Road Trip!! Ferries, food and flowers

This wonderful bakery/granola factory appeared at the end of our road trip, but I'm enticing you with it now.
I'll tell you all about it at the end of the post.

So off we go, on a mother-daughter college visit road trip to Bellingham, way up at the northwest corner of Washington. Instead of plunging into the madness that is I-5 from Tacoma through Seattle, we opted for the back roads, bakery stops, ferries and islands. On the way to Port Townsend we were behind this highway truck briefly. Then it was onto the ferry that carried us over to Whidbey Island. That's Mt. Baker on the horizon. It was a beautiful day -- sunny, 70 degrees. We passed tribal canoes that were headed to Pt. Townsend for a gathering, but they were too far off to get photos.
 

We meandered up Whidbey Island, soaking in the relaxed atmosphere and sunshine. At the north end is a bridge over Deception Pass, where we got out and joined others looking down from the middle of the bridge into the swirling currents. Dave kayaked through that several times.

We pulled into Bellingham, had dinner at Pepper Sisters, then wandered around the lively -- even though it was midweek -- downtown and stumbled upon this band playing at a street festival.

Free music, free parking, dancing, sunshine, laid back atmosphere, friendly people, and daylight until nearly 10 p.m.

We fell in love with Bellingham.

When we passed this sign for Nama, a raw vegan restaurant, Julia decided that this was definitely her type of town. We didn't have time to eat there. Next time.

Instead, we started the next morning at

Rocket Donuts!

Julia had done her vegetarian restaurant research ahead of time and placed an order for her vegan donuts the night before. Hers are on the right: vegan coconut and chocolate frosted cake. Mine are on the left: a Bavarian cream and a chocolate cream cheese muffin. Mine are not vegan, and I am not slim like my daughter. They sure were good, washed down with an iced mocha. The website, www.rocketdonuts.com, has a picture and description of every donut, and I salivated over every word.

Then it was down to the business of visiting Western Washington University. As we parked, a deer wandered through the lot. A good sign. The next two photos were taken from the patio of the student union, which is perched high on a hill overlooking Bellingham Bay. Gorgeous flowers and views. The campus also has a renowned outdoor sculpture collection and arboretum.

The admission adviser's office had a cheerful traditional quilt on the wall that was made by the adviser's mom. Normally I would've asked to take a photo for the blog, but I was afraid that might be out of line.

Next up was the historic district of Fairhaven, just south of the university. Here is the town square, where we spent quite awhile on a shady bench (those are grapevines on the pergola) after dinner at the little cafe in a great independent bookstore,  
Village Books (www.villagebooks.com),
which is the brick building across the square.
Vegan coconut peanut soup and a green salad for Julia.
 Greek pannini and salad for me. Yum.

The next morning we hit the road for home, this time heading down I-5 to Edmonds (north of Seattle) and taking a different ferry over to Kingston. Lines are long to get onto the ferries on Fridays in the summer, but I was prepared with my
traveling crazy quilt embroidery kit.

After an hour and a half wait, we drove onto the ferry "Spokane." The weather had turned chilly and overcast, so not many people were up on the so-called sun deck.

And now to the best part, that bake case at the top of the blog.
As we drove off the ferry in Kingston, we spotted this cute little building with a sign out front that said Granola Factory. We both yelled,

"Granola!?"

and swerved into the parking lot. (On the left as you drive off the Kingston Ferry,
25931 Washington Blvd., Kingston, WA)

 Well, it turned out to be a community bakery co-op that included
Mirracole Morsels Granola Factory 
(www.mirracolemorsels.com)
and

Sweet Life Cakery

(www.sweetlifecakery.net)

I convinced Nicole Matheson, who owns the Granola Factory, to pose for a photo outside with the flower boxes that her mother planted. That's also Nicole behind the bake case, along with Methia Gordon, owner and pastry chef of Sweet Life Cakery. Methia made the BEST sour cherry pie I've ever tasted from cherries grown on

All One Family Farm 

(www.allonefamilyfarm.com).

A sweet end to a sweet trip.

Have a colorful day!