Seattle

We stayed with David's dad and his wife in their condo in Redmond. (Yes, that's where Microsoft is.) When I got home, I realized that I neglected to take any photos of their place! I'll have to do that next time.

Seattle sure has a beautiful setting. It feels more open and expansive than Portland, maybe due to all the water. This weekend was clear, so were were able to see the snow-covered mountains that surround the city. No Mount Ranier, though.

On Saturday, we visited with our friends Jessica and James, who live in the Ravenna area of Seattle. They took us for lunch at Crepe Cafe.

David eying his Peshastin Apple and Cheddar crepe. "From a small town outside of Leavenworth, this delightful recipe uses the sweetest Washington state apples, melted cheddar cheese and powdered sugar." He said it was good.

David transferring his whipped cream (sigh) to James's blueberry, strawberry, and chocolate crepe.

Jessica and I both got The Westchester: "Avocado, Swiss, Caramelized Onions, Roma Tomatoes & Spinach with our Sun-dried Tomato coulis." Very yummy!

Jessica appears to have nefarious plans for that crepe. Or for me.

The boys shared a pumpkin pie crepe for dessert. The girls shared a strawberry and chocolate crepe that we ate very quickly and thoroughly.

Autumn leaves.

After lunch, we played at Waldo Dahl Playfield for a while.

David and I sat in one of the cool rock seats. They're like those things at the Exploratorium where your voice is magnified and projected to the other one.

Swings! (I can't swing any more, so I just took pictures.)

The big folk found it difficult to stay on this spinning tire toy. A little girl we met had no trouble at all. There are times when it's a benefit to have low mass. :)

After hanging around their new home with their cats, and watching episodes of Flight of the Conchords (and HBO site here) when our friend Andrea showed up, we went out to dinner. We went to the University district to a vegetarian Thai place: Araya Vegetarian Place. They don't seem to have an official website with a menu, so I can't recreate what we had. I can, however, describe what I remember of the tasty, meat-free meal.

Spring rolls. Always a favorite of mine at Thai or Vietnamese places.

Andrea waiting for the rest of the food. And there's my Thai iced tea, of course.

This was the dish that Andrea recommended. The sauce was very good. Andrea, please post the name, if you remember!

James's contribution: avocado curry. It sounds strange, but was very good. I usually don't like soft tofu, except in miso soup, preferring the texture and taste of fried tofu, but this was very nice. It was soft and creamy, just like the avocado.

My plate, including the skewer from my tofu satay. We also had an asparagus dish and pad seeiuw (which I've seen spelled many different ways, so I'm going to spell it like this).