We usually plan our big trips way, way, way in advance, so this year's trip seems pretty strange. We are headed to Paul's parents' house near Port Townsend, Washington.
The sad reason is that Paul's grandmother, Phylis Westerfield, passed at the beginning of July, so we are headed out for the funeral.
But we are making the most of it, and turning it into a two week vacation.
We technically left yesterday (Monday), as we started with a hotel stay in Chicago (and left our car there), but I consider today to be the first real day of the trip. We had a noon flight out of O'hare, to get in at 2:00 in Seattle. (Side note: O'hare has a lot of food choices, but since we were carrying it on the plane, I sadly had to forgo getting a torta from the Bayless Frontera grill. Definitely the right choice, as it turned out.)
(Also, the bad hotel coffee this morning had me joking to Paul that the 22 Starbucks at the airport were calling me. That was a made-up number, but I bet there are at least that many. As we traversed our concourse for about 12 gates, we saw three Starbucks.)
So the plane left the gate approximately on time, then sat for a while - not that unusual at O'hare. But it turned out that there was some sort of medical situation in the front of the plane. (As we were in the waaaaay back of the plane, we knew nothing about it.) Back to the gate to let the individual off, the flight attendant let us know he was okay, and we were able to try again.
This ended up putting us about an hour behind schedule. Beverage service and food sales didn't reach our row until nearly 2:00 p.m. So I was very glad we had our own lunches with us.
One nice surprise on the plane: when we booked the tickets, we couldn't find even three seats together, we were sitting 2+2+1. (B was stressing over having to sit next to a stranger.) But the passenger for the aisle seat next to B never showed up, so I was able to move to the row with her and Aidan.
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| Sorry it's fuzzy - we were on the move! |
When we arrived at the ferry terminal, we found a scene of near chaos. There was an incredible line of people waiting for our ferry. Normally there's no problem walking on to a ferry, the only delays are for vehicles. But a few hours before, one of the ferries had broken down, and they were operating their busiest ferry line during rush hour at less than half capacity.
More background: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/07/ferry-stalled-off-bainbridge-island-with-405-passengers/
The agent at the ticket desk estimated that it would be 2 to 3 loads (at least a couple of hours) before we could get on. But there was a ferry leaving for Bremerton in about 2 minutes. No time to consult, we bought the tickets and ran for the boat.
Once aboard, we dragged our luggage around like refugees for a little while, as there were almost no seats left. Eventually we found a spot to settle in, and called Paul's mom and let her know to pick us up at the other ferry.
It felt like a bit of a near crisis situation on the ferry. There was a long line for the vending machines, which were almost empty. People were talking with their neighbors, commiserating, sharing information about the broken down ferry. (It was dead in the water for a couple of hours, with hundreds on board.)
At one point the lady on the intercom came on to say "Could everyone on the ship please just stay where you are right now? Those in the front, stay in the front, and if you're in the back, stay there." Well, you could have heard a pin drop, everyone was just looking at each other like "whaaaaat?" She then went on to say "We are having trouble getting an accurate head count, so please just stay put." A relieved babble immediately went up all over the ship.
Not much left to tell. We made it off the ferry, got picked up, had an interminable 2 hour dinner at Olive Garden, and now everyone's in bed. Here's hoping for a quieter day tomorrow.
