Eating, drinking and having fun

Though the day started early (at 8 am) and though we lay awake again from 2 am on, it was a fun day of eating, drinking and sitting on the bus. For „Adventure Day“, the day after the tourism convention, we had chosen a culinary tour in the Tacoma metro area and though it was a big group of 28 people in a large bus, it was a nicely organized and interesting tour.

First stop was a coffee roastery (Dillanos Coffee Roasters). This company is "custom-roasting" coffee mostly for little cafés, especially for coffee stands which are to be found often along the roads here in the NW. Interesting thing was a coffee tasting workshop where we learned about single origin coffees - e.g. the difference between a Guatemalan and an Ethiopian coffee - about different blends, light and dark roasts etc.

Fisher Scones on the Washington State Fairgrounds is an old institution in town, just serving scones with butter and strawberry jam, for $ 1,25 a piece. In case we should run out of money on our way down the coast we've always a box of "Scones Mix" in our luggage now. Beer was next: Narrows Brewing at the Narrows Marina at the southern tip of the Pudget Sound. In this beautiful location with the Olympic Mountains as a pittoresque background brewmaster Joe Walts gave us a tour through the brandnew facility and we got a chance to try his beers. Liked the IPA best.



On to Chambers Bay Golf Course, a public golf course, right next to Puget Sound. They are getting ready to host the U.S. Open in 2015. In their excellent restaurant we got a cooking demonstration of their chef ("how to make beer batter") followed by a three-course-meal consisting of clam chowder, Ale battered pacific cod with hand cut potato chips and mini desserts. Stina Cellars from Lakewood/WA was serving wine. Liked their „2006 Montage“ (without knowing how expensive it is), but not particularily their sweeter varieties (Siegerrebe and „Sweet Beginnings“). Back in Tacoma we got dessert - or rather, we had to decorate our own dessert - at „hello, cupcake“ and Savor Creperie. Frankly, could have skipped that part - very sweet!

We’ve had a lot of fun all day with Maureen and Cole and Hiro and after sweet cupcakes and Nutella-filled crèpes we decided that we’ll need another beer at the nearby local Harmon Brewery to celebrate the end of GoWest Summit before we parted. Looking forward to meet you guys again in Chicago soon!