More Visit Details

When I know that family will be visiting, I try to prepare foods they like. Brent wanted biscotti, apricot tapioca pudding, salmon and some kind of soup. Given a choice of homemade ice cream flavors Cindy picked toasted coconut ice cream.
With that request in mind, I baked apricot almond biscotti and started minestrone soup.
After our sight-seeing day on Thursday we had minestrone with breadsticks, then toasted coconut ice cream for dessert. This was also the only night I set the table with the bone china, but we love the soup bowls and the tiny dessert bowls so it was a pretty meal.
Friday the guys went fishing and we went shopping so Cindy and I had lunch at Panera Bread. I think the guys just had snack stuff - I have one photo of Brent holding a salmon in his left hand and a bag of biscotti in the other.
Friday evening we grilled a salmon the guys caught (We froze and sealed the rest of it for them to take home). Dessert was apricot tapioca pudding, which Brent and I really enjoy. Our spouses - not so much, but they didn't grow up having it as a comfort food. It must be an acquired taste.
Saturday we had omelets in a bag for breakfast then headed out for a day of sightseeing. It was rainy but we stopped first at the Museum of Flight so Cindy and Brent could see the Concorde and Air Force One. Neal can't get onto those planes, so he stayed in the van. We had two rain check passes for the Concorde, and the cashier gave us a third one to use. That was a nice surprise.


After touring the planes we stopped at the gift shop, bought Neal a red Boeing/Disney tie, then went to the peninsula. Brent was interested in seeing the Tacoma Narrows bridge, an easy request, but our destination was Port Townsend. Our first stop was the much-touted purse store where Cindy and I found new leather purses, plus Neal bought a leather pouch, huge duffle bag and I found a lined fleece vest. We stopped for pizza at a walk-up window then wandered down Main Street, saying hello to a friend in a dress shop, listening to street musicians and resting at Elevated Ice Cream. Yum!


From there we looked at the wooden boats, then to Fort Worden to look around. Finally we headed to the upper part of town to see some the Victorian homes. That was the weekend of the Port Townsend home tours but we were too late for the tours, and we didn't see any that were handicap accessible, but Brent and Cindy did get a glimpse inside a couple. Brent and I went into Manresa Castle to ask about wheelchair access to their dining room, but the waiter told us the only access was a steep freight ramp into the kitchen. So no, not accessible.


We left Port Townsend as it was getting dark, drove to the ferry dock and returned to Seattle just as the Mariner's Game was ending - love that traffic! On the ferry, Neal couldn't go up to the deck with us, but he could get the van ramp down because we were stopped on the second level towards the front. Until Neal became paraplegic I had no idea how many places are not accessible for wheelchairs. We both took so many things for granted. Brent bought Ivars Clam Chowder on the ferry and we returned to the van to share with Neal. It was so windy that close to the front of the ferry!
Sunday morning we took them to the airport in time for Neal to attend the bishopric meeting at 8. I so enjoyed having them here - really miss my family.