As I started writing all this down I realized we were fairly busy traveling last year. That would explain the high volume of travel photos and the lack of vineyard & winery pics. We didn’t get to work with Gerardo as much last year, he found a day job working for an electrician which meant Paul, Millie, and I did a lot more of the work.
We started off the year in Seattle in a condo we rented and shared with six friends. We watched the New Years Eve fireworks from the balcony and watched the sun rise on the Olympic mountains every morning. Paul drove us to Woodinville for wine tasting, and each afternoon it seemed we were in Pikes Market picking up groceries for that evenings meal. On my birthday, we caught the Seahawks/Rams game. The Seattle trip was a great start to the year and definitely a highlight for me. I took the opportunity of a cheap flight on Southwest and flew back to Seattle in May to see my friend and her baby boy for lunch.
View from our seats at the Seahawks game.
In February the courtyard at Pat O’Briens was perfectly quiet and welcoming with the outdoor heaters on full blast. On our trip back in October, this courtyard was a zoo as the Quarter filled up with Auburn fans that came in for the LSU/Auburn game in Baton Rogue. It was actually good to see so many people in town even if it meant waiting for seats in bars and needing reservations for dinner. One thing we’ve learned in New Orleans is that you don’t need to wait in line for anything, just walk a couple of blocks and you’ll find comparable food and drink nearby.
In July, I accompanied Paul to Minnesota for his day job. While he was in meetings, I was walking thru the labyrinths of the skywalk and outdoors on possibly the hottest day of summer there. We popped into Fogo de Chao after work to escape the heat of the day and had a fair amount of caipirinhas before feasting on the endless arrays of meat that come to your table. The photo above is from one of the indoor shopping areas, part of an indoor fountain that I spotted on my walk.