Top 10 Things I'm Going to Miss About the Pacific Northwest

Well here we are, just under three weeks away from the big goodbye. People keep asking me if I'm excited and my general answer is well yes of course I would be excited if I could sift through all of this panic first.

I've been spending a lot of time up in Bellingham visiting and saying goodbye to family. Trying to soak in as much of the Pacific Northwest as possible, gathering a little bit of home to keep with me when I'm homesick. I have been able to spend a lot of time with my parents and my loving and wonderful old GreyFace Mandy.

I know when I get back I won't be returning to the exact place I left. Everyone I know is in a major time of transition, whether  it means graduating UW, moving near or far, getting married.  The comfortable life I've slipped into will not be waiting when I return and the idea that things will not be as they are, that "normal" will be different is a little scary.

So I'm going to make a list in no particular order of my favorite things as they are in the Pacific Northwest that I love and am going to miss like crazy, (excluding people and families, that could get messy and mushy and we don't want that)

1) THIS DOG

I know it's cheating because I already put her in once, but look she's smiling!

2) The Chuckanut Mountains

Are a mountain range up in Bellingham and they are full of absolutely fantastic trails and views. They span easy hikes (like at Lake Padden) up to pretty strenuous (Oyster Dome, Pine and Cedar). All of them are lovely. 

Oyster Dome! Ahoy! -View west to the Sound

3) Pho

This fabulous Vietnamese soup is very easy to find in the PNW. It's cheap, delicious, and DELICIOUS. Thus far the best place I've found is "Time 4 Pho" in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. The bullet holes in the window just make it more authentic. If you don't want to truck all the way out there, the Ave in the University district of Seattle has many decent choices.

4) The Weather.

Call me crazy, but I love the weather in the PNW. The only reason we complain about it so much is because we secretly are trying to keep people from discovering our secret. Yes it rains a lot, is overcast, foggy and cloudy many days. When it snows Seattle generally completely shuts down more as an excuse to take a day off rather than because we are unable to get around. I think our weather has character, personality and is really beautiful if you have the right equipment to get through it. 

5) Hidden Gems.

Fun Vandalism

I haven't spent a ton of time in the rest of the U.S., but something I appreciate about the PNW is that a lot of our cities have had time to grow from homesteads, to villages, to towns and onward. The addition of layers of influence, culture and infrastructure makes for some pretty spectacular hidden gems out there to discover right in your backyard or along the trail. It makes the cities engaging places for pedestrians instead of flat concrete jungles without a lot to offer a human experience.

Unintentional Greenwall - Pioneer Square

A tree growing over the "On-Ramp to Nowhere" at the Arboretum

6) Fairhaven, Bellingham, Washington

Is the wonderful Old-Town of Bellingham. In the last 10 years the city has done a lot to fix up the area and still try to preserve the old-timey feel. It's home to many stores considered almost sacred in Bellingham like Village Books, where many local authors come and speak and the Colophon Cafe in the same building. More recently there has been the addition of Bay to Baker, and the fabulous Sirena with a gelato flavor for every day of the week. The farmer's market and events like the summer outdoor movies happen at the Village Green, a small greenspace plaza in the center of it all.

7) Our Affinity for Zombies

The PNW for some reason has a real and true love of Zombies. From zombie walks, zombie parties, massive games of humans vs. Zombies on all the major university campuses, Zombie sporting events and Zombie re-enactments of "Thriller" in the streets of downtown Bellingham on Halloween. WE LOVE OUR UNDEAD. 

Excuse me, I was using the facilities and now I eat your brain.

8) The Suzzalo Reading Room

or the Harry Potter room as some call it is a feat of marvelous architecture on the UW campus. It's my favorite place to hang out at UW other than the quad in spring or the fountain when the roses are in bloom. And yes, I understand that it is almost everyone's favorite place to the point of almost being a cliche, but it's awesome. 

9) Our Nerds, Geeks and Dorks,

Up here, everyone is a Nerd about something. It may be rocks, or Harry Potter, or astrophysics, or Zelda or Star Trek, or Halo, or weather, or My Little Freaking Pony. But everyone up here has an irrational love of something. And that's AWESOME, very few people are too busy being cool to really love something with other people. We just had PAX at the convention center and it was a Mecca for Nerds of all kinds. 

Professors Lockhart and Trelawney I presume?

10) Canada. 

Having Canada up there is like having an extremely friendly next door neighbor who has better toys than you...and sneaks you drinks when you're 19. I like going to Canada for the all you can eat sushi in Richmond, the water slides and visiting the megafauna. 

This is a fuzzy picture of the Grizzly bear we saw just hanging out in a swamp.

Is that Switzerland!? No! It's Canada!

Cute right? - In Banff

Well I don't know about you but I feel better. I love this place, I must be crazy to leave it! 
But adventure awaits!


"Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

-J.R.R. Tolkein 

(nerdiness in action!)