Ah, vacation! Here I am in the Wenatchee Valley (just east of the Cascades in Washington State) with some vineyards and the Columbia River in the background.
These grapes are being prepared for use in ice wine:
It started snowing on our drive back west through the Cascades:
We cooked quite a bit: Sara lived in China for five years and taught us some dishes. Here are Eva and Sara cooking tiger-skin peppers and the little-known Chinese dish “eggs with tomatoes:”
Eva cooked us some great German food, here with spinach and savory pancakes:
We also went out to eat a few times. Here we are with our friend Julie from college:
Eating fish and chips along the beach:
We later took a walk along the beach and saw a bald eagle in a tree.
Thankfully we stayed a few minutes, and got to see him dive for food.
He then took it back to his perch in the tree to eat it.
He had to fight off seagulls and then crows to eat his food. Click on the picture to see it full-screen with the snow-covered Olympia Mountains in the background.
These grapes are being prepared for use in ice wine: 
