Day Two

We had a very good lunch in the Edison Cafe, on the way to the mystery destination of Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The primary motivation for the trip was the Beach Seine:

You don’t need SCUBA to see what’s living out there in the bay. Just meet on the beach at Bay View State Park and help pull a fish net through the water. Come and learn more about our fine finned friends!

I thought the grandkids might also be interested in the aquarium and interpretive displays at the center. We arrived in time for a quick tour of the center before the beach seine -- and discovered that it's only open Wednesday through Sunday.

We drove down to the beach to wait for the seine. Nobody turned up at the scheduled time, so I called the center, and was told that the seine had been cancelled because of dangerously high bacterial levels in the water. The good news was that the center was open to accommodate people who'd come for the seine.

On the way home we went into Bellingham to buy cupcakes at Icing on the Cake. Contrary to the opening hours listed on the door, it was closed! Our last scheduled stop was at Man Pies -- we were very relieved to find it open!