Day 241 (A Walking Tour Of Woodinville, WA)

Today was a very pleasant day. First of all, the customer of our first drop unloaded us early, which meant Chuck and I had the rest of the day to shift in to "chill" mode. Since I was a little familiar with the immediate area, I took him on a mini-walking tour of Woodinville.







We stopped at several places (yes, of course I made my pilgrimage to the local Starbucks), just looking around. He grabbed an ice cream cone from Baskin Robbins (though later on, after he went back to the truck, I came upon a Cold Stone Creamery), I had a bagel with lox at Bigfoot Bagels (something which grosses my wife out), and a little later, Chuck grabbed a sandwich from Panera Bread. After he got his sandwich, he headed back to the truck, but I wandered around a bit more (being Jewish, I guess wandering is in our blood).

During my little adventure, I made a stop into a local grocery store called Top Food & Drugs, which had a very nice view as you walked out:







Inside, the place seemed unlike any grocery store I've ever been in. Like most other grocery stores, they had a deli, meat department, and pasta/salad bar. What they had that I had never seen before was a mini pizzeria and a mini sushi bar, which had some of their products pre-packaged, but you could also order something that sushi chefs would prepare for you on the spot (for the record, I picked up a roast for the crock pot - which I'll cook in the next couple of days - and a 1/2 dozen sourdough rolls to go with it).

On the way back to the truck, I stopped in at a bicycle shop. There is a Play It Again Sports shop, but you can't really count that as a bicycle shop, but they do carry bicycles... and I stopped in there earlier in the day. The place right next to it is an actual bicycle shop called Woodinville Bicycle. I spoke with Darren (the manager) for probably about 20 minutes. At first, we spoke about bicycles, different brands, and the fact that, as with many other things, you get what you pay for. We spoke about several other things, as well. We found we share a common bond on a variety of different subjects. Darren is not only a very intelligent man, but also very knowledgable in his profession - plus, customer service/satisfaction is a priority for him - a BIG priority. So if you are in the Woodinville area - and are in the market for a quality bicycle - stop by Woodinville Bicycle and pay a visit to Darren... he'll treat you right! Just so you know: I don't get any "kickback" or bonus for referring people, but you will get the satisfaction of great customer service PLUS you will be supporting the small businessman!

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