Into The Hills For Dinner With The Sherpas

Well!!! We managed to get out of Renton with no problem and headed back South. Unfortunately, we immediately ran into a traffic jam that extended for about forty miles and didn't start to clear until after we passed Puyallup. (That's when we found out we were sitting there with about a hundred thousand of our newest best friends - who were all going to the Washington State Fair!!) but, clear it did and we set our sights on mighty Mt. Ranier which dominates the Eastern skyline. We were headed for Nisqually Lodge, snuggled down in the foothills of the mountain, in Ashford. What has been on our mind constantly is the status of the forest fires raging throught central Washington. There have been increasingly compelling evacuation notices and that is one of the reasons there are so few hotel vacancies in many areas. The area where our niece lives in Wenatchee is now under a "level three" evacuation status which is pretty dire. We will be headed toward Cheney, WA to visit another niece and her family who are, fortunately, safe at the moment.



After arriving at the lodge we started looking around for places to eat. There are several nice options but we settled on the unique "Wild Berry Restaurant" owned and operated by a fascinating family of Sherpas from Nepal at the foot of Mt Everest.


Linda here: Well, what a delightful experience at dinner. Such really pleasant people and our food was great. We had "momos" as an appetizer (steamed beef or veggie dumplings with Nepalise seasoning); Richard had a Yak burger and I had Sherpa stew. The yak are raised in Washington and are much leaner with lower cholesterol. Richard said he would take yak over hamburgers any day. The stew was beef with carrots, potatoes, spring onions, a thick broth and Nepalese seasoning. It was great. For the less adventurous - Rick had Cajun chicken Alfredo and Sherwood had fish and chips. I bought my second souvenir - a hand woven scarf from Nepal.
Then we found out the wildfires are getting worse and Shaun and Dylan are going to try to get back home to get some more of their belongings. Lots of prayers going up. Will find out more in am. No phone coverage here, but we can text. Will not get to spend as much time with Courtney as we had planned, but at least we will get to see her and her cool family. More later.
We hit the sack early so we could get on the road early in hopes of getting to Cheney, WA at a reasonable hour. We'll get this post out there for you but there's lots to come so hang in there!!! See ya.
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