North Cascades and Bellingham, WA

One of the many things that I love about living in Washington is that you can travel just a hour in one direction and feel like you are in a completely different world. So many different environments all around to choose from. From beaches to mountains to cities, something new to always see. I personally love checking out all the different beaches but do love escaping into the mountains every once in awhile. My sweet mother came to visit me this past weekend and we had a great short little trip checking out part of the North Cascades and the northern city of Bellingham. The drive alone was definitely worth the trip. While I am looking to visit all 50 states and as many countries as I can as possible, my mom has a goal to see as many if not all of the National Parks and I have enjoyed being able to share my love for adventure with her over the years.

We had decided early on that the hike we wanted to do up in the North Cascades was a trail called Diablo Lake Trail. It claimed to be a 7 mile roundtrip hike with great views of the glacier made lake throughout. Unfortunately, we got about 2 miles in and we were still hiking in a forest and hadn’t seen any views of the lake. We decided to bag the hike and try and find views of the lake from different areas. Luckily once we got in the car we were able to see some of the jaw dropping visuals we had hoped to see from our hike. So word of advice for anyone heading into the cascades, Diablo Lake trail is not really a trail that goes around the lake but more so a heavily elevated trail through a forest with one great view at the end. But there are hundreds of hikes alone in the cascades and it makes for the perfect national park for outdoor lovers and people who enjoy camping. Gives people a chance to explore a national park that is often overlooked.

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After our kind of let down hike we made the drive to Bellingham where we would be staying the night and checking out that area both Saturday and Sunday before heading back south to Seattle. Bellingham is a port city in north Washington with lots of breweries and fun little eateries. Though I wouldn’t really say city is the right term as it is rather small. We stayed at Hotel Bellwether which is a cute little hotel right on the water offering the chances to even possibly see some whales and seals swimming nearby. And while we did not see a whale, and I am going to make sure that happens at least once in the next year, we did have a seal who swam near us while we were having dinner. I named him Gerald if you were wondering. Anyways, if you do make the trek up to Bellingham, highly recommend the village of Fairhaven which is just a little south of Bellingham. You can actually walk from downtown Bellingham to downtown Fairhaven with a boardwalk that connects the two. Fairhaven is filled with lots of great little shops and just has that old town feel.

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While our trip came to an end this afternoon when I dropped off Mama C at the airport, I am already looking forward to the next trip we will share together and all future adventures. As always, Washington you continue to amaze me with your beauty.

Until Next Time, The Library Abroad