About the Area
by Jack Kintner

Whatcom County
Linger a while and you’ll see why Whatcom County is the kind of place that grabs visitors, first by the eyes and ears and then by the heart, and quickly turns them into residents. It’s got a natural beauty that quickly becomes a part of you as you savor its bold delicacy, like enjoying a well-served meal in a fine restaurant. No surprise that it’s home to one of the country’s best systems of county parks, and to vast stretches of true wilderness locked up into the North
Cascade National Park.

It’s one of the few places in Washington where the mountains not only meet the sea, the Chuckanut Mountains (the foothills you drive through coming up from the south on Interstate 5) march right into it to become the San Juan Islands, once a part of Whatcom County until separating shortly after statehood (November 1889). Wags claim that island smugglers needed their own sheriff.

Dominated by 10,878 foot Mount Baker, it’s almost all mountains, so most of Whatcom County’s 180,000 people live on its western edge in a piece of rolling farmland shaped like the inverted triangle of a “yield” sign. About 40% live in Bellingham, the bottom point of the triangle, and most of the rest are spread out between it and the other two corners, Blaine (pop. 4,000) to the west and Sumas (1,200) to the east, each about 30 miles away. Lynden (10,000) is right in the middle of the triangle, about where the sign bolts to the post.

Halfway up the right side is Ferndale (10,000), and halfway up the left side the Mount Baker Highway crosses the Nooksack to penetrate the foothills to Deming, the “South Fork Valley” towns of Acme and Van Zandt, and farther on the hamlets of Kendall, Maple Falls and Glacier, last stop before the Mt. Baker ski area and as the crow flies sits halfway from the county’s western tip at Point Roberts to its eastern border at the top of the Cascade Mountains. The ski area gets more snow than any other spot of ground where such things are recorded in the whole country, including Alaska.

Once home to giant (200+ feet high) trees, enormous coal mines and world-class salmon canneries, Whatcom County is now home to the highest stretch of road in the state (7,150 feet) on its eastern boundary and to a uniquely isolated little patch of ground, four-mile square Point Roberts, 200 miles to the west. At 2100 square miles, it’s similar is size to King, Snohomish and Skagit counties.

Native artifacts thousands of years old give it a feeling of permanence, despite the fact that it’s dominant feature is a live volcano whose steam plume regularly spurts a reminder to the wary, sort of a giant snooze alarm for those who forget that the ground they’re walking on may have come out of the top of that mountain not so long ago. Like an elixir, Western Washington University keeps the place young, and young at heart. A high quality university, one distinguishing characteristic its students have is their creative ability to find ways of sticking around once their academic career has ended.

Finally, one of our greatest blessings is our sister to the north, Canada, and like sisters everywhere we love her even when she’s laughing at us and our foibles, or we at hers. Vancouver, host to the 2010 winter Olympic Games, is close enough to visit twice in one day and still be home for dinner.

About Bellingham By Jack Kintner
Bellingham is the county seat, and though quaint is also urbane. With Seattle just 85 miles south and Vancouver, British Columbia only 57 miles to the north, almost two million people live less than two hours’ drive from here. More and more, people everywhere seem to know about this place. Bellingham was named to the list of Where to live and Play Now! CNN and Money magazine rates Bellingham among the eight best places to retire.

Bellingham itself is a small city with big attractions. There is the Mt. Baker Theatre, first opened in 1927, and now a beautifully restored 'old-time' theatre that presents a wide range of offerings.

Whatcom Museum of History and Art (pictured at left), has four components. The first is housed in the old city hall building, built in 1982, and features contemporary art, Victorian clothing, history exhibits and the Watch Museum. The second building features Northwest Indian and Inuit exhibits. The third exhibit changes regularly, displaying art and historical topics. Finally, there is the Whatcom Children's Museum - a hands on museum for young children with interactive exhibits.

Roughly the same physical size as San Francisco, it’s a grown-up lumbering and fishing town that was made out of four little villages that merged, which is why the streets change names so often. Like Boston, it can take a while to figure out your way around, and if ten people talk about a way to get from point A to Point B, you can bet there will be ten equally good but different routes. It sits on an old coal mine, and includes the historic Fairhaven district where the San Francisco parallel becomes evident. View Bellingham Restaurants

About Fairhaven - provided courtesy Waterside Washington State
Fairhaven, once the Northwest center for maritime trade and commerce sits just south of downtown Bellingham. Fairhaven is the southern terminus of the Alaska ferry as well as an Amtrak stop on the Vancouver, BC, to Seattle to Portland run. For those wishing to explore the San Juan islands, Victoria - San Juan Cruises offers sailing excursions in the summer. The Greyhound bus company also has a terminal here. It's fascinating to watch the goings-on when the ferry is leaving for Alaska. Kayakers, grizzled old men with equally grizzled old dogs, anxious families - you tell this is not a typical ferry journey. These people are setting out on an Alaskan adventure.

Fairhaven itself still retains much of its turn-of-the-century maritime architecture and flavor. Many of the old buildings with their colorful and intricate stonework have been restored and trolley tracks still line the streets. Along Harris Street, visitors can still see the historic Sycamore Square Building. If you need reading material, look for the renowned Village Books. And just behind Village Books is Fairhaven Green with a bronze life-size replica of "Dirty Dan Harris". Many a photo opportunity it taken here as families and kids sit on the bench and have their photo taken with Dirty Dan!

The area lends itself to leisurely strolls, taking in the shops and restaurants. Have a coffee here; check out the unusual kites there. If you're really interested in slowing down, visit the spa at The Chrysalis Inn. They offer all kinds of services that will give you a fresh outlook on life.

Western Washington University is situated near Fairhaven. This beautiful tree-lined campus is ranked very high in national college ratings. Spend a few minutes overlooking the campus' outdoor sculpture exhibit.

South of Fairhaven lies historic Chuckanut Drive, a narrow, winding, arbutus tree-lined road that skirts along the hills overlooking Puget Sound. Along the way, the road passes restaurants and art galleries.
View Fairhaven Restaurants.

About Lummi Island - provided courtesy Waterside Washington State
Lummi Island is the most northeasterly of the San Juan Islands, is also the most easily accessed. Visitors need only take a six-minute ferry ride aboard the Whatcom Chief. What lies before you is a heavily wooded and serene 20-mile network of roads that will open up a new world for you. The island has long attracted artists and artisans who typically hold an island open house tour three times a year.

There are no campgrounds, no state parks, no RV parks but there are a few charming bed and breakfasts that will fit the bill nicely. Take a day hike around the north end of the island, stopping in at the Willows Inn for a salad of organic greens grown on their own Nettles Farm. The owners are proponents of the Slow Food movement - you'll want to take your time over dinner while overlooking Rosario Strait and the San Juan Islands.

Launch a kayak and explore the many state beaches accessible only by sea. On the southeast end of the island is the Lummi Island recreation site. This is a designated beach camp site that is part of the state's Cascadia Marine Trail. On your way to and from Lummi Island, stop at the Silver Reef Casino. Built by the Lummi Indian Nation, the casino offers non-stop fund and food with several restaurants and eateries.

About Blaine By Jack Kintner
Initially settled in the 1850’s by wilderness survey parties and by prospectors from several area gold rushes, Blaine is named for the popular Republican Secretary of State James G. Blaine, who actually signed the papers granting Washington statehood in 1889. Much like Port Townsend with which it is often compared, Blaine boomed in the late Victorian era and then faded, leaving a downtown neighborhood of old buildings and grand wooden homes, many with their once ubiquitous backyard stables just big enough for a horse, a little hay and a buggy still standing. It once was the state’s third busiest port, sending lumber to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and fire on square riggers that could easily sail into the expansive Semiahmoo Bay off the Georgia Straight more easily than the restricted waters of Puget Sound to the south.

A fading economy sent many of it young people away to earn a living, people like the first mayor’s daughter Nellie Cornish, who grew tired of not getting paid to play the piano for civic functions and left for Seattle, where she founded the Cornish School.

A later export is Luke Ridnour, starting point guard for the Seattle Supersonics, who led his high school teams to successive state championships after a second-place finish in 1998.

In 1921 Sam Hill erected one of the few monuments to peace anywhere in the world when he built the 62-foot Peace Arch just east of where the international border hits the beach at the town’s northern city limits. Soon a 40-acre park was established surrounding the monument, half in the US and half in Canada. People from both sides can enter the park and mingle without going through customs, a tradition that survived the terrorist scare of September 11, 2001. Where borders everywhere else were being closed down for security, Peace Arch Park’s hours informally expanded to accommodate night-time candle light peace vigils.

Blaine is half water, and along with Bellingham it’s one of just two towns on the water in Whatcom County. There are unincorporated areas such as Birch Bay, Sandy Point, Point Roberts and so on but they’re facilities are usually private and provide the public little access to anything more than a pleasant walk on the beach. A very pleasant walk, to be sure, but no marina facilities, fishing piers, ferry services, customs and so on.


Blaine’s marina, extensively renovated a few years ago by the county-wide Port of Bellingham authority, provides moorage for over 350 boats, as does nearby Semiahmoo Marina, a part of the world-class Semiahmoo Resort & Spa on the west side of Drayton Harbor. Once home to the Alaska Packers Association (APA) cannery, the 200-room resort hosts gatherings from around the world in a breathtaking setting surrounded by a pristine beach. The passenger ferry M/V Plover that once delivered cannery workers across the harbor to work still runs in the summers for tourists. The 1,500 permanent Semiahmoo residents live in homes clustered around a golf course designed by Arnold Palmer, home to an annual charity tournament that last year raised nearly $80,000 to combat Lou Gehrig’s Disease. It’s public every other day, alternating with its companion course on nearby Loomis Trail. Blaine sits on Drayton Harbor, a nearly circular 4,000-acre jewel that is one of the most important stops, along with nearby Birch Bay, for migrating shorebirds and seabirds along the west coast. Like a huge shallow dish, the harbor sustains a lush variety of plant and animal food. Wildlife biologists using satellite tracking technology have discovered that thousands of migrating birds from all over tend to stop to feed in the harbor and in Birch Bay as if they were a popular highway restaurant.

To keep the birds and other marine critters healthy, happy and edible, considerable effort has been expended by the Drayton Harbor Community Oyster Farm over the past decade after the harbor was closed to shellfish harvesting in 1992. Tender and succulent Drayton Harbor oysters, some the size of a middle schooler’s gym shoes, are once again being harvested for a booming market in, among other places, China.

Traditional gatherings, always at or around the waterfront, include late April’s Semiahmoo Regatta, a two-day affair that draws over 100 sailboats and four hundred sailors as it raises money for various charitable causes, one of the few small town Fourth of July celebrations with a pancake breakfast, several block long street fair and auto show & shine, a parade with enough variety and interest to be in the bar scene in a star wars movie (ever seen an antique combine rumbling down main street?) and August’s Plover Days, with the George Raft Race, all kinds of seafood from the local fishing fleet and the annual swim across the harbor entrance. View Blaine Restaurants

About Birch Bay By Jack Kintner
The fastest growing area in Whatcom County, Birch Bay’s claim to fame is a large tide flat of sand several square miles in size that bares itself at low tide, and as the water creeps back in over the hot sand it warms to bath water temperatures in the summer. It has one of the largest heron nesting areas in the state, a large state park at one end and outstanding birding throughout the year. Especially for seabirds and shorebirds (depending upon where they rest at night), it’s classed by the Audubon Society as one of 50 Important Birding Areas (IBA's) in Washington State, along with nearby Blaine’s Drayton Harbor.

The area is a popular unincorporated summer tourist destination that’s rapidly becoming a “real” town. Attractions and activities include a sand castle contest in the summer and a well-patronized Polar Bear Swim every New Years Day. There’s a small golf course in town and two more championship courses, one in nearby Blaine designed by Arnold Palmer, just minutes away.


It’s home to about 4,500 year-round residents, and in the summer population swells to over 12,000 people, with Birch Bay State Park recording over a million individual visits each year. Recreational activities include the refurbished Birch Bay Water Slides, a Miniature World Family Fun Center, Surrey Bike Rentals, Birch Bay Discovery Days every July and TrendWest Resort (and the future Sandcastles Resort, due to be finished in 2005) at Birch Bay.

Interestingly, it’s not only one of the first places Europeans visited in the county, beginning with a stop-over by George Vancouver well over two centuries ago, what they did here sounds quite familiar: Vancouver gave his men an unheard of two weeks off while his ship bobbed at anchor a mile or so offshore to make spruce beer and recover from the scurvy that ravaged some of his crew. Today, going to the beach to relax with a brew is a time-honored tradition. View Birch Bay Restaurants

About Point Roberts - provided courtesy Waterside Washington State
The change is obvious as you approach the border. The trees grow taller and more numerous. The houses of suburbia disappear and you are left with the vista of Tyee Drive and the ocean beyond it. You can relax. You passed the 49th parallel. You've arrived. You're at Point Bob.

Point Roberts was first seen by Western eyes in 1775 and 1792, initially by Spanish captain Juan Francisco la Bodegay Quadra and then by Captain George Vancouver. Vancouver named the point after his friend and colleague Henery Roberts.

The year-round population of Point Roberts stands at just 1,511 people, increasing to an estimated 4-5,000 as cabin owners and their extended families return in the summer. Commercially, there is a large supermarket, a golf course, marina, gas stations, galleries, and a variety of restaurants and cafes to suit most tastes and most budgets.

Take time to explore, especially on foot or bicycle. No hill is too steep or too long. Only 4.9 square miles, the Point can be given a good once-over in a day. Enjoy Maple Beach's half-mile of sandflats, great for crabbing and clanmming and boasts the warmest waters north of California. Don't miss Lighthouse Marine Park. If you've timed it right, you'll catch the 'Orca show.' Point Roberts is home to two pods of Killer whales who are often seen as close as 10 feet off the beach when the salmon are running.

The Point is a favorite launch spot for boaters wanting to go to the Canadian Gulf islands or Washington San Juan islands. It has a 1,000-slip marina (which offers a restaurant, chandlery, repair services, haul-outs, guest moorage and 24-hour refueling). There's plenty to do to pass the time. With beaching, eating out, fishing, biking, camping, golfing, kite flying, crabbing or lazing out - the Point will keep you coming back. View Point Roberts Restaurants.

JACK KINTNER is a freelance photojournalist whose work appears in several area magazines and newspapers. A native of Port Angeles, Washington, he lives in Blaine with his lovely wife Linda and their two dogs, a Border Collie named Duke and a loveable if somewhat loudmouthed coyote cross named Dutchess. When not working or fly fishing he can often be spotted in the skies above Blaine is his yellow J-3 Cub named Butterfingers. Jack Kintner can be reached by emailing him at jack.kintner@verizon.net