LAKE MERIDIAN WAS THE LOCATION OF OUR DRAGON BOAT RACE

Wow, what a beautiful venue!  My paddling mates had told me how awesome Lake Meridian was and it lived up to the hype.

We had perfect weather for our fun day of racing.  We didn't make it to the finals but we did really well and I'm happy with our day.
I'm already looking forward to next year's Lake Meridian race!

A FACTORY TOUR AT THEO CHOCOLATE

was on our Seattle weekend agenda and it was a delicious excursion.

Theo Chocolate shows you the process from bean to bar.  They are organic and fair trade certified, most of their dark chocolate is vegan and besides the tour being delicious, it was fascinating and informative.

If you are in the Seattle area and haven't gone on the tour, put it on your to-do list.  You'll be glad you did!

I HOPE ED BEGLEY GOES TO THE PUYALLUP MOTHER EARTH NEWS FAIR EVERY YEAR

because I'm going to start a wall collection of me and Ed.

Me and Ed in 2012

Me and Ed in 2013 - I've gained weight and Ed got a haircut

Larry and I love going to the Mother Earth News Fair.  We leave inspired, wanting to do better and more, plus, it fuels our dreams of one day being completely self sufficient.

Now that we our little flock of five, we went into the poultry tent to check out some feathered friends.  Some have the craziest, coolest hair!

Some are drop dead gorgeous and other breeds, not so much.

We saw a hen lay an egg - something I've never seen before - SO cool!

Larry and I went to many seminars and demonstrations - electric motorcycles, solar power, soap making, taking care of our chicks, farmstead cooking, herding dogs, medicinal weeds....and there were more we couldn't take.  That's why we love going back every year. We learn SO much!

I fell in love with goats and alpacas.

And one of the funniest things we saw on our way out were a couple of llama carriages.   So cute and hilarious!

LEMAY - AMERICA'S CAR MUSEUM

in Tacoma is so cool!  To tell you the truth, I wasn't super excited about going but knew the man clan were going to love it.  What I didn't expect, was for me to love the LeMay Museum too.
It's a four story museum filled with American cars, history and technology.  There are also a few motorcycles, trucks, the Flintstone mobile from the movie and the best part is they have three race simulators.

While the man clan have car knowledge, I was loving the license plates, hood ornaments and Triumphs.

We have passed this museum a gazillion times on the way to Seattle.  It's next to the Tacoma Dome and most definitely worth the stop.

WHILE WE WERE IN TACOMA

we stayed at Hotel Murano and it was fabulous.  I loved the simple color, modern feel and subtle sense of whimsy the hotel had.  Not to mention, customer service was top notch.
The coolest thing about the hotel, was every floor was a mini art gallery for glass artists.  We went onto every floor to take a look and it was fun to see what impact the art had on the boys.  Some were okay, some were breathtaking and of course there were giggles when he hit an exhibit that was boobies.

PS - Much to our delight, we met up with SteviePoo for dinner and he was able to swing by the Dragon Boat Festival the following day.  Always a fun time when Steve's around.

We would definitely stay here again.  We loved it!

RAINIER DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL

in Tacoma was my first dragon boat race this weekend.  I've been paddling with Pax Bellatoris (latin for Peace Dragon Warriors), a mixed team, since the end of last summer. (Peace Dragon Warriors is the all woman team.)  Today was the day to show the results of our hard work.

I couldn't stop looking at this gorgeous view!

We had gorgeous weather, surrounded by happy people, we were proud of our race results and we left exhausted - every ounce of energy was left on the water.  It was wonderful.