After the provided lunch on the Monday of the symposium, as is ResNet tradition, the remainder of the day will be free time.

Below are some activities currently under consideration, some of them include transportation, and some are suggestions for attendees who would like to organize their own itineraries. (Our Discussion Forum is now open for this very purpose!)

• Bellingham Culture Crawl
• San Juan Island & Puget Sound
• Sights of Seattle
• Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• Mt. Baker
• Kayaking Puget Sound
• Local Hiking or Western’s Wade King Recreation Center

Bellingham Culture Crawl

As mentioned on the About Bellingham page, our fair city offers two thriving downtown areas, with many shops, restaurants, galleries, and other businesses: Downtown Bellingham and the Fairhaven Historic District. These two urban settings are connected by a contiguous pedestrian and bicycle path that follows the shores of Bellingham Bay, and actually travels over the bay for part of the route via the Taylor Avenue Dock & Boardwalk. Our walk will begin in Fairhaven, with plenty of time to browse around, then we’ll set out for expansive views of Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands from Taylor Dock and Boulevard Park. Finally, we’d reach Downtown for more browsing, and plenty of options for dinner and evening entertainment. (The crawl will be very flexible, providing a combination of walking and riding the bus depending on physical ability.)

San Juan Island & Puget Sound

Bellingham offers easy access to North Puget Sound and the San Juan Island archipelago. Puget Sound is a year-round home to Orca whales, Harbor seals, Dalls porpoise, and Minke whales, a wide variety of sea birds, and bald eagles.

We will provide transportation to the Washington State Ferry terminal in nearby Anacortes, WA, for a trip to the village of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. The ferry ride offers an incredibly scenic, 90-minute trip through the islands, as well as a visit to a quintessential island town, with shops, restaurants, and even an excellent whale museum, with everything in easy walking distance from the ferry dock.

For those interested in exploring alternative Puget Sound activities,  there are a variety of boat operators sailing from Fairhaven or Squalicum Harbor, and there is information below about kayaking.

Sights of Seattle

A 90-minute trip south takes you to the Emerald City, Seattle, Washington. Destinations within the city abound, with only a partial list including The Space Needle, Experience Music Project, Pike Place Market, Seattle Art Museum, Pioneer Square, Microsoft Visitor’s Center, and the list goes on and on.

While we won’t be able to provide transportation to and from Seattle, we have set up a discussion forum, where attendees can coordinate carpools and plan out itineraries.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Only 60 miles to the north, and with the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics still providing fresh memories, the allure of visiting this amazing city can be irresistible. Vancouver was voted the “Best City in the Americas” for 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Condé Nast Traveler magazine, based on the categories of ambience, friendliness, culture and sites, restaurants, lodging, and shopping. (Just remember to bring a passport, which you will need in order to cross the US-Canadian border.)

As for the Seattle trip, transportation will not be provided, but we encourage anyone interested in going to Vancouver to use the forum we’ve set up to coordinate a drive north with other attendees.

Mt. Baker

We’ll provide transportation to the Mount Baker area, with access to high alpine terrain, dotted with meadows and lakes. (This trip will include easy walking, not strenuous hiking.) Mount Baker owns the still-standing world snowfall record of 1,140 inches for the 1998-99 season and offers jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring views of the Cascade Mountains…and there will actually still be snow at the end of Mount Baker Highway in June! We’ll stop on the way back in the tiny town of Glacier, for dinner at Milano’s Restaurant (cost of meal not included).

Kayaking Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a sea kayaker’s paradise, offering hundreds of miles of waterways, meandering along the coast and through the San Juan Islands. Our paddling trip will begin just a few minutes south of campus, at beautiful Larrabee State Park. From this launching site, we will explore the coastline, observing the flora and fauna and our famous Chuckanut sandstone formations in serene, protected coves. A box lunch will be provided. Please indicate your interest in participating in this activity when you register online for ResNet 2010, and then register for the kayak trip directly with Sharmon at Moondance Sea Kayak Adventures. Sharmon is anticipating ResNet inquiries.

LOCAL HIKING OR WESTERN’S WADE KING RECREATION CENTER

If you are up for a more physical experience, outdoor and indoor recreation opportunities are plentiful in the Bellingham-Whatcom County area. Amazing hiking can be found very close to Western’s campus, with options ranging from easy to strenuous. Treks in the area guarantee towering firs and cedars, lush ferns and moss, and breathtaking views of the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands. Howard Muhlberg from the Host Committee has set up a thread on the discussion forum, where he’s happy to provide information about specific trails in order to help attendees network and make arrangements with each other to share adventures.

Finally, if the weather doesn’t meet your comfort level for outdoor recreation, but you’d still like some exercise, and perhaps a relaxing jacuzzi, we’d love to show off our award-winning, LEED certified Recreation Center. With a rock climbing wall, spacious 25-meter pool, state of the art exercise equipment, and elevated running track, there are many choices to be made with your day pass.