July 20, 2003
The day started slightly overcast and we had a pleasant drive to La Conner taking the "long way" which travels only the winding paved secondary and farm roads. We crossed the border at the Lyndon/Aldergrove border crossing, where the ever diligent border confiscation of about 1/2 cup of dry dog food from Fred and Susan Tutt's Chihauhau. (Mad Cow disease you know.) Once through the border we headed east to Sumas, then south on Highway 9. I led the way down a winding 15 mile excursion of the Mosquito Valley Road which landed us in ACME where a cup of coffee is still 25 cents. From ACME we continued south about 8 miles and turned west on Park road which skirts the south tip of Whatcom Lake before continuing west to the Alger crossing of I-5. We did not touch I-5, instead we turned south on Colony Road through the farms to the flats at the south end of the Chukanut Drive.
The road names in this area are quite convenient. The main roads are named for the communities they connect. We took the Bow-Edison road predictably from Bow to Edison then the Edison -Bayview Park road and finally the Bayview-La Conner road. We pulled into the Public parking area and were greeted by our friends from the States and I think there were about 15 cars in all. We entertained ourselves talking about old Volvo stuff and we gave Scotty Arnowitz some sage advice on his very original 65 544. He had purchased it from the Seattle Volvo Guru, appropriately named Odvar, and is keen to restore it. When we ran out of things to talk about, and the sun got too much to handle, we walked into town to find lunch and stroll through the amazing assortment of high quality craft stores. Our favourite restaurant is right beside the ocean channel that runs through La Conner and provides a non-stop parade of pleasure craft.
By about 2 we were cooking in the heat and headed home. The 1800 is not the coolest of cars so it was a hot ride; particularly that crawl east towards the Port Mann Bridge with all the other Sunday travellers returning home their weekend camping trips. All in all a very nice day.