George Washington never visited the state that is named after him. Of course Washington wasn’t at state until 90 years after George Washington, first president of the United States, died. Other presidents have visited our state. Washington isn’t a state to which presidents are particularly attracted. Given the fact that the polls show where our state’s electoral votes are likely to line up, the state isn’t considered to be “in play” or likely to switch its loyalties. Candidates in this year’s election will find little reward in visiting Washington. It is unlikely that our electors will vote differently than was the case four years ago.

Our corner of the state doesn’t have much of a track record when it comes to presidential visits. Only one president of the United States has ever visited d Whatcom County and that visit was a long time ago. On October 9, 1911, William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States, paid a visit to our area. His train stopped in Bellingham. the President made two stops in Skagit County that same day.

Taft was at an interesting point in his career when he visited, part of a whirlwind tour that took him to 30 states in 57 days. He was playing a game of political survival. A former U.S. attorney and federal judge, Taft had served as governor of the Philippines, governor of Cuba, and secretary of war during Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. Roosevelt endorsed Taft to succeed him in the White House in the 1908 election, but by 1911, Roosevelt had withdrawn his support of the President, especially over disagreements in foreign affairs. He was preparing to challenge Taft in 1912.

The presidential train pulled into Bellingham shortly after 4 a.m. on October 9. Taft emerged at 8 a.m. to the cheers of s substantial crowd that was waiting. Public school students were given the morning off from school, in part to swell the crowds for the presidential visit. After breakfast in a local establishment, Taft addressed a crowd of 15,000 people. It was a big deal in those days. Before long the president was off to Skagit county where he visited Burlington and then crossed the river for a visit to Mount Vernon a town that chose its name after the estate of the nation’s first president.

Since then, no U.S. president has paid a visit to our county. As far as I know no president or former president has any plans to come to visit us. That seems to suit us just fine. We don’t especially appreciate crowds and it doesn’t take much to create traffic jams around here. We are getting along just fine without the attention of the big politicians. From time to time, someone will dig out the old newspaper clippings from the archives at the Bellingham Herald and read the article that included the full menu for the breakfast the president had eaten during his visit. There will be an article in the paper or a presentation to a history class and presidential fervor seems to quickly die down.

There isn’t enough about the president’s visit for a full journal entry. This is about the halfway point and I know of nothing more to say on the topic.

The visit wasn’t a big deal for Taft, either. He soundly lost in his bit for a second term as president. Although Roosevelt got more electors than Taft, Woodrow Wilson won the election and became the next president. A decade later when Taft became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court had wrote, “I don’t remember that I ever was President.” He might have actually remembered, but he probably didn’t remember his visit to Whatcom County.

If you don’t happen to be president, however, Whatcom County is a very interesting place to visit. Nestled between the beautiful North Cascade Mountains and the waters of the Salish Sea it is a place of astounding natural beauty. Our beaches are good places for whale watching as well as viewing Orcas. North Cascades National Park isn’t one of the most famous of our national parks, but it is a place of incredible alpine beauty and well worth a visit.

Our village is used to welcoming visitors. We think of ourselves as a destination for tourists. We have more than enough restaurants and short term rental properties to host the waves of visitors that come every summer. This week is the start of our season of tourists. We are getting prepared to having periodic shortages of parking. We are becoming accustomed to seeing a lot of cars with British Columbia plates on them. We’re practicing our smiles and waves and good manners so that our visitors might have an experience that invites them to return in the future and when they do so to spend a bit of money in our restaurants, gift shops, and other businesses.

Personally, while I try to be welcoming to guests, I don’t really feel a need for more people to come. I’m not a fan of big crowds. I enjoy having a few good places to eat nearby and I suspect that our restaurants are all dependent on visitors, but for the most part my life is just fine without the traffic and crowds. With Vancouver BC just across the border and Seattle a couple of hours south of us we have access to plenty of city when I feel a desire to visit one, which doesn’t happen very much these days. I’m pretty comfortable being in a place that is a bit out of the way. I make a few trips to town to visit the hardware store or see a doctor and am quite pleased when i have days when I just stay at home working on my projects. The main thing that cities have to offer me is access to an airport where I can meet guests coming to visit from far away places and board a plane to travel myself.

Consider visiting us some day. We’ll find space for a quiet visit and some time in nature away from the crowds.