Bellingham, Washington

The weather on Monday was really crummy, so we drove until the rain stopped, which basically means, we skipped the Northern Cascades due to heavy rain. I (Karin) was personally very glad to get out of the plain states, because while we were there I was reading Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven which is basically set in Utah, Northern Montana and just above the Montana border in Canada, and the more I read, the more I was getting creeped out by the thought of the fundamentalist Mormons being so close by...I found myself looking into vans we were passing and wondering if I should be rescuing the young women...if they were being driven across the border to be married to a polygamist in Canada or something.... so it's good that we left or I might have done something rash.

So we drove straight through Washington State and then spent Monday evening in a TraveLodge in Bellingham, Washington and then we explored bookshops, coffee shops and then we drove out to Whidbey Island which is the beginning of the San Juan Islands, and camped there last night (Tuesday) and indulged in a terribly junky dinner of cheese covered hot dogs and Fritos and a Twix bar for dessert (No we have not been eating like that the whole time moms!).

Today we are having lunch at a coffee shop and Mike is getting a haircut (in Bellingham) and then in a few hours we are headed up to Vancouver, BC where we will spend three glorious nights in the Vancouver Hyatt. It will feel like luxury compared to camping and we got a great deal from www.priceline.com ...$80 a night! Plus, Friday is Canada Day, so there is lots going on in Vancouver including a Jazz Festival and lots of music concerts. Should be a good time and at this point we're craving a metropolitan experience, so we're really looking forward to it.

Finally, thanks to all of you who have been sending us comments, encouragement, and travel related information -- we appreciate your thoughtfulness, and it is nice to know that we have all of you sort of traveling along with us keeping us safe with your warm thoughts and good karma.

Karin