Sunny Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend was glorious in Washington - sunny and warm. Pete and I had made plans to go camping north of Bellingham months ago, and I was afraid we'd end up huddled in our tents (or at Boundary Bay Brewery) trying to stay dry and warm. But no! We took a walk through Bellingham, visited the brewery, sampled some great food and ice cream, took a 9-mile hike, went kayaking and flew a kit. Whew!

Bellingham
Going off some awesome recommendations from my co-workers, we went to Boundary Bay Brewery and had their sampler. I think overall we like all the beers, with the Oatmeal Stout, Scotch Ale and Porter being my favorite. I really wanted a Boundary Bay biking jersey, but those dang things cost 80 bucks. Not in the budget this month!

Our waittress tipped us off to a nice trail that lead us along the sound to Fairhaven, where visited Eclipse Book Store. We finished off the day by eating dinner at Boomers - you can't beat a greasy burger, waffle fries and shake. (Side note - More places should offer waffe fries!) We also stopped at Mallard's ice cream one day - I had Nectarine Chocolate Chunk. Mmmmm.

Bellingham


Bellingham


It was a 2.5 mile walk to Fairhaven on a lovely trail that followed the water.


Fairhaven

Birch Bay State Park
This was our home base. The campground was nice enough, although we were surrounded by RVs and campers. But we could see the sound from our camp site and the bay was very pretty. I'm not sure I'd stay there again, though. I need to investigate tent-only campgrounds. I think these would be much more pleasant and relaxed.

We flew a kite on the beach one morning, and got to learn all about clam digging from a couple of the people who were out collecting clams.

Our camp site


Cooking an entire dinner over the fire - brats, carmelized onions and potatoes with veggies. Plus, s'mores for dessert - of course!


That's me flying a kite - you have to squint to find me and the kite.

Larrabee State Park
We hiked to Lost Lake, with a stop at Fragrance Lake along the way. This was an awesome day hike, and we ate lunch in the sun near a waterfall at Lost Lake. The trail was busy until we got past Fragrance Lake, and then we were on our own.

We also kayaked north from the Larrabee State Park boat ramp. Highlights include amazing rock formations along the coast, a little island nature preserve you can hike around, and getting to see a seal and a sea otter up close.

It looks like a white sand beach . . .


. . . but it's little pieces of shells!