Celebrated Gary's birthday Saturday, March 3, 2012

Saturday, March 3, 2012
Rather than celebrating Gary's birthday on Feb. 28, we celebrated with him and his family Saturday, March 3 in Cheney and Spokane. Naturally one thing of necessity was the "camera" so I grabbed it off the charger only to find that it was as "dead as a doornail," no battery life whatsoever. We took it just in case we were somewhere we could purchase that type of battery.
Lanny and I arrived at their home late in the morning and were greeted with some cheerful smiles, some Spokane type weather although it was warmer than in Moses Lake, and some good snack food Hiromi had prepared. She had made a spinach-artichoke-cream-cheese dip and crusty buttered squares of bread, along with a bowl of fruit for dipping.
After visiting and seeing how everyone was doing, we slipped back into our shoes and piled into the two vehicles. Lanny followed Gary as we don’t navigate through Spokane traffic as well as he does. He left the main route and drove passed the high school he teaches at (He enjoys the subjects he teaches and his students).  We eventually arrived at a place that sells batteries of all kinds and were able to replace our's, but found out later that it was good for about five pictures and then needed to be recharged. So our trip was without many pictures, but will share the few we got.
We eventually arrived at our destination which was the "BlackJack" Restaurant" but were surprised to find that it was closed.  With quick decision strategy, Hiromi and Gary came up with another good restaurant not far from this one, "The Golden Corral." When we arrived we found many others there too. I’ve never seen a place so busy. We joined the throngs of people lined up while waiting for Gary to find a parking place. The line moved along quickly and they had people finding tables for each group who had paid and was ready to be seated. As crowded as it was, it was well organized and the customers relatively patient and kind. We enjoyed the food. They had some stir-fry meats that were very good, and cornbread that was better than the average cornbread. In fact for a person who claims he doesn’t like cornbread, Gary ate several slices of it. They had a selection of about anything you could have wanted for a meal.
They had their famous chocolate fountain dripping with melted chocolate and a wide choice of foods to dip.
It was good food, made you wish the Golden Corral would re-open in Moses Lake.


Shogo, Lanny, Hiromi, Elica, Gary
I think we captured five smiles!

     

A sandwich in Japan

Thanks Gary, Hiromi, Elica and Shogo for sharing Gary’s birthday with us.
Written by Mom/Grandma Arlene