Seattle, Day 1: A Recap

Day 4 in Seattle and so it is time for an update. My lovely hosts Chris, Maureen, and Nicholas have seen to it that my time spent here has been a perfect blast. A little bit about the trip out here before I get to them.

The car arrived on Friday afternoon to pick up Coltrane and I. Our first stop was to drop off Coltrane at Jen and Allison's place, where he's staying the first week I'm away (more about Coltrane Fat Boy Burger Buns in a bit). Then we headed to JFK. While I was handing off the dog to Allison upstairs in their apartment, the driver was busy moving my luggage from the trunk of the car to the back seat. When I came back down, he motioned for me to ride in the front with him. GYPSY CAB!!! Oh no.

Well, I got in anyway (I had used this cab service before and there had been no problems) and we took off. In short order I learned that my driver's name was Omar and that he was from Moracco. Since it was Memorial Day Friday, he suggested that we take only local roads, so we did. The ride to the airport was a clinic in close calls and near misses, but it was interesting to ride through neighborhoods I knew nothing about. Brownsville is especially interesting.

So about 5 minutes away from the airport, my good buddy Omar opens up the storage compartment (you know, where you keep your 8-tracks and cassettes) next to him and asks me to deposit the fare in there before we get to the terminal. Dum-dum-dum! "So...you aren't legally allowed to take passengers to the airport?" I ask. "JFK requires special permits. We can't afford." Omar had been an affable cabbie and I felt for his situation in a way. We didn't hug or anything when I got out of the car, but it was a pleasant ride.

American Airlines Flight 246 to Seattle, however, was another story.

I landed at SeaTac last Friday around 10:30--2 full hours later than I was supposed to. I was hungry (no in-flight dinner during the trip) and just a little cranky. The in-flight movies were the Diane Keaton made for Lifetime TV movie travesty Because I Said So. *Shudder* I arrived at Chris and Mo's around 10:30 and we chit chat for a little while. I was excited to meet little Nicholas, but they had just put him to bed so, I would have to wait until the next day. I ended up going to sleep the first night at 1:30. Do the math, it was really 4:30 in the morning for me. Some of y'all are aware that for me, to be up until 4:30 isn't that uncommon, but after a trans-continental flight that took six hours, I was beat. And I was already thinking, it took me six hours to get here, it's going to take me more than 60 to get back. Oh boy.