Betting on Bellingham

As we pulled up to our campsite at Larabee State Park, where Whatcom County legend Cam Barret awaited our arrival, the odds weren’t looking good. It wasn’t dumping rain, but it was for sure steady shitty. Good thing for us, Cam had an underground spot lined up, right down the road from camp.

Back at camp that night, the squad split into two separate campfire zones. One was the mellow, grown zone, and the other was the Cee-lo, gambleholic zone. Two Hawks won everyone’s money in that zone. And by a long shot. Beginner’s luck, we figured.

As far as the weather went, the next day wasn’t much better. But we made the best of the spitting clouds by stopping into Unknown Board Shop, where we reunited with our old friend and Bremerton alumnus, Zac Garza. The rain didn’t let up at all. In fact, it doubled down. So, we headed down the street to a fun little DIY under the West Holly Street overpass. There, awaiting our arrival, was another PNW legend: Josh Knapp.

Good times were had under that overpass. Tricks were landed and clips were clocked. But the rain didn’t let up. Not even a little bit. Good news of clearer skies, however, had been established for the next day. Since everyone was pretty burnt, dudes agreed that it was better to save it for the morrow. We reeled ‘er in early and headed to Knapp’s forest haven/skate utopia to set up camp, skate, grill, chill, and lose our money to Two Hawks in Cee-lo… again. Beginner’s luck, my ass!

Before Booty rolled back to Kitsap that evening, the boys set off one more session at Knapp’s little slice of concrete heaven. That last night was rad. Ripping, Q’ing, and good times with great people. The few of us gambleholics thought we’d try our luck one last time at Cee-lo against Two Hawks. We didn’t win by a long shot. Hawks was literally spotting us money and then winning it back. He was basically just playing against himself. Even as these words pour onto the page, I still owe him 10 bucks. The moral of this trip: don’t roll dice with Two Hawks Young.