Just Wandering

Took a Drive

What a beautiful country we live in. 

Birch Bay gets its own Beach Park

I attended the first of three community input planning meetings for the Birch Bay Beach Park last Saturday. This has been a long time coming in my opinion.
For years I had been walking and driving by the empty Vogt property, all boarded up and fenced off.

The Vogt family homesteaded here many years ago and had an RV park and store on the property but it had been out of use for years. In 2014 the county bought the property for park purposes.

Last summer and this summer the Birch Bay Chamber has been able to use the property for their summer events. Event permits have been obtained in order that booths could be erected and cars parked there. I've enjoyed watching the public use the area.

There has been a lot of talk about having some structures on the property and allowing for additional parking since the parking along the bay is minimal and there are no fixed public restrooms in the area.

These facilities will be built after the completion of the Berm project AKA Birch Bay Drive and Pedestrian Facility Project. You can read more about that on Kathy Berg's Birch Bay Steering Committee website listed below.

I enjoyed most of the discussions in regard to planning the park site. First notable point of interest for me was that the funding came from Conversations Futures Fund which requires that the use be park like, open areas, not for libraries, museums or visitor's centers.

We were asked by the developer of how we saw the area being used which opened the discussion up to much input by the 5 tables of 8 or so people attending the meeting. We heard about set backs, traffic rules, archeological finds, review of maintenance cost issues. 

I believe Jeff Carrington did a good job of helping to wind up the open discussion by summarizing and pointing out that most folks want the park to be a landing place for visitors and locals to be able to take advantage of our bay "playground" and also be able to then stay and visit our local businesses. 

Eventually we divided up into 4 groups and sketched out plans for what we thought were important items to include on this piece of 4.2 acres of property on the east side of Birch Bay Drive.  Roughly, 397 feet from north to south and 401 feet from west to east.
The park does include 8 acres in total including the tide flat area.

After each group presented their plan I felt there was a lot of consensus and a few varying ideas.

Plan A

All of the plans included road way for driving in and driving out and lots of parking. All plans included open space for booths, or playing on the dirt/grass such as volleyball or Frisbee. All plans included restrooms and storage. In door showers requires a whole lot of maintenance so were talked out of those but outdoor showers would be very useful.

Everyone wants some type of open covered structure. Some of us wanted it to include a theater or stage area.

Plan B

All plans included area for tables and or benches and a way to BBQ. 

One concept where we had differing points of view was making space for a playground for younger kids and basketball court for teenagers. In this writer's opinion along with others, our playground is the beach.

We discussed educational signs around the park on the beach side to identify landmasses and give a history of the area.

Plan C

Although we can't have a museum on the property we'd like to make some reference to the native heritage and our early settlers. 

Plan D

We all want the pedestrians to be safe in crossing the road while at the same time not cause a terrible amount of congestion. For this reason, and for protecting the views we hope there won't be parking along the drive and we want a clear crosswalk, possible with flashing lights.

I think most of us wanted the ingress and egress of cars to be at the north side of the property, however this may not work for the traffic engineers, so we'll need to learn more about that. It is required and vital too that emergency vehicles can get in and turn around, so that will need to be taken into account.

I feel there was a good group at the session, a lot of familiar faces. There was space for more, so come if you can next time and bring a friend.

 
 

Read More Here:
http://www.thenorthernlight.com/2016/08/03/comment-session-on-new-birch-bay-park-this-saturday/

 http://www.birchbayinfo.org/bbdrpedfacberm.html

Enjoying our Blaine Harbor

Marine Park Playground Sign

 

Today I attended a Wings over Water (NW Birding Festival) meeting.

We discussed the budget, but also talked about our Blaine Harbor.

Recently a new playground has been built and it's beautiful. It is a great place for children to play.

The slides of the playground

Playground Ship

Please stay our of the bird resting areas.

 The concern is, though, that as with our whole earth, our harbor is shared with others. The others include the birds.

This place is for the birds.

The challenge is inviting the public into areas to show off the beauty of the area without harming the wildlife we share the area with.

A view of Semiahmoo Resort

 I hope you will take the path that I did today and enjoy the trail, views, wildlife, black berries and all the informative signage. But please stay out of the bird reserve areas and if you are bringing your dog, be sure to keep them on a leash - and of course clean up after them.

We can share - it is possible!

Always leash & scoop the poop.

Semiahmoo Views

I've recently started working at Semiahmoo Resort. Although I've been in the area quite awhile now, I still am not sure of all the logistics. As an employee, guests have an expectation that know the area. So I thought I should brush up.

Starting with a map. I went to mapquest and printed this one out.

http://mapq.st/1fsNoMN

This stuff is good to know 'cuz when folks look out the window and say what is that, it's nice to be able to tell them, that is the city of White Rock, BC., or that is Semiahmoo Bay.

Other FAQ's:

Is this a National Park or what?

Semiahmoo is a Whatcom County Park. It includes walkways, a museum, Canary Day lodge. It's a great place to bird watch and beach comb.

http://www.co.whatcom.wa.us/parks/semiahmoo/

Can we see whales here?

There are daily scheduled Whale Watching Tours from Semiahmoo Resort from April to October in search of Orcas Whales, Gray Whales and Humpback Whales. Whales are spotted on over 90% of our trips. With the with the best sighting for Orca in June, July and August and September and the best sighting for Gray Whales in April and May. Humpbacks are good in September and October. You can also frequently encounter sea lions, seals, porpoise, eagles, otters, and sea birds.

http://www.outerislandx.com/ToursFromSemiahmoo.php

What are the names of those mountains?

Dominated by 10,878 foot Mount Baker, Whatcom County is almost all mountains, so most of it's 180,000 people live on its western edge in a piece of rolling farmland. It's one of the few places in Washington where the mountains not only meet the sea, the Chuckanut Mountains (the foothills you drive through coming up from the south on Interstate 5) march right into it to become the San Juan Islands.

http://www.buythebayrealty.net/Community_Information 

The Twin Sisters Range is an interesting sub-range outlier of the Cascade Range. The entire range is composed of rock which is actually a fragment of subcontinental mantle which has thrust up through the crust. Located just 21.5 miles (34.6km) from Bellingham Bay, the range sharply contrasts the rock and mountains that surround it.

http://www.summitpost.org/twin-sisters-range/171190 

If you needed to make dinner for friends where should I go to buy food?

There aren't a lot of choices for grocery shopping in our area. Birch Bay has a couple of small grocery stores, and in Blaine there is a Cost Cutter, however for our "fine dinners" I'd recommend The Market, located in Birch Bay Square, at the corner of Birch Bay-Lynden Road and Blaine Road.

http://themarketswa.com/stores/birch-bay/

What is there to do around here?

Aside from the bird watching, walking trails, golf and beach combing there are other activities. I've been told we can refer them to our front desk where all our personnel are concierge and informed of local activities. 

I feel very lucky to live and work in such a beautiful area, I kind of take the beauty for granted. I'm glad that Semiahmoo Resort has reopened so others can come and enjoy the bounty.  

 

Making a place your home

My great grandparents and grandparents lived in Whatcom County. My father grew up near the Custer area and graduated from Blaine High School. My parents as young newlyweds lived in the area, although my mother was from Tacoma. Employment caused my parents to eventually move in Federal Way, were I was raised. My sister attended Western and fell in love with a Blaine graduate and settled in Ferndale. My parents eventually retired to Birch Bay where my family has owned a cabin since 1960.

Then my mom's brother, wife and daughter moved to Ferndale, and my dad's brother and significant other moved to Birch Bay. This last July when it became apparent that my nest in Renton would be empty I decided to make Birch Bay my home as well. Leaving my neighborhood, job, friends, book club and the county I had lived in my full 51 years.

So I've know Whatcom my whole life, but as a visitor or vacationer. Now I am a resident. I have lots of family here, but currently no job, or many friends. I have new neighbors, new organizations, new bank, new grocery stores, new shopping areas, a new community college and university to get to know. I'm trying to discover my favorite new bars and restaurants, new coffee shops and gas stations. I have many new nooks and crannies to get to know. I am on a mission. I'm trying to make this place my new stomping grounds, make new friends (and keep the old) find a full time employment in a field that allows me to be me and provides health benefits.

This requires getting out of house and going places. Some research can be done online, but the point of living is stomping around a bit, getting to know people, becoming part of a community. In the summer time Birch Bay comes alive, but in the winter, it's a little quiet. Whatcom County is pretty spread out but I'm learning the different ways to get to different places.

This blog will be about my wanderings.