"The Way West"...Day 26...Sunday, July 8, 2012

A nice and lazy day today. First, I sleep in until well after 9:00AM. I make a pot of coffee in the French press and enjoy a few cups. A long shower, a change of clothes, and I'm ready to start the day.
I make bacon and eggs for breakfast and enjoy more coffee. The weather is great, so I sit for awhile at the picnic table...download photos, check emails, post to the blog. Then I unload, clean and re-ice the coolers...re-arrange and repack the camper.
Around 4:00PM or so, I'm off to downtown Seattle for dinner at Dahlia, another Tom Douglas restaurant. They don't open for dinner until 5:00, but I figure that I'll park...walk around...stop for a cocktail. It's when I reach for my wallet to pay for parking that I realize that the wallet and my cash are back at camp...inside the camper. So...it's fifteen miles back to camp to pick those up...then fifteen miles back to Seattle.
By now, it's well after 5:00, so I head right for Dahlia. I sit at the bar and order a glass of Pinot Gris while looking over the menu. Several slices of crispy pork belly with hot mustard, plum sauce and house-made pickles makes a good appetizer. Then it's on to a grilled rib eye steak topped with mixed greens, fingerling potatoes, and cherry tomatoes...all mixed with a zesty vinaigrette...and washed down with two glasses of Walla Walla Syrah. And...for dessert...another huge slice of coconut cream pie. Even after all of that, I've still got room for a pint of Kolsch-style lager.
When I pay my bill, I get a pleasant surprise. I have raved about the coconut cream pie and, now, the chef is sending me on my way with another big piece to go.
As I'm driving out of the city, I suddenly realize that I've got one more stop to make. On both my phone and my laptop, I've got stored a list of the 50 Best Places in the U.S. for Ice Cream. And...one of those spots is here in Seattle. So...I drive a mile or so to Molly Moon's...it's a warm summer night and the line for ice cream is wrapped around the block. But, things move fast, and soon I'm enjoying a scoop of salted caramel with a scoop of balsamic strawberry. Now I am really stuffed.
Back at camp, I relax with a few glasses (small glasses) of CatDaddy white whiskey before packing up to hit the road tomorrow morning.