It is difficult to find a crummy place to wander in this part of the world. Today we left our campground in Bow, headed west on Bow Hill Road toward WA-11. On the way, we made a quick stop at Samish Bay Creamery where they make and sell a variety of nifty cheeses, all of them with prices beyond the budgets of non-millionaires. All of the products we saw had prices exceeding $20 a pound. We get our extra sharp Tillamook cheese at Costco for around $5 a pound. Our stop at this dairy producer was very brief.

Soon we came to WA-11 in Edison, where we turned north for a gorgeous drive into Whatcom County. The first bit was through pasture lands and everything was emerald green. After about 20 minutes we started climbing along the western side of an enormous forested rock that borders Samish Bay, a huge expanse of shallow water, the exit for the Samish River and a part of the massive strait between the U.S. and Canada. The road became quite narrow and curvy once we were along the western fringe of the rock. There were some residences on the strait side of the road but they seemed to all be built with the garage on top (the roof), next to the road, and the rest of the house built beneath it because the ground is so steep that building further from the road would mean the back porch is about 100 feet above the remainder of the cliff leading down into the sea. That last step would be a big one.

Fairhaven was the first real town we drove into and it is a gorgeous little enclave of old wood houses and brick masonry downtown commercial buildings. It was sort of like going back in time, to a cute little town with seemingly happy folks dwelling in magnificent buildings. It is very pasty white. There don’t seem to be any other humans than white ones and none of them have a tan. From Fairhaven, there is a ferry that can take folks to that portion of Alaska along the inland passage up the coast of British Columbia.

After meandering a bit, we got back on WA-11 for a little ways to Bellingham. This, too, is a beautiful little city with magnificent buildings and folks free of sunburn. We found a what must be the northernmost Trader Joe’s in the U.S. and picked up a variety of their spiffy goods before returning via I-5 south to our beloved fifth wheel trailer in Bow. It wasn’t a long drive today but it was full of stunning scenery, fantastic building architecture and good shopping.

We took a few pix. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/e251rGDbas2KXHik7