When the sun calls you outside in the Pacific Northwest, you answer. After days of being cooped inside, it's a welcome pleasure to venture out on a daycation. With so much to choose from it is fun to explore and find new hidden gems. Today's call was a drive north from Skagit Valley to Whatcom County. Just an hour north of Anacortes, Bellingham and Whatcom County has a diverse offering of beaches to mountains. Today it was the foothills that beckoned us for our drive. First stop, something to curb our hunger and sweet tooth, a favorite espresso stop...Wake n' Bakery in Glacier, WA for coffee and their most delicious cardamom cookies. This popular coffee shop is must-stop place for skiers coming back from the Mt Baker Ski Resort.
​Hunger abated, sweet tooth satisfied, it was time for our next stop, a park hidden amongst the foothills of the cascade mountains–Silver Lake Park.

​Just north of Maple Falls, off HWY 542, is a gem of a park and campgrounds, shrouded by mountains and sitting on the edge of a lake. Silver Lake Park is close to the border of Canada and hidden amongst the trees where you can relax and commune with mother nature. Trails, bridges, wildlife, playground, picnic tables, cabins, and boating on a quiet lake, all you need to enjoy the great outdoors and relax in fresh mountain air.

When you leave the park, instead of turning left and returning the way you came, turn right out of the park and follow Silver Lake Road as it travels through Peaceful Valley. Logging and farmlands scatter through the landscape as the road leads you back to Hwy 547 where you can turn right and continue your journey north, or left to Hwy 542 and return to Bellingham.
To end a lovely day driving through the countryside we had dinner at Fiamma Pizza in Bellingham and no trip to Bellingham is complete without stopping at Trader Joe.
Peaceful Valley, Silver Lake, and Cardamom Cookies…A great answer to the call of a sunny day in the Pacific Northwest.

What a dandy way to spend a spring day, bicycling through the valley wearing tweed and stopping for a picnic and a game of croquet. The look and the feel of yesteryear, when families dressed up and ventured forth on their bicycles through the countryside than stopped for a picnic amongst the beauty of mother nature, was the inspiration for this event. For four years, to celebrate the arrival of Spring, folks have signed up for the Dandy Daffodil Tweed Ride. Dressed in their Tweed finest, a picnic basket full of goodies, they mount their bicycles and off they go. Their route takes them from the lovely town of LaConner, WA, through the Skagit Valley fields where daffodils sprinkle the landscape in yellow. They meet at Rexville Grocery where they enjoy a picnic and a game of croquet. The ride ends back at LaConner where they raise a glass of wine and salute the arrival of Spring and a day to remember.

For those living in the Pacific Northwest, specifically the west side of the Cascade Mountains, winter tends to be a long, continuous season of dark, rainy, cloudy, windy and depressing weather. The color of the season is gray, gray, and well, more gray. By January, any spot of sunshine is a welcome relief from the dullness of winter. By February, we are desperate for sun or even a hint of blue skies. 
Then it happens—a Spring day. Birds chirp, bees buzz, the sky is painted in various hues of blue, and the sun spreads light and warmth. We emerge from our winter hibernation and venture outside, shedding our winter gear and ready to hike, bike, walk, or simply sit outside soaking up the long awaited sunshine.
Surrounded by beauty and some of mother nature's best landscapes we are offered some of the most scenic spots to visit, and all right here in our backyard. Mountains, beaches, islands, wildlife, seascapes, trails, forests, it calls to us and we answer with a roaring—yes. 
It is days like these that remind us why we live here. Suddenly we go from dull gray to a visual explosion of color and beauty...a true work of art. Trees are blooming, flowers blossom, sunlight shines on the water, the mountains shine in all their glory, and life feels alive again. Out of the darkness of winter comes spring and a blast of light. 
Life is full of beauty, gratitude, fresh air, sunshine, and color. Enjoy it, we deserve it after months of gray, dark dullness.