Mt. Baker Highway

Highway 542 is the primary access road to Mt. Baker [1], a 62-mile drive from Bellingham [2], through the little towns of Nugents Corner, Deming, Kendall, Maple Falls, and Glacier, and then all the way to the end of the road at Heather Meadows [3]. Not much to these settlements, but you may want to stop by for the Deming Logging Show in mid-June and the Everson-Nooksack Summer Festival on the second weekend in July.

The Nooksack Tribe runs Nooksack River Casino (5048 Mt. Baker Hwy., Deming, 360/592-5472, www.nooksackcasino.com [4]), where you can try your hand at blackjack, craps, roulette, poker, and keno.

Mount Baker Vineyards (between Deming and Nugents Corner on Hwy. 542, 360/592-2300, daily 11 a.m.–5 p.m.) offers tours and tastings. The vineyard grows several unusual varieties of grapes, including Madeline Angevine and Müller–Thurgau.

The cooperative gallery Cloudy Mountain Pottery (five miles north of Kendall, 360/988-8645) displays pottery by local artisans.