‘I need a PhD to empty the trash’: Here’s what surprises new Bellingham residents the most

Daniel Schrager
·4 min read
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Whatcom County is the fastest-growing county by percentage in all of Washington, according to the state’s Office of Financial Management. We asked some of the area’s new residents what surprises them the most about their new surroundings.

The stop-sign dance

Suzi Singleton, who moved to Sudden Valley from Texas in late 2022, used to get road rage. But that changed when she got to Bellingham.

“I was the angriest driver. I had to be in front of everyone. Just get out of my way, I will get out of your way if you just let me by,” Singleton said in a phone call with the Herald. “I don’t curse when I drive anymore. You get to a four-way stop and everyone just looks at each other like ‘Hi, how are you today. Oh no, please go, please go.’”

Singleton wasn’t the only new Bellinghamster to notice a polite traffic pattern. Todd Wyder, who moved to Bellingham from Chicago said he was shocked at how many people yield the right-of-way at intersections.

“Coming up to a stop sign, if it’s not your turn and and you’re like ‘You go,’ [the other person will say] ‘Oh no, you go. I’ve got all day, you go ahead,’” Wyder said over the phone.

Wyder was surprised at how polite drivers are in general, not just at intersections.

“No one honks,” Wyder said. “When someone honks you see everyone look like, ‘Who is this person?’”

‘Everyone has a uniform here’

To Katina Wyder, who is married to Todd, one of the strangest parts about her new city at first was that there seemed to be a dress code.

“Everyone has a uniform here,” Wyder said. “It’s not a uniform [but] it’s kind of like a uniform. Everyone has their ankle-high boots, their blue jeans rolled up, flannel shirt, puffy jacket, with or without the sleeves.”

Singleton said she had a pair of fashionable boots that she couldn’t wait to wear when she got to the Pacific Northwest, but that she quickly realized people in Bellingham dressed differently.

“’No ma’am. We don’t dress like that here. That is way too much,’” Singleton said, imitating how the average Bellinghamster reacted. “Here, it’s winter boots, it’s Birkenstocks with socks, it’s hiking boots. It’s water shoes, running shoes, outdoor stuff. It’s not about high-fashion.”

The weather, obviously

It would be tough to find someone who’s moved to Washington who wasn’t warned about the gray, rainy weather on the west side of the state. But it wasn’t the cold weather that caught Sylvia Bernstein off guard when she moved to the area in 2022.

“One of the things that surprised us is the summers here are fantastic,” Bernstein said. “There’s just no better place to be in the summer.”

Even when it does rain, Singleton said, the weather isn’t what she had expected.

“The rain here is hardly rain half the time,” Singleton said. “Coming from Texas, one raindrop will hit the top of your head and you’re soaked. When we would tell people in Texas we’re moving to Washington, all they said was, ‘well, you know it rains there.’ And I come here and it’s like, yeah I guess this is rain. They call it rain. An umbrella would be useless because these little tiny things are kind of just floating in the air.”

On the flip side of that, according to Bernstein, the area is constantly wet, which took some getting used to.

A rainbow arcs above the Herald Building at the corner of North State and East Chestnut streets in Bellingham, Wash., on Oct 19, 2023. Built in 1926, the six-story Gothic Revival building uses white terra cotta tiles and stained glass windows depicting a herald playing a trumpet. The building was the first in downtown Bellingham to use a concrete-and-steel form and steam for heating. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. Robert Mittendorf/The Bellingham Herald

Breweries, DMVs and other surprises

When she moved, Bernstein was pleasantly surprised to find that Bellingham has a thriving local brewery scene.

“The beer here is amazing,” Bernstein said.

Coming from one of the biggest cities in the country, Todd Wyder’s pleasant surprise was quite different: local government isn’t impossible to navigate.

“In Chicago, if you have to go deal with the local government, it’s a nightmare. It’s like Kafka or the movie ‘Brazil.’ And here, we’re like ‘Oh we need to go do this thing,’ and the guy’s like, ‘Oh, just give me that paper, I’ll put it in Brad’s office. Don’t worry about it.’”

While Todd found the local government easy to navigate, Katina is still confused by one aspect of it — the number of trash bins and their lack of clear labeling.

“I was like, ‘I think I need a PhD to empty the trash around here,’” Wyder said.

Singleton, who moved from a suburb of Houston, another small-city perk of living in Bellingham is that the entire city feels like one community.

“The feeling of community is so strong that you want to be a part of it,” Singleton said. “It calls to you.”