Washington 2009

I got up at 4 am to catch a 6:55 flight to Cincinnati, then a flight to Seattle. They were fairly uneventful flights. I dozed some and read some and arrived in Seattle at 10:45 am.

The baggage carousel broke down part way through unloading suitcases for our flight. This was soon fixed and my suitcase finally arrived.

I took a taxi to the rental car company downtown. Due to the crazy fees and taxes they’ve added to the airport car rental agencies, I had decided to go this route. Yes, the taxi will cost me about $50 each way, but that saves $1500 over the three week rental. I couldn’t believe the price difference! Someone sure has it in for those who rent a car at the airport! The entire process went smoothly, except for having to wait in the sun (it was hot, in Seattle???) while they washed and vacuumed the car... I was finally on my way.

On the taxi ride downtown, I counted three convertibles with their tops down. Most unusual. Is this really Seattle?

The directions I got from Google Map were very convoluted, involving several turns downtown just to get to the ferry dock. So, I asked at the car rental agency. They gave me directions which were much more straightforward - only two turns to get onto Alaska Way, where the ferry dock is. Seattle needs larger street signs that are easier to see from more than one car length away....

Part of the route to the ferry dock was under the monorail track! Seattle has some nice, very modern streetcars.

The only real problem (other than the tiny road signs) was the road construction along the route... I followed a truck down the one steep hill (Madison) that I needed to travel down and got caught in the middle of an intersection when the light changed. No where to go...

I did finally get to the ferry dock. The previous ferry had left just minutes earlier, so I waited in the sun. I was finally able to board the ferry, which left the dock at 1:10. It was a nice smooth crossing.

I stopped in Poulsbo for some supplies and a milk shake to cool off.

Traffic on the four miles of highway 3 that I needed to travel on averaged 10 mph. Perhaps the Hood Canal Floating Bridge had to be opened to let a boat through??? I’ll never know. There was no evidence of that by the time I finally crossed the bridge, but traffic picked up from there on.

I pulled into Mom’s driveway about 3:15. As I came down the driveway, my brother, John, was coming up the driveway on the riding mower... I honked and looked threatening, just for fun. We talked a little, then he returned to the lawn mowing and I unloaded the car and relaxed a little until Mom came home from her doctor appointments.

The rest of my brother’s family came by for dinner.

Carl called shortly after dinner to make sure I had arrived safely.

I played up the jet lag and my brother and his family left about 8:30. Mom promptly sent me to bed. I crashed and slept soundly.

The only sad part of the day was that this was the third anniversary of Dad’s death.

Friday, July 3

I got up about 6 and called Carl to chat for a while. We were both more awake than during last night’s call.

I got my breakfast and Mom came out to join me. She surprised herself by staying up. She needed someone to talk with, so we spent most of the day talking.

I got a few other things done, too, like updating her computer, redressing her broken toe, pruning the roses. And I ran to town for some fungicide for her apple trees. Little things like that. It was mostly a quiet day with a quiet supper. Then I went off to bed at 10 again.

Saturday, July 4

I got up early again. I walked down for the newspaper, but yesterday’s paper was for both Friday and Saturday, so there wasn’t one, something I realized about the time I got to the paper box.

I ate breakfast and Mom joined me again. Her shoulder still hurts her - the cortisone shot she got yesterday hasn’t kicked in yet.

I worked on various small projects until early afternoon. Her computer has ghosts in the machine. It can’t find one of the system folders from anything other than OE or IE????? What's up with that?

Then I helped her fix a casserole for the neighborhood picnic this afternoon. John arrived on time and drove us down to the picnic grounds, the large yard of one of Mom's neighbors. We all had a nice time. It was a sunny day and actually got hot. Later in the evening, a breeze came up and I got chilled.

We were all too tired to go back to beach for fireworks, but we could hear them, however.... Instead, my niece, Halli, played a couple of pieces on her guitar.

I zonked out fairly early again to the sounds of firecrackers down the road.

Sunday, July 5

While I woke up early, I didn’t go upstairs for breakfast until 7. When I walked down to the street for the paper, I spotted a mallow plant at the bottom of the small ornamental windmill Mom has there - that’s the plant I had seen by the side of the road the other day.

I spent most of that hour before breakfast looking through the flower books trying to figure out what it was. Mom finally identified it for me...

The rest of that hour was spent rearranging stuff from travel mode to on site mode, integrating the items that I had shipped here by UPS (those arrived Friday, right on time).

I spent most of the day working on Mom’s computer. Just about everything is now updated and I ran virus and spyware scans again with completely updated stuff.

Carl called to ask how to clear an error message on my copy machine - it shows up any time we lose power - and we chatted for a while.

I did some more yard work, then went into town for some supplies for the next phase of trip.

Another quiet day. Mom's computer seems to be working faster since the scans (and taking the Lexmark junk off of it - she no longer owns that printer).

Spooky, Mom’s cat, just came downstairs and informed me that he wanted out..... He meowed from the foot of the stairs and lashed his tail until I went back up the stairs and let him out the deck door (g).