The OrWa diaries, Day 7: Finish line

Hey, I finally connected the highway dots between  California and Canada today. That is, a little after 3 p.m., I rolled into the public park at the north end of Blaine, Wash., which happens to border another country.

Nice little border crossing they have here - lots of grass (of the fescue variety), picnic benches, a man selling ice cream and a lone U. S. Border Patrol SUV sitting in the shade of a tree, waiting and waiting for action.

Weird, if you’re from Southern California. Also wonderful. And that, I figured, would be an ideal final note for this week-long road trip, and for the day, which began with a ferry ride from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island and a concession-stand lunch at Deception Pass. But we don’t really get to choose when our trips end. The trips tell us, sometimes days before the return flight is scheduled. And this trip said: “Not so fast, buddy.”

I had a night to spend in Bellingham before flying back to Los Angeles, so I invited Gil, a buddy from Seattle, to come on up and join me for dinner. Killing time, we first ran into a serious bike race, for which several downtown streets were closed. Then we wandered down to the public dock in time to see a fine sunset and a couple of local young men flinging themselves repeatedly into the sea (pictured below).

Now that I was done chasing fun, fun was coming after us.

And then we finally sat down for that dinner — in a pub resounding with the strings and whistles of an Irish folk group. Turns out they play every Sunday night at Skylark’s, in the Fairhaven area of Bellingham. And that’s where this coastal adventure came to its proper ending, at the bar, with a hunk of cod at the end of my fork, a lilting note hanging in the air.

Of course it wasn’t a comprehensive trip– neither Washington’s shoreline nor my department’s budget would allow one. But I started at the Oregon-California line, clung to the coast as closely as I could, and slept every night in a hotel or trailer or lighthouse-keeper’s home that was right on the ocean. The cheapest night was $81 (the Port Townsend room above the Grateful Dead cover band). The costliest was about $225 (the Heceta Head lighthouse B&B in Oregon). Put this trip next to my January journey from the Tijuana border to northernmost California and you get a snapshot of the West Coast, and maybe an idea for a trip of your own. More details and advice on the Oregon-Washington findings will follow soon, when I pull together a proper story for the Travel section.

And by the way, what’s all this nonsense about people needing umbrellas and raincoats in the Northwest? Seven days, something like 900 miles, maybe two dozen beaches … and not a drop of rain.

– Christopher Reynolds/Los Angeles Times staff writer

Photos: 1. Far below the big bridge at Deception Pass, Wash., two kayakers work their way around a corner. 2. The seaside Washington-Canada border crossing, which includes a fenceless park, grassy expanses, a sculpture garden and ornamental horticulture, is remarkably like the California-Mexico border in that, um, never mind. 3. On the ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island, Wash.,, a small dog braves the stiff breeze.  4. They closed off several streets for a Sunday afternoon bike race in downtown Bellingham. 5. Down at the dock in the Fairhaven area of Bellingham, some of the boys like taking flying leaps. Credit: Christopher Reynolds

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 20, 2009 at 2:10 pm by Christopher Reynolds and is filed under Family & Kids, Islands & Beaches, News, Tips & Advice, Oregon, Oregon Washington road trip, Outdoors & Adventure, Washington. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.