Exploring Washington Part 1

 Part of my goal for 2026 was to travel more, but I lack the budget or the time to take larger trips every month. So...I wanted to take time this year to explore more of the state I call home. My goal is that each weekend for a month I go an explore a new town, try a coffee shop, do an activity and get a meal in hopes of finding new places for staycations or to bring family to when they are in town.  All spots will be Day Trips from the Seattle area. 

Edmonds:  Edmonds is a Seattle Suburb with a population of 42,871 that still manages to have a small town feel.  Main Street is part of 3 spokes that all offer galleries, boutiques, restaurants and other shops that make it feel quaint and welcoming. 

I started my day at The Crumpet Shop Where I got The Ricky Razz- A Crumpet with ricotta and raspberry jam and a London Fog Latte. The shop is small, but I was able to get a table at about the time my order came up.  I enjoyed the crumpet on site and took my latte to walk about town.  On Saturdays they have a farmer's market. Lots of offerings from dairy to meat, veggies and i'm sure in season they offer fruits, as well as artisans showing their goods and products as well as several food stands. After the market I took in the Edmond's Historical Museum. I like to stop in to small town museums as they often do a wonderful job of showing you the past of their own communities and what matters most to them. 

 Edmonds like much of the PNW was a logging town but has grown into an arts community which is evident by all the galleries in town. The museum is free but I suggest you give at least a few dollar donation. I stick to $5 for museums without fees. The museum takes between 25-45 minutes depending on how much you read every placard.  After the museum I walked more around downtown Edmonds and took in the myriad of murals throughout the community, before leaving the downtown core to get lunch at Fat Pig.  A hole in the wall sort of spot serving up reasonably priced BBQ.  I got a pulled pork Sandwich and a massive serving of cornbread for under $15 with tip. 

Kent, WA is another Seattle Suburb, this time to the south- though case could be made it's a Tacoma suburb too as it's just as close. At last census the population was 136,588. Full transparency; I've sort of avoided Kent since my divorce. See the courthouse we filed at is in Kent. Every time I even go down there to pick up a beer crate or run an errand my heart skips a beat for a minute. Not because I miss my ex, honestly I've been doing pretty good without him but because it's sad. A marriage ending is sad. The process was sad. The betrayal the lies it's all hard. But making positive memories if only so the visits I have to make are less sad is an important part of healing. 

I started with a tea and pastry at a small tea shop. It was clear to me when I walked in that they make their money on their weekly tea parties not off the street business. Which is unfortunate. The Victoria tea latte was  tasty but lacking in sugar.  The key lime bar couldn't be cut with the fork or knife that they provided so that was a point off for me. And at $14 after tip it wasn't cheap.  I do think I'd go back though as I have friend who lives near there and I think we could enjoy a tea together in the future. I would also consider their "High Tea" at some point but at $48 pp it would have to be the right menu and company for me. 

After tea I went next door to Moore than Rocks and had great conversation with the people working. I picked up a few stones for positive vibes in my home.  I like to keep some good energy stones by my window in my living room and I was more than happy to support a small local shop. The ladies there also gave me some good recommendations of other main streets to visit on my journey of WA state exploration. 

I walked around meeker and 1st Streets a little bit more saw a really cute park and a couple of murals before grabbing a bite to eat to go and going to hang out with a friend who lives in the area. 

It's a bit sad to see down towns of now mostly industrial communities die off but I am enjoying trying new places. 

Sumner WA a small town of just shy of 11,000 people.  It is 35 miles from Seattle and about 10 from Tacoma. It was a recommendation made by the lovely ladies at Moore than rocks in Kent. I had brunch at Craft 19 in Sumner was $25 with tip. I got a dessert like raspberry crepe and a brown sugar latte.  After spending about 45 minutes ordering and eating my meal, I spent a little over an hour exploring the main street. It is less than 1 mile to walk up one end and down the other, so even with stopping in nearly every stop, I finished up pretty quickly.  

Around noon I drove the 4-ish miles to Puyallup to walk around their downtown core a bit. I've been to Puyallup to buy my car and for the state fair but never spent any time just in town. There looked to be a few good places to grab lunch, but being I was still stuffed from brunch, I passed.  I can recommend from a past visit that Farm 12 on the outskirts of town is very tasty and supports a good cause. 

Bellingham- I had a 3 day weekend at the end of March so I took some extra time to enjoy the multiple facets of Bellingham. Honestly a 3 day weekend, which works out to about 2 full days worth doesn't really do it justice, but I tried. Bellingham's year round population is about 96,000 but as home to Western Washington University it gains nearly 15,000 people during the school year. 

On the drive up I stopped at a few places I do recommend visiting. The first being the Hibulb cultural center and museum. The museum provides historical information about the Tulalip tribe, their connection to this land, their history of treaties, boarding schools, and their use of resources. I stayed for about an hour and 15 minutes I could've stayed and listened to more stories or read more things in more detail, but there was a school group there at the same time and too many small children for me, but I would say it's less than a two hour activity, even if you read every single panel. 

Stop two was the Heritage flight museum. The museum starts with a timeline of 1968 before the Apollo launch walks through the launch day experience of the Apollo eight moon orbit and then there are two rooms with lots of planes to look at as well as history of those planes and of other Space and air related military groups, such as the wasps.  Washington is home to multiple air museums because Boeing is headquartered here but this was small and sweet and doable in about an hour and a half. I would've stayed longer, but I like to Be by myself when I'm choosing to go to a museum by myself and the volunteers would not leave me alone and wanted to talk and wouldn't go away so I left sooner than I wanted to because I was no longer comfortable staying, which is unfortunate. 

Made it to Bellingham for an early dinner, parked at my Airbnb and walked down to

The Bellingham cider Company for a flight of cider and a delicious pork tenderloin supper.  After dinner, I walked along the river for a while before going and getting gelato at chocolate necessities. The raspberry gelato was a sweet treat to enjoy on my walk back to my Airbnb.

After a relaxing morning, sleeping in, I met up with a former student at Mount bakery Café in the Fairhaven District for brunch. She is a current student at Western and we caught up on her life and the good and the bad of college and accessing accommodations at the post secondary level. After brunch, I took a walk on the Taylor dock Which is a beautiful expansive boardwalk out over the water with benches and I just sat and enjoyed a beautiful day. While roaming around the Fairhaven District, I stopped in at the Whatcom art market, which is home to 50 artists currently showing their work and I picked up three prints. My mom taught me years ago that the best way to buy art is by buying postcards or greeting cards with the art on it. It's usually way cheaper and still beautiful so I picked up three pieces for $15 total and feel really good about that. there is plenty of incredible art there at all prices and I highly recommend it on a visit to town. 

I headed over to Aslan Brewing for a light lunch of Irish stew and a beer before heading back to my Airbnb to rest my legs for a little bit. It's vacation I don't actually have to wear myself out.  In the afternoon, I met up with another former student, this one has graduated from Western and is still living in the area.  It was good for my soul to see that this one is doing OK.  The kids that did the last few years of high school in the pandemic,  It's hard to know if we met their needs or not or if they're gonna be OK and it was really good to see that this one at least is at a good place.  

While the day was really good, it took a lot of spoons to be so social so I ordered DoorDash and spent the night in and did a spa evening for myself. 

Final morning- really struggled to sleep and woke up a bunch of the night the train being so close certainly didn't help with that. Sunday morning was an ugly morning. Raining, cold, grey.  I stopped at Letter Streets Cafe on my way out of town from a really good latte and even better ginger cookie. 

I took Highway 11 both into and out of town. I wasn't in a rush, I just wanted to enjoy what I could even if mother nature was not playing nice for outside time.