Friday, July 6 - Zip Lines, a Convertible & Wine

We had our morning neighborhood walk with the stop at the lake.

Then Nathan, Debbie and I had a 10 am reservation for a zip line tour on Camano Island.

We had a great time.  We had lunch at home and relaxed at bit and then had a fabulous afternoon. Joe chauffeured us in his sparkly gold Corvair convertible.

Wine tasting in style

wind in the hair

First stop, Bertelsen Winery.  We sat outside.  

Their cool aerator, Debbie bought one. 

Paseks was next.  It had a bunch of fruit wines.  I thought the pineapple was very interesting.  

Then we went to Tulip Valley Winery.  I don't think that we were as impressed with this one.

The last stop was the Glacier Peak Winery.  In this tiny house not only did they have wines to taste but they gave us a cheese plate.  They also sold olive oils, vinegars, jams, cheeses ... not sure what else.  They were generous with the tasting.  Ended with an apple pie brandy.  

Then we went to an Indian food restaurant in Mount Vernon.  The Taste of India.  It was a very small place.  An extremely hot place.  The one table we wanted to sit at outside was being held for a group with a reservation.  They never showed up. We stood outside until the food came.  It was very good food.  

We ended out with a lot of left-overs.  

We walked around a little before heading back to D & J's.

  What a day!!

We played another game of 10, 9, 8.  But I don't think that we were very rabble rousing tonight.  I think we were all pretty tired.  I think that it will be an early night tonight. 

Thursday, July 5

We headed out from Portland about 9 am.  The drive to Debbie & Joe's was pretty uneventful.  We got there in time for a delicious lunch.  After lunch we did the neighborhood walk. 

It had warmed up by the time that we got to the lake so Nathan decided to take a plunge.

First removed all import things like phone, glasses ...

Ready

Ah.  

Then we sat in the back yard that was shaded by the house.  We shared a bottle of Nobilo.  

I think that their cat, Phil, was not amused to have my visor around his neck.

They have a family of deer who hang around a lot.

Then we moved to the front deck for dinner.

As it got chillier we shifted again to the fire pit.  

We played a rabble rousing game of 10, 9, 8.  George always wins.

July 4th

I decided to blog about our day since we are not going to Juneau. We met Robbie and Charisee at Nathan's new apartment.  Nathan has about  1/2 of his furniture. No table and chairs yet. 

Charisee and Robbie

We had lunch at Goose Hollow Inn.  It was delicious.  Then we headed off to the Japanese Gardens.

Rebecca & Nathan

When we left the Japanese Gardens we walked through the Rose Gardens on our way back to Nathan's apartment.

We hung out in Nathan's apartment.  We took a bottle of wine and a game up to the roof deck and played a game, where we could sit down.

Then we went to Belligio's for pizza.  Then we headed home.  

An Eclectic Vacation

• Thursday, July 5th we will drive to Debbie's in Mount Vernon. 
• Friday, July 6th we will drive to Bellingham to get the ferry to Juneau. 
• Monday, July 9th very early in the morning we arrive in Juneau.  We are doing this vacation with Nathan,  Dorothy (George's sister), Ed (Dorothy's husband) and Madeline (their daughter).  We will spend the week in Juneau.  Nathan will show us around.  When we first came up with this plan, Nathan was living in Juneau.  We were going  to go visit him.  But now he has moved to Portland. All the weather reports say that it will be cold and rainy our entire time in Juneau.  Maybe this is why Nathan left.
• Friday, July 13th we head back to Seattle and then we will go to my 50th high school class reunion.  It will be at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, WA. 
• Tuesday, July 17th we head home. 

I am saying this all now because there may be some times that I will not be able to blog. We are not likely to have internet connections on the ferry and it will be spotty in Port Townsend.  I will try to not be too frustrated.

NOT!!

I guess this was not meant to be. Today we got a message from the ferry saying that the ferry had mechanical problems and so this trip to Juneau was canceled.  Argh.  What to do??? Fly to Juneau in stead? cancel Juneau?  Do something in Seattle instead? something in Portland?  We have had a flurry of emails.  Trying to see if we could get any refunds for the Airbnb, flights, ferry, ... etc.  So, new plan.

• We are still going up to see Debbie and Joe on Thursday the 5th until Saturday.
• Back to Portland.  Dorothy, Ed & Madeline will come to Portland part of the week.  Those plans are still undecided.
• Friday the 13th we will drive to the high school reunion.   

more pictures

To see more pictures of our trip to Corsica go to Nathan's blog. 

home safe and sound

Charles de Gaulle airport at 6 am

an exhibit at CDG

Seattle airport

long uneventful flight to Seattle.  They are doing some remodeling so it was a mess.  Took a bit to get through all the various lines

Portland old carport art

Arrived in Portland on time.  Took the MAX to Beaverton and then Lyft ride to the house.  Trying to stay awake.  Nathan was delayed leaving Amsterdam but he arrived safely back to DC.  

Travel Day - All Day

We were up at 4:45 am - ugh. Since CDG is ALWAYS horrendous.  When they say 3 hours they mean it.  The hotel has a free shuttle but it is used by other hotels as well.  Comes by every 15 minutes.  Well we waited longer than that but it finally arrived.  We separated from Nathan right away.  He had terminal 2F and we were 2E.  His was an earlier flight than ours.  Everything went smoothly.  We could do the automated check in.  We only had carry-on.  No lines anywhere.  Got out to M and went through security. lickety-split.  No hassles with any of my stuff.  So now we have A LOT of time to spare.   It is never like this.

We found a breakfast place.  I had hot oatmeal which was pretty bad, OJ and coffee.  George had french bread, butter, jelly, OJ and hot chocolate.  Now we are on our various devices.

Here are some pictures from yesterday.

Wall of the Calvi citadel, looking up.

Statue at the top near Notre Dame

Notre Dame

I was taking fewer pictures as I got wetter.  I am sure glad that it was not like this earlier on our trip.  It was sure cold, windy, and rainy.  I felt pretty miserable by the time we got to the airport.

Our plane to go to Orly.  

snow in Paris.  It is 35 degrees

our hotel