from hanging with jaime on the eastside i cruised into the city to one of my favorite thai restaurant....tom thai...yummy....it is this hole in the wall that a guy named tom owns...and yes, he's thai...you gotta love it...i met up with my friend shaun for this delicious meal and we had some kick butt bubble tea as well...what a fun time on the ave :) 
after hanging with shaun i jumped in the cruiser and headed south to portland...and let me tell you it was a HOT day...actually it got too hot for the convertible as the temperature gauge in the car registered 103 degrees...in portland...yes, the cool pacific northwest....crazy...i stayed the first night in town with my good friend alecia and her finacee josh...they have this cute house in a nice section of town and cooked a fabulous meal of halibut...after dinner of course we took a ride in the criuser....what fun :)
the next day in portland was quite mellow for me...and i met up with my friend andy, who was a roommate of mine in ecuador when i lived there...we had a tasty meal at a pub, went for a ride in the cruiser and then i met his boyfriend carlos...what a nice guy...i had fun showing them my antarctica dvds...and they were amazed with the footage....it was fun night :) below is a shot of andy and carlos...
the next day i met up with my friend cindy at this great peruvian restaurant in portland called andina....yummy...we had many different types of tapas and caught up with each other...it was a perfect place to have tapas and peruvian food and the atmosphere was great!!!! here's the shot of cindy and i from the restaurant....cindy and i haven't spent tons of time together...but when we have, we bond soooooo well...i love having friends like cindy...we discuss the world and everything in it...tons of fun :)
after a tasty lunch with cindy i headed back north...and what a drive it was...crystal clear...i saw wonderful views of mt. hood, mt. st. helens and mt. rainier on the drive north....all i can say is wowowowowowowow....and it was a ton of fun with the convertible....i spent the night hanging with my friends candi and steve and their dog barley and two cats...candi and i actually had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants called from the bayou, just outside of tacoma....yummy is all i have to say...below is a shot of candi, barley and steve...too cute...
the next day dawned and i was headed north again...this time to see my friend jen...i know jen from my two week stint with NASA for educators...she is a great mom these days and i got to meet the newest addition to her family, sarah...i also got to hang out with her son david and see all of the thomas the tank engine stuff he got for his birthday that had just passed...jen and her family live a cute neighborhood and seem really happy with life, love and the pursuit of happines...it was a fun visit....and i just love sarah's hair :)
i went from one fun family to another...and stayed the night with my old pacific science center boss winlar and his wife teri and son wily....they made some home cooked salmon that was really tasty, along with sweet summer corn...my first of the season...yum...and we watched winlar's most recent version of kazoo...his stand-up comedy act....i love the catching of the grapes...and am amazed at just how far he can catch them from....it was great to visit with him and talk about world cup and such as he and teri are HUGE soccer fans...below is a shot of the family :)
the next day was a packed one...i started out my morning with my good friend christine with a breakfast at a great restaurant called the coastal kitchen...christine and i taught together at overlake....it was great to hear all the latest gossip and talk about living on the west coast vs the east coast, as christine is a new york kind of girl...and i like her a lot, even if she does root for the yankees...here's a shot of the two of us after breakfast :)
after breakfast with christine i headed downtown yet again to have lunch at a chinese restaurant...ho-ho's, with my good friends karen and landon...these were the friends i visited in taiwan last year in september...but they have now moved back to the seattle area and are making a go of it in the states...these two were also married in thailand in march...pictures from their wedding are spectacular...it was terrific to see them and then spend most of the day hanging with landon...riding around in the cruiser...we even stopped by bastyr university...a fun alternative medicine university i used to work at....it was a perfect day to ride with the top down...let me tell you :) here are karen and landon after a tasty meal at ho-ho's :)
the last section of my day was over in west seattle, where i hooked up with my good friend joni and her boyfriend don and don's three year old daughter elsa...we had a tasty home made meal and caught up on all the recent news and events in our lives...joni has this great house in west seattle that she has done so much with....and the shot below includes the family members and the two dogs...muddy dog and isabel....both very loveable....it was a fun visit to joni's place :)
time for me to call it an evening....as you can see, i visited a lot of friends while i was on the west coast tour...and i will continue with the second week i was in town tomorrow or the next day....it was terrific trip out west....the weather was perfect, the people were superb hosts and i had some amazing food...all-in-all i just couldn't beat it :) until next time....
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