The mountains finally came out

It has been so rainy around here lately (who knew the Pacific Northwest was so rainy?*).  There haven't been many good views of the surrounding mountains.  They came out to play a little bit today while I was on a run and I had to get a picture or two.  I got home and cooled down.  That led to just before sunset and we all know that is a good time for pictures.  Just in case the mountains were out, I went and got the good camera. 

All of these were taken within a mile or so of the RV park, just around the neighborhood.

Strawberry field in foreground and raspberries in back

Mt. Baker to the left and the Twins to the right over Wiser Lake

Closer look at Mt. Baker

And closer...I brought the zoom!

The North Twin and South Twin looming behind the houses

We think this might be Mt. Garibaldi in Canada. Looks like an old volcano that blew its top.

Orange alpenglow as the sun sets on Mt. Baker

Today's non adventure.

We started out with the best of plans, really.  It was going to be an adventure.

Just never really happened.  Heck, we were going to go to another country.  We were going to go to Canada, eh.

And we did.  Then we ate a sandwich and came home.  No real adventure.  Turned out we were all hungry and there was no real plan to go anywhere so we just kind of wandered around.  Then we went home.

Oh well.

On the way home we stopped at a park so the kids could play.  I had the good camera, so I took some pictures.  Hope you like them.  They will have to do in lieu of a story of another thrilling and scenic adventure.

I can't believe some people call these weeds.

I call them pretty yellow wildflowers.

Michael can zipped through the monkey bars so many times his hands blistered

Maxie, chillaxin, again.  He seems to do that in pictures.

Michael stuck the landing.

Daddy wandered off to take pictures of flowers

I like the dark clouds in the background.

There is one in every family.

Look mom, no hands.

Yeah, people spray chemicals to kill dandelions.  Shame.

Shaky little thing

Kids kept shaking her off.

Michael kept spinning himself.

Get your butt up there!

So, for a non adventure day, it turned out pretty well.

Welcome to Bellingham

When we arrived in Aberdeen, not too long ago, it was as though the place was begging us to love it.  Heck, we woke up our first morning there and were greeted by river otters and bald eagles.

Bellingham has been a bit more coy about its affections.  We arrived in rain and have dealt with rain almost every day here.  We have been here almost a week and I still don't think we have had a good view of Mt. Baker.  Aberdeen was throwing itself at us.  Bellingham has just been flirting.

Don't get me wrong, Bellingham is pretty stinking cool, but there are a few things.  First, you know what you call people from Bellingham?  Bellinghamsters. 

Seriously.

Oh yeah, and there is this...

You can't convince me a serial killer doesn't live here.

We have to pass it every time we want to go into town.  Scary.

We have found our bearings around town a bit and even ventured into some nearby towns.  With the weather not cooperating, we haven't ventured out too far though.  We decided, weather be damned, we were heading out toward the mountains today and that was it.

So, we woke up to another cloudy and cool day.  We loaded up and headed out to the Mt. Baker Scenic Highway.  It didn't take long for us to find our first diversion.  The highway parallels the Nooksack River.  When we saw the sign for Nooksack Falls, we had to stop.

This is the point you don't want to see from your canoe

Spring has arrived

In case you were wondering, don't walk out there.

From another angle

I'm ashamed of my predictability

Danger lurked around every corner

But, we weren't here just for pretty waterfalls.  We came here for more than that.  We wanted electric green spring forests.

I love that green moss.

 The road was too narrow to stop at the really cool mossy groves of trees, but as soon as the shoulders widened up, Hondo disgorged a photographer for some pictures.

Oh yeah, we also wanted some snow and some mountains.

We initially were going to drive all the way to the end of the road at Artist's Point, but alas, it was not to be.  The road was closed.

You shall not pass!  Unless you are on foot or skis.

So, we spent some time playing in the snow near the Heather Meadow basin ski area.

It's pretty

We may or may not have had a snowball fight

Somebody knew we were coming and decorated.

Do you wanna build a snow man?

We couldn't stay forever though.  We had a good time mucking about the snow.  I got an opportunity to show Michael and Max a tree well and explain how dangerous they can be when they learn to ski later on.  Max, of course, said he would rather learn to snowboard.





Because, of course.



On the way out, we had to stop to see another roadside waterfall.  Yeah, I'm an addict.

And that was that, as far as adventures were concerned.  We drove down the mountain and back into Bellingham for some serious good burgers and then a short exploration of downtown.  There is a gaming place Michael and Max loved and flyers posted for all sorts of cool activities. This place has a lot going for it.  And, if you stick with it, this area will reveal its charms.  On the way down the mountain, we may have gotten this area's version of bald eagles and river otters.