Illinois to the Pacific Northwest

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Last year, my aunt mentioned she and my Uncle would be visiting out here in August 2010. Over the course of the year, one more aunt & uncle, my parents, two family friends, and an aunt & uncle from L.A. joined the bandwagon. None of them had been out to the Pacific Northwest before. I just knew this would be my opportunity to show them what they didn't know existed in the U.S. To me, the Seattle area is most like the Philippines compared to anywhere else in the U.S. I'm not sure how a group of Filipinos, water-loving and nestled in the mountains, as they were in the Philippines, ended up in land-locked Illinois. Who knows?! Needless to say, I was excited about their visit. The week prior, I readied the house by setting up air mattresses, borrowing an air mattress, washing sheets and spreads, and cleaning. Eight overnight guests is no easy task, but as my mom put it, they're all "cowboys & cowgirls"-- they didn't need fancy accommodations. They arrived Sunday morning at 6 a.m. and I welcomed them with a HUGE breakfast spread. They all rested after their 2.5 day drive, showered, and we were all on the road again. They had planned to stay most of the week at my Aunt & Uncle's in Bremerton since they could take the week off of work to show them around. I knew that they would show them the enticing side of living in the PacNW and the things that appeal to my Filipino family: fishing, crabbing, clamming & oystering.

The entire group reunited at our house on Thursday night to prepare a traditional Filipino feast (and stock Charles and I up with food to fill our Filipino-food appetites for a couple of weeks). Josh, Lina & Kids came over as well to partake as they usually do when my mom is here. A couple of my Uncle's friends also came to eat. When family is here, our home is their home. It was a loud and enjoyable evening. Alas, we retired relatively early as we planned on heading up to Vancouver the next morning.

Despite my doubt, my entire family was up, showered, and ready by 7 a.m. the following morning (good thing we have 3 full bathrooms!) and we were on the road to Vancouver in three cars. We spent the day exploring the big tourist sites, Chinatown, Stanley Park, and the Richmond Night Market. Charles and I wanted to stay longer, so my parents stayed with us and everyone headed back to Bremerton. We enjoyed the Richmond Night Market, now a much smaller and easier to travel group. There we experienced a strong Asian influence with quite eclectic food fair. Vancouver proved to be quite an international city, surrounded by water and mountains. We'll definitely head that way again soon. The aquarium is supposed to be one of the best in the world.

The Orats & the Halls stayed in Mill Creek for the night, but in the morning we were off to Bremerton again for some oystering. My family behaved as kids in a candy store when they saw the oyster covered shore. They'd never seen anything like it. They quickly filled coolers and buckets with fresh oysters, eating a few here & there. It was fun to see how excited they were. For the rest of the afternoon, we ate...and ate...and ate some more. (I was in Filipino-food Heaven!) Unfortunately, that evening we had to say our good-byes...until next time. I'm told the whole drive back to Illinois there was all sorts of plans to move out here. I'll believe it when one of them puts their house on the market.