A Northwest New Year

What do frozen ponds, dreadlocked runners, organic champagne and Improv have in common? A new year, Pacific Northwest style! I am home to my little haven that is the Northwest corner of Washington state, complete with hip alternatives to everything from Aromatherapy to Zen gardening and more resolutions for cleaner, healthier more conscious living than most other towns I have visited world-wide. I decided that before I spend anymore time exploring, internalizing and trying to verbalize my discoveries within another culture, I would introduce you to oh little town of Bellingham, and no, Jesus was not born here.

With just over 80,000 Bellingham has now reached a size where tranquility is possible, and miraculously enough, so is thriving community! I pop into my favorite coffee spot Avellino, open the Cascadia Weekly, turn to the upcoming events page and Presto! More action packed fun than I could wave a honey stick at! Because I have just returned from over a year away from the town I call home, I have the urge to do and see everything Bellingham has to offer. So the big question is: what to do for New Years???! Enjoy an evening of improv at the Upfront Theater, take in the lyrical musings of The Bad Tenants, brave one of the many ruckus house parties spanning High Street (voted in 1987 as home to one of America’s top party schools by Playboy Magazine…), take a plunge in icy Puget sound waters or sip some prosecco at the newly re-opened Chuckanut Ridge Wine Company??? I try to make every year-end with a bang and the next begin with a ball or at least some bubbly. So here it is, a run-down of my new year ring in, Northwest style.

Dec. 31, 6am: Wake to a frosty morning wondering why I have chosen running as a hobby, lace up my Fairhaven runner kicks and hightail it to Bellingham’s “Last Chance Marathon.” The route out to Clayton beach and back reminded me of how fortunate Bellinghamster’s are with such an extensive greenway trail system, as well as a new year’s resolution to not let myself get this out-of-shape again, regardless of how much plane travel I am doing!!!

Dec. 31, Noon: With a runner’s high to trump any other high that the Pacific Northwest is perhaps known for, I grab an infamous potato burrito from the establishment that sees Baker bums and Western students through dreary winter months, Casa Que Pasa. Limping back to my Volvo (13 miles, give me a break!) I pop in to Everyday Music to pick up a Boy and Bear album, getting a taste of B’ham street talent on railroad avenue on my way out the door.

Dec. 31, 4pm: I swing into the community food co-op for some local produce, organic mozzarella and vino for tonight’s new year’s eve Italian feast. Between April and December the Farmer’s market has everything from Bavarian pretzels to world-class hula-hooping as well as all the ingredients for any of my culinary endeavors, but in winter months the food co-op fills my basket with goods. 

Dec. 31, 8pm: After having fed much of the Chuckanut Bay Rugby team, and emptied a few bottles of cava I’m ready to throw on my party pants and ring in the New Year. First stop is a house party with impeccable rock covers by The Listers warming up frozen campus streets…..10pm: I forgot the taxi situation in the “Ham.” With a small number of cabs in this city, there are some creative options for getting around town on nights such as this one. The Sober Rovers for instance will come to your tipsy rescue, pack their Go-Ped scooter in your trunk and drive your vehicle home. But considering it’s chilly, nearing midnight and the music is hopping, I decided to stay put for the count-down.

Jan. 1, 2am: Late night food is lucrative business in a college town that likes to stay out until the sun comes up. My favorite early morning snack stop is the Russian Pierogi joint Pel Meni,  where you can paw through a decent collection of records, chat up some unlikely characters or if you are lucky spot local celeb Betty Desire chowing down some dumplings.

Jan. 1, 11am: Because running a half marathon the day before didn’t produce quite enough endorphins to sustain my new year’s ring in, I decide to participate in the Lake Padden Resolution Run and Swim along with a gaggle of other motivated and frosty toed locals. After a lap around the Lake’s 2.7 mile trail participants plunge into icy waters, washing away the old year and emerge refreshed and eager to take in the new, as well as hop into the park’s warm showers!

Jan. 1, 1pm: I re-fuel with old friends at a Northwest establishment known to locals as “The Shoe,” and formerly “The Horseshoe Cafe,” the oldest continuously run restaurant West of the Mississippi! 24 hours a day this joint is THE PLACE to go for cheezy fries at midnight, a bloody marry at noon and some of the world’s best people watching.

After hitting golf balls off Eldridge Avenue into one of those unbeatable sunsets the Pacific Northwest has a corner market on, I feel that my love affair with Bellingham has been renewed into the new year. Home to street art, the Dream Science Circus, Ryan Stiles, ice cream worth standing in line for, alley concerts, sunset drum circles, a tree hugging club, the Ski to Sea, an alternative library, bike lane traffic jams, the bacon maple bar, and the world’s largest octopus swimming through Puget sound waters. Small but mighty, the City if Subdued Excitement has enough to make this traveling heart go “pitter-patter.”