Home is a destination

We just had the big Ski to Sea relay race weekend in Bellingham. The race is on the Sunday of every Memorial Day weekend, pretty much since 1911. The total race is about 90 miles, with seven legs. It starts on Mount Baker, with downhill and cross country skiing, followed by running, a road bike and a mountain bike course, canoeing on the Nooksack River, and kayaking from the mouth of the river to the beach here in Fairhaven. 

And then Fairhaven has a big party. The Village Green has booths from non-profits, and music all day on the stage. The place was packed with people coming and going, sitting on the grass for the music or getting something tasty to eat from one of the local restaurant food booths there, or from the Colophon Cafe which has outdoor seating on the Green. The statue of Fairhaven's founder,  Dirty Dan Harris, is always popular. Some of the town center streets are blocked off so that vendors can put up booths. Lots of food choices. I had jerk chicken skewers with mango salsa and salad, and Mike had a falafel sandwich. Other booths have things to buy. Most of it is frankly junk, but some nice things. I bought a hat. There are pony rides and one of those inflated bouncing places for the kids. 

There's more music, with local bands playing all day on the stage next to the beer garden. We got a desperation e-mail on Saturday night asking if we could take a shift selling beer tickets, which we did. I wish I'd taken a picture of the beer garden--which is no way a garden. Basically it's a big section of parking lot surrounded by a high chain link fence, with security guards at the entrance to check IDs, and some tents for shade. But it is way popular, full of people wall to wall. This is a college town, which probably accounts for the fact that so many people find this an entertaining place to be. Really, Fairhaven has a couple of good pubs, and plenty of restaurants where you can get a draft beer. I guess standing on asphalt drinking shoulder to shoulder with a thousand or so people has something more to offer. Anyway, it's a cheerful crowd, and we sold tickets for two hours non-stop before someone relieved us and we got our reward, a free beer.

Down at Boulevard Park, a mile away along a waterfront path, there's a huge car show every year. This picture is from a few years ago, because we forgot our camera this time.

We had perfect weather. Almost 70 degrees. There were a reported 35,000 people in town. That's for an area about 6 square blocks. And we live right smack in the middle of it. When I was a kid I always wanted to live somewhere that people wanted to come. So this is really fun.