We made it back safe and sound. What an adventure we had! It was fun, beautiful, full of good food and a little trying with the kids but over all absolutely fabulous! What kind of trip does not have ups and downs, we had them all and even some 360's too.
The trip began with an adventure, we left Wednesday night. The Beast (our 1991 Suburban), decided to overheat on the way back from Trader Joe's. I was stocking up on snacks and it red lined. Luckily, we have AAA and have not used a tow the whole year. The tow truck picked me up and got the burban back to our house around 9:30 pm. We called a taxi to make sure we did not break down on the way to the train station and miss our bus. We got to the bus station at 11:30 pm and the bus was scheduled to arrive at 12:00 am.
The bus was full and some inconsiderate guy was sprawled out with legs up on the table in the seats for groups of three or more asleep. Eric sat in the front. The kids and I sat in two seats, with Enzo in my lap. He fell asleep fairly quick but Kira was wide awake. The gentleman across the aisle from us was clearly intoxicated or mentally ill, either way it made the trip interesting.
He sat by the window and proceeded to eat crunch on chips and slurp on soda as loud as humanly possible. Then he practically sucked the skin off his fingers getting the chip remnants off. Remember it is in the middle of the night and everyone else is either asleep or trying to sleep. He continued to talk to himself, more like mumble throughout the trip. At one point the sleeping guy in front of inebriated guy wakes up suddenly. He looks around and hands a phone to inebriated guy. Obviously, confused he loudly asserts "Hey man, this is not my phone....but I keep it!" At the next stop the sleeping guy wakes up and realizes it is his stop. Looking around and searching the seat for his phone, he because concerned about his lost phone. Inebriated guy shouts again "Hey, I have your phone, you gave it to me for some reason!" Sleepy guy thankfully takes his phone and gets off the bus. Finally, we stopped in King City for about a fifteen minute break. The driver announces possible food accommendations and time limit. Inebriated guy starts to have a conversation with himself.
"Oh, we stopping. Ah, a chocolate chip cookie sounds good, yeah that does sound good. Let's go get one! Yeah, okay"
Kid you not, that was the conversation and then he comes back with an ice cream sandwich! You have got to love public transportion. Needless to say I slept a total of about an hour in the four hour drive.
We pull up to the train station around 4:15 am. I did not think the trains or buses would not be running for some odd reason. So we took a taxi to the airport. We arrive at San Jose airport and they just finished this beautiful new terminal. We get in line at Southwest at 4:30. Now they suggest you arrive at the airport about two hours before your flight. We had a 6:30am flight, we were right on time. We were the second in line, sweet! However, the counter did not open up until about 5:15am! Really, really?!!? We became great friends with our fellow passengers and shared our traveling stories and finally they opened up the counter.
We checked in and headed through security, which was not very long of a wait. I do not know why but I always get nervous going through security. What if I forgot about something hidden in a one of the bags and they freak out on me and take me to be searched further.....arggh! Thankfully it was not the case.
We got on the plane and it was not a full flight so we had two rows to ourself.
Mimi put together crayons and coloring books for the kids-Thanks Mimi!
The kids were great and it was a quick flight, about two hours.
We kept busy snacking and drawing
Enzo did get a little cranky when we were descending and his ears were popping.
But through and through the kids were angels.
Kira and Enzo reading over the emergency information
We got in Seattle and my sweet Aunt Carolyn picked us and took us to our hotel in Lynnwood. My brother works for Marriot and we get a family discount. Praise God! We were able to stay in hotel rooms that normally cost $200 or more a night for only $59.00, sweet. Kira and Enzo were so tired. They fell asleep on the way to the hotel. Little bub stayed asleep from 9:30 until 2:30. Once we were at the hotel, I googled Mexican restaurants in walking distance. Taco Time came up and I google "gluten free menu". Yipee, they had a huge gf menu. I grew up with Taco Time and have not eaten there for at least thirteen years. I buckled and ordered their tacos. Oh yum! I figured on this trip we would eat healthy but I was not going to kill myself over it. Clearly, we have to eat gluten free but if we were not 100% plant based, I was okay with it. We hung out in the hotel room most of the day and caught up on sleep. Then we had dinner with some dear friends who live in Arlington. We went to the Lynnwood Mall and ate dinner and walked around. Since I grew up in the Seattle area I remember the Lynnwood Mall well, but I did not recognize it until we came to the middle of it and the fountains. The fountains were just how I remember them and it all came back to me.
We had a great visit with our friends and fabulous weather, I do not need much more than that.....well maybe more sleep. What a long day and full of adventures, we headed back to the hotel and all four of us crashed out.
