Saturday in Seattle

Wow! Amazing weather... sunny and in 70s. Thanks, Barb, for ordering it for us!

Breakfast at the hotel (Fairfield Inn, SEA-TAC) was good with a lot of choice. Amazing how some hotels have a very limited choice for their FREE continental breakfast. This hotel has waffles,cereal, bagels,bread choices,pastries, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, bananas, apples, juices, coffee/tea. I ate an egg,cereal with yogurt, banana, and tea. Good for me.

After breakfast and back to room for shower/dress, we walked down the hill to a Seven 11 for some bottles of juice and popcorn for evening snack.

David, Alison, Ben, and Edward arrived at hotel about 1:15. They couldn't get into their room so left their luggage (a lot of it) in our room.

We took the hotel shuttle to the airport and a bus to a stop across from Westlake Shopping Center. We didn't have to pay for the bus -- happened because we had entered the bus from back and after arriving at our stop, Alison went to driver to pay but he said it was ok. Hmmm... He probably was shocked that people would be so honest so decided to let it go. So... free rides from hotel into city.

A short walk to Pike Place Market and opportunity to get samples at the Cheese Festival. Good amount for a light lunch.

We walked back to Westlake and ate at the Food Court. Good choices there. Steve and I had fish/veggies in bowls (instead of wraps)and shared a smoothie.

We walked a few blocks to get on bus to take us back to airport. Paid $1.75 each person for that ride. David put in $1 bill and was going to put the coins in, but that driver told him it was OK. Go figure...

At airport didn't have to wait for a shuttle -- perfect timing -- back to hotel.

We moved luggage into the adjoining room. Ben liked being able run from one room to the other. When it was bathtime for him, we said goodnight and closed the connecting doors.

We're taking a private shuttle to the pier in the morning, costing us only $11 each. Such a deal.

Not sure when I'll be able to upload my blog entries next time. I'll write an entry each day and upload them when I can.

Ellenville to Seattle

After only about 3 hours of sleep (Just couldn't seem to fall asleep but Steve did.), I was up with time to make sure I had everything needed for the trip. Left home at 8:45 this morning... actually yesterday morning according to Seattle time...

Drive to LaGuardia, very uneventful. When were checking in our bags, we found out the flight was delayed about an hour. Since it was only 11 and flight wasn't going to be leaving until 1:45, we decided to stroll through the shops (bought nothing) and sit at the food court to eat the salad, etc. I brought for out. Had to buy drinks only. Headed to gate area. First time we had to deal with taking a computer through security. Steve took it out and added it to one of the containers that would go through the xray machine. He was told that he should use a SEPARATE bin just for a computer. Our little Acer Netbook all by itself in a container. Something new we learned on this trip.

At the gate area we found out we would be delayed even longer. This was one of the times I was happy that we had a later flight leaving Atlanta, not the usual one hour layover. So, instead of sitting in Hartsfield Airport for about 3 hours, we sat longer at LaGuardia. Many flights were delayed due to heavy rains in the south and Midwest areas. Since we were in Business Class (upgrade using our points) we boarded first, sat comfortably, and were offered drinks. Had OJ only but later on the flight drank a Baileys on the Rocks (free in BC). Snacks were plentiful but no meals as is the usual for domestic flights.

Flight to Atlanta was smooth, arriving more than an hour before our next flight. We bought sandwiches at a place similar to Panera Bread.

Flight to Seattle was good, for the most part. Some turbulence but I slept through most of it. Watched part of The Butterfly Effect movie on the Netbook until the battery ran out of juice. Decided not to change batteries so will see the end at another time. Steve put about 5 movies on an SD card so I'll have more choice during this trip.

After arrival as Seattle, we had to deal with BAGGAGE CLAIM. Even though we didn't have to pay for checking the bags (BC again...), it was not a pleasant experience to wait for the bags. There was a jam in the baggage machine while people from TWO flights waited at the carousel. We always say it's so much better to carry on the bags. Walk off the plane and go directly out of the airport. Oh, well. On the way home, we'll carry on as usual.

We easily found the area to call for the airport shuttle and arrived at the hotel about 11:15 PM (2:15 AM -- Saturday, NY time.

It's been a LONG DAY.

Tomorrow, after David, Alison, Ben, and Edward arrive, we'll go to Pikes Place Market and enjoy the 70s degree temperature.