....A Thousand Words...or Vice Versa

DISCLAIMER: This post contains no photographs, only word pictures!


I can't seem to remember to take my camera with me when I leave the house. On the few times I have remembered, I've seen nothing terribly photo-worthy. But you can be sure if I don't have it with me, extraordinary things will await us wherever we go, and yesterday was no exception to this pattern.

We started our day off with a fine breakfast with my brother, sister-in-law, nephew, his wife and their 3 young sons. They were all in town to support nephew, Rob, who participated in the RSVP. His plans included a stopover in Bellingham and then he would continue on to Vancouver, BC, on Saturday. The rest of the family met him up there, presumably to party "along with" and then provide transportation back to Seattle. Making this trip by car is grueling enough, I can't imagine doing it on a bike!

After breakfast we headed out to the north county to a little gospel concert at the Haynie Opry (aka the Haynie Grange). Whatcom County is such an interesting mix of "cultures": loggers, farmers, fishers and the corporate crew who inhabit the "castles" that line the waterfront. You don't have to venture far out of Bellingham in any one direction before you find yourself in a "different world". Such was the case on Saturday. The Haynie Opry is a solid, old 2-story wooden grange building with a high ceiling, an well-worn wooden floor and huge casement windows which were wide open because of the afternoon heat (90+ degrees). Large flower-print chintz curtains blew in the breeze as mostly elderly, well-fed folks in overalls, suspenders and flower-print dresses found seats among the collection of used and mismatched pews donated by different churches. Thermoses provided ice water and cold lemonade and for a $2.00 donation (proceeds destined for clean water work taking place in a village in Africa), you could have a piece of rhubarb or blueberry pie. We got one of each. On stage the 50-something gray-haired men in black pants and black western shirts adorned with sequined roses began setting up for the afternoon performance. We were transported by old favorites such as "I'll Fly Away", "I've Seen the Light" and "In the Garden" and left feeling like we'd been on a long vacation.

No trip to the north county is complete without a trip to Edaleens Dairy for the very, very, very best soft ice cream you have ever tasted. No matter when you go, you will stand in line for this treat, as their renown has spread far and wide...even internationally, as more than half of the license plates in the parking lot are from BC. Can you blame them? A large (and I mean LARGE) chocolate/vanilla swirl cone is a whopping $2.00! While we were sitting outside trying to eat the ice cream faster than it was melting in the heat, we saw the Snowbirds performing some of their stunts as part of the Abbotsford Air Show. "Locals" know that if you head out Northwood Rd. you can catch some of the show for free by parking next to Randy and Leslie's raspberry fields! So we did just that and had a great view of their amazing show.

By then we were hot and tired and it was time to head home for leftovers. What a day!