Top o’ the mornin’ to ya’

We made it!  We got to the airport yesterday with boarding passes that showed no seat assignment.  The flight was overbooked.  They offered compensation to anyone who was willing to make a deal, and that earned Cas and me the aisle seats on the back two rows of the airplane to Salt Lake City.  I was one row ahead of him.  Of course, our original tickets featured us sitting next to each other straight through to Seattle, but at this point, we just opted to get here however we could.  Good news, bad news- I got a lot of my new book read, but the guy behind me was pretty distracting.  

When we got here, we stepped off the airplane and walked to the light rail station.  The whole walk was under a roof, which makes sense given what I understand to be the typical weather around here.  We bought transit passes and boarded the train without presenting them or swiping them in any way.  Felt a lot like we got a free ride.  In Dallas, there was a fare enforcement check on the Silver Line, but in Seattle, we just hopped on with the shiny, new cards in our pockets.  Perhaps we’ll find use for them today.  

It was a long day of travel yesterday, so we were in low power mode- at least, it was Heather and Cas low power mode.  We only walked a few large blocks to get to a rooftop bar where we had a cocktail and a sandwich and saw as much of the sunset as the Pacific Northwest clouds would let us see.  We sat high up, looking out over the water and to the mountains in the background on one side, the Pike Place Market on the other, and enjoyed the view.  When you live in Dallas, you get really excited about places that have natural beauty.  I guess we weren’t alone, because we ended up in the nicest chat with two women from Houston.  Apparently, being from Houston leaves you just as hungry for natural beauty as being from Dallas does.  But that’s the day- it was a long one.  We got back to our room with aspirations for a much more interesting day today.  No layovers, now separate seating- just bouncing around Seattle with my guy.  Here’s a great pic of us at The Nest, which is a rooftop bar with nice cocktails and a good poached tuna sandwich!

It’s almost time to get started today.  It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and in all of the stopping and starting, I somehow forgot to pack a single green thing to wear.  Hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me . We have a ferry ride in the works and a trip to have some extremely authentic Starbucks coffee.  Should be a good one, and this evening, we’ll have a nice dinner with Jerone and his wife Sara.  Hooray! Off to go explore, and top o’ the morning to ya’!  

By the way- here is the photo album I am sure you were anticipating: tinyurl.com/DunlapSeattle