More than the Peace Arch: what to see and do in Blaine, WA

BLAINE — Vicka Haywood pulls a batch of orange-blackberry scones from the oven in the back of a vintage train caboose overlooking the harbor in Blaine.

Her Railway Cafe, complete with wheels and train tracks, sits just a mile from the Peace Arch border crossing between the U.S. and Canada.

Travelers going in either direction always guaranteed the cafe a brisk breakfast and lunch business. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed one of the nation’s busiest border crossings to nonessential travel. Traffic slowed to a trickle.

“I realized then, this is what a small town in America is supposed to be like,” Haywood says. 

Starbucks and other places closed, but the Railway Cafe remained open for takeout, surviving on community support from locals, police, border officials and families meeting at Peace Arch Park, a neutral space where Canadians and U.S. citizens could gather.

Sitting above Drayton Harbor overlooking Semiahmoo Bay in the Strait of Georgia, Blaine, population 6,000, is what many consider a way station between Bellingham and Vancouver, B.C.

Many pass through without stopping, but a pleasant few hours await those who do. A detour to what locals call the “Peace Arch City” can bring you solace before or after a long drive on Interstate 5.

Start with a stroll along Peace Portal Drive, the main drag through town, and coffee or breakfast at the Railway Cafe. Relax on the deck overlooking the Blaine marina, or get cozy inside the 1921 caboose decorated with vintage signs, a faux fireplace and red Formica tables.

Vicka, born in Moldova and raised in Israel, bakes her scones, muffins and cookies one batch at a time in a small convection oven in the back of the railway car her husband, Rodney, found for rent on Craigslist. 

Filling her pastry case on a recent morning were strawberry turnovers, raspberry-coconut scones and a Middle Eastern spinach and feta breakfast treat encased in sheets of phyllo dough.

“My staff and I don’t rush,” reads a sign above the cash register. “If you have no patience, you’re on the wrong train.”

Marine walks

Walk it off with a 2-mile stroll along the Blaine Marine Park Wharf Loop trail. Bike or walk on paved and gravel trails past covered waterside shelters, picnic areas, benches and a playground outfitted with jungle gyms shaped like a lighthouse and a ship.

Drayton Harbor is an important stop, along with nearby Birch Bay, for migrating shorebirds and seabirds along the West Coast. Birdwatchers are out most mornings as the migration goes into late fall and some birds spend the winter here.

A short walk from town is Peace Arch Park, unique in North America for being the only park where people from the U.S. and Canada can meet without crossing the border.

The Canadian side was closed during the pandemic, but U.S. officials kept the Washington side open, enabling families and others separated by the border closure, to meet, enjoy picnics and walks along garden paths.

South of Blaine in the community of Birch Bay is Semiahmoo County Park, near the Semiahmoo Resort, a waterfront destination built on a former salmon cannery site. The park sits on a 1.25-mile peninsula known as the Semiahmoo Spit. Flat trails for walking or biking open to views of Mount Baker, the Twin Sisters and other peaks.

Lunch stop

Always busy on a nice day is the patio at the Drayton Harbor Oyster Co. 

Order at the bar, find a seat and a waiter will appear with plates of locally harvested oysters, bowls of oyster stew, oyster (or cod or shrimp) tacos or overstuffed po’boy sandwiches. 

Eat here, and you’ll support the success of a statewide shellfish recovery program in waters once so polluted that the health department prohibited harvesting.

After years of pollution cleanup efforts, much of Drayton Harbor was considered recovered by the end of 2016, and year-round shellfish harvests resumed for the first time in 20 years.

If you want to end your meal with something sweet, dessert awaits just up the street at Edaleen Dairy, founded by Ed and Aileen Bransma in the heart of Whatcom County dairy cow country in 1975. Stop in for soft serve at small-town prices.

Sustainable shopping

Tucked into an alley off Peace Portal Drive is the Living Pantry, an “almost” zero-waste store owned by Shawna and Seppi Morris.

Customers typically bring their own containers to fill or restock with natural cleansers, soaps and other home and bath products stored in big glass jugs. Because so many of her customers are travelers who don’t come with empty jars, the shop compromises with some packaged versions of unpackaged bulk products.

Also on the shelves: beeswax food wraps, flavored toothpaste powders, solid dish soap discs made to last for months and wool dryer balls from New Zealand designed to save energy by reducing dryer time.

Happy hour

Two recommended stops: The tasting room at the Glacial Lake Missoula Wine Co., housed in a former garage off the main drag, and Beach Cat Brewing, a few miles south of Blaine on scenic Birch Bay, a shallow, crescent-shaped bay with a lively beach community.

Wine lovers will be intrigued by how Vancouver, B.C., owners Tom Davis and Tracey DeGraff use Washington-grown grapes to produce an “enrobed” wine that combines red and white grape varieties into a single wine. The unfermented skins of red grapes are used to enrobe white grape juice and transform it into a red wine by fermentation. Tasting room hours are limited, so check before visiting.

Reports are that Beach Cat Brewing plans to open in Blaine sometime in the next year. In the meantime, enjoy a waterside bike ride or stroll followed by a beer named after your favorite feline.