June, 2022
There is LOTS to see and do up here in the very northern part of the State of Washington, probably lots to see and do all the way along the entire 427 miles of the border that Washington State shares with Canada. But for this camping trip to Birch Bay State Park, I focused on just this one small area, just two or three miles of borderland … and still found lots of great stuff to see and do.
One place I visited and loved was the Blaine Marine Park, in the City of Blaine. It’s about a 3-minute drive from Blaine up to the border between Canada and the USA. The Marine Park in Blaine is not under water as some folks might expect, but the park is right along the shore of the salt water here.
As usual, here’s a map showing where I am … (I like seeing where I am and I think maybe some of you do as well).
The City of Blaine is in the lower right corner of the image above, and frankly most of the city isn’t in the image — it continues off to the right and continues south along the Interstate 5 freeway. The Blaine Marine Park is in the lower left corner of the image above. The grey area north of the park is mud tide flats because the tide was out when the Google image above was taken. The tide was also out when I was there, in real time, so it all seemed appropriate. When the tide is in (or even halfway in), that bay is full of water and is so beautiful. But I loved it even today.
Also in the image above, you might want to notice the two RED CIRCLES up nearer the border — the “US Customs and Border Protection” and the “Peace Arch Historical State Park”. I’ll show you photos of them further down in this blog post, tho the photos are taken from a distance with the zoom lens. The PURPLE line is the border between Canada and the USA.
Let’s go see the Blaine Marine Park.
Wait! Is that an Orca surfacing, spy-hopping out of the land, right through the concrete? It sure is!
It was so realistic. I’ve seen Orcas from each of my two boats, a number of times. Whoever created this installation on land did a truly fine job! Including the tail of an Orca diving back into the water.
What a surprise to me and how cool! But … Little Towhee chirped and chippered and at first didn’t want to go anywhere near these huge animals. But I told her how gentle they are, especially with birds, so then she sidled up to this big Orca. As usual, when you make friends with a “monster”, well then the monster isn’t a monster anymore.
I took the photo below looking at the Orca and then realized that’s the border between Canada and USA in the background.
That white structure is the Peace Arch that stands right ON the border between Canada and the USA.
I then headed into the southern part of this park, but fairly quickly returned to this northern portion (I’ll tell you why at the end of this blog post).
I clambered my way down onto the edge of the tide flats at the northern edge of the Marine Park. The tide sure was out … way out! It smelled wonderful. Some people don’t like the smell of tide flats, but I do. They don’t stink, they just smell of nature and natural things.
Two crows above, discussing whatever crows discuss.
And then, while standing on the edge of that tide flat, I turned to the right and again had a direct line-of-sight view of the Peace Arch and the border. The long roof to the left of the Peace Arch is where the Canadian border guards are and where you need to drive through to get into Canada. The long roof on the right in the photo below is where the USA border guards are and where you need to drive through to get into the USA.
The entrance into the USA can handle 18 vehicles at once (above) — same with the entrance into Canada (below). It’s a busy border crossing!
Below, I made my way around the mostly dry edge of the tidal mud flats and then zoomed in with my camera to the Peace Arch and to Canada’s administration building.
Notice the floral planting/display of the Canadian flag, the red Maple Leaf, in the lower left of the photo above. It was huge, and gorgeous. 🙂
Ok, last topic in this blog post — I mentioned above that I had walked towards the southern part of Blaine Marine Park but quickly changed direction and headed back to the northern part of the park. I did that so I would be in view of all manner of other people and businesses — so that I could be seen by them. I rarely find troubling people in my travels, but I found one today. Rather quickly in my walk-about in the Marine Park, I noticed a fellow with a dog in the park. He turned up about 30-50 feet away from me everywhere I went. When I turned and walked towards him, he turned and walked away. When I very blatantly lifted my camera and pointed it at him, he not only turned away from me but he also bent over away from me. I even walked across the large lawn area for a couple of minutes. When I turned around, there he was. He cared nothing about the dog he had. He kept it on a tight leash and rather towed it around with him. If the dog didn’t want to follow, the fellow simply dragged the dog along on the ground. I used my cell phone, surreptitiously at first, to get a good number of photos of this guy (and the dog). And then I got a couple of obvious photos of him that he had to know I took. After I left the Marine Park, I found the local police station, reported this guy’s behavior (threatening behavior towards me and abusive treatment of the dog), and shared the photos I took, and shared my contact info. I’ve heard nothing, not surprisingly maybe. But at least the police have a record of his behavior in case anything does happen in the future. So, don’t go where it doesn’t feel ok to go. Don’t trust people who don’t feel trustworthy. Take photos (and videos, I thought later I should have taken videos) of anything and everything that seems amiss. And don’t trust anyone who DRAGS a dog on the ground.
I had a great time here, though I wish I could have explored the entire park. Maybe I’ve helped someone else coming along on another day so they don’t need to worry.
For my part, I’m going to remember the Orca art in that park (the eye in that Orca was stunningly realistic!). And the tide flats, and the border, and the Peace Arch. I’ll sleep soundly tonight, dreaming of Orca at play in the water.
Tomorrow, I’m going to drive as close to the border as I can get and see if I can walk around that Peace Arch. I’ll share the experience with you. I was not arrested, honest, I did nothing wrong! Hey, if the Orca can cross the border while swimming, well then why can’t I …… oops, nope, wrong argument. 🙂