How to Play without Kid Input

This is a kind of love letter to my husband, but really to my parents who took the kids Friday evening until Sunday afternoon.  I love, love, love you!

For his birthday, Dwayne wanted me to take him away for the weekend.  I had actually tried to make reservations for Winthrop to show our support for the area devastated by the state’s worst fire on record (and patting myself on the back for the charitable giving of my spending hundreds of dollars on personal luxury)…but everyone else was doing the same thing and my first 7choices were booked for the weekend!

So we just drove north.

I surprised Dwayne (and myself) with our first night at Tulalip Resort and Casino.  It’s a beautiful place, every bit the luxury resort it reports to be.  Any place with a waterfall in the oasis pool can’t be all bad. The fact that no-smoking laws don’t apply on reservation land escaped us at first, but you can’t spend anytime in the slot machine wasteland before remembering that indoor smoking isn’t prohibited…and no ventilation is ever adequate.  However, the restaurants were in the casino wing, and I would wade through more slots and cigs to eat again at Black Fish.

 

Saturday was for Bellingham.  We had reservations at The Fairhaven Village Inn.  On a continuum of $$$ hotels, the Inn is very much to the right (or left) of Tulalip.  The Inn didn’t have carved alabaster bas relief native art motif light fixtures down each hallway, but it did have a charming library with tea, coffee, and cookies 24 hours a day.  And it was by far the better location.  Dwayne and I walked more miles in those 24 hours in through Fairhaven than we have walked together the rest of 2015.  (Yeah, that says more about us than about Fairhaven, I know.)

When we first got to Bellingham, I directed Dwayne to Lake Padden for a couple mile walk in this picturesque spot.  But the park was closed for an all afternoon bike race.  So then we tried to visit my alma mater, but it was move-in day (!) at WWU.  Finally, we parked far enough away and walked up and around the entire campus and arboretum.  It has been almost 20 years since I was last a student there.  Of course, a lot had changed, but it was somewhat surprising how much remained as it was.  It’s a beautiful campus, but the academic life didn’t quite tug on my heart like it has before.  I now think more about eventually dropping Kyla off somewhere like this…leaving her to be a independent student with just a final hug.  Ouch!

But there wasn’t too much to be morose about, other than if we didn’t make it to afternoon tea by 5pm at the Abbey Garden Tearoom.   We actually got there in plenty of  time, though my picture hints at a different outcome.  Dwayne found a gentleman’s tea on the menu,while I ordered a French chocolate dessert with my afternoon tea that made my toes curl.   

(You can’t tell the tea cozy on my head, but under the table, my toes are curled.)

 

While walking (and walking and walking) off our tea, we came across these plaques with QR readers.  It gave a mini-history lesson of the area using footnotes of footnotes, probably.  I loved it!

 

We tried to walk every inch of Fairhaven, 3 parks, some trails, and a hilly neighborhood before we went back and changed for dinner.  If you ever eat at the Cliff House in Bellingham, go for the view and great staff, not the food.

 
The next morning was as blustery as it can get without pouring rain, so I was impressed with these sailors! 

My hair tried to be my sail, but I’ve not such a good sailor.

Since I lived in the area last, Boulevard Park went from being a great place to an amazing one, with a long waterway walking path and even better access.  Dwayne and I so enjoyed our time together in Bellingham, but I couldn’t help but think of how I’d like to bring the kids up here with their bikes someday!

 

And why, oh why, has no one told me just how wonderful Five Guys is?  Why is McD’s and all those other hamburger places still open when one can eat here?  All right, so this is a little north for us, but now I know what place to look for when we need lunch on the road!