Amanda and I spent the weekend at a cute little cottage at Squalicum Lake, just outside Bellingham. The weather held, so we spent a day in Lynden, which boasts a particularly well-done museum and a surprising number of stores that are unabashedly Christian. The area is gorgeous… fairly rural, with rolling hills, curvy roads, and very little traffic. It felt a lot like the scattered towns of Central California, but with an abundance of green in place of the brown. We were a little disappointed, however, when the nicest Italian restaurant in Bellingham misspelled “mussels” as “muscles”, didn’t ask us how we wanted our veal done (it turned out surprisingly tough and chewy), and had a by-the-glass wine list of wine types rather than wineries and vintages. We’ve been spoiled by Canlis and Café Juanita, to be sure, but that’s no excuse. I’d love to retire to the outskirts of Bellingham, but I’m not ready to give up my fine dining!

The weekend was also a great opportunity to let the Civic chew on some curvy highway, as we took Chuckanut Drive up the coast (and had our first frozen custard at Burger Me!), then State Route 9 back down through field and stream. Should have some good photos to share once I’m through with the current set.

Lately I’ve also developed an appetite for Serious Literature… after gorging on Thomas Pynchon at Christmas and chowing down on Infinite Jest (I’m halfway through!), I’ve decided I really like the stuff. I’ve got more Pynchon on the way, and Saul Bellow and Umberto Eco on the nightstand to get to next. It’s hurting my books-per-month statistics, but after a long period of nonfiction it’s a welcome change.