Don, Cindy and Josh

Our friends from Arizona came to visit over Thanksgiving weekend! Don, Cindy and Josh arrived Thursday morning and despite all of the holiday delay warnings their plane landed about 15 minutes early. Once we got back to the house the Thanksgiving meal preparations got underway. Daryl and Donnie quickly found their spot on the sofa for football.

Friday we went into downtown Seattle, parking at Seattle Center where they had a cool (very large) village display. The photos here are just a small portion of the village.

Then we took the monorail to Westlake Center. Westlake Center was abuzz with activity kicking off the holiday shopping season. They closed off the nearby streets and had all kinds of performances going on. The 55' holiday tree was all decorated with the official lighting happening later that evening.

We walked to Pike's Place for a taste of local treats from the chowder shop to authentic Mexican fare and mini cheesecakes, then on to the waterfront. The picture shown here is a part of Seattle skyline and Bell Harbor Marina.
From there we continued our walk in downtown Seattle before ending up back in Westlake Center. We noticed they had set up for horse drawn carriage rides - since the line was short, we decided to take a spin!On our way back to the car we stopped to watch this street performer for a bit - it's amazing how good drums can be with wine bottles and 5-gallon buckets... it sounded good!
Saturday we went to Maltby Cafe for a famous cinnamon roll and delicious brunch before heading off to some of the local wineries for tastings. We decided to skip the tours and head straight to the tasting rooms. We hit 3 wineries before heading back home. Here is a photo at Chateau St. Michelle Winery
Sunday we took a drive up to Anacortes, Washington Park, Deception Pass, Deception Pass State Park and a quick drive through Oak Harbor. We found a great restaurant/brewery in downtown Anacortes for lunch. The drive through the Loop Road in Washington Park was awesome and afforded a few wonderful stopping places for pictures... including this really cool tree in the photos below.
Sadly Monday it was time for them to return home... We hope you had a wonderful vacation and we sincerely appreciate you coming here to visit and celebrate Thanksgiving with us. Rock on Game Night - and we can't wait for the next time.