving succulent plants.

As we approached the Chrysalis Inn on our return, we saw familiar faces: the rest of our group had made it to Bellingham. Hugs and handshakes were exchanged, and later Melissa gave an overview of what the next several days might bring. Joan and I repacked, because we were carrying luggage for three weeks and for the first week we certainly didn't need everything! One duffel was stored at the Inn and one was taken with us, starting bright and early the next morning.