My (Yasmine) mystery series, the Chintz 'n China Mystery Series, took place in the fictional town of Chiqetaw.  The pictures in this site will not only give you an idea of the area and scenery surrounding Mount Baker--one of the more isolated peaks belonging to the Cascade Volcano Range, but also of Bellingham Bay--a bay in the nearby city of Bellingham, and the area that Emerald O'Brien, her friends and children, would see on a daily basis.  In other words, if Chiqetaw was a real city, it would be around this area.

The northwestern border of Washington is a strange area; a lot of odd things happen up there and the energy is a little more 'wild' than just about anyplace else in this state, other than the Olympic National Forest.

Bellingham is 90 miles north of Seattle and 50 miles south of Vancouver, BC.  With a city population of 166,000, Bellingham boasts a regional university--Western Washington University, sits on Bellingham Bay, and is considered the gateway to the San Juan Islands and Mount Baker National Forest.

The Bay of Bellingham is the gateway to the San Juan Islands.	A lovely Japanese garden at a local restaurant.

Mount Baker is, at 10,778 feet, a stratovolcano, and sits 31 miles due east of Bellingham. The most heavily glaciated of all the Cascade volcanoes, Baker has more ice and snow on it than all the other Cascade volcanoes combined excluding Mount Rainer.  The youngest of almost all the Cascade volcanoes, Baker has had noticeable thermal activity over the years, it has steaming fumaroles and a history of extensive pyroclastic flows.  Baker has had numerous eruptions and lahars over the ages, even into the 1890s.  In 1975, the heat flow increased (from Sherman Crater) and steam vents, gas emissions and small lahars created cause for concern.  Activity tapered off  a few years later, but Mount Baker is most definitely awake and still active.  One of the places we took pictures of was Nooksack Falls--a lovely and wild waterfall.

I fell in love with Nooksack Falls, which is right on the way to Mount Baker, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Looking upstream, to the river that leads into the Falls.

The edge of the river as it heads into the falls.  There are signs everywhere warning people to be careful.  The rocks in western Washington, especially those near water, are often covered with thick moss and an almost invisible "slime."  It would be very easy to slip and go crashing over the edge.  Apparently, there have been a number of deaths at Nooksack Falls just for that reason.  People don't listen.  What you see here is referred to as 'white water'...currents so fast that the water is white from the constant foaming as it thunders along:

The water heading over the top of the falls:

 Looking over the bridge, into the river below.  In "Ghost of a Chance", Harlow has an accident.  The ravine involved probably looked similar to this, only with the river flowing parallel rather than underneath.

"Chiqetaw" is one of the many small towns in the area.  Fictional--of course--it sits along Highway 9, tucked away in one of the many valleys and hills that fill the area.  While I can't offer you actual pictures of Chiqetaw, unless I were to draw them myself, I can show you places around the area that Emerald and her friends might see: