MFF Road Trip 2014 - Washington

We left the rains of northern California and Oregon and continued our travels north into Washington, where it was sunny for our entire visit. We started off in eastern Washington for Thanksgiving with Eric's extended family in Yakima, which experienced the highest temperatures on record for that time of year. Ron and Kathy, Eric's uncle and aunt hosted our large gathering this year and made us all feel at ease. (The very relaxing hot tub helped as well.) It was wonderful to take a small break from our sales routine to spend time with family and to remember all that we have for which to be thankful. (As always, the food was great, too!)

After our restful time twiddling around in Yakima, we were ready to head over to the west side of the state and tackle our final market, Seattle! Eric's cousin and husband, Paul and Megan Yount, provided us our home base and helped Dawn through her most difficult time of the trip. Our last Sunday on the road, Dawn fell ill with a 12-hour flu bug, which wiped her out. Eric had opportunity to visit with his sister and family during that time, but Dawn spent the entire day in bed. Paul and Megan graciously made sure Dawn was still alive, and Karl and Kayly generously gave up their bathroom for her. By the end of the day, Dawn was feeling much better and then ended up working a bit during the wee hours of Monday morning. (Go figure!)

While visiting boutiques and shops in Seattle, the temperatures were cold, but the weather was unseasonably sunny, which caused Dawn to revise her thoughts on Seattle. We spent a beautiful and productive two days hitting the city first and the Eastside next. Several stores plan to carry our bags for the holiday season, and we acquired some good leads with which to follow up for Spring and Summer buying. All in all, our visit to the Emerald City was a great success, and we look forward to nurturing the relationships we built there.