blog post

Hello! Back from Seattle-land and the record-breaking heat wave!  Spent as much time down by the water as possible.  On the hottest day, I went with my son and his family down to the Oregon coast just west of Portland.

The kids splashed around in the water and made sand "castles" for a couple of hours while we cooled off.  The beach was actually foggy -- you could literally see the clash of cold air off the water with hot air over the land.

In Seattle, I got to see the new cruise terminal -- looks like it will be easty to park and shuttle over, or grab a taxi to get to.  I believe that Holland America, Princess, and Carnival are using it.  Well, I should say that Carnival will be using it next summer, when the Spirit begins sailing round-trip from Seattle.

Seattle is just a great place to spend some time -- you can stroll around the Pike Street Market area for great shopping and dining, visit the Music Experience, go to the top of the Space Needle then take the monorail straight to Nordstrom's downtown, take a harbor cruise, go whale-watching, drive or take a tour to Mt. Rainier, drive or take a tour to nearby wineries and tasting rooms, catch a ball game...

I was excited to have halibut twice in the four evenings that we were there: once at Palisade Restaurant, and again at my uncle's cabin on Puget Sound.  That was a great visit -- he and his wife also took me and Steve out kayaking!  So now, when we go somewhere that's too cold for snorkeling, we can rent glass-bottomed kayaks and still be out on the water.

Well, I'm back to business now, so give me a call -- I've already got several people looking at Fall trips or peeking ahead to next year.  Some of the introductory pricing for 2010 is very attractive, so there's no harm in  placing a deposit and taking advantage!