We meet people!

After a quiet day at home (and a long run in the park for my part), Thorsten and I finally socialized a bit again this evening. I mentioned earlier that I had contacted a few people on CouchSurfing, and tonight we were heading out for drinks at a local pub with the first of them, Garrett -- a 34 year old geologist who lives downtown.

By pure chance, he ran into some friends of his -- a couple named Lia and Jeanne -- at the bar just as we met up. The two women (a veterinarian and an environmentalist scientist, both seemingly in their early forties) joined us, and we spent a very enjoyable evening with the three of them, drinking and discussing until midnight.

They are all very outdoorsy (into hiking, kayaking, climbing, skiing etc.), and both Garret and the ladies told us they are happy to take us along next time they go on some expedition outside of Tacoma.

When Thorsten inquired about what trips we might do using only public transportation, they all agreed that that's a tough one -- best-case scenario is that we would be stuck in a bus half the day for a two-hour hike. So it seems joining someone who has a car (or renting one for ourselves) is out best bet.

Suffice to say, we were very happy to finally meet up with the locals again. Especially considering what friendly and interesting people they turned out to be.