DAY 10
I took off late about 11AM-ish after yesterday’s La Conner
experience I was trying to think more like an “islander”. I drove north again heading off of Whigby
Island and through Fidalgo Island; over the Big Bridge and taking a left to go
further north on the “mainland”. Well, I
turned one stop light too early and ended up going by a Bayview State park and
a small township also named Bayview. It
all looked over what I guess would a Bay maybe at high tide or when the water
was more abundant but looked more like mud flats. I took a left thinking I would try to keep
along the shoreline and that eventually I would see water off to my left as I drove
on along. I ended up on Samish
Island. It was a quaint small place with
one memorial chapel, small vacation cottages mixed with large glassed houses,
and plenty of deer. I could see why the speed
limit was only 20mph. Within a half mile
I saw 6 deer. I took a few pictures and
enjoyed the views; now that there was water rather than mud flats.
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| Photo- The view on Samish Island |
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| Photo- A vacation rental cottage on Samish Island. |
I drove back out to where I took the left and went
straight. I then discovered the road I
should have been on; Farm to Market Road.
An interesting name for the road and I saw why the name as I went
through another small town called Edison.
I drove around a corner and almost got taken out by a HUGE red combine. Go
figure that a girl who grew up in Iowa might be taken out by a combine.
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| Photo- The view on Chuckanut Drive. |
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| Photo- Quite a few cyclists along the Chuckanut Drive. |
I eventually found my ultimate goal on my drive. I located the Chuckanut Drive and went further
north. It started to climb out of the
flat farm areas and went along the coast.
There were cliffs with rocks on my right and a drop off with trees and
beach along the left. It was just
amazing views and rather fun to drive.
There were quite a few cyclists riding in the area. I could understand with the views, a bit of a
climb, and 25mph speed limit. It was
like Bike Nirvana.
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| Photo- Fairhaven a historic village in Bellingham, WA. |
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| Photo- Of me in front of the Best Fish and Chip place in Fairhaven. A double decker bus with outdoor sitting. |
Chuckanut Drive ended up driving into Bellingham’s historic
village of Fairhaven. I parked the car
and walked around taking pictures. I
stopped for lunch in an Italian restaurant called Mambo Italiano Cafe (www.mamboitaliancafe.com ). It sounded like a fun name and I was in the
mood for Italian. It was good. I had the special of the day—a penne pasta
with garlic infused olive oil, feta cheese, roma tomatoes, and olives. For dessert, I splurged on a tiramisu and a
French coffee; which was a cinnamon coffee with cognac. It was a wonderful late lunch. I wandered around some more and did a bit of
shopping. There was a wonderful
selection of shops and galleries. In
fact, I was very impressed with the Gallery West that had a wide selection and
variety of art.
DAY 11
Day 11 was a day off.
I had woke up to a cloud covered and chilly looking day and decided I
would take the day off from sightseeing.
I figured I had been going straight 10 days with traveling and
sightseeing and needed a bit of down time. I got out the watercolor paints and did a
couple of paintings and then I went to a local brew pub called Flyers. I did some tastings of beers there. They had an award winning dark brew that had
coffee and chocolate. But I really like
their Heffe’ beer. What can I say but I’m
a Heffe’ kind of girl. I grabbed a crab
cake sandwich with sweet potato fries.
Yummy! I sat at the bar and ended
up having a few brews while I shot the breeze with a local guy that works with
a company that cleans up oil spills.
Then I was off to the grocery store for supplies to cook a dinner for my
hosts. I cooked my Saucy New Orleans
Chicken. Overall, it was a wonderful day
off from the sightseeing/traveling life.
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| Photo- "Libbey Beach"; a watercolor on 10" x 15" paper that I painted. |
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