Joanne’s visit

Last week, my friend Joanne came to visit. We’re no longer the sassy young things we were when we were roommates at BYU; she’s a busy mom of three and I’m a crusty old newspaper woman. But we managed to muster up enough energy to get a lot of playing into the short time she was here in Seattle (Thursday-Tuesday). Unfortunately, I had to work on Friday, so Joanne did a bit of sight-seeing by herself that day. When she couldn’t take wandering around in the rain anymore, she took my car and went to my house. While she was waiting for me to get off work, she made dinner — isn’t she sweet?

On Saturday we took the Victoria Clipper to — where else — Victoria for the weekend and had tea at the Empress Hotel and Butchart Gardens. The hotel’s afternoon tea was a little more formal, but both had really nice spreads. It made me wish Americans still practiced that custom.

We came back to Seattle Sunday and played for the next two days in Seattle. On Monday we wandered around my neighborhood, Fremont, and went to the Ballard Locks for a picnic. I introduced Joanne to our friendly neighborhood troll and then we strolled along the Burke-Gilman Trail by Lake Union. We stopped for a bit to watch the Fremont Bridge open because Joanne had never seen a drawbridge in action before. Then we walked to Theo Chocolate for some decadent treats for Joanne to take home to share (or not).

We went downtown Tuesday and strolled through the Olympic Sculpture Park and did a little shopping at Pike Place Market. After that, I took Joanne to one of my favorite stores in Seattle, Uwajimaya. I told her it was like Disneyland, but I think she was a little disappointed after I hyped it up so much.

When we got home, I hopped in bed to stay warm while Joanne packed up for her flight back to Pennsylvania that evening. I didn’t intend to fall asleep, but I dozed off for about an hour. When I woke up, Joanne was peacefully snoozing in her bed. I guess we were both a little tired from all our playing.

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