Bellingham, Browns and Bellinis

We've been across to the States today. The day was a little foggy and grey, the normal weather for this time of year. The snows fast fading into oblivion. We saw a couple of American Bald Eagles on the way down. Unusually the Interstate Highway 99 and the American/Canadian Peace Arch boarder crossing was quite and we passes through US Custom's without any hitch. The Customs guy just wanted to kknow how we three ladies knew each other. With out blinking an eye Nancylee answered That my Mom and this is my Godmother visiting from England and we were through. Apparently it's good to mention God to American! We weren't going far into the States just to Bellingham and to the Bellis Fare Shopping Mall.

Lunch was at the Red Robin Diner before hitting the shops. The Red Robin Diners are a sort of souped up Little Chef. The food was good though and the service very friendly. There's someone to open the door for you when you enter and when you leave. Not a service seen in Britain's motorway diners.

I haven't been to Bellingham since 1991 and back then it was THE place for BC Canadians to go to shop. Since then the Vancouver Richmond Malls have improved and enlarged until they surpass this American Mall. I remember it as a bright bustling Mall with really good shop but now it seems small and the shops are mostly catering for teenagers. Even the large stores JC Penny's and Macys are not the upmarket stores they once were. The fashion in these stores seem quite hideous. The sort of fashion that back in the 1970's was just as hideous! Bellis Fair Mall Entrance.

Aaaaaaaaaaaah the Cinnabon shop. These shops use to be in the Richmond Mall and was impossible to pass with out buying one or more. It was the smell that got you. They were so sticky and moreish and their smell pervaded all over the Mall. All the Cinnabon shops have disappeared from the Richmond Malls.

The smell from this shop in the food fare caught us but we resisted a large purchase and made do with four small gooey sticky finger licking good buns.
The Lane Bryant shop was still there. I had bought clothes from here before. This shop retails clothes for larger women in sizes and shapes that actually fit their different body shapes. We looked around and I did try some pants that fitted well but I decided I didn't want to buy. The duff knee hurts badly today. It's not much good buying lots of new clothes when I need to shed weight. I did buy some white tee shirts from Old Navy though. These are great for layering under outer tops on cold days.
Leaving Bellis Fair, Nancylee demanded we decided where to eat our evening meal. Stateside, Richmond or order in back home. There followed a long and tortuous discussion. Why is it so difficult to decide anything when you get older? In the end we opted for Browns Social House in the Ironwood Mall just off the Highway 99 back in Richmond. It's a place none of us had been to before.

Browns Social house turned out to be a good choice. Dave and John will have to try it for the beer sometime! Its quite a dark and noisy pub type restaurant with a large central oval bar and eating booths all round the outer wall. The waitress were friendly and helpful, the food was excellent. We all made the same choice! A linguine Carbonara with grilled chicken. It turned out to be the best I've ever tasted, and the Peach Bellini's weren't bad either. They were the house special tonight so we had to have them didn't we?

Apparently Browns won the Silver award in 2008 for the best Vancouver eating and social place