For this group of 3 things I visited within 30 miles of my home, I have a new cidery, a small restaurant focusing on tacos and margaritas and a small island.

BLACK SHEEP BELLINGHAM

Black Sheep is a casual bar and restaurant, or as they describe themselves as “a bar with tacos”. Warm brick walls, tall ceilings, a long bar, and smaller tables are available on the first level, with more seating available upstairs. There were so many mouth-watering margaritas and cocktails on the menu, but having just had 8 cider samples around the corner, we opted for their lager on tap to go with the tacos.

I picked 3 tacos with varied fillings

Carne Asada – flank steak with salsa, cotija, onions, and guacamole

Carnitas – braised pork shoulder, salsa, pineapple cotija, cilantro

Sweet Potato and Cauliflower – spiced roasted veggies with sweet corn salsa, cotija, onions, and cilantro

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The blended flavors of all three tacos were perfect. The bag of churros for dessert with 3 dipping sauces, topped it all off. Next time I’m there, I’ll definitely get one of their craft cocktails or margaritas and having bartended myself for years, I love that they don’t offer blender drinks and they don’t apologize for the lack of a blender.

www.blacksheepbellingham.com – 211 W. Holly Street, Bellingham, WA

THOUSAND ACRE CIDER HOUSE

Cideries are popping up everywhere now, alongside breweries and this one offers the most options I’ve seen yet. They have a rotating tap list of 24 ciders and that doesn’t include their bottle shop which has over 200 ciders sourced from the PNW and beyond.

We were so overwhelmed with choices for our tastings, this being our first time here, that we left that to our server. We ended up with 4 tastings each, so 8 for both of us to try. Three of my favorites were:

Rose Vacay – a dry cider infused with rose petals

“Lithium” Lemoncello – semi-dry cider with a punch of lemon acidity

Cucumber Blackberry – cucumber on the nose, with a sweet berry finish

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Brick walls line the space, with fun wood tables in addition to bar seating. They are named after “Johnny Appleseed” who planted over 1,000 acres of cider apple trees from West Virginia to Indiana, before prohibition. This wonderful place brings craft cider to a whole new level.

www.thousandacreciderhouse.com – 109 Grand Ave. Suite 101, Bellingham

LUMMI ISLAND, WA

There are so many little islands near me, that I decided to start with the one closest to my home – Lummi. This small island is only 9 square miles and is located about 10 miles from Bellingham. There is a little ferry boat that holds about 35 cars, or so it says online, as well as foot passengers.

Summertime is apparently bustling, but in October when we visited, the pace was pretty slow – but that gave us time to explore the island. Not knowing what to expect, we just started driving – it’s a small island, so how lost could we get?

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There are a few options for food and beverage on the island, but when we first got there, the only one open was “The Willows Inn”. We only stopped for a cocktail, but I can’t wait to go back for a Prix fixe meal in the restaurant and a stay in one of their rooms or cottages on the island. Their menu is “seasonal and local – fished, foraged and farmed daily”. In speaking with our server, she told us that the Inn and restaurant close down for about 3 months in the winter, opening back up in Spring. Just driving up to this Inn, you can tell that everything was perfectly planned out, and it shows. From the gardens to the deck entrance, into the Inn’s lobby, restaurant, and bar. Because it was off-season and we were in between lunch and dinner, we just had cocktails by the fire and relaxed with our view out the picture windows of the bay. This island is so relaxing and so close.

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www.willows-inn.com – 2579 West Shore Drive, Lummi Island