Texas - Dec 2024

Shawna had to go to Cambodia to "hold down the fort" while the EYC director was in Mexico, but Keith stayed back in Texas to be our representative at Jordan's graduation.  Keith used the weekend Shawna was away to go to Scottsdale to see Rakesh, then was able to spend the rest of the week connecting with friends.

Keith and Jordan as a graduate

On the Monday, Keith met Rebecca for their traditional walk around White Rock Lake, followed by a coffee at Starbucks.  He then did a second lap himself, clocking in 18 miles / 34K steps that day!  That night he joined Keith's parents and Margaret for Indian at Our Place.

Post-walk with Rebecca

Tuesday was supposed to be another White Rock walk, but Brandon had to cancel due to work, so Keith just walked the neighborhood.  In the afternoon he decided to revisit two of his Texas alma-maters, UNT and TCC (fka TCJC).  It was impossible to remember which dorm he stayed in at UNT, but he was able to find the building the hospitality classes were in - though he recognized absolutely nothing!  Dinner that night was with Khris at Tavern Rossa where they had the "family meal" - though for the second time in a row he forgot to get the obligatory picture!

Keith at UNT

Keith at TCC

On the Wednesday Keith went for the morning walk and then drive down to Texas A&M for Jordan's graduation - his first visit since being unceremoniously booted out in Dec '87....37 years earlier! After checking in to the Townplace Suites, he went over to the rental house that Bob and Ginny had arranged for a quick dinner with Bob/Ginny, Mark, and Jordan/Mark.  

Thursday Keith walked a couple of laps around the park adjacent to campus, which also included a very well done memorial to the bonfire disaster.  Jordan's graduation lunch was at Elia Cafe Tapas Bar, where the same cast from the night before was joined by Mark's parents, Stephen/Amelia, and Peter/Jen/Michael.  It was a nice log lunch, with Jordan presenting Ginny with the honorary sash.  

Keith back at A&M, 37 years later

Keith with Stephen and Amelia

Peter and Jen

Keith had a nap in the afternoon and then joined everyone at Reed Arena for the graduation ceremony.  As a December graduation there were only about a thousand kids graduating so it was not as "painful" to sit through all the names. Peter and Michael had to drive back to DFW that evening so they bailed early, therefore a small subset went out to Fuego for quick Mexican fast food, then Keith/Jordan/Mark went to Cedar Lane on the bar strip for a beer before bed.  

Keith and Christy

On Friday Keith drove away at 8:15am, first stopping by Collin Street Bakery outlet in Waco to get a fruitcake and a pecan pie.  Next stop with a fun lunch with Christy at Mexican Sugar.  And the Friday night was dinner with Peter - since they were not really able to spend too much time together down at College Station.  They hit FnG Eats and then What's On Tap.  

Peter and Keith

Shawna arrived home Sat night and Keith picked her up from Love Field; we then had dinner at Keith's parent's house.  On Sunday we went to dinner at Debbie and Marvin's house, joined by Mike/Jenny and two other couples.  Debbie had cooked a delicious French dinner.  

Debbie and Marvin and the dinner crew

After a great week, we headed off to Louisiana!

Cambodia - Dec 2024

Shawna had to make a trip to EYC in Phnom Penh to spend a week with the management team while the Director was in Mexico with his wife, giving birth to their first child.  Since we were there earlier in the year, Keith did not join her to save some money. She flew out from Dallas, spending one night in LA before then taking the flight to Cambodia via Seoul.  In LA, she stayed at the LAX Marriot which is a large, nice hotel near the airport. She arrived into Cambodia quite late on the Sat night and stayed until the following Friday night.  While there, she stayed at the Courtyard Marriott which is a new, high rise building downtown with very nice, modern rooms.  She was upgraded to a larger room and breakfast, which was a very tasty buffet of mixed Western and Asian dishes, was included as well.  The hotel also had a decent sized gym on the top floor along with a rooftop pool.

Room at Courtyard Marriott

She spent her time at the Youth School meeting with the management team doing a few facilitated capacity building sessions while also spending 1:1 time with each manager. She also got to sit in on a few classes - English, STEM and Leadership - which were all fun.  Lou, another board member from Australia, was also there part of the week with Mates Abroad so she was able to spend some time with her as well as Mona, the board member that is local in Cambodia.  

EYC Management Team

For meals, she had breakfast at the hotel each day as well as a few other meals there.  Outside of the hotel, she went to the following places:

Master Sukisoup - she took the management team here for lunch one day.  They specialize in these large pots of broth that you throw in a bunch of vegetables and meat/seafood - kind of like a shabu shabu dish.  Needless to say, she only ate the broth.

One More Restaurant - she took the volunteers here for lunch one day.  Not knowing, she ended up ordering a dish with chicken that had a lot of bones so needless to say she only ate the rice!

Namaste India Restaurant - she took three alumni here for dinner one evening - and Mona, the local board member joined as well. She had chicken vindaloo - quite tasty. 

My morning commute via tuk tux

Scottsdale - Dec 2024

Shawna needed to go to Cambodia for a week to "hold down the fort" while the director was in Mexico with his new baby.  So Keith decided to fly to Scottsdale to see Rakesh for a long weekend.

Keith and Rakesh

It was an easy flight from Love Field to Phoenix, arriving in the late afternoon.  A quick taxi ride to Rakesh's new apartment took Keith too....the Cheesecake Factory?  A text exchange with Rakesh uncovered an inaccurate address - fortunately the taxi was still there to take Keith to the correct place, the Bergen Apartments.  Having been given access to the apartment via the Latch app, Keith got settled and then went for a walk.  Rakesh arrived back at the apartment so they could have dinner at Buck & Rider where a couple of beers and crab cakes were the dinner of choice.

Keith and Tammy at lunch

On Friday Rakesh had to work, so Keith went for a 3.5 hour walk along the canal (east), past Old Town Scottsdale.  He got back just in time for a noon lunch at Flower Child with Tammy, a former Aimco colleague.  Then, to help offset the inevitable calories from the rest of the weekend, Keith walked 30 minutes west along the canal to the Biltmore, then returned in time for a shower before the evening activities.  Sandeep, a friend of Rakesh's (and the dad of Ria's friend Sonja) came over for a couple bottles of wine before we walked across the alley to the new Global Ambassador hotel, developed by the owner of Fox Restaurant Group.  The hotel is stunning, with quite the "scene" - it seemed every Scottsdale mom was preening at in the lobby bar!  Dinner was at Le Ave in the lobby of the hotel where we shared a couple of salads and a tomahawk steak.  

Keith, Sandeep, and Rakesh at The Global Ambassador

On Saturday morning, Kelly came over to join us for a walk.  We took a Waymo autonomous taxi for 9 miles and then walked back to the apartment.  It was Keith and Kelly's first Waymo experience - just incredible.  Rakesh cooked smash burgers for lunch, we all had a nap, and then headed to dinner at Roka Akur where we shared some Japanese dishes.  The evening was concluded with a cocktail on the rooftop of the Global Ambassador - stunning views of Camelback.

Keith, Kelly, and Rakesh before our first Waymo ride

Sunday was a relaxing morning.  We watched the last part of the F1 race and then watched the Tottenham v Chelsea game - sadly Tottenham (Rakesh and Ria's team) lost 4-3.  Keith showered and went to the airport as Rakesh had a work call and then a flight that afternoon.  Great weekend catching up.  

New Mexico - Nov 2024

Since Graham is not able to leave NOSA during the holidays, Shawna had the recommendation that the family go to see him over Thanksgiving and help out.  We were supposed to go for the entire week but Keith had some doctor appointments so we flew out on Tuesday and came back Sunday.  Jean and Dick had driven up on Friday and stayed until the following Monday and Margaret and Boone flew in on Sunday and stayed until Wednesday.

View on our walk along the river

We had dinner out as a family to celebrate early Thanksgiving on Tuesday night - Graham had picked that we go to El Nido which is not fully in Sante Fe so a bit closer to get to.  We shared a salad and pork chop - food was pretty good.  We also had dinner at NOSA on Friday night with Jean and Dick and Sharon (Graham's business partner), her husband and two friends.  The food of course was amazing - in particular the carrot soup!

Dodds Family (forgot to get a pic with Margaret and Boone!)

The rest of the time we helped out at the restaurant, making some time to do our favorite walk along the river in the afternoons.  The busiest day was Thanksgiving day where Graham sold out both seatings - 90 people in total.  Jean and Dick also got a lot done while there and Margaret chipped in as well. It was all hands on deck by the family!

Ready for our shift

It was great to be back and happy to see some of the changes that were made since we were last there!

Rosemary Beach, FL - Nov 2024

We spent a long weekend in Rosemary Beach, FL (on the FL panhandle) with Eva, Brian, Stacie and Lucas.  Shawna worked with Eva and Stacie at Cigna.  Stacie and Lucas owns a beach house here so they invited us for the weekend.  The place is beautiful - a very nice six bedroom house just a few blocks from the beach.  The neighborhood is also very cute with walking distance to pools, restaurants and shops.  We definitely want to come back and spend more time here.  

The downtown of Rosemary Beach

We flew in from Dallas, arriving mid-day on Thursday.  Lucas was there to greet us and show us around while the rest of the crew showed up much later that evening.  We grabbed a quick lunch of salads at Gallion's and then went for a long walk.  That evening, we had an early dinner with Lucas at Cowgirl Kitchen where we sat outside and had tacos and a quesadilla.  When everyone else arrived later on, we stayed up drinking wine and catching up.

Stacie, Eva and Shawna at La Crema

The next day, we went for a walk around the neighborhood with Stacie and Lucas, stopping to treat ourselves to one donut from the Donut Hole.  We all went to brunch at Pescado where we sat outside on the balcony with views of the water.  We had mimosas and a yummy pork belly tacos and lobster grilled cheese.  We then relaxed on the beach - Stacie had arranged beach chairs and umbrellas for both days.  We watched the beautiful sunset with a glass of sparkling wine from one of the walkovers and then got ready for dinner.  That evening, we ate at La Crema, a great tapas place where we sat outside and shared a bunch of dishes for the table.  

Sunset on the beach

On Saturday, we had brunch at Summer Kitchen, each having the avocado toast which was very tasty.  We spent a brief time on the beach before we headed to a cocktail festival at Alys Beach.  At the festival, we got to try a variety of cocktails and they also had some yummy small plates.  It was a lot of fun and nice to see a different neighborhood as well.  That evening, we had dinner at Paradis, the nicest of the restaurants in Rosemary Beach.  We again sat outside and had a great salad and fish dish.  

The gang at the cocktail festival in Alys Beach

On Sunday, everyone left in the morning except the two of us who had a mid-afternoon flight back to TX.  So we went for another long walk and grabbed a very quick lunch from the local market.  What a great weekend!

California - Oct and Nov 2024

We returned from our side trip to TX to continue our West Coast road trip.  We spent three weeks in CA - enjoying the various wine areas and seeing friends.  

Sonoma Area

We originally planned on staying here for a full week in Sebastopol but our side trip to TX cut this short.  We got a last minute AirBnB in Cotati, a small town just south of Santa Rosa.  Because it was last minute, our 'affordable' options were limited but we did enjoy the place where we stayed.  It was a new, very clean one bedroom with a large living room / kitchen area, a nice sized back patio (which we never used) and a comfortable king sized bed! Only downside is that the neighborhood was not that special or nice but it was quiet.

While here, we did the following:

Merry Edwards Wine Tasting - This winery has one of our favorite sauvignon blancs and since Keith had never tasted here, we decided to give it a try.  Shawna had been here once before with Rakesh and Simran but Keith had a work call so he never got to go inside.  We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed their premium tasting - we had a sparkling wine, chardonnay, several pinots and ended with their sauvignon blanc - we bought a few bottles to take with us.  

Wine tasting at Merry Edwards

Dinner with Claire and Cheryl - We met them at Wild Goat Bistro in Petaluma.  We sat outside and shared a salad and pork tenderloin.  Food was tasty. Shawna had not yet met Cheryl so was nice to meet her and spend time with them both.

Dinner with Claire and Cheryl at Wild Goat Bistro

Hiked Taylor Mountain - This trail was about 15 minutes from our AirBnB.  We did the hike in two hours totaling 6 miles, and 1.3K elevation gain.  The trail was good - mostly exposed so would not want to do it in very hot weather. 

Hike on Taylor Mountain

Wine Tasting and Dinner with Randee and Brian - They live in Sacramento so decided to meet them half way in Napa Valley.  We first went to Bremer Family Winery - a small winery on Howell Mountain that they had been to before.  We sat outside and enjoyed several tastings of rose, chardonnay, claret and cabs. We also got a tour of the wine caves which were pretty expansive.  The place is nice and low key.  We got a couple of bottles to take with us plus a rose for us to enjoy at dinner.  For dinner, we went to Farmstead and Long Meadow Ranch in St Helena.  The place was great - nice decor and really good food.  We shared some biscuits and shishito peppers for the table and then the two of us shared a salad and pork chop with brussel sprouts - every thing was tasty.  After we finished the rose that we had bought, we had a bottle of red that they brought from one of their favorite wineries.  

Wine Tasting with Randee and Brian at Bremer Family Vineyards

Paso Robles

On our way to Paso, we stopped in Los Altos to have lunch at Bluestone Lane with Fran (Shawna's roommate at Fuqua) and her husband Dave.  We had not seen Fran in a very long time so was great to catch up.  We each had a salad which was pretty good.  

Lunch with Fran and Dave at Bluestone Lane

We stayed in Paso for four nights in a one bedroom AirBnB.  The place was a good size, was fairly modern and had a backyard that is shared with the other unit (which we never used).  It was showing signs of 'wear' and there were a few items in the unit that were broken.  That said, it was comfortable.  The town of Paso was not as cute as Shawna had remembered.  

While here we did the following:

Afternoon with Ria - We drove down to San Luis Obispo where Ria is attending Cal Poly.  The town itself is very cute and the campus is quite nice, nestled in the mountains.  We took her to lunch at Novo where we sat outside and had a mezzo platter and lamb rogan josh - both tasty.  We then took her to Trader Joe's so she could stock up on some food and then got a tour of campus, seeing her dorm, our friend Ralph's old dorm, the student center and many of the classroom buildings.  We walked up the canyon to see the architecture graveyard which are remnants of items built by the architecture students.  

Afternoon with Ria at Cal Poly

Wine Tasting - We did an afternoon of wine tasting, stopping at four places.  First stop was Adelaida - Shawna had been here once before and had remembered she liked the whites.  We sat on the porch and tasted several of the wines.  We had intended on getting a light lunch here but they didn't have their food delivery that day.  So we squeezed in the next stop, Halter Ranch, where we got a charcuterie board and brussel sprouts as well as a glass of wine.  The tasting room was very nice.  The third stop was at Brecon Estate, another place Shawna had been to before and is where she bought a piece of artwork in the prior visit.  We sat outside on the patio and did the tasting.  Our last stop was Booker, a modern tasting room where we shared a tasting.  Overall, the wines were pretty good but nothing really stood out so we did not buy anything.  That said, it was still a nice day.

Wine Tasting at Adelaida

Dinner - After a day of wine tasting, we decided to have dinner in town at Hatch.  They are known for their fried chicken so we had to give it a try - it was delicious.  We also got a yummy salad and pork belly appetizer to start!

Santa Barbara

On our drive down to Santa Barbara, we decided to hit two wineries in the wine valley north of town.  We first went to Presqu'ile which we had been to once before.  It is definitely one of our favorites in the area.  They have a beautiful tasting room, some really good wine and food options to order.  We sat right in front of the fireplace.  We did the tasting with a few extras and also had lunch - sharing a great salad and a cheese plate.  We bought seven bottles (Shawna fell prey to their marketing ploy of buy more / save more) - we got some sparkling, rose, chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.  This is definitely a place we would come back to! We then stopped at Roblar, which has a more traditional tasting room with a nice patio - we were not as much of a fan of their wines so we did not get anything.  

Wine Tasting at Presqu'ile

We then got to our hotel, Hotel Virginia (a Hilton Property) where we stayed for three nights. It's a nice hotel with small but nicely decorated rooms.  It is here that we met up with some of Keith's former LivCor colleagues and their significant others for the weekend: Julio / Meghan, Jeff / Christina and Brian / Kyle.

While here we did the following:

Hike - We wanted to do a long hike so hiked up Montecito Peak, which is a 7 mile, 2.5K elevation gain hike that took us 4 hours.  It was a great trail with nice views! We did this hike just the two of us.

Montecito Peak Hike

Drinks / Dinner with Livcor Gang - We first met up with the gang at Test Pilot for drinks - it's a tikki bar.  We sat outside and had a few rounds before heading over to dinner.  We then had dinner at Santo - a great Mexican place. We shared a yummy pork dish but also got a few appetizers for the table.  After dinner, we stopped at Wildcat Lounge (someone had recommended this place to Kyle) - turns out it was a dance club and we definitely were the oldest in the crowd.  We danced a bit and got a bunch of laughs! 

Wine Tasting and Dinner with Livcor Gang - Brian had booked us three different tastings, all in town and walking distance from each other.  We first stopped at Margerum - we liked most of their wines and we grabbed some nibbles for lunch.  Our second stop was Au Bon Climat - also really liked most of their wines - the host was pretty funny as well.  And our last stop was Longoria - we didn't care for their wine as much.  We had dinner at Sama Sama - a great Asian restaurant.  We got a bunch of dishes to share - everything was yummy.

Wine tasting with Livcor Gang

Lunch with Nikki and Chris - We met up with Nikki (Fuqua Alum) and her husband Chris for lunch at the Boat House - it was a beautiful day so we sat outside while we waited for our table and caught up.  We shared a few salads which were great.  

Lunch with Nikki and Chris at the Boat House

Thousand Oaks

We spent one night at Danelle and Dan's house in Thousand Oaks.  We arrived around 4:30 pm and sat outside enjoying some cocktails while catching up.  They made a yummy dinner of steak and potatoes which we had with some wine.  We also got to see their kids which we had not seen in a while.  The next morning, we had coffee and a croissant with them and then headed out.

Dinner with Danelle and Dan at their house

Los Angeles / Venice Beach

We stayed for three nights in a AirBnB on the canals in Venice Beach.  The place was small but cute and very convenient to walking around the area.  We had a separate bedroom with a small kitchen / living room area.

Our AirBnB on Venice Canals

While here we did the following:

Lunch with Terry - We met up with Terry, a childhood friend of Keith's at the Tipsy Cow and had salads.

Lunch with Terry at Tipsy Cow

Dinner with Michelle - We went to dinner at Felix Trattoria with Michelle (Alicia's sister).  The place was great - very cute and yummy food.  We shared several dishes for the table. 

Dinner with Michelle at Felix Trattoria

Dinner with Ryan and Miranda - We met up with Ryan, a former colleague of Keith's and Miranda at Gjelina, one of our favorites restaurants in Venice Beach.  We had shared several dishes for the table - all very good.

Dinner with Ryan and Miranda at Gjelina

Walked / ran along the canals and the boardwalk - the canals are very cute.  We also sat on the beach one evening and watched the sunset - very peaceful.

Walking the canals

Watching the sunset

Dinner at Sushi Enya - We had a date night and had some of the best sushi we have ever had.  This place was within walking distance of our AirBnB.

Dana Point  

On our drive down to San Diego, we spent the day near Dana Point at the Waldorf Astoria.  We decided to treat ourselves to the spa there.  So we worked out in their gym, had lunch at Aveo with views of the property from the balcony, sat at the spa pool and had very relaxing massages.

We then had dinner at Salt Creek Grill with Rick, a former colleague of Keith's and his wife Corey.  We shared a salad and fish dish - both tasty.  After dinner, we drove to San Diego.

Dinner at Salt Creek Grill with Rick and Corey

San Diego

We spent three nights in San Diego with John and JoAnna who joined us for the weekend.  We stayed at the Hotel Indigo in the Gaslamp District, using Shawna's points.  The hotel room was quite large and was really nice.  While here we did the following:

After John and Jo arrived at the hotel on Thursday night (after 11pm), we had drinks at Neighborhood, a swanky cocktail bar that was two blocks from our hotel.  

On Friday, we had lunch at The Kebab Shop - tasty greek wraps and bowls - and then went on a long walk up to Balboa Park and then down to the waterfront.  We stopped along the waterfront to have a few drinks at TopSail - a nice bar at Portside Pier with outside seating with views of the water.  We then went back to the hotel to freshen up, first stopping at the rooftop bar, Borrego, at our hotel for another beer.  

Drinks at TopSail with John and JoAnna

That evening, we had a yummy Italian dinner at Roman Wolves in Little Italy.  We shared several dishes for the table - the best of which was the pasta in the parmesan cheese bowl and the cacio e peppe pasta.  After dinner, we met up with Patrick, Lauren, Nejla (Patrick's sister) and Gerry (her boyfriend) for drinks at Ballast Point Brewing.  JoAnna's nephew, Paul, who is stationed in the Navy in San Diego also joined us.  We wrapped up the night with more drinks at Kettner Exchange.  

Drinks with Patrick, Lauren, John, JoAnna, Nejla, Gerry and Paul

On Saturday, we drove out to Mission Beach as JoAnna wanted to see a bar that is owned by her friend's brother - we popped into The Beachcomber and had a few beers while chatting with a few of the other patrons there - it was quite funny.  We walked along the beach for a short while and then grabbed lunch at The Draft House - the food was not the best.  

Lunch at the Draft House

Back at the hotel, we showered and then grabbed one drink at the brewery next door, Half Door Brewing.  JoAnna's nephew and his girlfriend met us and then he drove our car to give us a tour of the Naval base, seeing the many ships in dry and wet dock.  We then went to Coronado Island and went to the beach on the Naval base there and watched the sunset.  Here we drove past three aircraft carriers: Nimitz, Theodore Roosevelt, and Carl Vinson.  We went over to the Hotel del Coronado, the grand hotel on the island, walked around a bit and had a drink at the hotel bar.  It's a simply stunning property.  We drove back to our hotel to drop off our car and then walked to dinner, having Greek food at Mezze Greek Fusion - we shared a bunch of dishes for the table - food was pretty good but ambience was on the cheesy side with belly dancing at the tables.  We capped off the evening with one more drink at the rooftop bar of our hotel.  

The gang on the beach watching sunset

We were supposed to stay another few nights at Patrick's house and then make our way to Phoenix and then NM but our trip was cut short.  We found out a week prior that Keith has very early stage prostate cancer so we had to get back to TX to meet with doctors and start treatments.  So on Sunday, we drove back to TX over two days - stopping for an overnight in El Paso.  In total for the West Coast trip, we drove close to 6K miles!

Oregon - Oct 2024

After we left Seattle, we drove down to Oregon where we first spent a few days in wine country and then the weekend with Patrick and Donnell.

Hillsboro, OR

On our way to Hillsboro, we stopped in Portland to have lunch with Dave, a former colleague of Keith's from both Aimco and LivCor.  We ate at Shalom Y'all - a great middle eastern place.  We shared a few dishes for the table -- all very good; the best was the chicken kebab plate. 

Lunch with Dave at Sharon Y'all

We arrived at our AirBnB mid-afternoon and got settled in and relaxed for the rest of the day.  We stayed here for four nights.  The place is amazing and one of the best we have stayed in.  It's located on a small farm in Willamette Valley with great views of the valley.  It had two bedrooms with a medium sized open kitchen / living room.  It was very nicely appointed and super comfortable and the owners left us a dozen of eggs which we had for our breakfast each morning.  The only downside is that there is no oven but we did not need it. We would definitely stay here again! 

Our AirBnB

While here, we did the following activities:

Chehalem Park Hike -  Did a 8 mile, 1K elevation gain hike that took 2.5 hours.  Gradual up and down hill through a forest.  It's the closest hike to where we were staying so we ended up doing this three times.

Dinner with Becky and her husband, Diego, at Andina, a great Peruvian restaurant in Portland.  The food was good but not as flavorful as we had hoped.  We shared several dishes for the table.  

Dinner with Becky and Diego at Andina

Wine Tasting - We first went to Domaine Roy, a winery we had visited with Mark and Alicia on a prior trip.  We really liked their reds so decided to return. They have a really nice tasting room with a back patio that has views of the vineyard.  Our tasting included four wines but we ended up tasting a few extras.  We really liked their rose, chardonnay and several of their pinots.  The host was also very knowledgable and nice.  We bought a few bottles - one we drank back at our AirBnB and the others were for us to give away to people we were staying with.  We then went to our favorite winery in the area, Penner Ash, where we sat on the Adirondack chairs enjoying a taste of the rose while we waited for our table to be ready.  We then sat inside and tasted several of their pinots as well as the riesling.  You just can't beat the views at this winery - truly gorgeous.  Since we had been here several times, we ended up not getting any of the wine, even though they were all very tasty. We ended the day back at the AirBnB, sitting on the Adirondack chairs in the backyard with views of the valley and we enjoyed one of the bottles of wine along with cheese, pate and crackers that we had picked up at Red Hills Market, a great gourmet grocer and sandwich place in Dundee. 

Wine tasting at Penner Ash

Banks Vernonina Trail - Becky had suggested this trail so we went there to do a walk - great trail that used to be a railroad track.  

Banks Vernonina Trail

Lunch with Jim and MaryAnn at WildFin American Grill, a great seafood restaurant located in Beaverton. We shared a great salad and a fish dish.

Tualitin Hills Nature Park - This is in Beaverton - we stopped here after lunch to do a walk.  Nice trails that are about 4 miles.

Lunch at Mac Market - Located in McMinnville, we stopped here on the way to Harrisburg.  It has a few places inside - we had a salad and each a slice of pizza. 

Harrisburg, OR

We stayed at Patrick and Donnell's place in Harrisburg for two nights.  We arrived Friday mid-afternoon and got a tour of their place which is amazing.  We had seen it before the remodel and the difference is just stunning.  We also got to see their two adorable girls! That evening, we had dinner at their house - yummy Dungeness crabs.

The next day, we went to meet Donnell's parents and got a tour of the hazelnut farm - it was great to see the trees behind the brand - D's Nutz! Her parents were super nice so it was great to meet them as well.  We then went wine tasting at a winery where they are members - Walnut Ridge.  We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed a flight each and then got a bottle that we shared.  

Wine tasting with Donnell, Patrick and the girls

That evening, they dropped off the girls at Donnell's parents house and we did a progressive dinner/bar crawl through town, hitting all the 'hot' spots.  We first went to 99 Grill where we had a beer, wings and tater kegs (large tater tots mixed with cheese and bacon).  We then went to 36 Spices (their local Indian place) - concerned with a recent health inspection score, we just got a beer and some naan.  We played a few rounds of pool and the surprise of the evening was some really cool shots that Keith made! Our last stop was the bar next to their house, The Voo, where we had another beer, roasted chicken and French fries.  While certainly not a healthy evening, it was fun to explore the town and meet some of the locals.  

We left early the next morning to drive to Oakland where we had to do a 3 day detour to TX for some doctor's appointments.  We stayed at a hotel near the airport and flew out early the following morning.