Washington & Oregon Trip

I needed a break from work so last Thursday I embarked on a journey to visit friends in Seattle, Portland, & Tacoma. It was quite rushed but much fun!

I usually take the truck crossing but the main crossing at the Peace Arch was reported to be quite short so I gave it a try. The wait was only 2 minutes and the interview the same. Just marvelous!
I tried getting an obstructed shot of Mt. Baker but this was the best of the bunch.
Fry's is the mecca for techies. I made it there twice on this trip!
I took this shot to show my friend, Danny, what a good education & hard work can accomplish.
The girlfriend of my friend, Mike, served this fruit flan to us after dinner. I already adore her!
And here's her cat, now 14 years old.
On Saturday I drove down to Portland. Soon after arriving I went out with my friends to attend a Seafood & Wine Festival. We drove up to Washington Park, where we caught the Max train to the convention center.
There was much more wine than seafood at the event, but it was still fun. This banner caught my attention!
So did this gorgeous old restored boat.

A shameless Crackberry addict!
Here's an absolutely brilliant sign outside the convention center. You can also visit their website.
This was a huge structure hanging from the ceiling. To me the "flowers" looked like poppies.
This is the cat of my friends, Ginette & Erik. His name is "Goose". To completely confuse their kids I asked my mom to get a stuffed goose who we would name "Cat". I'm not sure how Goose feels about his new buddy. P.S. Don't even get me started about my mom's bird choice!
I just had to take a photo of their wireless router. It's for their new FIOS service, which delivers fiber-optic service directly to their home!!
While still in Portland I went to a Mexican restaurant with my friends, Phil & Denise. The chairs themselves were a work of art!
One unfortunate thing happened with my rental car. When we walked out of the restaurant someone had sheared off the passenger mirror. It was just hanging from the electrical wire so we had to cut it free in order to take it safely back to Vancouver.

I stopped in Tacoma in the late afternoon and had dinner with my friends Lora & Dave, and their kids, Hannah & Travis. We went to a neat place called The Hub.
On Monday I went out for lunch at Bellevue Square with my longtime friend, Stanton and his wife, Midori. The weather was beautiful so I took this shot from the top of the parking garage.
The last dinner on my trip was at a great Italian restaurant in Woodinville called Pasta Nova. I loved the arrangement of these colourful cans of olive oil.
And their wine bottles also had an interesting arrangement to them.