BELLINGHAM – a happy blend of industry, Victorian architecture and college-town liveliness – runs ten miles along a broad curve of Bellingham Bay, 85 miles north of Seattle and just eighteen miles south of the Canadian border. Its notoriety is largely due to its being the southern terminus of the Alaska Marine Highway. The ferries sail from the Cruise Terminal on the edge of the brick-and-sandstone Fairhaven district – three miles south of downtown (I-5 exit 250) – which, with its hip bookstores, cafés and clothing stores, is easily Bellingham's most appealing area. In contrast, downtown itself (I-5 exit 253) is fairly mundane, but likeable enough and has a few good restaurants.

Bellingham's chief attraction, however, is its access to a wide range of excellent parks – set among the bluffs and forests surrounding the city, with myriad hiking trails – and, further east, the foothills of Mount Baker, 56 scenic miles along Hwy-542. Lummi tribal myths have the mountain as a sort of Ararat, surviving the Great Flood to provide sanctuary for a Native American Noah in his giant canoe, but it's better known today for its skiing, with a seven-month season from early November until late May (ski information on 360/734-6771, www.mtbakerskiarea.com; daily lift tickets $34 on weekends, $25 midweek).

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