Beyond the Border: Bellingham

As he raced to catch an early morning train, our young protagonist wondered if he would make the 6:40 departure. After closing the gate to the train, the ticket-taker allowed Taylor to go through customs and board. Any later and he would not have been so lucky. He wondered what would come next as he crossed the border into his home state, especially as his phone had unexpectedly died the night previous. After being accosted by border patrol, the young man arrived in Bellingham just as his childhood friend, Nicole, and Miles, her boyfriend arrived at the station. They headed to get breakfast and walk around Fairhaven.

After sleeping very little the past few days, Taylor took a 2 hour nap in the early afternoon, then ran around Western Washington University's campus. The boy decided that he could live in this city for a while. It's the perfect size, he thought.

Miles, Nicole, and Taylor headed downtown to catch drinks and pizza with Nicole's friends. At the Iona theater, they watched a sort of play competition, where three separate plays performed a segment of their ongoing series and were voted on by the audience to see who would get voted off. It was sweet. They met some friends at the Beaver Bar, then went to dance at 'Rumors.' The night ended with sandwhiches and reminiscing about backyards.

After worrying about not having his phone on the rest of his road trip, Taylor had a comforting dream in the night that the phone spontaneously turned on. When he woke up, he tinkered with the battery, and lo, the phone miraculously turned on. It could have been a real pain in the ass to meet people via email or facebook for the rest of the trip.

The afternoon was spent watching the Seahawks game with friends of Miles and Nicole. Then, the trio headed to Taylor Shellfish Farms in Sammish Bay, where Nicole works. The peaceful nature of the day allowed the young traveler to recover, relax, and revive for the next leg of his trip. He had already spent one week on the road.