Signs of Life

Fish tacos & americano

My favorite downtown lunch place, The Bagelry, has reopened. Last week I enjoyed a Saturday brunch sitting indoors out of the rain.

This Saturday was a perfect sunny day for a bike ride to Blaine, for lunch at my other favorite place. To make sure my appetite was keen, I rode a little extra on the sandspit by the marina, out to the public fishing dock. After lunch I walked on the boardwalk on Portal Way, where a summer craft fair and farmer's market was underway.

Seagulls resting on the fishing pier

I usually take a back way to Blaine, out on Enterprise Road as far as Loomis Trail Road, where I turn left and then meander around the farm roads, heading west until I get to the town of Blaine by Semiahmoo Bay and Drayton Harbor. Riding on the inland roads was warm for May, but it was brisk and breezy near the water, and it's fun to go from rural fields and forest to marine views all in one day-trip.

Usually I ride home on the waterside, along Drayton Harbor to Birch Bay, which makes it a longer, hillier ride on the way back. Today I went by the inland route, trying out some different farm roads, to see what things look like going the other direction. This made for a 40 mile ride, the longest I've done since last summer. I'm still adjusting the fit on my new bike - I think I've got it set now, but I am out of shape.  Still, I'm not training for any ambitious rides so I'm free to ramble at will.

Local Conditions - Hovander & W. Smith Rd.

Looking east . . .

Looks like local road authorities - not sure if that's Whatcom County or the City of Ferndale - may have finally decided to let this section of road sink into the swamp. This is W. Smith Road just past where it turns off from Hovander Road, by the railroad tracks beside Tennant Lake. For decades this area has flooded in the winter, and now the pavement is cracked and sunken in the lowest part of the roadway. This year a large puddle has remained since the flooding in January.

Looking west

These photos were taken on Sunday, when cars and bicycles were still driving through. On Monday the water was deeper and "road closed" signs were posted at both ends. Maybe someday soon it will be a new bicycle/pedestrian trail, with a nice boardwalk above the marshes . . .