There was a collective heartbreak this week as news spread of the loss of the great Rocky Yeh. Friends from every corner of the world gathered online to share stories of Yeh’s love and laughter; remembering moments that made Rocky such an extraordinary force in so many lives.
![Portland Cocktail Week [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/PDXCW-330x220.jpg)
When the door finally opened on the Portland Cocktail Week tiki event at miniature golf mecca, Glowing Greens, guests streamed down the stairs into the dark of the black light. Bartenders from Seattle’s Rumba were glowing with neon paint, ready to shake and pour for the rush of crowd. As we packed ourselves in for the wait, perusing menus and adhering light-up bracelets and necklaces to ourselves and our accessories, conversations began between friends and strangers.
Long layovers happen to even the most skilled travel planner. Sometimes it’s a drop in fare, sometimes it’s the easiest departure or arrival. If you’re flying through Sea-Tac with a long layover ahead, enjoy the best of Seattle Southside.
I traversed tastings and tours throughout the long weekend in Boise, filled with small talk, wineries, and restaurants. At Meriwether Cider, I found renewed inspiration next to their incredible Foothills Semi-Dry.
![Liverpool House, Montreal, Quebec, Canada [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/LiverpoolHouse-330x220.jpg)
Montreal has long been on my must-visit list. A metropolitan mix of Canada and France, the Quebec destination delivers an endless array of food, drink, history, and arts for visitors of every age and interest.
![Chef Breanna Beike, Heritage Restaurant, Woodinville, Washington [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ChefBre-1-330x220.jpg)
Chef Breanna Beike will be the first to tell you she had a good reason for naming her restaurant, Heritage. The vibrant chef shares her culinary inspiration with joy – the memories of cooking with her mom, the gardens of her grandparents, the desire to celebrate the fruits and labor of the local community.
![New York City Ballet Gala, Saratoga Springs, New York [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/NYCBalletGala4-330x220.jpg)
Amid the upstate areas where vacationers flock, Saratoga Springs is a popular pick. To some, it is the home of horse racing, where folks dress in finery and peer over papers as determined steeds propel past. To others, it is a performing arts destination, and its annual New York City Ballet season the most anticipated event of them all.
![Woodinville wine country, Woodinville, Washington [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/WoodinvilleWine_Heritage2-330x220.jpg)
Even after two decades in the Pacific Northwest, I still had the idea that Woodinville wine country was a far off place in the distance somewhere on Seattle’s Eastside. Across the bridges, past Mercer Island, over Kirkland and Kenmore, beyond Bothell. In a galaxy far, far away. But it’s closer than you think.
![Vancouver's Chinatown [dailyblender.com]](https://dailyblender.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/chinatown-330x220.jpg)
As we embark on a tour of the city blocks one sunny spring morning, historian Robert Sung gives an impassioned pitch for his Chinatown neighborhood. In the heart of Vancouver, British Columbia, the area still hums with activity, even after the sixty or so years he’s seen of its evolution.
The bottles of Freeland Spirits are as distinct as the taste and tale behind their creation. Inspired by the familiar downpour of Oregon rain, the drop-shaped vessels hold an alcoholic pour full of botanicals based in farms and family.
There is a spiritual vibration in the mountains surrounding Sedona even before you set foot in the city. From the hillside walls of the Chapel of the Holy Cross to the misnomered Montezuma Castle, the miles of green scrub brush and sprawling landscape have seen many a hoof and foot over the years.