Visitor Bait & Switch

Yes, we had visitors, just not the visitors we expected. At the last minute, a friend in the group that was going to visit last week came down with COVID-19, and their trip had to be rescheduled. The Zoom meeting to coordinate a new time also had to be delayed. Evidently, he had a Paxlovid rebound and was still not feeling great.

That’s when we had a fortuitous switcheroo. Daniel got a call from friends from Los Angeles who were heading to Walla Walla with their friends from Vancouver, Washington. They remembered Daniel had moved to Waitsburg and arranged to stay at an Airbnb on Middle Waitsburg Road.

On Friday night, Daniel invited them to dinner at our place on Saturday night. As Daniel walked out the door, heading to work on Saturday morning, he shouted upstairs to me, “Guess who’s coming to dinner?”

Of course, I was tasked to do the shopping. He wasn’t sure how many people; it could have been four or six, but he did know they didn’t want beef or pork. Daniel nixed salmon, so I settled on chicken. It’s boring but safe. However, if anyone can make it less boring, it’s Daniel. He didn’t disappoint. It was also fun to boast about how much of the dinner came from our garden. Vegetables for the pasta, Greek salad, the tarragon base, and all the herbs for the chicken were grown in our yard.

The couple, Paul and Wendy, are also in the food/restaurant/culinary school business. Paul is a sommelier and wine instructor, so we decided to serve our favorite Washington wines. Serving local wines that he was not familiar with was a good conversation starter and an opportunity to show off some great wines.

In preparation for a “drinking” evening, I chugged at least twenty glasses of water throughout the day. The good news is that there was no hangover, but there were numerous trips up and down stairs through the night. It made me rethink the need to add an upstairs bathroom for nights like these. Dehydration vs. the cost of an additional bathroom, hmm.

Their Airbnb host left them notes on “things to do in Waitsburg.” Before our dinner, they stopped in for a cocktail at American 35 and then headed to the Royal Block for wine, a tour of the hotel, and Joe’s book and art collection.

Of course, this being a small town, conversation at the wine bar went to the usual, “Why are you here, who are you visiting, etc.” Explaining they were visiting us, people at the bar who knew us joined the conversation. Yes, it’s a small town.

They called and let us know they were delayed and asked how long a drive was to our house from the Royal Block. We laughed when we told them, “Seconds, we’re three blocks away.” Punctuating the point that, yes, it’s a small town!

It was fun to host friends from Los Angeles, even if they weren’t the friends we expected. The weather cooled off, and the food and wine were terrific. Our solar lights were fully lit and eating under the pergola provided a peaceful ambiance, or was it the wine? Atmosphere, wine, or both, a perfect night, a worthy switch.