Last night Bob and I went to John's retirement party. Or rather, one of John's retirement parties. This one was at the bar at the Quay. John and Alice were our across the street neighbors until sometime in July when they snuck out in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. Their youngest daughter, Olivia, did our watering and stuff when we were on vacation. She started at University of Washington this Fall. I gave them a hard time about moving out so quickly because I remember hearing the moving truck and thinking, "Oh no, John and Alice must be moving today," and it was already the new people moving in. J and A are going to be driving around seeing stuff around the country and having a good time. We're hoping maybe we see them again in the Spring.

After the party we headed up north to find some dinner and hopefully see some of the action at Mt. St. Helens. By that point, the sky was murky and any ash or steam that might have been hanging around had already drifted off. We went to Ridgefield to find some Italian place Bob knew about but of course we couldn't find it (or perhaps it doesn't exist because downtown Ridgefield consists of only 2 or 3 blocks) so we ended up at El Rancho Viejo Your Family Mexican Restaurant which was packed to the rafters except for one table, which we got. And it was super-fantastic. Great menu. Super nice people working there. Excellent meal. I had a seafood soup with shrimp and scallops and had to be rolled out the door and to the car because I was so full.