Pacific Northwest – Bellingham (3)

Brewers Cruise – Bellingham Bay

Why go to Bellingham, a city on Bellingham Bay just 21 miles south of the Canadian border? One reason is to enjoy the beautiful views while cruising Bellingham Bay. However, our real reason was to sip the local brews while cruising the Bay, which we did!

Upon arriving in Bellingham, about a two-hour drive from Tacoma, we (Steve and I, sister Patty and cousin Paulette) checked into The Chrysalis Inn and Spa, a hotel right on the water. The rooms were lovely with water views. Noting the railroad tracks in the picture below, part of the city’s history includes three railroad lines arriving in Bellingham in the early 1890’s. Amtrak’s Cascades service between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, still runs twice a day on these tracks, along with freight trains. (A few years ago we did take Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver, passing to and from on these very tracks.)

From the hotel it was a short drive to the ferry hub for our Brewers Cruise offered by San Juan Cruises. In addition to the Brewers Cruises, they also offer ferry services to the San Juan Islands. This ferry terminal is also the southern Terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway, a state-run ferry for both passengers and cars.

The tasting started off on a bit of a dubious note as our server brought out one tray with four craft beer samples. We looked at him rather askew with a “is this it?” look. In the era of face masks and social distancing, we were rather taken aback when he said, “yes.” Fortunately, another server overheard this exchange and quickly corrected him (it was his first night) and said we would all be receiving our individual trays of four samples. That was only the First Flight, consisting of Dunkel Lager and Vienna Lager from the Chuckanut Brewery and Waypoint Pilsner and Lemonade Sail Pale from the Boundary Bay Brewery. Then we were presented with a second flight consisting of four more samples, consisting of a Pilsner and 2 Amigos from the Chuckanut Brewery and a Northwest Original IPA (Inside Passage Ale) and Nutward Bound from the Boundary Bay Brewery. Fortunately, we were also served lots and lots of snacks. Plus, I was a lucky winner of a t-shirt and two glasses, both inscribed with “Save the Ales,” very apropos.

Following breakfast the following morning we went to the Fairhaven section of Bellingham. It was one of the two original settlements that made up Bellingham. The other was Whatcom, which is now a county name. Neither side wanting to give up their name, they compromised and took on the name of the bay on which they were located, Bellingham. (A personal fact: One of the requirements of my Washington State history class was to be able to name and locate all 39 counties of the State of Washington on the map.)

And, a few more Bellingham facts. . .the first European immigrants arrived about 1852. The first timber mill was set up, and, lumber milling and cutting still continues. Coal mining started in the mid 1850’s, and, the last mine closed in 1955. Bellingham’s location close to the Strait of Juan de Fuca (playing on that name, G. M. Ford wrote a mystery entitled “Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca?” Yes, I have read it.) and the Inside Passage to Alaska, which helped keep some of the cannery operations in Bellingham. And, finally, Bellingham is one of the few U.S. cities that experiences astronomical twilight, the darkest of the 3 twilight phases. It occurs each year between June 14 and June 28.