Two days ago we arrived in Bellingham, Wa. to take a look because we had read (at least once) that it was a really nice town to live/retire in, etc. Since we're often up in Washington State, we thought we'd make a special trip to see what its like, stay over night and really 'take the place in'. It has 7 exits off hwy 5 -- and we took every one of them (driving around when we got off each) and it is beyond us why anyone would purposely go there, other than business, visiting a relative, or 'duped' by magazine articles. We looked for a nice waterfront area since its on a beautiful part of ocean ... all taken up by ugly industry. Walked the downtown looking for a great northwest brew pub......none -- many buildings empty. It does look like some places are trying to spruce up....but it will be years. Looked for a suburb type area that might have some nice place we missed.....none. It does have lots of nice trees and I'm sure some nice neighborhoods somewhere. It does have alot of rundown looking fast food and other restaurants. Bottom line....we stayed about 2 hours for our search, then headed out of town. That time certainly it did pay not to make reservations. We do recall seeing on a Belligham brochure about things to do.....and everyone one of them directed tourists out of town....ferries to Canada, Alaska, etc. Now we know why. Bottom line...nice place to visit if your relatives live there and you want to spend time with them....otherwise we just don't see the point. My two cents! (PS - if anyone has info on some wonderful area of town we somehow missed.....please post....and maybe we'll swing by another time we're in vicinity. Thanks!!

Thanks for the post! I have considered Bellingham as well. I was wondering if you have been to Vancouver, WA and if so, what are your thoughts about it?

onthegogo- hey I could have told ya that if you asked ;-)

suze in seattle

Did you make it into the Fairhaven neighborhood (where the AK ferry dock is located?) Major exception to the rule.

Just checked back to see if anyone else had same experience with Bellingham as we did. I'm glad no one took my post as a real putdown of Bellingham.....just wanted to put our experience out there in case it helped with anyone elses travel plans. Probably didn't help either than we had just come over from visiting in Victoria/Vancouver Island which really is beautiful. No, we didn't find the Alaska ferry dock in Bellingham, although we drove along the waterfront road several times thinking we must be missing something ... guess we did - where the heck was it? No haven't been to Vancouver, Wa.-- maybe next time, but I'll look more closely at this board (check with you Suze?) since vacation days are precious! Thanks all!

It's at the south end of town, at the northern end of Chuckanut Drive. Large National Historic District with the usual boutique/gallery/flower baskets-on-lamp pole stuff.

Darn, sorry we missed it -- and like I said we thought we searched the town. We did not see a sign that said anything about Historic District. Oh well....we'll try again sometime when we're up that way. Thanks for the info Gardyloo!

My in-laws lived in Bellingham for a few years and Fairhaven was their favorite spot, but even that lost its appeal after a while...it's a fairly small part of town. They have since moved to McMinnville, OR, which they like much, much better.
As for Vancouver, WA, we lived there for several years, and contrary to the view of some Fodorites living on the other side of the Columbia River, we enjoyed it. It *is* more than just a bedroom suburb of Portland, but it's also quite sprawling with a lot of overbuilt areas. You have to be very careful which neigbhorhood you pick. We lived in the Bella Vista section of Cascade Park, which we found to be one of the most pleasant parts of town. We used to ride our bikes (on WIDE bike lanes) down tree-lined McGillvray to the Fishers' Landing park behind Albertsons to relax and take in the view of Mount St. Helens--there are nice houses built around the park (the houses have some good features like hidden garages). We also walked or rode bikes over to the local Starbucks, pet shop, etc.
There is a retirement community there--Fairway Village--but IMHO, the houses are overpriced for what you get. Golfers might like it, but other retirees would get more for their money living in the neighborhood around the "village".

onthegogo- hey I'm no expert and quite possibly my Seattle city snobbery is showing, but there are some towns that people joke about. So I can't help but laugh when people (who have never visited out this way) post about moving to Tukwila, Tacoma, Lynnwood, or Bellingham (truly no offense meant to the good people residing in these areas).

Quick geography note: Bellingham is not on the ocean.

Suze, yeah, I'm a real proud snobby Seattleite too. Except, today, when I go off to give the Monorail a couple hundred bucks so I can get may car's license tabs, I won't feel all that proud, nor especially snobby. More like an idiot, actually. The laughter you can hear from Lynnwood and Tacoma is free.

oh dear, don't get me started on the monorail. how embarrassing!