Chuckanut Drive

What better way to spend a beautiful, sunny-but-not-too-hot summer day, than to take a scenic drive in your convertible with your favorite person in the world?

Chuckanut Drive is a historic scenic byway about an hour north of Seattle. It's a popular place for paragliding - as we left the interstate and drove through farmland toward the coast, we saw several paragliders who had jumped off the mountaintop (!).

It was a perfect day and a perfect place for (as Steve likes to say) "driving topless." The temperature and gentle breezes were made-to-order. One one side of the winding road were the Cascade Mountains, and on the other side were gorgeous views of the bay and the San Juan Islands. On some stretches, houses hugged the cliffside on both sides of the road; on others, old growth trees towered overhead. It was like driving on a northern extension of California's Pacific Coast Highway.

The road ended in the town of Fairhaven, which had a little downtown area with shops and restaurants. And just beyond Fairhaven was the larger town of Bellingham, where we visited Whatcom Falls Park and Big Rock Garden Park. Our favorite was the latter, a little-known but very interesting and lovely sculpture garden, hiding in a residential neighborhood.

On the way home, we stopped for an early dinner at a restaurant alongside the historic railroad tracks running parallel to Chuckanut Drive. We sat outside with our delicious seafood and admired the view, feeling thankful for our perfect day.