Seattle – Arrival and Overview

Frank and I just got back Saturday, July 26th from a ten-day trip to Seattle where we vacationed with two couples, friends from our college days at MIT. The first few days we did outdoorsy activities in the Mount Rainier area and at Snoqualmie Falls. Later in our stay we got a City Pass and enjoyed metropolitan day trips in the city of Seattle itself. We had a great mixture of eating out at local restaurants and eating in at the five bedroom craftsman style house we rented. We talked or played games in the evenings. This blog post is the first in a series that will describe our adventures.

Sue & John, Joe & Margaret, and Frank & I had this photo taken
when we were all at the top of the iconic Space Needle of Seattle.
This was our motley crew for the Seattle trip.

Before having all this fun though I needed to get ready for the trip. I am OK once on the plane but usually I am a nervous pre-traveler. I dislike packing and I generally stress out about forgetting something, or losing my ID, or having overweight luggage, or getting to the airport too late, or leaving something behind at security. For this trip I was more relaxed. There was no need to remember the oodles of gift items I usually take when visiting Dan's or Robin's families. Alex with his medications and other special needs was not coming along. It was just Frank and me traveling and we were taking Southwest Airlines as we do the majority of the time. We had an early afternoon departure time on Thursday, July 17th. The flight time was only 1 hour and 55 minutes. Piece o' cake!

Southwest does not pre-assign seats but you need to get a boarding pass within 24 hours of your flight that dictates your boarding order for the plane and subsequently your seat selection. We generally sit poised in front of the computer and hit the submit key at the first second of the opening of that 24-hour window. Well, I guess I was blasé enough this trip, that we nearly forgot to get those passes! We were so late that, horror of horrors we were B58 and B59, out of the boarding pass groups of A1-A60, B1-B60, or C1-C60. This meant that about two thirds of the plane would board before us and select their seats. Relatively calm for the trip up to this point, this minor incident illogically triggered my travel panic button and I fretted immensely over it. To my inane travel mind, it was a sign that the entire trip would go badly. Well, we boarded the plane and wound up sitting in an exit row. The row had only two seats and those seats turned out to be great. We had more room. Getting out to the aisle was easier. We had a view out the window unobscured by any other passenger's head. My mood brightened. This was a sign that the rest of the trip was going to be great! And it was. The weather was unseasonably beautiful for Seattle - there was very little rain and it was temperately sunny most of the time we were there.

Our two exit row seats were roomy, private, an a pleasant surprise allaying my dire fears.

Our flight went smoothly, landed on time, but was delayed slightly on the runway waiting for a gate to open up for our plane. Once we deplaned, we spotted our luggage on a carousel even before we were able to figure out which carousel it was supposed to be on.  We boarded the shuttle bus for the satellite rental car facility. On the way we passed the turn around for the ubiquitous Seattle County yellow taxis that service the SeaTac Airport. Those sporty, itty-bitty, sunshine-colored cars were so cute as they zipped around the turn-around quickly. They reminded me of bees busily buzzing around a hive.

I was delighted and bemused by this scene of scurrying taxis, our first glimpse of Seattle
from the windows of the rental car shuttle bus.

Our 72 mile drive to our cabin in Ashford at the base of Mount Rainier was full of a variety of sites to behold. We drove right by the Tacoma Dome, saw planes overhead from nearby military facilities, and had lush lakeside vistas to view along side the roadway.

The Tacoma Dome has the capacity to seat 23,000 and was built in 1983.
It loomed up in front to us on our drive to Mount Rainier.

We made a pitstop at the McDonald's near Puyallup and just had to look up to see
these planes that populated the sky due to nearby air fields.

There were several lake vistas and views of dams on our way to Mount Rainier.

Our cabin was in the town of Ashford at the base of Mount Rainier, just outside the west entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park. Halfway up to the Mt. Rainier summit is a visitor and overlook area titled Paradise. Appropriately the place we stayed near the base was called Almost Paradise Lodging.

Our drive from Sea-Tac airpiort (A) to Ashford (B) took a little under two hours . On the final stretch
heading east, the silhouette of Mount Rainier would suddenly and periodically surprise us
by peeking out directly in front of us when the surrounding trees allowed.

Our cabin was the Paradise Guest House.

This brochure welcomed us to our cabin,
The Paradise Guest House.

The closest corner of this lodge building was our cabin home during our two night stay near Mount Rainer.
The three windows on the left were in our kitchen and family room. The sliding door led out to our hot tub.
We never did use the hot tub but the yellow rubber duckie perched on it
was a cheery greeting as we went in and out.

The roomy living room boasted the comfort of a cozy fireplace and
the simple pleasure of a TV and large selection of DVDs free to borrow.

I was very pleased to find a handcrafted quilt on the bed.

This is Dugan, a huge but very friendly German Shepherd
who roamed the grounds in search of any one willing to play.

Our friends John and Sue had rented a cabin a bit down the road and we found their place. It was late enough in the evening that they'd already had dinner but they came with us to the Copper Creek Restaurant. Frank and I both had chicken with a topping of apples and sour cream that was moist, delicious, unusual, and perfectly prepared. John had the unlikely but yummy combination of french fires followed by blackberry pie. Blackberry pie is a specialty of the Mount Rainier area. Sue was full. She just had tea. We sat at the outdoor table that you see in the photo. The balmy evening was perfect for dining alfresco and catching up with old friends. Afterwards, we all retreated to our cabins, tired from a day of hiking for them and a day of travel for us. 

Frank & I and John & Sue leisurely dined at the leftmost outside table shown in the photo.

Here is an overview of how we kept busy that hints at the content of the blog posts to come. You really did not expect to get six nerds from MIT together without generating a spreadsheet or two, now did you?

Here is a chart of our outings, meals, and games while in Seattle, Washington.

Actually, since we were socializing on this trip, we are more correctly dubbed geeks, rather than nerds. We enjoyed looking up the difference. I think that may make us dorks as well.

While at lunch one day we asked Siri what were the differences among nerds, geeks, and dorks.
She knew and displayed it easily. Does that make Siri a geek?