June 23, 2022
Here’s my last full day at Birch Bay. Today I drove east, just a few miles, not far. Instead of water, I was looking for country, cows, horses, farms, crops. And boy did I find them. It’s beautiful up here in this corner of the state. I took my time, and took the least traveled roads, and drove slowly.
Oh, did I mention I was looking for barns too? 🙂
And crops. There will be photos of crops in this blog post where I don’t know what the crops are (like the crop in the photo below). If any of you Readers know what any of the crops are, please chime in and let me and everyone else know.
Cattle. Cows.
And then around another corner in the road, I came to that same fence-less boundary between Canada and the USA. This was about 13 miles east of the Peace Arch.
In the very next moment, a red pickup truck zoomed past on the Canadian side of the border, on the Canadian road. And yes that red pickup truck had Canadian plates on it.
So, let’s follow that road and see where it goes. I’m heading west now, on that road, in the USA, with the Canadian road to my right. The ditch in between the two roads is the border between the two countries. Not a fence in sight!
Eventually, the road ended in a wide turn-around area (below). The east-west road I was on ends because the north-south road in front of me is Meridian … this is the Meridian border crossing that Readers Jim/Janey mentioned recently that they sometimes use. I’d not been here before, but I can see why it might be an attractive border crossing … it’s small and not many vehicles come through here so it’s probably a relatively fast/easy border crossing. It’s smaller than the border crossing at Sumas (further to the east) where I have crossed a number of times when driving to Escape Trailer Industries in Chilliwack, BC, when I was buying my Escape (ETI) trailer.
I made the u-turn turn-around and headed back east along the USA road along the border.
Below is is a large, old, comfortable barn in Canada that had been re-roofed not long ago with a metal roof.
Photo below — here’s one of the places that seems purposely made for people to walk across the border.
Further east … another barn in Canada.
Around another corner in the road … horses (and birds) in the USA.
It was interesting that they used old milk cartons to protect the new plants. What are these plants?
In the photos below, I loved the massive, lush, green fields of crops. I also loved the mountains in the distance, the Cascade Mountains. On a clear day, they would be stunning.
“23” seemed such an impersonal name, for such a beautiful person. 🙂
Ah a fence!! The first fence I have seen along the border in two or three days. But it sure wouldn’t prevent a human from crossing over. Maybe it was more for the cows. 🙂
Above … bees, necessary for pollination of all manner of crops.
One cow above, and dozens of goats in the distance.
And then, sigh, it was time to head back to my trailer for my last evening and night here.
I drove into the campground, parked the big white truck next to Towhee the Trailer in my campsite, then walked through the campground one last time.
Walking up one roadway inside the campground, I could see my truck and trailer in the distance (photos below).
And again, the tree beside me … !!
I find six faces, six little (or big!) creatures there.
I liked all of them. And they kept me safe all night long.
In the morning, I hitched up and headed home, happy.
What fun! I don’t know what any of the crops are. But I love the photos, the tour of the country in that area. “23” made me smile. Love the horses with the birds on them. The creatures in that last tree are wonderful, not sure I would have seen any of them but I sure do now.
I’m hoping we find out about all those crops from other Readers here, I bet we do. I’m glad you enjoyed this, Nevada. 🙂
Photo #2 appears to be corn. Photo #3 appears to be blueberries. The plants in the milk cartons look like blueberry too. The next two photos, below the milk carton photos, look like they might be raspberries, not sure. Those last two closeup photos of berries must be blackberries, right? I bet wild ones.
Ruby, thank you! I’ll add your information to my personal trip notes. And yes indeed those last two photos are of wild blackberries, not dark purple ripe yet, but getting there.
Black Angus. The cattle are Black Angus. That’s all I know about whats’ what, others will surely know more. I’m getting to like faces in trees and clouds, fun to look and imagine. I found six too. You are such a good photographer and you tell such a good story! Thanks for sharing all this with us.
Thank you, Tim! I don’t know many of the names of the varieties of crops, and I don’t know cattle at all. Really appreciate your help.
I’m so perplexed by that open border. Maybe those of you who live closer to Canada are used to it, but it’s a huge surprise to me. I always assumed there was maybe a chain link fence with wire on top along the border, certainly not a solid wall, but at least a barrier fence. But to see nothing! Wow. I guess it must work ok that way. And actually that’s really cool. Makes me wish the whole world was like this. Those horses and the birds are really great!
I had heard that there were places along this border where someone could simply walk across, but I too, like you, had no idea that there would be MILES of border where someone can just walk across. It’s fascinating. Yes, wouldn’t it be wonderful if all borders were like this? Thanks, Greg.
That horse has such big black lips! Guess it’s just skin color?
I loved the photo as you were driving back into the campground at the end, and the blackberries. And the little path walkway across the border. Such a small thing, yet such a big thing.
Ha! I had to enlarge my original photo of that horse a few times because of its black mouth because at first it does look like huge black lips. Nope, it’s just the skin around those lips. But it sure looks goofy doesn’t it? Thanks for your wonderful comment, Susan. 🙂
What a lovely, comfortable, fun day. Barns and horses and cows and crops, just what you were looking for. I like that the color of the barbed wire coordinates with “23”, she obviously cares about color and art and harmony. 🙂
Good eyes, Lori. I didn’t notice the color of the wire in that photo until you mentioned it. And yes, it’s perfect … it is indeed art and harmony. What an amazing cow! 🙂
This was fun. Love the horses and “23” and the critters in the tree. Thank you. 🙂
You are welcome, Wanda. 🙂
Wonderful journey! Thanks for taking us along!!!
You are welcome, Mila. Thank you for being a part of the journey!
What a great day out. Love the open border, horses, crops, cows, and those last two photos of the blackberries (still not ripe yet so they are red). Ah, and the barns. 🙂 Oh, gosh and the faces in the trees. This was great.
🙂 Thanks, Babe. Glad you liked it.
Just found your blog from a friend. Love the Birch Bay camping photos. Great fun and great information. I’ll read on back and catch up.
Welcome to the blog, Olivia! Read prior blog posts as you wish, catch up as you wish, or just ride on along. I’m glad you’re here. Thank you for the nice comment. 🙂
Sorry to contradict you, but the red berries are salmon berries, still edible but without the nasty thorns. They grow wild. I’ve never heard of anyone cultivating them.?
The picture just above the lovely #23 looks like raspberry vines and the picture above that appears to be blueberry bushes in the foreground and raspberries in the background (with Mount Baker hiding behind the clouds.)
Did you know that Whatcom County is the largest producer of raspberries per capita in the world, and that Washington state is the largest producer of blueberries in the U.S.? Lots of good eating! 😊
Fritzi, I stood there a long time thinking “blackberry” no “salmon berry” no “blackberry” no “salmon berry” … and the same after I got home when I looked at the photos. I ended up thinking it was a wild blackberry because the berry was so small, really tiny, whereas salmon berries are a good size. So thank you for correcting me. Besides the lack of thorns, salmon berry leaves are a tad different than blackberry leaves, and I hadn’t paid attention to that. See, this is why I need you and all my other Readers.
By the way everyone, salmon berries are edible and I love them!
Thanks for the info about those crops in Washington State, too, Fritzi. I knew about blueberries but not about raspberries. Hops, too, another crop that the State of Washington produces more of than any other state in the USA. Cool stuff. Thank you!
Yeah, hops used to be a primary crop in the Puyallup valley but now they are grown almost exclusively on the drier east side of the state. And the primary crop of the (once) beautiful Puyallup valley seems to be warehouses.😟