But the Blaine area has more to offer than that moment in the spotlight. For Olympics-weary travelers, it is a stop along the way that can provide hours of respite – or if you’re a bird-watcher, a weekend’s worth.
PEACE ARCH PARK
If you are fond of sculpture exhibits, stop at Peace Arch Park. The 2009 winners of an international sculpture competition were rewarded with an exhibit of their works in the park. With the Winter Games as motivation, the exhibit has been extended through April 1.
The large sculptures include a humpback whale tail of reclaimed mahogany that can be seen from Interstate 5, as well as Sam the Moose, the Monarch Butterfly (steel and colorful plastic pieces), and the blue My Foolish Heart, created by Margo Westfall and Don Lovett of Olympia.
The 67-foot-tall Peace Arch itself can be seen from some of the sculptures, a tribute to long-standing peace between the two countries.
Dedicated in 1921, it straddles the border. Bronze gates are hinged on either side of the border, symbolizing that both countries would have to declare the border closed in order to close the gates. Fragments of the Mayflower and the Canadian steamship Beaver are sealed in the walls.
PEACE PORTAL DRIVE
Peace Portal Drive is Blaine’s main drag and where you will find the visitor center at the corner of H and Peace Portal. Stop here for brochures, including the self-guided tour of the sculptures.
A 44-page walking tour highlights the history of homes, buildings and churches of Blaine. The tour is divided into three loops. If you need sustenance before you set out, one option is to walk through the visitor center’s interior door into the Pizza Factory.
But Peace Portal Drive in downtown Blaine offers shops, low-key places to eat, a few sculptures and a bricked viewing deck overlooking Drayton Harbor, Marine Drive and Blaine Marina.
A walk along the boardwalk on Marine Drive is a chance to stretch your legs. The road ends along buildings that house crab and fish buyers. The large buildings in the distance once processed and stored fish for latter shipments. The Nooksack Tribe recently bought one building for a fish store and processing plant.
SEMIAHMOO
Back on Peace Portal Drive, drive south along Drayton Harbor, headed for Semiahmoo Spit. Historians and tribal elders have differed on the meaning of Semiahmoo; perhaps “half-moon,” “water all around,” or the name of the tribe, a derivative of a name given by a U.S. Indian agent in 1854.
Bring your binoculars. The well-protected harbor is home to some of the largest congregations of wintering waterfowl and draws hundreds of birdwatchers on winter weekends. The harbor is one of the Audubon Society’s 53 official Important Bird Areas in the state.
After driving across the south end of the harbor, head north on Semiahmoo Parkway on the long spit that nearly closes off Drayton Harbor. The spit is a bird-watching destination and a paved 1.5-mile trail provides birdwatchers with an excellent view of birds.
One of the historic buildings of the Semiahmoo Cannery Lodge – Alaska Packers Association maritime museum (also known as the Semiahmoo Park Marine Museum) – houses history and artifacts of the once-booming canneries on Semiahmoo Spit and the local cannery history.
Continue to the end of the spit to find Semiahmoo Resort, which has won awards for its golf course and wine selection. Wine Spectator wrote that Semiahmoo had “one of the most outstanding wine lists in the world.”
Semiahmoo has a number of nice touches: it incorporated part of a cannery into the Pierside Restaurant; it offers views of the Peace Arch, Canada and Mount Baker; it has a 58-seat theater (follow the smell of popcorn); it displays Northwest marine charts, photographs of the cannery that once stood on the site, and paintings of the tall ships that visited; it has a display bird-watching objects that includes a slide show of local birds and mammals of the area; and it offers a large fitness room with a jogging track: 27 times around the track and you’ve run a mile.
