Roadtripping, part 1: Pacific North West

For the other big trip of the summer, we thought it would be fun to drive to Colorado to visit my family and make some stops along the way, such as the Grand canyon and all the beautiful parks along southern Utah. That's what we thought, but not what happened!

I had friends who were going to be in Seattle for a work conference, so we headed north to catch them and also to meet a group with whom I will be working in Sept and part of October.

Our first stop was Portland where we enjoyed Robyn's hospitality. A great southern dinner at the Screen Door:

Here we are enjoying some blackberry lemonades:

Also in Portland for the evening was Betsy, always a pleasure to see! We visited with Jason and got the tour of their cute new home (Jenna was already asleep, it got so late!)

After a nice brunch at Toast, we continued north to Seattle where our host was Jason. I think it's fun to stay with Jason because he lives in Queen Anne, a neighborhood I seldom explored while living there. So many great places to shop and amazing views of the city from the top of the hill!

Our first evening in Seattle, we joined the barbecue going on at Celia and Adam's house. It was the perfect ocassion to see quite a few people: Sarah and Stefan with little Laila (she's getting tall!), Dan and Rebecca, Molly and Brandon. We also saw Eloise, Celia and Adam's little girl for a brief second before she went to bed for the evening. The hosts offered lots of flavorful rum for the evening, so we hung out until late.
Sunday started out with a late breakfast with Kendall. Always so good to see my brother (I got a pic this time! hee hee). That afternoon, I spent some time with Liz (my other sister) while CD and Jason went shopping. The day had a perfect ending: I finally went to Ocho for some delicious tapas with CD, Jason, Molly and Brandon.
Monday promised to be chock full of more friends and it started out with some great coffee at Green Bean with Sarah (and Laila) and Anna (aka super mom with Henry and Reid). It was so good to catch up with the ladies at such a great hangout; the Greenwood neighborhood just keeps getting better and better!

Reid and Laila say hello:

In the afternoon I had some meetings to attend, but I made Thai Tom a priority for this visit and sitting at the counter for lunch was divine. Still one of my favorite places to eat in Seattle!
The evening was a reunion of sorts for (some of) the Vocals crowd. My old cruise mates were in Seattle for a follow-up meeting and it was very good to see Carlos, Lelia and Sara PLus all of my old PMEL group. Not surprisingly, it was a real mustache party!
Our last day in town brought a very pleasant surprise: Hyewon! For the life of me, I couldn't remember when we had last seen each other, but it was so wonderful to catch up! We spent a beautiful early afternoon down in Carkeek park where little Emmy played in the stream and showed me numerous rocks. She's growing up so fast! The news that their family has returned to the PNW to stay was welcomed!

Hyewon and Emmy watch the train go by:

Our last evening in town we enjoyed a fabulous seasonal summer dinner at Betsy's house. She makes food that begs to have seconds. We met up with another big group for one last cheers before our departure in the morning.

The gang at the George and Dragon:

Link to pics coming in part 2, stay tuned...