Bellingham, WA with Kids

We spend Thanksgiving almost every year with family friends who live in Bellingham, about two hours north of Seattle. We could drive up just for the day, but Bellingham is a lovely town, so we decided to spend the night and explore a little bit.

I won't bore you with the details of our Thanksgiving meal. The yummy food, the perfect turkey, the homemade fudge, etc etc etc.

Thanksgiving Dinner

We stayed two nights at the Best Western Lakeway Inn. The rooms are simple and clean, but what makes this hotel a favorite for us is the indoor pool. By Thanksgiving, the weather here in Seattle is starting to get cold, it the kids love the opportunity to splash and play in a warm pool on Thanksgiving morning.

Indoor Pool at the Best Western Lakeway Inn in Bellingham, WA

The day after Thanksgiving, we explored Bellingham. The downtown core is easily walkable, and we all love the low-key, hands-on museums.

Our first stop was the American Museum of Radio and Electricity. At first glance, the collection of artifacts and inventions, which fills aisle after aisle and lines the walls from floor-to-ceiling seems a bit off-putting for young kids. Early experimental light-bulbs and the telephone used in first transcontinental call are interesting for history buffs, but for the under 5-set it's hard to understand what these things are and their tiny hands just want to reach out and touch everything.

A small hands on area got us on the right track. Rubbing balloons against a fake-fur covered wall generated just enough static electricity to make the balloons stick. It was so much fun, it made me wonder why every children's museum doesn't have a wall like this.

Static electricity demonstration at the Museum of Electricity and Radio in Bellingham

Some of the other experiments were a bit to abstract for my young kids, but they still enjoyed doing them - for example, turning this wheel generated electricity, and you could build circuits to do different things

Electricity demonstration at the Museum of Radio and Electricity

The best part of the museum, though, was the opportunity to show the kids some of the antique music-players. They've heard about player pianos and record players, but it's another thing entirely to see how one works in person. The friendly staff was willing to turn on and demonstrate pretty much anything!

The American Museum of Radio and Electricity is small enough that we had enough time to visit another museum before lunch. The Bellingham Railway Museum, like most model train museums, was built by enthusiasts to house an intricate track and some antique railway artifacts.

D watching the G gauge train at the Bellingham Railway Museum

At most museums, the track is behind glass, and kids can watch but not touch. At some, there's also a train table for kids, but not much else. The Bellingham Railway Museum museum, though not as elaborate as some of the train museums we've visited was the best for kids. In addition to the G gauge train layout (complete with stepstools for kids), there was a smaller, but still detailed, Lionel train layout. This layout had kid friendly controls, and between all the different buttons and levers there were lots of different things to do - meaning that many visitors could play with the layout at the same time. The museum staff was very friendly, helping the kids right derailed trains and showing them how things worked. E and D were thrilled beyond measure - with this much excitement, it's a wonder they didn't find their own electric train layout amongst their Hanukkah gifts this year.

E & D operate the Lionel Railroad Model

Bellingham is a fun city to visit with kids, and a good stopping point if you are driving between Seattle and Vancouver. For more ideas, visit our guide to visiting Bellingham with Kids

Filed Under: hotel-review travel-stories

1 comment | Posted on January 25, 2010 | Save to del.icio.us

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