We left a very windy and chilly Portland on Tuesday afternoon and headed toward Toledo, Washington to visit our friend MaryAnn Henriques.  She used to live in Juneau and moved to Toledo after retiring a few years back.  Her brother George was also down from Juneau visiting so we got to see him too.

We spent the afternoon chatting and catching up on what we’ve all been doing for the past few years.  It was very enjoyable.

MaryAnn had a couple of dogs, Milo and Amanda.  Milo had to have surgery on his foot and was stuck in a lampshade collar much to his embarassment.

MaryAnn made a delicious dinner of roasted corned beef and vegetables along with Red Lobster cheese biscuts.  It was really good, I’m going to have to give it a try when we get home.

We spent a really quiet and restful night and took the requisite photo on the front stoop the next morning.  It was really sunny but really cold out at picture time.

A little later, we  all drove up to Centralia for lunch at Country Cousin.  It was a really interesting place with lots of old farm equipment and ornaments on the walls.  After a good, hearty lunch, Bill and I took off for Everett, a half way point between Toledo and our next stop, Vancouver, BC.

We went through Seattle on the way and this was our first glimpse of the city.

We’re staying at another brand new hotel in Everett, it’s the fourth or fifth one this trip, and it’s very nice.   Here’s the view from our window.

I got the laundry caught up this afternoon while Bill was working out and then we walked to dinner at an Italian place that the front desk clerk recommended.  We ate way too much really good pasta and now we’re relaxing, watching TV and catching up on emails.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading for Vancouver to visit friends we met this summer on our boat trip, Gerd and Linda.  We’ve always enjoyed Vancouver and it will be really special to spend time with friends as well.