Greetings from Sunny Pacific NW

We are on our trip!  So far, so good.  Those who say it rains all the time in Washington should be with us .... haven't seen a drop or even a rain cloud!!  We arrived right on time Friday around 10:30.  Had a 6 AM flight from Charlotte meaning we had to get up at 3:00 AM (after about 4 hrs. sleep!).  Ashley arrived about 15 minutes after we did so timing was perfect.  Picked up our luggage and grabbed a cab to take us to the Owl and the Thistle Pub in Seattle where we had a couple of brews and enjoyed a wonderful lunch.  We looked like traveling gypsies hauling our luggage around the streets of Seattle and into the pub.  A couple of guys on the street asked us if we were moving in to the pub .... hummmm, not a bad idea!!   A little after 2, we gathered our bags, and walked a couple of blocks to the ferry terminal where we caught the ferry that took us over to Bremerton.  We each stretched out on a bench and slept for the hour it took us to cross over.   When we departed, our friends, Joe, Ramey and little Joey were waiting for us to whisk us away to their house.  I was excited to see our house (next door) where we lived for the 3 years we were in Gig Harbor.  Wow!  Is it overgrown!  We had flowers all over - more than you can even imagine.  I didn't plant them - the lady who lived there before us had a real green thumb and spent every waking moment in the yard.  I did my best to keep it going but it was a LOT of work.  The people who live there now have not even tried - pretty sad.  Ashley visited with us a short while until her friend, Dawn came to pick her up.  On Saturday, we picked Ashley up and headed over up the peninsula to a couple of cidery's to do some tasting.  They were great and it was a good time.  One of them was a working farm with chickens, pigs, goats, etc.  so Joey enjoyed exploring the farm.  He is a little dynamite - 3 1/2 years old and never still!  After spending the day exploring that part of the country, we headed back to Gig Harbor and to a new brewery that has opened up since we lived here and then on to a restaurant for dinner.  Gig Harbor has really built up in the 6 years we have been gone.  So many new stores, YMCA, Costco .... they are even building a Kohls!  You don't know how I would have killed for those when I lived here!  Today we are hanging out here at the house for the day and headed over to Dawn's house late in the afternoon for a cook out with Ashley's friends.

Ashley and I at ferry terminal - Seattle

Glorious view of the snow covered Olympic Mountains as we were crossing the Hood Canal Bridge

Joe, Ramey & Joey at Finn River Cidery



Cool dog with his own sunglasses at 7 Seas Brewery in Gig Harbor

Tomorrow we board a plane for Anchorage!  Not sure how much posting I'll be able to do in the next couple of weeks but I'll try!

Note:  Just looked outside and it's raining!!  Hopefully, it will let up by 4 this afternoon for our cook out at Dawn & Pete's house.