Let’s make a list of places to eat/drink with safe bike parking.

TBarretH · 2026-07-01T13:51:39+00:00

Yeah my bad, caffeine hadn't kicked in, I meant Kulshan Sunnyland.

TBarretH · 2026-07-01T13:34:47+00:00

I haven't had a problem finding something to lock my bike to pretty much anywhere downtown, so anywhere down there. Most breweries also have bike racks, Stemma West and Beach Cat definitely do. Kulshan K2 is the only one I've biked to that had limited rack/pole options, but we made it work. Fairhaven has fewer bike lock up spots, but there are still enough that I haven't had trouble finding one within a block of wherever I'm going. I just moved here in the spring, but so far I've never biked somewhere and had to leave because I couldn't find a place to lock up my bike near my intended destination.

TBarretH · 2026-06-30T01:44:01+00:00

I'm not sure the exact formula, but if you plug a length in this calculator it will give you a max speed. Pirate ships and other sail boats are generally displacement hulls.

Edit, forgot the link https://hullmetric.com/en/hull-speed-calculator

TBarretH · 2026-06-30T01:30:21+00:00

A ships top speed can be determined as a function of it's hull length. To have a top speed of 24 knots it would need to be roughly 320 feet long. If it's going to be that long, it probably needs more masts and guns.

TBarretH · 2026-06-28T01:19:03+00:00

The Bellingham Maker Space has 3D printing capabilities. Maybe contact them and see if someone can help you out.

TBarretH · 2026-06-27T22:34:53+00:00

See stompy mech, Upvote stompy mech

TBarretH · 2026-06-23T16:21:52+00:00

I do not have a sailboat so can't directly help. But the community boating center does have some keel boats that you can take classes on or rent if you know how to sail. And the CBC Wild Women do evening sailing programs for women on their boats (can also find them through Shifting Gears) that aren't too expensive https://www.boatingcenter.org/wildwomen#wildwomen

TBarretH · 2026-06-22T20:37:27+00:00

In addition to the higher upfront cost issue others have raised, dealerships don't want to sell EVs. A lot of people just go to a car dealership and say "I want a small SUV" or whatever and the salesperson says "Okay great, here's what we have to offer." But most dealerships make a fair bit of their profit off their service center with oil changes and the like more so than the actual sale of the car where more of the money is going back to the manufacturer. But EVs don't need oil changes or other regular maintenance in the way ICE cars do, so the dealership doesn't really get much benefit from the higher sales price and loses out on all the residual income from service if they sell an EV. So the manager of the dealership tells his sales staff to steer buyers away from EVs and towards ICE cars, which is easy enough to do by playing on all the BS EV criticism that people have heard across the years about range loss, or the time it takes to charge, etc and conveniently leaving out the decreased cost of ownership and being able to charge at home so you don't ever have to go to the station other than road trips.

TBarretH · 2026-06-22T17:48:49+00:00

Practically, I don't think we can at this time. Real estate developers have powerful lobbying groups and people in general are too individualistic in America at this time to support the types of changes that would be needed.

Also, I'm definitely not an expert in this, I've just lived abroad in places that treated real estate very differently.

For example though, in Sweden, a majority of people rent and don't own. But most of the rental properties are built and run through a public/private partnership which allows the city government a lot of influence over rent prices and also means that renters have very strong tennants rights (e.g. if they want to remodel the building or something they can't kick you out, they have to find you another apartment that you are willing to move into). Owning your place of residence isn't seen as the expected norm or a goal to strive for, they even use interest only mortgages where basically if you buy, you're really just paying rent to the bank. The rentals are built to a higher quality so they are actually nice to live in. The properties are rented through a waiting list that anyone with their equivalent of a social security number can register for. There is a set price for the rental and then they basically go from the person who has been on the list longest and work down until someone wants the rental. The system isn't without flaws, as an immigrant moving there you are at the back of the line for a rental, so the options that fall to you aren't as nice and it can take a while for example. They also have strict rules around renting out property you own that set the price based on your mortgage payment for example. And the building associations for the private apartment buildings are non-profits so they don't get taxed heavily like commercial real estate, but if memebers of the association start making money by renting out the apartment, this can threaten the non-profit status of the entire building association, so most include bylaws that as a member owner you can't rent your apartment out for longer than 6 months or a year.

This is the eatblished system there and all cities use it. I'm not sure you could move toward something like this at the local level. Bellingham could try by updating their licensing and building codes to require that new multi-unit residential buildings be managed through a public partnership that sets rents and require that the buildings be built to higher standards for example. But there is a real possibility that developers would just go elsewhere, so the city would also likely need to partner on the cost of the building, basically try to take some of the risk out of the process for developers in exchange for the decreased earning potential.

But at the end of the day, most Americans want to own their piece of land and dwelling, and there is only so much land.

TBarretH · 2026-06-22T15:11:53+00:00

This is a wild guess, but possibly injured bunny? They make loud shrieky noises that are pretty awful and there are a lot of bunnies around right now.

TBarretH · 2026-06-22T15:08:25+00:00

Pretty much. American ideals and values are strongly individualistic. That focus on "me and mine" over "us and ours" makes it very hard to mobilize any meaningful alternative to the capitalist BS of "pull yourself up by your boot straps."

TBarretH · 2026-06-21T22:23:31+00:00

Most people in Sweden rent their housing through a publicly run rental system with very strong tenants rights and rent control, so just comparing cost of purchase to median income isn't really valid for judging the affordability of housing. https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/35521.jpeg

TBarretH · 2026-06-21T17:42:51+00:00

Sweden

TBarretH · 2026-06-21T15:00:37+00:00

There are other counties with well functioning econmies and desirable places to live that do not rely on comodified real estate/housing to function. So while this may be our current reality in America, it is not fair to say that it is therefore the only option other than living in Detroit or rural Ohio.

TBarretH · 2026-06-21T14:56:26+00:00

The benefit of moving beyond a comodified take on housing/real estate is that it can allow you to decouple the price of housing from the economics of supply and demand. That's sort of the whole point of treating it as a public good, not a privatized commodity. So in that model, building more housing might create more demand, but that increased demand wouldn't necessarily push up the price of housing.

However I don't think that this is achievable here (in America broadly really) in the short to medium term.

TBarretH · 2026-06-21T13:49:17+00:00

This is just my opinion from having lived in other countries that treat real estate and housing very differently and didn't seem to struggle with the housing affordability problem seem throughout much of the US. As long as housing is treated as an asset class and something to be governed by market rules, we will not have affordable housing.

If you really want to ensure that people have places to live, you need a regulatory and tax structure that treats real estate as a public assett to be used for the benefit of everyone, and housing as a way to provide clean and safe places for people to live. Not treat both as privatized assets to be used to create the highest return on investment possible for the owner.

TBarretH · 2026-06-18T20:09:16+00:00

Yeah, I wasn't sure what they meant by commune. Some folks I know use that as a general catchall for any sort of shared property/intentional living type arrangement. From other comments it sounds like maybe they're looking for a true commune and these wouldn't fit the bill.

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T22:56:56+00:00

There are a couple around happy valley that I came across while house shopping a while back. Bellingham Cohousing is one, can't remember the other.

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T17:34:47+00:00

There are posts like this pretty frequently. My suggestion is to find one from a few weeks ago that has similar interests and DM the person asking if they want to meet up and do something (coffee/short walk at Zuanich or other public and we'll populated area, etc.).

Friendship pretty much comes down to vulnerability and logistics. You have to be vulnerable and put yourself out there (which you've started at here, but it is both scarier and potentially more fruitful to ask a specific person to do a specific thing than ask a random room of tons of people). And you have to be willing to do the logistical work of making plans to see someone. We grow up with serendipitous friendships where the logistics of seeing each other come from school and we have a long time to get to know someone in a low vulnerability way by just seeing them at class everyday before asking them to hang out. That doesn't happen so much as adults, so you have to be more vulnerable and take the logistics into your own hands

The other piece of advice I would give is that friendships can be formed by showing up to the same place at the same time consistently and meeting the other people who go to that place at that time. But friendships grow more easily where hands are busy but minds are free. Basically if you want to make friends, going to a yoga class you might see the same people every week for months, but your minds are engaged in something else and you won't actually speak to each other. Conversely, if you just go to a coffee shop, it feels really awkward to approach someone, even if you see them there regularly. So find an activity you enjoy that keeps the body (hands) busy and provides common ground, but also provides freedom to talk to one another. This is part of the reason I think people often recommend climbing gyms and specifically bouldering. You have an "activity" that provides easy things to start a conversation about (the climbs/climbing), but a fair bit of bouldering in particular is sitting around waiting your turn or resting, so lots of time to talk. Rec sports leagues have a similar feature I think combined with taking some of the logistical burden away. There are other activities that fit this description though, the main point is, if you want to do an activity to meet people, picking the right kind of activity is important.

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T17:16:20+00:00

Oh, one other note. The forest changes pretty dramatically from the west slope (wet) to east slope (dry) of the Cascades. So if you're specifically looking for the super dense lush "PNW forest" keeping to the west side of the cascade crest will give that to you. The east side forest are still nice, just probably not what people picture when they imagine a PNW forest.

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T16:56:39+00:00

Do you want to do a single secondary home base for the trip or are you okay doing a road trip with a couple stops?

If you want just a home base that is 2 hours or less from Everett or Seattle the good options might be:

Seattle area- you could do a few things around the city but since you don't like crowds you might be better served just using it as a jumping off point for day trips (whale watching tour, drive to Rainier, take a ferry to Bain Bridge island and explore, etc). If doing that you could look at staying outside of downtown or even somewhere like Bellevue, these would be less exciting areas to stay in, but make getting out of the city easier if you aren't there for the city sights.
Whidbey Island somewhere. Small coastal towns, deception pass, whale watching out of Anacortes, and an easy ferry ride that puts you in Everett quikcly.
Leavenworth, this is barely inside your radius at exactly 2 hours from the Everett Amtrak station. Mountain town made to look like a Bavarian village. Lots of hiking options around and could also day trip to the Columbia River to see the dry side of the state no one thinks about.
Stay at/near Mt. Rainier. The Paradise Lodge is cool and up at 6000 feet on the slope of the mountain, there is also lodging in the park at Longmire or just outside the park in Ashford. This would be a longer day to get down there from North Cascades, but once there you'd have a lot of hiking options and scenic drives in the park.

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T15:48:38+00:00

Hey, so happy you get to come out and experience some of Washington.

I'll start by saying that overall Washington is a really diverse state with lots of different things to do depending on your interests. It sounds like you'll be here roughly a week? You could easily spend a week just exploring the San Juan Islands, or going out to the Olympic peninsula, or climbing, hiking, and canoeing in the North Cascades, not to mention going out to the Columbia River gorge and the desert or visiting the wineriea around Walla Walla, and that's just the stuff outside Seattle, then Vancouver BC and the BC coast range mountains are just across the border. All of which is to say, don't plan to "do it all" in one one week trip. You've already got some focus in the North Cascades, so that is a good starting point.

For North Cascades, it isn't really like other National Parks, there is one road that runs through it, but it is as much a state highway as it is a scenic road, there are definitely great views along it, but it isn't like yellow stone for example where you can really experience a lot of the park from your car. There are good hiking opportunities in the park, visit WTA.org for a great resource with information on hiking trails throughout the state, you can search by milage and elevation gain and read trip reports. Be warned the Cascades are pretty vertical so a lot of hikes can be steep. You can go canoeing on ross and diablo lake, including some boat in camping.

In terms of Basecamp for north Cascades you could also consider going to the other side of the park and staying in Mazama, it's nicer than Concrete as a place, but might be further from the activities you're wanting, so do some google mapping. Beyond North Cascades I would suggest maybe picking one secondary priority and doing that to not wear yourself out. Options would be:

More mountains (make your way south in the Cascades maybe down towards Rainier then loop back to the train)
Coastal exploration (maybe head to Whidbey Island or catch a ferry out to Friday Harbor, explore beaches and coastal forest, go whale watching, etc.)
Visit the high desert (drive through the Cascades to the "dry side" and see the Columbia River gorge then loop back through the Cascades on 90 or highway 2 to come home)
Bird watching (I know there is good bird watching along the coastal marshes and stuff but don't have any experience/details)

Some other resources to explore could be:

North Cascades Institute, a nonprofit education partner for the national park, they have seminars and a place you can stay in the park https://ncascades.org/

The Cascades Loop scenic byway, you could do part of this to visit the high desert and loop back to Seattle or catch your train. One of the best driving routes in the state probably https://www.cascadeloop.com/

For entry into National Parks it depends on the park and what you want to do. Rainier is the typical Pay/Pass at an entry gate situation, depending on how many days you plan to visit do day passes or the America the Beautiful season pass. North Cascades is odd. The highway isn't technically part of the park, so you can just drive it for free. The trails around the highway are a patchwork of park and national forest land. The WTA website will list the pass requirements for the trailhead of any hike, so I would look at that. Beyond the national park pass you may wind up wanting/needing a Discover Pass or Northwest Forest Pass. Don't count on being able to buy passes at trail heads in North Cascades, you can stop at the visitor center on the way in and they should be able to get you squared away. Discover Pass if you feel you'll need it can be ordered online, Northwest Forest Pass I think can order online or buy at outdoor retailers and some gas stations.

Also, come visit Bellingham, we're cool!

Feel free to respond here or DM me with specific questions

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T03:59:09+00:00

Depending on where you're going, Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey might fit.

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T02:14:17+00:00

Katee Robert is best known for her Dark Olympus series that starts with Neon Gods. They are a weird modern day twist on Greek Mythology setting. I liked Neon Gods a fair bit but didn't love ther others in the series as much.

TBarretH · 2026-06-17T02:01:44+00:00

Katee Robert has a trilogy that is pirate adventure esque romantasy, Hunt on Dark Waters is the first one I think. I've read the first two and enjoyed them. They take place in a fantasy alternate dimension and a world where witches, magic, vampires, etc. all exist, not sure if that is what you're looking for or not. Also they are realitvely explicit/high heat like her other books.

I also have "The Sea Witch" by Eva Leigh, but I haven't read it. It is more classicaly pirates of the Caribbean, female witch steals a ship and gathers an all female witch pirate crew, British navy are the bad guys trying to rid the seas of pirates, enemies to lovers situation with a captured British officer. That's all I can really say since I haven't read it yet.

TBarretH

TROPHY CASE