Bellingham is full of trustafarian WWU students, hippies, and dark balls of compressed rage like Justin and Bob. It's basically Boulder-on-the-Pacific. Worst of all it's only an hour from chilliwack and the stench of a million cow anuses drifts across the border regularly.
There are no decent mountains nearby. Baker is a snowy slog with less than a pitch of good ice anywhere. Shuksan (Suck-san) has had its soul stolen by millions of photographs. The rock on the Twin Sisters is so grippy that climbing there is not challenging in the slightest. canada is out unless you like cavity searches; anyways, with the way the US dollar is goin vs. the loon, soon it will cost you $100 US just to gas up in Canada and a Starbucks latte will be $40.
In short, Bellingham is a pile of crap and you shouldn't move anywhere near.