Bellis Fair, Bellingham WA, is about a 2 hour drive taking the scenic route. It's a large shopping mall not much else to do in Bellingham. I never did stay there long. There are some good places to eat though I have not tried many of them.
It is probably a lot less time to get to if you take a direct highway and you like to fly with the foot down, so perhaps it's about 1.5 hours from Vancouver. Though my brother states he has done it in 62 minutes (he had a real love for exceeding the speed limit once upon a time) (That time did not include the wait at the border)
We told them we where down for a day trip of scenic driving and a change of pace just a chance to get out and about. showed our birth certificates and driver licences and we where across with out a problem.. I am not sure if you need a passport to cross the boarder yet. so you might want to check on that.
and for our return trip
We told the boarder guards on a way home that we had just been down for a day of sight seeing window shopping and picking up a supply of cheap beer 96 bottles or 4 flats. Plus a few 6, 1 lb bags of junk food and a carton of Winston smokes each. We had no hassle and even though we declared over what was allowed they waved us through so we had no need to pay any extra tax or duty. We got home in 2.4 hours.
Also, Guardian Flash, Don't forget to stop by BCAA and pickup a extended medical coverage plan package for yourself and spouse for the amount of time you plan to spend in the US, just in case. That 25 dollars of extra coverage is well worth the cost if you get in a accident. You might want to check that your car insurance coverage is enough for Us trips, (Some travel agency's state you should carry at bare minimum a 10 million dollar liability insurance coverage for all your us trips because of how litigious they are.
2 hours later in to a days worth of a fishing trip, A friend of mine had a Fish hook accident. One that needed minor surgery & 8 stitches. The bill that included The doctor & nurses bedside time, a injection of a numbing agent X 2 syringes, Needle & thread, pain killer, a broad spectrum antibiotic + a tetanus shot.
A emergency room Trip that came with hefty bill. It came out to a total of Nine thousand Four hundred and some odd dollars plus change this was 18 years ago, I hate to think how much more expensive that same emergency room trip would cost at today's rate..
9400 dollars 18 years ago assuming a 5% cost of adjustment per year since then so 5% x 18 years so I get a 90% cost of billing adjustment so a bill that was 9400, 18 years ago would be 8460 dollars more today. or a 2 hour emergency room bill would be 17860 dollars today.
