5.9 for 59: a Geek's Tour of The City of Subdued Excitement

I haven't done this in some years, but I took the day off for my birthday and had a solo walkabout. Coco had to work and was gone for the bulk of the day, the weather was cooperating, and I need the exercise, so off I went to clock 5.9 miles to commemorate the end of my 59th year.

(Of course, the 5.9 was arbitrarily selected for its symmetry in the title; I actually traveled a bit further than that.)

I started by deadheading to the other side of town by bus. BTW, the bus fare in Bellingham is one dollar, but there are no transfers - a buck each time you get on.

Coco wanted selfies, so here I am at the start of the walk, entering the Railroad Trail, one of the many urban and interurban trails in the Bellingham area.

When I exited the trail and got back in the neighborhood, I was going to stop for a bite here at Homeskillet, but alas it was closed on Mondays. Still fun to look at!

(Obligatory Christopher Walken pun.)

My next stop was to be Cosmic Comics, one of the two comics shops in Belligham...

...but they were closed as well - apparently, they had a fire about a week ago that I hadn't heard about.

Undaunted, I continued my journey, stopping briefly at Arlis's Restaurant for a cup of coffee and an excellent corn muffin.

Can you answer the trivia question on Arlis's wall? I could. (Answer below.)

Finally, a planned stop that was actually open: Henderson Books. This place is off the hook: imagine the entire stock of Powell's crammed into a space one-third the size. I'll be doing a separate post on my prior adventure here but suffice it to say it's amazing.

Today, I just picked this up. After the Misadventure of the Three-Week Tuba Player (also the subject of a separate post), I felt I needed some formal education.

I took a little detour to Dark Tower Games; it also wasn't open yet, but I hadn't planned on going in. It's a pretty solid game store; I just wish it had more grown-up gamers hanging out.

Finders Keepers is a few doors down from Dark Tower - it's an eclectic - or confused - shop that doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a mainstream toy store a  geeky game store, or, it seems, a comics shop.

This was my main destination: the Comics Place, the other comics shop in town. They recently moved from  a typically sketchy comic shop storefront to a wonderful space in bank building, of all places. Look at all those straights exiting the lobby door that the shop shares with the offices.

I mean seriously, this is like the Daily Planet building or something.  It's a warm, clean, open, carpeted store and I hope they do well there.

I did my best to contribute to the cause: a couple of Batman anthologies, happy birthday from me to me.

I left downtown via the South Bay Trail, which runs on a hillside along Bellingham Bay , with constant glimpses of the water...

 ...and some great views when there's a clearing. In the center of this picture is a small white tower set against the green trees - that's on campus, and the building that can be seen just to the left of it is where my office is.

The trail connects to Boulevard Park, which is connected to Fairhaven Village by a pair of over-the-water boardwalks. I hit 5.9 miles just before I reached the village green.

All in all, a pretty sweet day, and a nice chance to reflect in what it means to be entering my sixtieth year. More on that later, as well.

Oh, and Elmo Lincoln was the first screen Tarzan.