Gang-of-Six, who?
Vincent Ho recently has joined the former Gang-of-Five. To celebrate and welcome its new member, the
Gang-of-Six spent the Labor Day weekend at a water-front property at Hood Canal, located near Belfair,
Washington, about 1.5 hours drive from Seattle. The 16 participants:

Chows: Thomas, Bernadette, and Lana (from Portland, OR)
Laus: Anthony and Pat (from Vancouver, B.C.)
Tams: Teddy and Cat (from Vancouver, B.C.)
Changs: Kelly and Salina (From San Francisco, CA)
Chengs: Simon and Jamie (From Hong Kong)
Hos: Vincent, Pamela, Vanessa, Catherine, and Beverly (From Vancouver, B.C.)
 

Day 1 (1 September 2004)

    A driving day for the Changs, who left San Francisco area around 6pm. They drove all night and made to Thomas's place just before 6am.
 

Day 2 (2 September  2004)

    After catching up with their sleeps, the Changs joined the Chows for a delicious sushi lunch. While Thomas was
hard at work and school, Lana and Bernadette Chow plus the Changs went for their last minute food shopping for the upcoming  gathering at Hood Canal. It's "Food, Food, and Food" afterall.

    Thomas joined the shoppers after school for a Chinese dinner.  All went to bed early as they had some driving and some fishing/crabbing ahead of them the next day.

Day 3 (3 September 2004)

    The first day of the gathering at Hood Canal. The Changs and the Chows arrived at the water front property  around mid-afternoon and were impressed with the large size house and the millions of oysters waiting to be harvested.

Let the oyster feast begin!!
     

(Click on picture for a larger image)

All 16 participants enjoyed a delicious dinner soon upon arrival. Then the fun party began
with Karaoke singing in the family room, oyster hunters trying to pick oysters in pitch darkness outside, and
baking plus  live cooking demo in the kitchen. All  then retired for the evening after enjoyed some mid-night snack of beef over rice noodle.

Day 4 (4 September 2004)

    In the early morning hours, Thomas got up and picked clams during the low tide period while everyone else were sleeping soundly. Some woke up early to enjoy the fresh morning air.

    All woke up around 9am. After some quick breakfast, the golfers left early so as not to miss their tee time. Pamela and her two daughters went shopping. The remaining folks went seafood shopping. All enjoyed a relaxed afternoon: Thomas took Lana and Vanessa on a boating trip while Kelly took an afternoon nap.  Then the entire gang worked
hard in preparing the all-seafood dinner feature oysters (what else). After dinner, all watched the making of
chestnut cake, a live "Food Channel" demo given by Kelly.

Day 5 (5 September 2004)

    Thomas continued his mid-night clam harvest in pitch darkness.

       No golf for the golfers as they didn't seem to like the country club. Instead all stayed indoor for Karaoke singing, chit-chatting, and food preparation. Kelly, Salina and Lana went for some boating, while Anthony and Teddy took care of the BBQ grilling. After dinner, Kelly baked 5 batches of buns for next day's "take out".  After the bun baking, the ladies were busy making the cup cakes while the gents reacquainted over tea in the family room.

    The Hos waved good-bye as they would leave early in the morning.
 

Day 6 (6 September 2004)

    Most were sleeping soundly when the Hos left around 4:30am so Vanessa could make to her school's orientation.  All woke up in the morning to find in surprise, several THANK YOU cards left by the Hos.

    After a quick breakfast, it's packing time. All helped Kelly and Salina as they had the most to pack.  By 10:45am, the gang finished their packing and loading. Time for a round of group photo in the back yard. Saying good-bye was never easy. They bided farewell and vowed to return next year. Teddy and Anthony drove north while Kelly and Thomas drove south.

    The Changs and the Chows did not want to part yet. They met again at a food court inside a shopping mall in Longview, WA for lunch. After lunch, the Changs continued their journey south. The Chows arrived home around 3:30pm. The Changs arrived their home 12 hours later. Anthony thought his homeward journey would take about 3 hours. But it took over 7 hours because of some serious auto accident near Seattle. Probably Teddy experienced
the same delay en-route.