INSPIRATIOS BLOG

The Sunday after Thanksgiving has its own quiet rhythm. The leftovers are dwindling, the dishwasher is finally catching its breath, and every parent of a college kid knows the routine: time to shuttle them back to campus. So at 18, my son was packed up, hoodie on, earbuds dangling, ready for the familiar Snoqualmie-to-Bellingham run back to Western Washington University. It’s funny how fast a week goes. It feels like he just walked in the door last Saturday—dumping laundry, r

Yesterday was one of those quietly bittersweet parent-moments: we drove up to Bellingham to pick up our 18-year-old from Western Washington University for the Thanksgiving break. He’s been away since mid-September — how did that happen so fast? — and it felt meaningful to pause for a family meal before the drive home. Enter one of our favorite local gems: Café Rumba. Located at 1140 N State St in Bellingham. ( Cafe Rumba ) With the three of us together (me, my wife, our son),

I left Snoqualmie at 6:30 a.m. The forecast had promised “scattered showers,” which of course meant “rain whenever it feels like it,” but that’s part of the deal for a November solo birding run. The two-hour drive north was a mix of anticipation, gray skies, and the faint hope that today— today —I’d catch a glimpse of the Snow Bunting reported at Blaine Marine Park earlier in the week. Blaine Marine Park: A Brief History Before the Binoculars Blaine Marine Park sits right on

Fourteen miles before lunch. That’s not a metaphor — that’s how my Sunday started. A long, steady early-morning treadmill run while the rest of the house was still asleep, the steady hum of the belt mixing with whatever motivation I could pull from a half-finished cup of coffee. By 11:30 a.m., I’d showered, stretched, and was officially starving. My 16-year-old son was, too — though in his case, from sleeping in and waiting patiently for me to declare it was finally Feast Buf