Sunday, September 2

Heading Back to Seattle via San Francisco

Mom's alarm went off at 3:30 a.m.  This was painfully early considering this was really 1:30 a.m. our time.  I struggled to get out of bed.  I was pretty tired still but it was time to go back home.  I did my bathroom stuff and got my airplane clothes on.  I had to reorganize everything so my fifth of whiskey didn't break.  I wrapped it in so many clothes.  My suitcase was very full and tipped forward.  I had to make sure nothing broke.

Mom went down stairs and checked out while Erika and I packed the car one more time.  It was so early.  We got onto the freeway and followed the signs to the rental car drop off.  We parked the car and filled out the rest of the paperwork.  We took all of our stuff out and found out I had lost the button for the top of my Nuvi.  We looked everywhere for it and couldn't find it.  Bummer.  I walked over to the drop box and put the paperwork and the keys inside.


We walked ourselves and luggage to the departures section of the airport.  We printed out our boarding passes and checked in our luggage.  We paid for our luggage, went through security and walked to our gate, A8.  We waited there for a bit.  We all took turns using the restroom before we started to board.  Our flight left at 6:25 a.m. central time and would arrive in San Francisco at 9:13 a.m. pacific time.  I sat next to mom and got the window view.  I slept some and looked out the window during the flight.

As we flew over northern Arizona and southern Utah we got to see the landscape change.  I wasn't sure what I was looking at but it definitely looked like the canyons.  Maybe part of the Grand Canyon?


We arrived in San Francisco a little before our actual arrival time, which was nice.  I was ready for some breakfast once we got off the plane.  We had a short layover.  Our flight to Seattle left at 11:01 a.m.  We got off the plane and into the concourse.  We wandered around for a bit looking for food because I was trying to find a healthy alternative besides all the fast food places mostly for mom.  At this point she really didn't care so we settled for Burger King.  I haven't had Burger King in forever.  Just before 9:30 we all got a breakfast sandwich, a hashbrown and an OJ.  Erika got coffee.  We sat at the table for a little while before heading to our gate.

We got to our gate and we all used the restroom again before they started to board.  If I don't have to use the airline bathroom more power to me.  Our flight left on time and we headed north to Seattle.  Along the way, the clouds held up for us, we knew we were getting close when we saw some familiar landmarks.  The first one was Crater Lake.  We had gone here July 2017 when we went to Bend to visit with dad's friend Ron.


We knew we were getting closer as we approached Mt. St. Helens to our right.  We went to the Windy Ridge side of Mt. St. Helens this past summer for a fun day trip.  Both mom and I hadn't been there since the mid 1990s.  Mt. St. Helens is my favorite Cascade mountain.


A little farther north to the right of the plane was Mount Rainier.  I see Rainier just about everyday.  It has always been known as the mountain in our back yard.  You can see it on the way to my parents house and on the way to our house.  It's a fixture to our horizon we've always known.


We made our descent into Seattle.  I was so ready to be home.  I was tired and wanted some food and a long nap.  We got off the plane and headed towards baggage claim.  We grabbed our bags after a few minutes of waiting and went outside to wait for the shuttle to Ajax 2.  We probably waited maybe 15 minutes for the shuttle to arrive.  They drove us right to the Escape, we thanked them, handed them a tip and loaded our stuff into my vehicle.

We got onto the highway and onto I-5 south.  It took us about an hour to get home and that was including taking mom home.  When we got home, I had a sandwich and took a couple hour nap.  When I got up I worked on Grammie's photo slideshow for her celebration on Wednesday.  I had Monday off for the holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday were my bereavement days from work.  I was always hoping it would be a long time before I would have to use those.  Everything just happened so fast.  I almost forgot to breathe.

Next Adventure:  Celebrating the Life of Eileen Joy Larson (Grammie)

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