Dean and Mindy walk into a bar: We walk into a bar south of the border

El Nopal, Sumas, Washington

We’ve been traveling this month, going to the furthest north, south, east, and west churches we can find. But when we went east and west, we didn’t end up going to bars at the extreme edges. This week was different; who wouldn’t want to go to a Mexican restaurant/bar that’s just a couple of blocks south of the Canadian border?

El Nopal hasn’t always been the furthest north bar in Sumas (and therefore Washington State). Valley Community Church, where we went Sunday morning, used to be a bar called Desperado’s. A couple of other bars north of El Nopal are also gone. According to their website, the first El Nopal opened in Everson, WA, back in 1988. Jose and Wendy Gonzales, the owners, eventually moved it to Sumas.

There were Halloween decorations outside alongside flowers (but no cacti). Inside there was a telephone booth with a sign forbidding entry (we weren't sure we had proper change for a call anyway). The place was colorfully decorated, with the kind of art one would hope to find on the streets of Tijuana. There was an unattended "cash bar" in its own space, with pull tabs and prizes.

The NFL was, of course, on TV, as it is in the vast majority of American bars on Sunday afternoons. But it was a bye day for the Seahawks, so the Niners and Rams game was on tap. We sat at the bar, and Susana gave us menus. We’d already had lunch, so we just ordered drinks and dessert: a strawberry daiquiri (which is basically another kind of dessert), a tequila sunrise, and churros. (We didn’t have to order chips and salsa. Susana brought them out immediately after we sat down and we enjoyed them like we hadn't just eaten lunch.)

We enjoyed the food and drink, but as a 49er fan, the game? Not so much (they’re 1 & 5 this season, so nothing new.) One of the servers, Stefanie, was obviously a Seahawks fan, wearing a Wilson jersey (#3 for quarterback Russell). We had the chance to ask her our two questions: “What makes for a good bar?” and “Whether you go or not, what makes for a good church?”

She said it was the same thing for both, “Good people.” She said the customers at El Nopal were courteous and kind. She likes the staff there as well -- they’re honest and hardworking. Most of the same kitchen staff is were working there when she began six years before. She also had kind words for Jose and Wendy, the owners.

The food that was carried past us looked good. You wouldn’t guess by the food that we were well over a thousand miles and a couple of states from Mexico, but when the check came, we had the option of paying in U.S. or Canadian currency (we paid the U.S. total. It was a lower number).