We met fellow FlyerTalker Daniel (Friendly Skies), at the Hyatt Regency, where he hosted us at a very pleasant executive lounge.
From there we took a quick taxi ride to the Side Street Inn, a wildly popular local restaurant with a couple of locations.
There were a total of nine of us and things looked bleak for awhile as far as getting a table, but eventually we were seated at adjacent tables and managed to share some excellent family-serving dishes with the help of the friendly wait staff.
The only negative part of the evening was the fact that "background shooting" was being done for that annoying Man vs Food TV show and the lights and noise soon became distracting, even as the crew demanded officiously that nobody else in the restaurant take photos.
In fact, once the host himself in a sort of Man-vs-paying-diners move accosted young Daniel at our table after he'd inadvertently taken a flash photo, Brian told a crew member to leave us alone and we finished an otherwise enjoyable dinner in peace.
Despite the delay and the filming, we enjoyed our evening with some very nice folks, and the food itself was terrific.
Kathy and Brian
Two retired educators alternating joyfully between seeing the world and enjoying our eight grandchildren (in order of birth), Jake, Avery, Taegan, Lily, Peyton, Riley, Blane, and Jace.
Kathy and Brian met in the clarinet section of the University of California (Santa Barbara) Symphony Orchestra several decades ago.
Brian's Western Canadian roots and Kathy's Colorado ties resulted in their making beautiful music together along with producing a cross-border crop of descendants.
Kathy spent a year studying in Vienna at the Institute for European Studies and the University of Vienna.
Brian started the school band program in Hope, British Columbia, and later became the high school's vice-principal for 6 years and subsequently principal for 15 years before retiring in 2001.
Kathy, in between raising our three children, taught kindergarten and first grade, middle school, and high school - mathematics, computer studies, ESL, and her first love, band, before retiring in 2001.
We enjoy sharing our travel experiences and providing the odd travel tip to friends, relatives, and visitors.