Nice weekend in Spokane

Saturday, we went to the Liberty Lake Farmers Market. This market has been around since 2001 and is very popular. It started with 8 vendors and now as around 40, including local produce, baked goods, and other specialty items. You can also listen to music and have a bite to eat. We bought some fruit, including some very yummy, very sweet apricots. We also bought some salsas after having some samples. Of course, we also went to our friends, Dave and Silvia's booths which are right next to each other Silvia makes beautiful jewelry and Dave sells Milano organic spices, dried fruits, and teas.

   We had a great pizza while we were there. Veraci Pizza has their own handmade portable wood-fired pizza oven and uses fresh and local ingredients.

 We made plans to spend the day with our friends on Sunday. They have a lovely home in the Spokane Valley. Their track is called Sherwood Forest, which is very appropriate as the streets are tree lined and you do feel like you are in a forest area. We first went to have a bite to eat at a well known hamburger spot and then came back to their house to spend the day. We sat in their beautifully landscaped backyard. They get snow in the winter and you can see the hard work they put in after winter to make their garden look so great. They have an awesome dog named Bentley, a Goldendoodle(golden retriever/standard poodle). Bentley and Savannah had a great time playing in the backyard together.

What an enjoyable day. We talked about our travels and theirs over the last years and shared pictures on our computers. They went on a three week trip to New Zealand, which sounded wonderful. Back in the 80s, we all went on a lot of trips together, including a ski trip to Banff, a number of Mammoth trips with them and all our kids and a Mexico trip with the 4 of us. There were also lots of fun times, visiting restaurants, going to plays and other events. What great memories. We just relaxed and enjoyed the wonderful weather. Dave cooked up a delicious stir fry dish after partaking of some fruit from the farmers market and cheeses and crackers. Dave and Silvia said they were envious of our life style. However, they seem very happy and contented in theirs, being part of the community in  this lovely area. We all promised not to let so many years go by again without keeping in contact. We will most likely be in the area again on our way to Alaska, which we hopefully will be traveling to next summer.