The McLaughlin Family: Seattle '09

Yes, I have been delinquent and yes, once again I am not so into writing a whole bunch about our trip up I-5 to visit our friends in Seattle...but it isn't all my fault. Maybe I would feel more inclined to write paragraph after paragraph of our adventures if I was able to do so right after we returned on Sunday.....but it was not to be. Once again I ran out of room on my computer to down load all of the pictures I took. This is becoming an unfortunately common occurrence :( So to try and help, Matt was doing some reconfiguring/copying/de-fragmenting/who knows what else of our desk top computer trying to free up some space. This took until Thursday afternoon and is one of the reasons that I haven't gotten to my blog until now :)

So anyways, we were in Seattle for a 4 day weekend with our friends Jon, Tami and their daughter Audrey (who you will see in many photographs because she is just so cute and seemed to like having her picture taken). Friday was spent just north of Seattle wine and beer tasting at the local wineries and the Red Hook brewery. We ate lunch at the Barking Frog (not to be mistaken for barking spiders....some of you know what I am talking about!), which I highly recommend, especially the Grand Marnier Prawns....yummmy! We knew it would be good since it was right next door to one of the highest rated eating experiences in the US. I say eating experiences because I really don't know if you can call it a restaurant. It is called the Herb Farm and it is a 9 course meal eaten over 5 hours with 6 different wines matched to some of the courses...oh yeah and it is about $275 a person! One day we told ourselves we would come back and eat there, and make sure to have reservations at the lodge across the parking lot because who really feels like driving home after a bottle and a half of wine, and a full belly that probably wouldn't fit behind the wheel of the car anyways! The draw to this place is obviously the food, they use herbs and produce that are grown on their farm and they also have themes for the menu every couple of weeks. It also boasts celebrity chefs, the current one being the former chef at the white house during the Clinton administration. One day....

The next day began with a tour of the Boeing plant in Everett. I don't have any pictures since they are VERY strict on banning any electronic devices/phones/cameras from coming along. All I can say is that I understand now why I am not an engineer. I am baffled by the construction and planning of the building that they build the planes in let alone the planes themselves!! We got to see the new 787 dream liner...very cool.

Besides our 2 little field trips, the weekend was filled with A LOT of eating of some awesome food, some drinking of some great wines and some entertaining playing of some competitive games.....Thanks guys for letting us stay and for a fun time as always!