WA State Memorial Day Weekend
our well-equipped guesthouse on the hill, as it was within a 15-minute drive of the “whaddah pawk”, a.k.a. Great Wolf Lodge.
Two and one-half hours post departure and near our destination, we stopped at The Iron Rabbit in Olympia for dinner. This tavern is a local favorite serving comfort foods made with local ingredients. We had some mac n’ cheese for the kiddo, of course, but with shaved asagio cheese. For the adults we split fried calamari, steak Caesar salad with polenta croutons and our best bite, the poutine.
I need to give a couple of honorable food mentions to our guest home proprietor and to Great Wolf Lodge. To our proprietor for, among the other great welcoming touches, the fully stocked gourmet kitchen with everything needed to make us want for nothing including a first try using a Chemex coffee maker.
menu. We fully enjoyed Greek salads and those hot shoestring yam fries…oh, and the local pale ale on tap hit the spot!
Raquel and I did the necessary research to find the number one restaurant in Tenino for our one night out, confirmed by the one-hour wait with a reservation. Well the wait is always worth it at Don Juan’s Mexican Restaurant.
For first timers, servers bring out a sample of all of their sauces so guests are certain about what they order.
While we might have over done it on the chips and salsa, chunky guacamole (really an avocado tomato salad), and queso fundido with chorizo at Don Juan’s, their special mole verde was outstanding over carnitas with housemade flour tortillas, rice and refried beans.
The next day, after a pretty awesome visit to the Hands On Children’s Museum in Olympia we stopped into Pacific Northwest seafood chain, Anthony’s. While the dated decor and Muzak said, “no, no” and “no”, the food said, “we have some hits”. Since Raquel and I are good for a smorgasbord of small bites over a plate of food, sharing a bowl of delicious clam chowder, Hawaiian ahi nachos (poke on taro chips), and oysters grilled, fried and as a shooter, did the trick.
Our route back up north to Seattle had a couple of stops along the way starting with the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. Our hike provided stunning vistas and lush foliage and a horny toad too.
Perhaps it was sitting on the deck overlooking Commencement Bay that we went a little overboard with the happy hour menu at Lobster Shop.
Beecher’s cheese curds with chili jam. Rest in peace mozzarella sticks! And look for me @BeechersNY!
It was a great family weekend in Washington State. Now back to Seattle for all great new foods and restaurants!
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