The second phase of my spring break journey came to a close Sunday.  Bellingham was the heart of the trip, as it included a wedding.  The drive from Anacortes to Bellingham was quick.  I even took Highway 11 instead of I-5 (at the suggestion of some locals that I met at breakfast one morning).  The drive was beautiful as it hugged the coast most of the way (and the rest of the time was small town and farm land).  When I got to my hotel, I found there was a delay on checking in.  So I went down the street to visit Whatcom Falls (which you can find in the Flickr stream to the right).  Then it was dinner with some other wedding guests followed by a quick trip to Trader Joe’s and then a quick visit with the wedding party.

Saturday was spent mostly on my own.  Slept in as long as I could. Had breakfast at a little diner one neighborhood over.  Tried to track down a new rucksack to replace the one I’ve been using since New Zealand.  Made my first-ever trip to REI, which made me feel like a real poser (their clientele is serious about the outdoors).  Then it was another, longer trip to Trader Joe’s before grabbing a sandwich at Poet of Subs and crashing before the wedding.

The wedding was great.  It’s always interesting seeing personalities play out in such settings.  The venue was great (a ferry terminal) and the company was quality.  On the way home I dropped by a bookstore in the area to pick up a novel in paperback that I couldn’t find anywhere else on the trip. Wedding accomplished, I made my way back to the hotel for a good night’s rest.

The Bellingham phase ended with breakfast in Fairhaven and then helping the newly-married couple get some things unloaded from the night before.  Then it was south again, this time by I-5, and then east to the mountains.  More on that next time.