Sunday, September 20, 2009

Friendship, fun, and food in Poulsbo

A few people – NONE of them bloggers – have “warned” me about getting together with people you meet on the internet. They might be sketchy, it seems, or (shudder!) downright dangerous! I have proven those nay-sayers wrong before and I am here to prove them wrong (oh, so wrong!) again today!

Lynn has been a faithful reader of my blog for about a year now. (But she doesn’t have a blog of her own – YET… hint-hint, Lynn – so I can’t provide a link.) We can’t remember how she came upon my blog originally, but she reads it daily and is one of my more faithful commenters (and you know how I love comments!). Lynn and her husband John live in the beautiful seaside community of Poulsbo, otherwise known as “Little Norway.” It’s a short ferry ride but a world away from Seattle. After our visit yesterday, I also believe that it could someday be our new home, with its beauty, its strong feeling of community and its proximity to the water and the Olympic Mountains.

As we drove up to Lynn’s house, Tom asked if was nervous to meet her. “Nah,” I told him, “I feel like we’ve met many times!” And that’s what it felt like when my good friend Lynn answered the door.

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The internet might be a weird and dangerous place to meet people for some, but for me it has only led to great and lasting friendships! Tom and John became quick friends too, as we were given a tour of Lynn and John’s beautiful yard, complete with natural babbling stream, mini bamboo forest and fruit trees galore (we even got to take home some of their yummy peach harvest!). John and Lynn are both accomplished artists and their house beautifully showcases their talent and great design sense.

As we were given a tour, John and Lynn’s son Dax and his lovely wife Melissa arrived. Dax is an accomplished musician, composer and arranger (he was the keyboard artist for NSync and toured Europe with them!) and Melissa is a zoologist – and they are both smart, talented and friendly, just like our new friends Lynn and John!

The six of us then left the house and walked to downtown Poulsbo…

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…where Tizley’s Europub is located. German beer, Wienerschnitzel, and good friends… what could be better?!

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When I was Germany with Mom in 2001, we had Wienerschnitzel at a restaurant atop the festung in Salzburg, and this Weinerschnitzel was every bit as good! Here’s Lynn and John showing theirs off:

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And Tom and I showing ours off:

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And me showing off the fact that I was on my second (fabulous) beer, in spite of my “lightweight” reputation:

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All six of us had a wonderful time:

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On the walk back to Lynn and John’s house, we came upon an intersection that cracked me up:

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(I’ll have to let Uncle Harry – Tom’s cousin is married to Harrison Ford’s brother – know about this!)

The evening ended too soon, but with a promise from Lynn and her family that they’d join us soon in Woodinville for a day of winery tours and wine tasting.

Thank you, Lynn and John, for a wonderful evening full of fun and friendship! We’re so lucky to have met you through this dangerous and scary medium (pffffffft!) called the (shudder!) Internet!

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carol, we had an awesome time too! I knew we'd feel like old friends. We have so much in common, even though we're a decade older than you two youngsters! John really enjoyed meeting you both too. We just walked downtown to introduce Bailey to her new hometown (and of course a stop at the bakery was a must). John was still talking about what a fun evening last night was--and we kept spotting potential houses for you guys (whether they were for sale or not)! :-)

Wine-tasting in Woodinville sounds like an excellent idea. Let's do it soon!

LynnB

Margaret said...

It looks like a great time; I too have met some wonderful blog friends. (but people who don't blog sometimes don't understand why in the world I would want to) You do get to know people pretty well on the internet! The food and beer--yummy!

Goofball said...

it's so great to meet people you know from online....and I deliberately say "know", because often you feel you already know them and their family.

Did you drink Leffe??? That's Belgian beer from Inbev (the worlds biggest brewery based at 1 km from my door!!!)

Carol said...

Ellen/Goofball!!! Yes, I draft Leffe and it was INCREDIBLE! I think it was the best beer I've had in my life! (And I always thought I was a dedicated Hefeweissen lover...) 1 KM from your door?? I'll be right there...! :-)

I don't remember the full name of the brew I had. It was dark (and I don't usually even like dark beers). I'll need to start researching Inbev, I guess.

vailian said...

Wish I could have come. Maybe next time!

Susanne said...

That sounds like a wonderful time. wish I could have been there.
Nothing is better than good friends, good food and good drink..And being German I am very jelous of the goodlooking Wiener Schnitzel..lol
Also, you can meet wonderful people in the blog world,although I personally don't have a blog yet.
I very much enjoy following yours though.
Liebe Gruesse,
Susanne aus Texas

Goofball said...

Looking at the color of the beer you had a brown Leffe or Leffe Radieuse but that's much more common.

I live in Leuven which is the hometown of Inbev which bought Ambev (Brazilian brewer) a couple of years ago and last year it bought Anhouser-Bush. They group is currently called AB Inbev I suppose and is by far the biggest brewery group in the world. yes and it's root is at 1-2kms from my door in Leuven, "home of Stella Artois".


However I work for a competing brewery and we have Grimbergen abbey beers which I find in all honesty better than Leffe (did some blind testing once). But due to the globalness of AB Inbev, Leffe can nowadays be found almost anywhere.

marion said...

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.


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