Brewery and Winery at Redmond

Red Hook Brewery

Attentive visitors

Samples of beer.

The factory

Lunch at the brewery restaurant.

After lunch we walked to the adjacent winery - Chateau St. Michelle :

Grape vines along the path.

Look at the bunches of budding grapes.

Wow, bountiful.

At the chateau.

Rested at the lobby.

With glass sculpture at the lobby.

At the winery garden. "What are these berries called?" They looked like blueberries.

Bear berries?

Fragrant tree blossoms!

Can't resist taking a picture with the pine tree too. Hehe.

Lavender Farm

It was a nice day to visit the lavender farm.

So pretty!

They had all kinds of merchandise inside the lavender shop, including lavender cookies and ice creams. Even though a little bit pricey I couldn't resist buying their little knick knacks. And we all ended up eating their ice cream too. Hahaha.

Lucas painted the beautiful scenery of a creek beside the farm in watercolor. 

Visiting Rev. Ron Jones

Reverend Ronald Jones was an evangelical pastor in Timanan, Upi. He had since left Philippines and went back to United States. He pastored in Wasilla, Alaska for some time but is now retired and lives in Tacoma, Washington. My husband Lucas is a good friend of the reverend and they keep in touch through Facebook. Since we were in Seattle, we decided to visit the good reverend at his home in Yakima, Tacoma. It took us about 3 hour ride to reach his place but it was worth the travel. We did enjoy the road ride and simply happy to see the good reverend in high spirit with his wife Karen in their cozy beautiful retirement house.

On our way, we passed by Ellensburg and ate lunch at a certain rustic place called Daily Bread. The cashier was doned in some kind of an Amish outfit and the other girls in long apparel. I so wanted o take a picture with the cashier in Amish garb but I was just afraid to be rude and offend her. I opted to stay put and behaved myself.

For lunch, I ordered a bowl of broccoli cream soup and half a turkey sandwich. A copy of Our Daily Bread book was on the table.

Took a picture of the establishment. 

 Decided to ride through the Tacoma Canyon Road instead of the highway. Took time for some photo ops.

Beautiful scenery.

Took more pictures from the car.

 

 Desert area

 Finally, we reached our destination. Here's Lucas and Rev. Ron Jones inside the pastor's home.

Get together photo.

Nice seeing you both Reverend and Karen Jones. God's willing, we may see each other again.

One Shopping Day

We went shopping at the outlet mall before the July 4th celebration. We wanted to avail of the independence day discount, but it seemed everybody else had the same idea. It took us quite a while to find a parking space, and while inside the mall, there seemed to be some kind of panic buying for sale's merchandise. Hahaha. We bought clothes mostly. I didn't buy much but I helped Martha to shop some. Before going home for the day, we decided to eat out somewhere nearby. Roy looked for a good restaurant review from his phone. The place we soon located was a gasoline station eatery at Marysville. We kind of hesitated at first, but the review proved to be right. We really ate and savored good authentic Mexican food. My youngest son Emil's girlfriend is a Mexican American by the way. Muchas Gracias!

Happily we found this nice place for dinner.

Lucas with the sombrero.

 

This was my order....hmm..yummy...really good!

Tortillas

Roy enjoying his meal. Hahaha. 

July Fourth Celebration

We had a blast celebrating July 4th at Bellevue, Washington, USA:

With Uncle Sam. Hehehe.

Roasted corn....

Pop corn.....

 Free potato chips.......

Lemonade.......

Street food......

Food trucks.....

Picnic at the park....

Funnel cake, soda etc....what fun to recklessly eat anything to your fancy! Hahaha.

Some solemn moment at the park - war memorial.

Fantastic fireworks......

 Great symphony.......

Capping the celebration was the superlative performance of the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra. What a wonderful celebration. Such a great country. Happy July 4th everyone!!!

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

The sea was turbulent after we left Ketchikan. After a disturbing night, we arrived Victoria safely the next day. It was a beautiful day, a nice cold afternoon infact. We were so lucky. It was just so timely that we arrived Victoria, British Columbia on July 1st, when Canadians were celebrating their Canada Day. How fortunate to have participated in their celebration.

Welcome to Victoria, Canada!

We're in Canada.

While a lot of tourists took the trolley or go on a bus for sightseeing excursion, we opted to walk on foot to the town center guided by a map.

I was glad to have taken a photo of this beautiful vine covered walk way. By the way, that was Lucas back walking under the vines. Hehehe.

Took pictures of beautiful houses and gardens.....

My dream house and garden. Hehe.

 

We finally reached the Parliament Building.

Canada Day was very festive and merry in Victoria.

We mingled in with the celebration.

The marina, the huge pine tree, the totem pole and the parliament building behind us. Such nice view.

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Ate supper at a nice cozy restaurant. I ordered pizza and classic coke. Hehehe.

In front of the restaurant, festive atmosphere all over.

Got to walk back, the boat will be leaving at 11:30pm. Fireworks started at 10pm. Walking down the street, we enjoyed being part of the street party. Unfortunately my camera could not capture the night scenes. I loved the festivities in Victoria.

The parliament building at night.


Arriving port on foot.

What a wonderful day. Happy Canada Day!