Seattle/Bellingham

I have a sales meeting in Bellingham in mid August. My husband is joining me for the trip, and we are spending a couple of extra days in the area.
Any not to miss restaurants, breweries, sightseeing, hiking in the Bellingham area? I am pretty obsessed with Diablo Lake after researching and seeing photos, so I think we’re going to spend a day out that way after my meeting. I know it’s about a 2 hr drive.
What else do you suggest? We have two free days before I have to be in Bellingham, and we haven’t booked a place yet. We may stay in Seattle. I’ve only been once and it was a long time ago. I did see that Maceo Parker is playing at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Seattle while we are there. Anyone familiar with the venue?

I’m in Bellingham a few times each year and love it. I’d stay there over Seattle.

For coffee, Camber Coffee and Primer Coffee are hard to beat.

For beer, if you like lagers you must visit Chuckanut Brewery and Otherlands Brewing. The food at both places is solid too. If you prefer hoppy beers and stouts, Structures Brewing is a must visit (no food though). I’m not a huge fan of Aslan’s beers, but others are and their food is good with a nice happy hour. Elizabeth Station is a nice beer store with a variety of beers on tap. I’ve heard good things about Wander Brewing, but have yet to visit. While it is south of Bellingham, Garden Parh Fermentation has a variety of interesting beers and ciders, plus one of the best packaged beer selections around to drink onsite. The second location of Chuckanut Brewery is close by.

For hiking, you can find plenty of options off Chuckanut Drive, especially in Larrabee State Park. You should definitely drive the entirety of Chuckanut Drive either at some point as the viewpoints are great. Taking Highway 542 East out of Bellingham will offer a lot of hiking options once you past the small town of Glacier (about 35 miles from Bham). Your best bet is to take the road another 22 miles (at around 3800 ft of elevation) and hike around in the mountains, but there are many hikes off 542 on the way.

As for food, La Fiamma Pizza is great. Taylor Shellfish’s location off Chuckanut Drive is worth it not only for the oysters but the view of the bay. There are two other restaurants on the south end of Chuckanut Drive whose names I forget that are nice.

I second Taylor’s Shellfish off of Chukanut.

The nearby Willows Inn is the perennial No 1 restaurant in North America and retained the top spot in the new OAD survey. And with all the fuss over the recent New York Times smear jobs, tables have been a little easier to get. There are some friendly hikes on Lummi, too, and it’s a nice little ferry ride.

https://www.willows-inn.com/

Jazz Alley is a really nice place to see a show.

There are several forest fires burning on the east side of the Cascades next to the North Cascades Highway that goes past Gorge and Diablo Lakes. Hopefully those will be contained and we’ll get some rain between now and August.

I would give Cafe Juanita a whirl…. Had a great rabbit dish there many years ago.

But the sushi?

This is fantastic. Thank you.

Thanks everyone! Your suggestions are really helpful.

Smear jobs??? You must have different sources than me.

Ditto. F that place. No food is good enough to condone rape.

ANYWAY…Aslan Depot is a fantastic place for beer (much much better than the main location IMO) especially if you like sours and barrel-aged stuff. Fairhaven district is beautiful. Kulshan brewery had a nice outdoor seating area.

Black Sheep has great tacos and Wed nights all tequilas and mezcals are half off for neat pours.

Enjoy! Crabbing season might be open by then, too.

I took Scott’s advice on a trip a couple years ago.
I stayed at the Hilton property (Chrysalis Inn & Spa) on the bay in Bellingham and it was really nice (and close to downtown).
Enjoyed Chuckanut and Structures (Structures is really small, but maybe they have outdoor seating now?).
Taylor’s Shellfish was pretty awesome!

Here is my thread from 2019 which for some reason I posted in the Beer forum …

Structures does have outdoor booths now!

Bellingham is my favorite town in the US. I’ve never felt so at home. I went out to go backpacking in the North Cascades and climb Mt. Baker though–so not many recommendations for food or drink. Take the ferry out to the San Jaun Islands one day. We rented bicycles and saw many orcas just riding around the islands. Also worth going up to the glaciers on Mt. Baker.

Just critical reading skills and experience in restaurants and in dealing with the media. It’s a smear job. And, Ian, you might want to edit your post or familiarize yourself with Washington’s laws regarding defamation.

James, you’re right. I overstepped. Please see my corrections below:

Ditto. F that place. No food is good enough to condone alleged sexual harassment by male employees toward 16-year-old girls, alleged sexual discrimination in the workplace by multiple women, alleged misrepresentation of ingredient origin, alleged misrepresentation of vegetarian options, alleged wage theft, alleged unfair labor practices, and in general alleged douchbaggery-like behavior by hipster white men toward an indigenous community.

Agree with the above about Larrabee State Park with very good hikes. But the best hike near Bellingham is the trail up Oyster Dome, just south of Larrabee which is spectacular if the weather is good. If you go up into North Cascades NP, the Maple Pass Loop (7 mi) is stunning, one of the most spectacular hikes in the USA. If you drive up to Mount Baker/Mount Shuksan area, there are also incredible vistas on some shorter hikes. Have fun.

I had bookmarked Maple Pass Loop. It looks awesome. I’ll look into Oyster Dome, too. Now I wish we had more time.

Wow, just read that article published on the Willows in the Times earlier this year - disturbing to say the least. Not sure how anyone’s “critical reading skills” would allow them to dismiss numerous allegations from multiple individuals as a smear job, but maybe my reading skills aren’t critical enough.

Thoughts on Woodenville? Any worthwhile tasting rooms there?

What kind of wines do you like? Woodinville is great if you know where to go.