Welcome to the DuMond Blog

Mark and Sheri' DuMond live in western Washington state, and they love the great Pacific Northwest. (Well, the rain, not so much, but if we didn't have all that rain we wouldn't be able to boast of being the "evergreen" state, right?)

We also love to travel, and have been to many great places and cities over the years, but not nearly as many as we still plan to get to. A partial list of locations we've experienced together:

• Paris, France
  
• Rome, Venice, Florence, Tuscany and Milan, Italy
• New York City
• Washington, D.C.
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Napa and Sonoma wine country, California
  
• Las Vegas
• Portland, Eugene, Medford and Bend, Oregon
• Vancouver, B.C.
• Kauai, Maui and the Big Island, Hawaii
• Los Cabos, Isla Mujeres, Cancun and Loreto, Mexico
• Jackson Hole, Wyoming
• Phoenix and Tuscon, Arizona
  
• Seattle, Wenatchee and San Juan Islands, Washington

We have a passion for food and wine. Sheri' & Mark DuMond dinner parties and holiday wine tasting events are legendary, at least to those who have attended them. We love to cook and sample cuisines from around the world. Some of our favorites are Thai, Indian, Japanese, French, Mediterranean, Spanish, Pan-Asian and New American. Some of our favorite wines come from New Zealand, Australia, South America, South Africa, Italy, France, Spain, California, Oregon, and yes, right here in Washington.

Now that we've lived in the Seattle area for almost five years, we've become avid Seattle Seahawks fans. This past season, we attended four home games at fantastic Qwest Field, and the Seahawks won all four (including a playoff game against Washington).

The purpose of this blog is to keep you up to date on our travels, experiences and adventures, and the tone of it will always be positive. We both have strong opinions about a number of issues, but there are plenty of other places to vent them. This is a place for the good stuff only!

Speaking of good stuff, we also love our kids and pets. Twins Alex and Jess DuMond turn 21 this summer and both live in Seattle (although Alex is currently residing near Tokyo, Japan on a student exchange program during his junior year at Seattle University). Son Daniel Case and his wife Alicia live just south of us in Spanaway, Washington, and have two of the most adorable children (yes, we're grandparents!), James and Jilliyn.

Then there are the boxers -- Emmi and Oscar. They're lazy, ill-mannered, sloppy, and have a penchant for wallowing in scummy pond water. But ... they're also adorable, fun, enthusiastic, loyal and best friends, too. Now, if we can just get them to stop harrassing Zumi, our cat.