Test Drive a Tour Guide - Saturday

We had breakfast in the hotel and then headed off to Edmonds for all the various programs.  The first one was the big reunion party.  It was in a huge room with a lot of tables.  They had provided a light snack.

We were joined at our table by 4 women.  They had been on a Portugal tour.  They had a book of their trip like my Shutterfly book.  We were looking at it and saw Marylou & Greg (friends from church) in one of their pictures.  Amazing.  So I took a picture of them and sent it to Marylou.  Small world. 

We found our tour guide, Federico.  He came over and talked to us.  That was fun.  We never did find our previous guide, Martin.  We know he was here but we never saw him.

Rick spoke and then introduced 8-9 tour guides who each spoke about their tours for just a few minutes.  Federico sang!! Now there are many more tours I would love to do.  I guess that is the point.  :-)

We walked to a different building to hear a little more detailed talk of the England tours.  

We poked into some shops and had a quick bite to eat at The Cheesemonger's Table.  Edmonds is such a cute little town.  Luckily it was no longer raining.  It was chilly and quite windy so we did not do a lot of dinking.

Delicious roasted tomato soup and cheesy toast.

I can't believe the camellias are blooming - it is January!!

  Then went to another building to hear the talk of Italy tours.  

By then we were done.  So we went back to the car.  We drove to the Cascadia Art Gallery, we had missed this the last time because it was closed.  It was nice.  It was a Northwest Design at Mid-century art show.  The had furniture, fashion, jewelry and wall art.

Cool door handles

We decided that it was time to head back to the hotel.  We stopped at a kitchen store on our way.  Then we relaxed with some popcorn and wine.

For dinner we met up with Kris' cousin Marlee and her daughter Mina.  We went to a Peruvian restaurant.

We had a mussels appetizer.  I actually ate one.  It was buried under so much stuff, I hardly tasted the mussel.

We shared a whole chicken.  Wow.  It came with beans and rice, a very flavorful meal. 

Mina, Kris and Marlee.

Then back to the hotel.  The restaurant was quite close to the hotel.  

I guess I had to put this picture in.  It is tradition.  

It was a very full and fun day.

Friday drive to Edmonds and Rick Steves welcome event.

Every year Rick Steves has an event in Edmonds, WA.  He brings all his tour guides over from Europe and they had a big planning meeting.  Then it ends with a time open to the public.  The guides get to talk about their tours and the countries and places they go.  He calls it his "Test Drive a Tour Guide".  It is all free.  If you have been on a tour the previous year there is a reunion party.  You can reconnect with your guide and maybe other people in your group.  Sharon, Kris and I have been several times in the past.  

On Friday, January 26th, Sharon left her place at 10 am and stopped and picked up Kris and then me.  We were on the road by 10:30 am.  It was an on & off rainy day but not pouring.  We stopped in Chehalis for lunch.  That was about half way.  We have been to Jeremy's before and like it.  We each had half a sandwich and a very delicious mushroom chowder. 

 

We left Jeremy's and continued on our way to the Holiday Inn Express in Shoreline, just north of Seattle.  We settled in and then relaxed with some wine.   

We had a 5 pm reservation at Anthony's restaurant.  It was right on the bay.  Luckily it was still light enough when we got there, to actually see the bay.  We decided to go with their special dinner.  It was a 4 course meal for cheaper than if we had just gotten the entree by itself.  And we split a bottle of wine.

a ferry going by

For dinner, we each had the shrimp cocktail, I had the blue cheese and shrimp salad, Kris & Sharon had the Caesar salad.  Kris had the shrimp and salmon duet for entree, Sharon had the lobster fettuccine and I had the steak.  Delicious.  I think we were each happy with our choices. 

For dessert we could not decide so we ordered one of each of the choices and they gave us extra spoons.  Chocolate sundae, Bailey's chocolate mousse and burnt cream.  My favorite was the burnt cream.  

Ahhhhh.

Then we drove into Edmonds.  We went to the Welcome event.  Rick Steves talked about 6 different countries tours:  Italy, Sicily and Ireland then we had a break with light appetizers and wine.  Then he talked about France, Spain and Portugal.  During the breaks the woman from Ireland and the man from Italy sang.  Very enjoyable.

Rick Steves

France, Spain and Portugal guides.  The middle one is Federico, who was our fabulous guide.

Federico

You may wonder about this picture.  On the main street leading up to the Center of the Arts, where we our event was,  there were LED lights actually in the street.  It almost looks like an airport landing field.  Lights to guide the way.  It looked cool.  

We headed back to the hotel.  What a fun day.  Nice of Sharon to be driving.  Kris was the navigator and I just got to relax.

Sunday and back to Portland

We had a relaxing morning, while we worked on several computer issues.  Once we got those straightened out we took our morning walk.  It was quite chilly still (33 degrees) and foggy.

Did I mention that it was foggy?

Once we got back we packed up and headed south.  We left around 11:30 am.  We had thought that we would get to Jeremy's for lunch but we decided that we needed to stop sooner.  

 We decided that Indian food sounded good.  We called up Patty Wood to see if she would like to join us.  Even though it was last minute, she was free.  Taste of India was close to her apartment.

Wow, what a delicious meal.  They did not have a lunch buffet so we ordered mango veggie curry, palak paneer (spinach), salmon tandoori, and aloo gobi (cauliflower & potatoes).  I had the hot chai which was also very good.  They kept refilling my cup.  We had complimentary samosas to begin with and then they brought us a slice of a typically Indian cheesecake (not).  Yummy.  I really like this restaurant, so I am glad that it worked out to come here.  We gave Patty all the left-overs.  It was nice to see her again. 

We were on the road again by 1:30 pm.   

We were home by 4:30 pm.  The drive today was OH so much nicer than Friday's drive. 

Of course there were sunset pictures.

We got home in time to take a walk before it got totally dark.

The moon was not very clear.

Saturday in Washington

We had a relaxing morning.  Joe was working on his Corvair.  

Still no innards, it has been painted. So he will reconstruct the engine and get the seats put back in.  The goal is to have it done by February.  While he was working on that we went for a walk. 

Nice relaxing day, delicious black bean burgers for lunch.  Then I "helped" Debbie buy a new smart watch.  That was fun.  She had to test it so we had to do the neighborhood walk again.  This time the sun had come out.  

a neighbor house

birds at the lake

So Debbie's watch works!!  5,003 steps!!

We got back in time to watch the sunset. 

Debbie has a bird sculpture.  Nathan and I had fun trying to include it in the picture.  We played a game.  We tried Bananagrams but went back to 10, 9, 8.  Debbie had some wine she wanted us to help finish up before we went to dinner.

We had a 7 pm reservation at Il Granaio.  

I had a very good filet with mushrooms.

nearly a full moon.  

To Debbie & Joe's, December 29th

Usually sometime during the time that Nathan is home we try to make the trek up to Washington to see Debbie and Joe.  So, yesterday we left about 2 pm.  It was a very scary drive because of the pouring rain and traffic and it wasn't long before it was dark as well.  I was glad that I was not driving.

Once we got here we had a very nice dinner.  talked, played 10, 9, 8 (our card game of choice) and then called it a night.  It was a nice relaxing evening.