We are not here for the arcade at least not yet. We are here to watch our grandson play indoor soccer. More later…
Photos
Sunday evening gathering of friends
Sunday turned out to be a gray rainy day, including a couple of claps of rolling thunder, which is not common in Seattle. Our daughter invited her best friend and family over for a relaxed evening of food and fun.
Pepperoni, foreground and veggie, background
Loaded with everything!
Nothing better than hot pizza for supper with friends. The pizza came from Bravas Pizza and Pasta in Snohomish. Oh my it was so good. We have dined there before on previous trips.
A seasonal craft beer from a Seattle brewery. Very good, 8.8% ABV
Our daughter’s friend relaxing with “grown up art”.
The evening’s activities included eating, watching the highlights of the day’s football games, watching the Emmys, eating, watching movies, eating and drinking. Did I mention eating? We had a wonderful time, and Sher and I enjoyed meeting and interacting with our daughter’s friend, husband and daughter. A relaxed Sunday evening always proves to be a great way to get ready for the coming week.
Shadow picture
Sometimes ordinary things turn into an interesting object to see. This happened with these window blinds that acted as a canvas for the “painting” of the shadow of leaves.
Sunday morning doughnut treats
Talk about a diet buster, but oh, so good! Our son-in-law treated us all with a box of delicious, I mean delicious doughnuts from the Frost store in Mill Creek, Washington. There is something about a lazy Sunday morning that just cries out for fresh Long Johns, Bismarks or Apple Fritters. These delights have rightfully earned the title of Best Doughnuts in Washington State.
Not much left of our grandson’s treat
Our 6 year old grandson had a ball with his sprinkled and icing topped doughnut. He had a very unique way of devouring it. He started from the top, eating the icing and sprinkles layer first, and subsequently went round and round in a circle until the doughnut was gone.
What’s left of the doughnuts. The Apple fritters come in a bag.
We actually visited the Frost store during our January 2020 visit to Seattle. At the time we were wintering in Austin and had stored the RV for a month and flew to Seattle. This was if you remember right before COVID hit the nursing home in Seattle. This is the link to our article about the Frost store. The article has mouth watering photos including ones of fancy coffees.
A real craving for fish & chips
One of my absolute favorite restaurants anywhere is an opened in 1900 and verified haunted saloon in Snohomish, Washington. Sher and I first found the Oxford Saloon back in 2014 while searching for antiques.
The Oxford storefront with COVID prompted outdoor street seating
In planning for our trip to Seattle and seeing our daughter, son-in-law and grandson I knew that we’d be able to visit the Oxford Saloon, and that I’d get the chance to once again enjoy the three piece fish and chips with homemade coleslaw and fries. Well, that happened today! We decided to go to Snohomish for lunch.
My fish and chips meal
Sher’s loaded potato skins
The Oxford interior is filled with old framed photos, a huge suit of armor hanging from the ceiling and a mannequin of a dance hall girl standing on a ceiling mounted swing. That’s the tip of the iceberg too. Oh, by the way, The Oxford Saloon is haunted. Yes, haunted with many eyewitness accounts. Sher and I had a private tour in January 2020 right before COVID hit, and were told the stories including all about the scary cursed doll. Read about our tour here.
Behind the bar, complete with Moose
Swinging dance hall girl
BIG Knight watching you eat
The haunted doll, safe now on top of the bar
We really had a good time. I especially relished having my fish and chips again at my favorite place. It is fun having a favorite place so far away from our home base in Indiana. As usual, finding a parking spot was a real challenge. But patience prevailed, and after about ten minutes of driving around a spot reasonably close to the Oxford. We also learned that there will be fun Haunted Rock band every Thursday this month. Bet we’ll be back for that. This is the Oxford Saloon website.
Christa’s Sandwichboard and Wine Bar
It didn’t take us long to get out and enjoy local restaurants once we got to our family’s place. Snohomish is a fun and historic small town northeast of Seattle. The main street is filled with eclectic stores, antique shops and a wide variety of eateries. Many of the restaurants put up tents on the street to accommodate COVID restrictions. Many of these remain.
Sher with our grandson across from our daughter and son-in-law. Note to tent out side in the street.
Christa’s Sandwichboard and Wine Bar has become one of our family’s favorite. Sher and I soon discovered why it’s a favorite. The sandwich menu is one of the most expansive I’ve seen. Assortments of flat breads and small plates are ready, as are cheese and meat platters. We opted for the hot sandwich specialties.
Basil, Mozzarella & Tomato – “BMT”
The classic Reuben ala Sandwichboard
Humbolt Fog cheese, thin sliced ham w/fixin’s
Kid’s toasted cheese w/fruit & cookies
The tag “Wine Bar” is included in the name of this fun facility. There was a 1/2 price sale ongoing, so you know us, we had to partake. We got a nice California red, part of the 2017 Joel Gott Wines Artist Series. Good wine!
Comfortable dining with fun decor
This was a delightful place to eat, the service was great and the food delicious. It was so nice to have supper with our Washington family again. It doesn’t get any better than being with family, does it?
Indiana to Seattle: fly or drive our RV?
Requires 33 hours drive time, one way. At least four or five days with stops.
That was the question. We were planning a trip to Seattle to visit our daughter, son-in-law and grandson. It was hard to decide as we love travelling in our RV. It gives us a place to stay so that we aren’t intruding on our daughter’s family all the time. It also gives us a chance to relax and be alone. Staying with them is lots cheaper and gives us more time with them and our grandson. They have a big house and we have our own room when we are there. On the other hand, is it fair to stay with them? I feel like it is a lot to ask having to put up with us. If we drove we would need to be there for a longer time period, maybe 2 or 3 months. If we fly we can stay a shorter amount of time and go back for another visit sooner. Our grandson who is growing up fast (he is 6) and started 1st grade this year was a big part of our decision. We need to see him more often. We have done both and have been happy with each visit.
After much debating we decided to fly. This decision was based on many things. We didn’t really want a long road trip at this time. The coronavirus has kept us away from family a long time. We did have a quick visit as our son’s wedding, but we wanted and needed some quality time with each of our 5 kids and their families. We also thought that maybe we could help them while we were visiting. We can cook some meals and help keep the house straightened. When we decided to look at it as a we can help trip, instead of being a burden it became more definite that we should fly.
Flying time: 4 hours 53 minutes, non-stop (Photo courtesy Alaska Airlines)
So next week we begin our journey to Seattle, WA. We are flying on Alaska Airlines and were able to get a direct flight for a very good price. We bought our tickets with our Chase Freedom card and we like the points we get when we use it. We usually fly Delta and have lots of points built up on their plan, but couldn’t find a direct flight for the right times and dates. Our daughter tells us that the Alaska Airlines miles program and credit card are the best, so we will be looking into that. Would love any suggestions on what you think is the best travel miles and credit card choices. We check out doctorofcredit.com and will often find good deals on his site. We don’t spend enough to really take advantage of his credit card finds, but we have made extra money by opening checking account he suggests. We get nothing by mentioning his site, but it is an interesting site to check out.
We are excited about our trip next week and have started packing. We will be posting pics of our bags in the next few days.
~Sher
Our backyard bird feeders are back in service
Hummingbirds are so amazing!
In May 2021 some species of songbirds began to be afflicted with a deadly disease of some kind. This started in Virginia and moved west. Indiana birds began to die in late May and by early June the Indiana Department of Natural Resources put out the warning to stop all bird feeding in private yards. We posted about that. We both really missed our almost daily birdwatching time our back.
By the first week in August the DNR published the news that 76 out of Indiana’s 92 counties were bird disease free, and could resume the use of bird feeders.
Our cute little Nuthatch is back
We soon refilled our two seed feeders, and also refilled our hummingbird feeder. (DNR also had said to stop using hummingbird feeders as well.) It has been a couple of weeks since we started feeding our avian friends again, and slowly lots of the birds are coming back to our yard. We haven’t seen all of the species we had seen before the “lockdown”, but perhaps that is to be expected. We are grateful that we can again enjoy birding from our backyard swing!
A nice Labor Day weekend family visit
Sher and I and our son took a quick trip over to Ohio for a Saturday before Labor Day cookout at our #2 son’s house. (He’s the one who got married a little while back.) The trip over was fortunately uneventful with light traffic and no rain.
We had a great time! It is so nice to see family. We had the chance to visit with three of our grandchildren and our new step-granddaughter. The food was great (see the grill photo!). After the meal Sher and I watched the others play some funny and fun online games. We also played the two pinball machines that our son has in his basement. Both he and his new wife are serious pinball machine players, both doing very well in tournaments. While I played the Star Wars pinball machine, I kept remembering the classic song by The Who about that deaf, dumb and blind kid, Tommy the “Pinball Wizard”.
Sher enjoying the lovely day outside.
It is so nice to spend time with family. Sher and I both shared stories with the grandkids about their parents, went over genealogy and pictures, and even discussed future get togethers, including the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. We certainly enjoyed our time in Ohio. Soon we’ll be in Seattle for more time with more family…
Diet and cycling update
It’s been about 10 days since I have mentioned the diet and exercise program I have been on. So far, so good I have to say. The regime of having a salad each day with a couple of meal replacement shakes has been a chore, but I have been fairly faithful to it. My blood pressure has been greatly improved, and stays improved day to day. I am losing weight as well.
Sher and I met relatives at a local restaurant over the weekend. It had been over a year since we have seen them, and we had a most enjoyable visit. For my meal I splurged and chose a cheeseburger. I did, however order it without the bun. (I have not had any bread since I started the diet. Damn, I miss wheat toast.)
Chillin’ on his “front porch”
I’ve been riding my bike everyday. More often than not I ride a second time too. The ground hog pictured is a critter that I see everyday during my morning ride. When I starting riding he would duck under his yard barn as soon as he spotted me. Now he just ignores me and keeps sitting on his “front porch”. I guess he has gotten used to me riding through his territory.
Roadtirement 