Day 8 - Blaine to Bellingham - Ferry Good Times: Cycling the Salish Sea

June 7, 2025

Day 8 - Blaine to Bellingham

Sunshine, coastal trails, and more bald eagles

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Our day starts with a good breakfast at what seems to be the only full breakfast restaurant in town, though I could be mistaken. It’s in a rustic brick building, perhaps previously a pub. We sit at a table by the window with a nice view of the marina. Like the place across the street (see Genny’s blog entry from yesterday), the political sentiments on display are decidedly Maggat.

It promises to be pleasantly warm for our ride today, so I’m starting out in shorts and a light jacket.

Me, Rich, and Genny. Rich’s first day riding for a while, since he’s been driving the truck into the ferries.

We hadn’t spent any time at Peace Park yesterday when entering the US, so we decided to ride there and capture a picture of the arch to start our ride. Jim notices that the park is between the Canadian and US check-in points and comments that we could have just ridden through the park and into Blaine without going through customs. Gen and I express scepticism, and sure enough, as we are riding back out of the park and into Blaine, Genny, who is first, is stopped by a border patrol and questioned about whether we had been through border control or not. She explains that we came in yesterday and were just coming back to see the arch. He nods and lets us go. I’m glad, because I’m no longer carrying my passport — it’s in my luggage in the truck, which would be a hassle to retrieve.

Rich, me and Genny under the Peace Arch.

As we’re riding south through Blaine we see two bald eagles, one down in the mud flats, the other at the top of a pole, being harassed by a crow.

A bald eagle, keeping an eye on the crow that is about to dive-bomb him.

The eagle flies away, followed by the crow.

The fields are full of these beautiful little yellow daisies behind us.

Whoops. No way through. So we backtrack and reroute on Rainbow Road.

Beautiful view of the mountains in the distance. The large one is probably Mt. Baker.

After encountering our second closed road of the day, we reroute through the Lummi Nation. And we’re glad we did. It’s a beautiful, obviously prosperous little town (due to the local casino) with well-maintained bike paths. Here, we are crossing a causeway over grassland.

As we approach Blaine, I see a little park where I stopped and ate lunch in 2022 when I was riding the West Coast tour, so of course I had to stop and take a picture of the view from the same picnic table.

View of the bay from park just outside of Bellingham.

The way to the hotel was almost entirely on bicycle paths along the beach and then a gravel path through a forested area on the hill above the water. Lovely ride!

For a better sense of the ride, with more scenery, watch the 3-minute video below.

Pic that Rich took of me on the bike path along the beach in Bellingham.

Our room at the Fairhaven Village Inn — definitely one of the nicest rooms we’ve stayed in.

Today’s video (videos are numbered by ride days, not tour days):

Today's ride: 35 miles (56 km)
Total: 173 miles (278 km)

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