Things to Do in Bellingham

Talented filmmakers at this film school teach courses that hinge on hands-on involvement. Single- and multi-session classes cover everything from screenwriting and editing to motion graphics, and venture beyond documentary making with lessons in drama and still photography. While practicing techniques and pole-vaulting on boom mics like the pros do, students use a combination of their own gear and gear they've rented from the school. In addition to firsthand filmmaking experience, documentary students get hands-on experience, partnering with community charities to create short films used for education, outreach, and fundraising.

Victoria Paintball Adventures envelops gamers in two woodsy fields of play stacked with obstacles, catwalks, and buildings among a diversified topography. Colourful combatants can paint pointillism masterpieces on opponents while traipsing stealthily through the six-acre lower field composed of a maze, catwalks, lush forest, towers, open field, and hideouts. On the four-acre upper field paintballers play splat tag at a faster pace, taking cover behind castle walls or trees and pelting challengers with paint from atop a fort tower or a stilt-walker's shoulders. A minimum of two staff members oversee a medley of 12 themed games throughout the day, such as the humans-versus-zombies melee and old-school capture the flag. Each 10- to 15-minute match is designed to keep field crusaders knee-deep in adrenalin while garnering enough knowledge about the colour wheel to write a biography of Roy G. Biv.

BC Power Sports mixes sightseeing with adrenalin to yield intimate views of hard-to-reach nature spots. Trained in first aid and approved by the Canadian Safety Council, their tour guides escort riders on ATV tours through an array of British Columbia’s verdant landscapes, from the ghosts of Stave Lake’s old cedar forest to Eagle Point, where roughly 2,000 bald eagles regularly swoop into Harrison River to adopt a pet salmon. The shop also outfits guideless adventures with vehicles chosen from their fleet of ATV rentals, which includes four-by-fours such as the 2011 Polaris Sportsman 400 HO or the two-seat 2011 Polaris Ranger. Each of the ATVs requires certification to ride, which visitors can obtain during the six-hour CSC safety course taught by a CSC qualified instructor. In addition to matching riders with four-wheeled friends, the staff also splashes through the path less taken during wakeboarding and wakesurfing tours.

Film enthusiast Roland Fernando entered the movie-rental industry more than 30 years ago, building Video Express into a movie emporium that carries hard-to-find and vintage films, independent releases, and blockbuster hits. Walls lined with blue neon tubes evoke a retro movie theatre, leading customers along shelves stocked with children's movies, dramas, horrors, comedies, documentaries, and Woody Allen's napping nook. The store also stocks video games for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360, and offers one or two-day console rentals.

As any triumphant team of athletes can tell you, winning is exhilarating. At Sportball, though, instructors focus on the quieter joys of athletics: improving motor skills and life skills. Their noncompetitive instruction—aimed at babies all the way up through tweens—covers eight popular sports, ranging from soccer and volleyball to hockey and golf. With age-appropriate, child-sized equipment, they help youth develop balance, strength, and coordination. They also nurture the self-confidence that will one day be needed on the soccer field where each grown kid will take the bar exam.