Camping and Bellingham

So we decided to "get away" on this Labor Day weekend.
We drove about an hour north to the only place we had been able to book in advance. Wenberg State (now County) Park. We were at campsite 10 and it SUCKED. It was surrounded by RVs (hence the picture) and there were no trees, and we could barely get the stakes in the ground!






Tom made a sad face about our campsite.

Things started looking up when we decided to go for a stroll down to the lake. That's when we discovered ALL of the other campsites that were WAY better. We moved our tent and stuff and set up at a much more tree-lined area. Tom and Harper also went for a swim.

Then our friends showed up and we ate and drank (surreptitiously because it wasn't allowed) and played cards.

We slept fitfully in our tents except for the kids down the way screaming and yelling. There was definitely rain over night and in the morning, but we manged to make delicious pancakes and breakfast foods in just a light drizzle. Then we headed off toward Bellingham for a hike to Cedar Lake.
We saw some HUGE trees. Yeah THAT big.

The view we came to looked beautiful, of some islands (I don't know which ones).

 

Then we all posed for a group shot with the amazing bendable tripod-thingie.

And there you have the story of our 5 mile hike in what was supposed to be rain, but was NO rain at all. People out here really seem to complain about this imminent rain - and then it never shows up! It's kind of funny.

After the hike we drove to Bellingham and had a late lunch at the Boundary Bay Brewery. It was pretty good, but they made us wait a while even though there were A LOT of empty tables. They said they were keeping them empty outside because supposedly it was going to rain. Once again, for a place that supposedly sees a lot of rain, people are sure freaked out by the chance of it happening. Of course it did NOT rain, and we sat inside among many empty tables. It was strange, we never figured out why we couldn't sit right away. We strolled around and I tried to buy bagels, but they were moving so slowly I wanted to die (apparently you can't take the East Coast completely out of me). Everyone got some ice cream, and then we headed on our way home.

Tom got some serious road-rage because people were either going exactly the speed limit, or below the speed limit - and this was in the left lane. What a strange bunch of driver out here! I know people warned us, but still, it's odd. If the speed limit is 60 in CT, then people drive between 65-75 I would say. Here if it's 60, people drive about 50-58. Very odd.