Millions of Americans are expected to go on a European vacation this summer,

and many of those going for the first time are likely to be following the advice of travel writer Rick Steves.

He's the host of Rick Steves Europe on PBS stations.

I traveled to Washington State to sit down with him for our weekend spotlight.

You've got gargoyles. We've got these, I think, are the've got gargoyles.

We've got these, I think, are the only functioning

gargoyles this side of the Mississippi.

These stone carvings would fit right in on Notre Dame

Cathedral in Paris.

But this is Rick Steve's multi-million dollar travel company

in Edmonds, Washington, a Seattle suburb.

You know, Gargos do two things. They scare away the evil spirits, of course. And they also

provide a storm drain for when it really rains hard. And on a good rainy day, the water

comes in the Notre Dame in Paris at Rick Steves Europe. Steve's researches some of his guidebooks himself.

He spends three months every year in Europe filling notebooks with his observations.

What to see, where to eat, where to stay.

So this would have been 2016 and I did Florence, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, Venice.

And so I would go and my responsibility was to visit the places in the book with other people helping.

And I would always have my moly skeene, and I would jot all my notes.

And I still, I can't begin to read that that now but I can read my writing for 24 hours

and then it expires because I can read that shorthand.

Here in Edmonds, a staff of about 100 works on his best-selling guidebooks aimed at first-time

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