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Monday,
April 24, 2006
Seattle, Rock Five
I'd scheduled our return flight on Monday to give us a couple
of sightseeing hours if we wanted them. Turned out -- ha ha -- we were too
tired to be properly enthusiastic, but we were hungry so we climbed down six
blocks to the waterfront anyway.
I'd finally overdosed on fish (and was feeling a little nauseated anyway from sinus drainage), so I picked at a chicken sandwich from Red Robin while Lyndon enjoyed his own sandwich and a strawberry shake. We spent an hour walking up and down the waterfront, with the occasional stop for pictures, souvenirs or just to read a historical monument, before we realized we now had to get back UP the six blocks to the hotel (think hill. Think steep hill. Think two out of shape tourists whose legs were already trembling from going down the hill).
Lyndon, bless his heart, snagged a taxi, which ferried us back to the Crowne Plaza where our town car was already waiting for us (it was the same price as a taxi to the airport, so we thought why not?). The nice Russian driver slung our bags in the back, got us situated comfortably, and took off for I-5 and Sea-Tac, where we had a final, beautiful view of Rainier looming in our face before we took the turn for the airport -- I'd really like to go back and check out some of the national parks around that mountain someday.
Once at the airport, we went up to an automated check-in
machine and got a very nice surprise -- it asked us if we wanted to upgrade
to a first-class seat. This has never happened to us before -- in fact, I'd
tried to do something similar on the outbound leg and was told I couldn't
because we'd gotten our tickets on Travelocity. Since I'd been squooshed
unmercifully on the way there and we were both tired, we said "YES!" and
ran a credit card through the slot.
First class tickets secured, we hied ourselves to the nearest bar (the Africa Lounge -- very cute) and nursed drinks for an hour until it was time to board. The plane back was still one of the old TWA refurbs, but at least this time we were in comfortable seats, had free booze and a decent lunch, and could actually doze. Better still, I spotted both Mercer Island (where my aunt lives) and Mt. St. Helens from the air (at right), and got a fabulous shot of MSH's crater.
After that, though, the clouds closed in and I settled down to read ENGAGING THE ENEMY while listening to THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE over the PA system. Apart from a spectacular thunderstorm that we skirted (I love watching storms from the air), the flight back was calm and unmemorable, and we landed in Dallas on time and almost at the right terminal.
So endeth our trip to Seattle, with the decision that somehow, someday, we'd be back. The cats were happy to see us, though, and JJ had only hurled twice, which was nice.