A weekend at the Bellevue Club Hotel and Pacific Northwest Washington

An aerial view of Bellevue. The air was not quite so clear this weekend due to smoke from eastern Washington fires

Having recently received new Nexus cards, Sally and I decided to take a trip to the States this past weekend. It was our first trip in more years than we can remember. We initially thought about visiting Port Townsend, a favourite destination over the years, but our favourite hotels were booked up. Also, I was cautioned about relying on Washington State Ferries. They are not as reliable as in the past, and this was confirmed in the Sunday edition of the Seattle Times. 

We then considered La Conner, another longstanding favourite destination, but it too was completely booked up, except for one tiny room in the Hotel Planter. This prompted me to choose Seattle where we often visited when I was working with Narod Developments 40 years ago. (As vice-president development Vancouver and Seattle, I often drove down in the morning for a meeting and returned that evening.) But rather than stay downtown, we investigated Bellevue on the eastside of the city.

Since the Arbutus Club has a reciprocal arrangement with the Bellevue Athletic Club, we checked it out and discovered it has a 66-room hotel. Not only that but it offers Canadians a discounted rate. (15% off regular rates) https://www.bellevueclubhotel.com/bellevue-hotel-specials/neighbourly-love/) And so we checked in for two nights. I am glad we did.

On the way down we stopped off at the Duty-Free shop, which was virtually empty. I had read that the shop was suffering and was not surprised why. The prices did not seem much lower than in BC Liquor stores. I didn't check watches or perfume, since I don't buy such things in Duty Free Stores.

If you haven't been to historic Fairhaven, it's a wonderful destination just south of downtown Bellingham

We did enjoy a stop for lunch in Historic Fairhaven. https://www.bellingham.org/my-ideal-day-in-historic-fairhaven-%E2%80%93-10-must-dos. If you have not been there, do check it out. While we have always enjoyed this place, often staying there overnight, the town has gotten better since our last visit. It took just under two hours to drive to Bellevue.

The entry roundabout as seen on the internet

As viewed from our room at night

This is one of the smaller rooms - 510 sq.ft.!

Next time I'll try and book one of the garden rooms

Hotel guests have access to all of the club's facilities including the gyms, four restaurants and pools. However, don't be fooled by this photo of the pool. When we were there, you could barely see the water for all the kids!

The Bellevue Club Hotel is close to the heart of Bellevue if you consider the Bellevue Shopping Centre to be the heart of the city. It's also close to Old Bellevue, which has a different vibe. If you don't want to drive, the hotel has two luxury vehicles (a large electric BMW and Lincoln Navigator) to transport guests to nearby destinations. the club has a very luxurious feel. The rooms are extremely well-appointed with power drapes, a virtual assistant, and much more.

While Bellevue does not have the attractions of downtown Seattle, or downtown Kirkland for that matter, it does have a lot of stores to browse, interesting restaurants, and beautifully maintained streets with colourful planting and manicured gardens and parks. Yes, it feels a a bit artificial, but it's pleasant.

I didn't realize it but Bellevue Square and the surrounding 35 plus acres were all developed by the Kemper Development Corporation. A model in the shopping centre shows what's coming next. https://kdc.bellevuecollection.com/

One of the striking architecturally designed buildings in downtown Bellevue. I looked for Westbank's latest development but couldn't find it.

Friday night we drove into Kirkland for dinner. But first we stopped off at a local vineyard's wine bar along a main street. We wondered why BC's wineries don't open wine bars in and around Vancouver where you can taste different flights. 

David Mooney and other former Narod employees will well remember our 'home away from home' on Lake Washington. As the receivers were coming in, Sally and I were encouraged to go down for one final visit and take all the champagne and bedding (in lieu of outstanding holiday pay!)

His shirt says "Sorry for what I said while docking the boat"

For old times' sake we had dinner at Anthony's Homeport where we sometimes ate while staying at Narod's waterfront apartment (before the receivers came in). https://www.anthonys.com/restaurant/anthonys-homeport-kirkland/ While the food was a bit disappointing, the outdoor patio setting was spectacular.

On Saturday we drove around the region and discovered Medina. While I didn't know much about it, we drove by a lot of very expensive homes. However, we didn't find Bill Gates' 66,000 sq.ft. home which reportedly cost $127 million in 2016. https://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-facts-about-bill-gates-house-2016-11

On the way home we did stop off in La Conner, https://lovelaconner.com/ which has also improved since our last visit. When we arrived, they were dancing in the street. Wandering along the waterfront boardwalk, lined with restaurants, I was reminded of the bus tour I arranged in 1981 when working with Narod on the rezoning of BC Packer's Lands on the Steveston waterfront. 

At the time, many merchants and local residents were concerned about the negative consequences of our proposed 92-acre mixed-use redevelopment. To address these concerns, I organized a bus tour to show them how La Conner, another former fishing town had been transformed. Suffice it to say, the tour helped solicit community support for our proposed redevelopment. Forty years later, most would agree that Steveston, with its renovated cannery buildings and other attractions, has most certainly not suffered from the redevelopment of BC Packers Lands. Indeed, as I predicted, Steveston has become one of the Lower Mainlands most attractive villages.

I couldn't walk by this vintage 4-door Cadillac convertible without taking a photo. Fisker is planning to introduce another 4-door convertible. Hopefully, it will be more reliable than my old Lincoln 4-door convertible, whose top never worked properly all the time I owned it!

In days gone by, no trip to Washington was complete without a meal at the Oyster Bar along Chuckanut Drive https://www.theoysterbar.net/ however, this time we had to pass, literally.

While there is no doubt the 74 cent Canadian dollar is one reason not to travel to the States, there are many other reasons to visit. Although it's only an hour or two away, you feel like you are in a different place. Which is one of the reasons so many Americans enjoy coming up to Vancouver, along with our $1.35 dollar. Next time, we will go to Seattle, if only to see if some of its streets really are becoming as ugly and disturbing as those in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. But that will be another story for another day.