On the Road Again

Well, not really the road.  More like many airplane rides!

We left Unalaska on May 7 and were in Anchorage till the 10th so that I could attend a work related conference.  While I was conferencing, Rich was relaxing at the hotel, reading, wandering the mall, AND he went to see a movie in a real theater.  :)  My conference was good--informative and interesting.  After hours I was able to meet with the woman in charge of the ESL/GED program I teach for and I enjoyed getting to chat with her. Rich and I also met our friend Paul for dinner one night and had a great time catching up with him.

On the 10th we flew to Seattle for a few days' stay.  We've had fun walking around the city, doing some shopping and eating out.  We made ourselves go to the hotel gym a couple of times and we have walked miles and miles every day so hopefully we are canceling out our eating.

Of course we had to go back to Pike's Place Market, which is one of our usual stops.  We bought some fruit and bread and snacks for the room so we would not have to eat out for every single meal.  However, on this trip we seem to be taking a tour of Chef Tom Douglas' restaurants.  He has a slew of them in Seattle and is probably the best known chef from this area of the country. On Mother's Day, we wanted to avoid the big crush of families at brunch and dinner so we went to Serious Pie, Douglas' gourmet pizza place, which was really good.  We've eaten at The Dahlia Lounge on a previous trip and this time we also added the restaurants Lola and Etta to the list.  

Pike's Place Market

Lola

Night view from our hotel

On Saturday night, we met Rich's old friend Cole for dinner at Andaluca. They hadn't seen each other in many years and I'd never met Cole. We had a great time talking and eating a number of delicious small plates--this was probably my favorite of the restaurants we tried (and not one of Tom Douglas')

Monday, my cousin Rob met us at our hotel, the Edgewater, and we had a great lunch in its restaurant.  They had lunch "bento boxes" which included a cup of soup, a half sandwich and a half salad of your choosing.  Plus homemade chips.  It was super.  And really nice to catch up with my cuz.

Rob and me

After Rob left, Rich set out to teach me how to play chess. I have never learned and had a bad experience years ago when my uncle tried to teach me and I ended up just feeling really inept and stupid because I couldn't grasp it.  I can't say I did a WHOLE lot better this time, but now I think I could at least tell you how each piece is supposed to move and a minor bit of strategy.  :)

Ugh, my brain hurts!

Tuesday, some friends came over from Sequim to hang out with us for a few hours. We met Linda and Ed on our Australian cruise and have stayed in touch on Facebook so we were pleased that they were willing to take the ferry to Seattle to see us.  We walked all over the place, chatting along the way, had some lunch, strolled through the market, walked some more and then saw them off to return home.  It was really fun to see them again.

Restaurant Etta

The price of Bering Sea king crab

Ed, Rich and Linda

We have not stayed anywhere with a laundromat for this whole trip.  I can never go for too terribly long without doing laundry so we've been searching for the right place and the right opportunity to get some washing done! Our hotel would do the laundry for us, but wants to charge $2.75 per piece of underwear and $5 or $6 per shirt or jeans so there was no way we wanted to pay that.  This evening we ended up taking a cab to a laundromat a good little distance away, wandered the streets while the wash was going, picked up some sandwiches at the deli next door to the laundromat and now we are in for the night.  We have to get up EARLY tomorrow to be picked up at 6:30 AM to go to the airport.  Off to Chicago!

Home! And what we've learned on our travels.

Man, I just HATE getting up really early in the morning to catch a plane!    I don't like that groggy, interrupted-sleep feeling, rushing to get showered and dressed, finishing the last bit of packing and hauling our over-stuffed bags to the front desk of the hotel.  I usually underestimate how much time I need and there's always some last minute issue.   Luckily, even when we are a little irritable, we manage to keep a sense of humor.    :)    MOST of the time.

Our original plan was to stay in a hotel near SEA-TAC the night before flying home, but someone (who shall remain nameless) made a mistake when bidding on priceline and used the wrong date.  If you are a priceline novice, let me explain that once you have sealed the deal, there are no changes allowed and you lose your money if you don't show up.   Yes, we learned that one the hard way once when we got stranded and couldn't get to our destination in time. The big savings on priceline does not seem quite so nice when you lose all your money.   Ever since, we don't make our reservations till we are OUT of Unalaska!  But I digress.  So we were downtown and  had a rental car needing to be returned, both of which meant we needed to get up earlier than expected.   But, no worries, we like staying downtown and we've had to get up early before.  

A little sidebar:  we enjoy walking around wherever we are, but we decided to keep our rental car so we could drive to some different parts of Seattle.   Let me just complain that parking at downtown hotels is OUTRAGEOUS.   $33??    Each night??  

We always do the thing where we are supposed to fill the car up with gas before we return it. When we were stuck in Anchorage, we rented cars on two different days and NEITHER one of them was completely full when we got it.  What's up with that?   But, of course, we had to fill them up or be charged.  No fair.

Today:

We are halfway hoping that the volcano has blown again and our flight is cancelled so we can go back to sleep.  LOL   We check the internet to discover that Redoubt seems quiet and our flight is on time.  We leave the hotel at 5:30 AM (right on schedule, I might add) and remind ourselves that we have to stop and get gas.    (Okay, at least once we have driven up to the car rental return in some city, popped out of the car, and realized that we had forgotten the gas. We have turned around, driven for a good little while to find a gas station and returned with little time to spare.)  The hotel clerk gives us directions to the airport, which we follow to a "T." Unfortunately, our car is rented from an off-airport agency.   We figure we can find the road but the highway exit takes us right to the airport, so we have to do that drive-through thing.  I am digging for the contract to get the address when I find the nice little brochure that they'd given us, which states,  "DO NOT RETURN THE CAR TO THE AIRPORT," with directions to their location.  And, even better, I now have a distinct memory of  reading the darned thing out loud to Rich when we picked up the car, saying, "okay, let's be sure to remember this!"   I ask, "how come we didn't get all this stuff out last night?"   

As we are driving, I remind Rich that we still need to get gas.  He laughs and admits that he has already forgotten about that.   He asks what makes us think that we will be able to  do a lot of traveling when we are old and retired?   We decide we will have to pay one of the grandkids to come with us and keep us in line.  We can hear them fighting over which one has to go with Gigi and Grandpa THIS time.   

Allrighty, we get some gas and find the car return.  Relief.   It's not even that late.   Rich is wearing his "More Cowbell" Tshirt and the young guy checking us in says, "I've been getting sick and I know the only thing that will cure me is MORE COWBELL!"    Cracked me up. 

We ride the shuttle to SEA-TAC with a full contingent of fellow travelers.  We check in easily at a kiosk (I love this self service stuff.)   We check our bags--neither overweight nor even close, which might be a first.   We get to Security and the line is long and slow.   Mind you, we have been up since 4:30 AM and it is now 7:00 AM.  I am ready for a nap.  We locate our gate, grab a quick breakfast and return to the gate to find that, yes, everyone has boarded but us.   So much for a quick potty stop.  

It's a beautiful sunny day in Seattle and we have a nice, smooth flight to Anchorage.  I sleep a good part of the way.   Anchorage is gorgeous as well, Redoubt does not seem to be causing any trouble and our flight to Unalaska is on time (well, as close to on time as these flights get.)   After all of the chaos of last week, we find it a little amusing that there are three people on our flight home--ourselves and another pilot.   How crazy is that?  Think of all the people who were begging for a seat not long ago.  It's an easy flight home, other than some bumps as we approach.

It's good to be home.   We go to the store and run into quite a few people who seem to know that we've been gone and that we got stranded.  Funny.  I attribute it to the internet and all of the locals either blogging or on facebook or both.   Our kitties are happy to see  us and I am doing a huge amount of laundry.   We are getting our fix of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.  What's up with all these hotels that don't carry Comedy Central?  We were in withdrawal.  :)

Okay, let's review:

Lesson #1:    Check the date twice before you finalize a bid on priceline.

Lesson #2:    If parking is $33 a night, it might be better to turn in the car and take the bus around town.   (In which case, you will need to follow #3 and #4 below)

Lesson #3:   Remember where you rented your car, and look at your paperwork the night before you turn it in.   If they give you a handy-dandy little sign to hang on your rearview mirror stating "DO NOT RETURN THIS CAR TO THE AIRPORT," it might be good to actually hang it on the rearview mirror because you are bound to forget what it said when it is stashed in the glove compartment.

Lesson #4:    Don't forget the gas.

Lesson #5:   Be nice to your grandkids because you will probably need them when you are a doddering old fool.

Lesson #6:   If you don't want the whole town to know your business, stay off the internet.

Lesson #7:   Note to self:  remember to buy some gingko biloba.

Lesson #8:  More cowbell cures just about anything.

Sun and Fun

What a gorgeous day in Seattle! For some reason, we were both awake at 5 AM. Maybe we were practicing for tomorrow, when we have to be at the airport super early. After showering, checking emails and finishing off the rest of the cookies from Two Tarts, we decided to check out of the hotel and take a look at the Fremont and Ballard sections of town. We also wanted to drive through the Queen Anne area, which is where we went first, but got a little lost and confused and didn't really see a lot there. Eventually we found our way to Fremont and they were having a big outdoor market. Hurray, one of our favorite things!

We also walked down several streets near the market and saw this store.

Why, you ask, would a statue of Lenin be standing in Seattle, WA? Hmmmm, good question. Maybe you would like to do a google search. Very interesting story.

One of the booths had some very tasty Mexican food. We started out with a snack as we walked through, then went back and ate our lunch there, too.

Lots of people enjoying the sunshine and the shopping.

We were excited to see Full Circle Farms represented! We stopped to chat with Peter about receiving our weekly box of produce in Unalaska. A guy who writes the blog for the market took down our names so he could mention our visit. I was wearing my Polar Bear Run hoodie, which has the words "City of Unalaska" on it--several people asked me what that "meant." They were amused/surprised to learn that there really is a place called Unalaska, Alaska.

These young ladies had great singing voices; one was playing the accordion and the other a saw with some sort of electric bow. Very cool.

Then to the Ballard section, where there was ANOTHER market, even bigger and more crowded!

Some drummers in the park. (See the attached video as well)

Funky art work.

We strolled the streets and had some mini cupcakes at a bakery before driving back to the center of the city. Here are a couple of shots of the Space Needle from the car.


We checked into the Edgewater, which looks more like a lodge than a city hotel. Rich says the Beatles stayed here once upon a time. :) We have a cute little balcony where we can sit and read a book. It got downright hot today, probably in the 70's. LOVE IT!! I hope we got enough Vitamin D to help us stay healthy.

We missed the barbeque cook-off, which apparently ended at 4 PM. We have a dinner reservation here at the hotel at 6. I checked on our flights and everything appears to be on schedule for tomorrow. We fly out at 8 and should get all the way home by late afternoon if all goes well.

Spring in Seattle

Had a great conference in Portland. I am so glad I was able to attend and that the volcano didn't prevent the trip altogether. Friday night was a little cool and rainy so I stayed in, had some room service and read my book. Nice and relaxing! Had breakfast and some meetings on Saturday morning, then Rich drove in from Sutherlin to pick me up. He had fun with George and Nadine, hung out, went out to dinner and gambling at a casino (no, he did not win our retirement for us) and enjoyed his time with them. Five miles out of town, he realized he hadn't taken any photos. What kind of blogger is he??!! Really sorry I didn't get to see George and Nadine AT ALL, thanks to the darned volcano. Next time!!

We'd read about a little bakery in Portland called Two Tarts, which makes a wide variety of mini-cookies and pastries. Of course, we had to find it! It was in a cool little neighborhood called the Alphabet District, which we'd never heard about. After finding Two Tarts and purchasing a baker's dozen of goodies, we walked around the area till we found a place to eat lunch. We decided on a restaurant called Papa Haydn's and the food was delicious! They also had a fabulous looking pastry section but we felt we should pass since we'd just bought all those little cookies! After lunch, back in the car and on to Seattle. The day was sunny and warm and we had a nice drive, though I kept being amazed by all the traffic.

We were busy pricelining rooms again so we are staying at the Sheraton a few blocks from Pike's Place Market right now but moving to the Edgewater today. We made a dinner reservation at McCormick and Schmick's, partly because we had a $20-off certificate from Alaska Air (which was actually from having delays on our trip to Sedona in December....they didn't give us a darned thing for all those cancellations we just experienced!). Prior to dinner, we walked down to the market, where this guy was making balloon animals.

First of the season fresh Alaskan halibut! Looks like they are excited about that!

Mmmmm fresh fruit

Love these colors

Spring must be here--look at all these tulips!

Goodies at a chocolate shop

The Art Museum, on the way to the restaurant. The arm holding the hammer moves up and down.

The Market was closing when we got there so we had almost an hour to kill before our dinner reservation. We got a lot of walking in, which we both needed. Had a very nice meal and the friendly waitress also comped my dessert (creme brulee, of course) on top of our $20 off. Nice! We made up for it with the tip, though, so not sure how much we really came out ahead.

We both woke up really early today (5 AM--what is wrong with me??) While we were at the Market, people were bringing in huge bbq pits and we heard there's going to be some sort of cook-off today so we have to go check that out. We are going to find some different parts of town to explore and move to our next hotel. I heard the volcano went off yesterday but it didn't appear to affect a lot of travel so maybe we will be safe to go home tomorrow. We have one of those early flights, which I HATE but I don't think I can be too picky. We are definitely hoping if we get stranded, it will be in Seattle and not Anchorage.