You have waited long enough me thinks...so here it is...
Seattle for Beginners
As some of you know, my dad and I took a trip to Seattle to watch our beloved Atlanta Braves play against the Mariners. The trip was to be a graduation present for me (read my MA thesis if you want, it's linked in my last blog) and the game tickets were a Father's day present for dad. We lined it up on priceline.com, we flew there on Monday the 27th and flew back Thursday the 30th, games were on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Monday morning we got everything together and hit the road for Billings where we would fly out of. Hard to plan trips sometimes when you have to drive over 200 miles to get to the airport, but we did it fine. Got to Billings, had some lunch and then headed up to the airport. Getting everything in order worked just fine, for some reason when I put in the computer to keep us together it decided to separate us, so sitting and waiting to board became a who is the freak I will be next to type situation. But first...security.
Security is easy in a smaller airport, but still a little of a pain. We got our shoes off, emptied our pockets and sent our stuff through the x-ray machine. Everything seemed fine until we were asked "who's is this", yup, been since the 90s since dad has flown so he didn't know about jackknives and I had completely forgotten. Needless to say he surrendered it and so now I know something I can give him as a gift in the future.
We had about an hour and a half wait for our flight to Portland, yep we got sent there for a three hour layover because apparently that is the route this company takes from Billings. You fly to Portland, and then to Seattle, but when you fly from Seattle it is direct to Billings, so that's nice. It was an Alaska Air flight run by Horizon, and I tell you what, I would certainly fly with them again.
As we waited and I looked around there were some attractive women that were going to be on the flight, some rednecks, and some that were in between...who would I draw? Ooooh look at the beautiful brunette over there, or that lovely lady there, this could work. Boarding the flight I found my seat, and the person I was going to be sitting next to. I said oh this is me, and that was as far as our conversation went. She had a book out already, and so I got mine out and kept to myself. Luckily it was a good book, The Imperfectionists four stars at least. Quick flight to Portland, and my damn ears won't pop, had the same problem when I went to Sacramento for my sister's wedding. Luckily a three hour layover was to occur in a really nice airport.
Since I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep I hit Starbucks and ordered a Mocha Coconut Frapp, I thought it was going to be a hot drink so was surprised it was a Frapp. (just so you don't think I am stupid, I ordered it as mocha coconut only) That thing was fucking delicious, not going to lie. Dad and I found a seat by an outlet so I could charge my phone, and I read some more in between tweeting and whatnot. lol
Charged up, grabbed some grub, and headed to our gate for the last half hour wait. Oh I totally forgot, when the flight attendants announced snack service they told of their complimentary win and micro brew in addition to beverage choices...yup free beer FTW. The flight from Portland to Seattle is beautiful and quick, but still got free beer. lol
Landing in Seattle was quick and easy, also these were the first planes I had ever been on with propellors, and the flight to Seattle I didn't have to sit by anyone, also great. We called mom and saw that night's Braves v. Mariners game on in one of the pubs so quick watched some of it and saw the score on our way to baggage claim. After we got our bags we had no idea how we were going to get to the hotel that was about 20 miles north of there. We looked aimlessly about when some people got our attention that were giving directions. They were very nice people that also collected money for Haiti relief as they went back and forth, not sure but they might have been Haitian as well. Real nice folks that got us pointed in the right direction towards the parking garage where shuttles and things were.
Now our hotel didn't offer shuttle service, but what the hell, there had to be better info on how to get to the hotel in that area. The guy there was really nice and told us not to take a cab as that would be over 40 bucks, but if we went on the light link and went to the King Station stop a cab would only be like ten bucks. We walked towards the link stop and found the little touch screen to buy tickets from. As we went through the stops on the line King Station was not on it, so of course dad get's agitated. I looked at the map that we had been given and saw that Pioneer Square had to be about right for us, and finally talked dad into just going there as it had to be close and a cab would be cheap. Tickets, yeah 2.75 apiece, nice!
Got on the escalator up to the train, got on sat down and off we went. It was probably around 9pm at this time and it was really nice to still see the sun was up. The train ride was a great way to get into the city, we got to see so many parts of Seattle on the way there, one highlight was that the Stadium stop was right at Safeco Field, so we got to see our ultimate destination and it was impressive. Excitement entered my body a bit as we continued on to our destination, at one point as we neared our stop we went through tunnels that reminded me of Willy Wonka, it was uphill so we picked up speed and the light at various spots showed off graffiti and I heard Gene Wilder singing in my head and so I smiled to myself.
Pioneer square was where we departed the train and we took an escalator up to a platform to another escalator that was steep as hell. This escalator led up into the city of Seattle, it was a moment that I really enjoyed, just the anticipation that grew as I went up this steep and huge escalator to arrive on a city block. Once we got up there I looked around and told dad let's go down to that corner and then cross the street and go down a block since this is 3rd and we want 2nd. When we got to the corner of 2nd I was looking around to see which direction to walk next but I could tell dad was getting antsy, two Montana men in the big city with suitcases and unsure of where they were. A cab drove up and asked if we needed a lift, I was still looking to see which direction to go when dad said yeah. So we throw our bags in the trunk and get in the backseat. Dad handed our paper to the cabby that showed where our hotel was, he looked at it for a bit and said "You're here". I looked around and didn't see a hotel so questioned him on it, and he said "yeah, it's right back there". He didn't charge us of course, but the suddenly apparent awning was our new destination. There wasn't a sign you could see unless across the street, but yeah, we were those touristy folk.
We walked into the hotel laughing and told the receptionist our story to explain our laughter. She laughed and said that's kind of awesome and then we found out our room assignment. It was a damn nice room with two queen sized beds and a lovely view of the brick building across from us, across the alley from us. Oh well, we weren't here for the view, we were here to explore and for the baseball. I turned the TV to that night's Braves game and dad called mom. Got to see the last few innings of a Braves win, tell mom about the trip to that point and relax a bit.
I then decided to open my suitcase and get situated, as I unzipped the strong scent of mouthwash invaded my nose and I knew I had a possible problem on my hands. I quickly opened it and saw that somehow my mouthwash bottle had popped open and the ziplock bag didn't hold back it's fury. Luckily it only got one Tshirt and a couple pairs of pants, so I went and soaked them up real good in the tub, and hung them to dry. This would prove to be the cure for this catastrophe. Contacts out, teeth brushed, face washed, I lay down with my book and read the first day of the trip away with a smile on my face.
Okay I will give you pictures now and plan to do each day as it's own blog because these are apparently going to be big. lol
That's my pa.
That's me.
Okay so Day 2 I will write in a week, how's that sound?
Seattle for Beginners
As some of you know, my dad and I took a trip to Seattle to watch our beloved Atlanta Braves play against the Mariners. The trip was to be a graduation present for me (read my MA thesis if you want, it's linked in my last blog) and the game tickets were a Father's day present for dad. We lined it up on priceline.com, we flew there on Monday the 27th and flew back Thursday the 30th, games were on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Monday morning we got everything together and hit the road for Billings where we would fly out of. Hard to plan trips sometimes when you have to drive over 200 miles to get to the airport, but we did it fine. Got to Billings, had some lunch and then headed up to the airport. Getting everything in order worked just fine, for some reason when I put in the computer to keep us together it decided to separate us, so sitting and waiting to board became a who is the freak I will be next to type situation. But first...security.
Security is easy in a smaller airport, but still a little of a pain. We got our shoes off, emptied our pockets and sent our stuff through the x-ray machine. Everything seemed fine until we were asked "who's is this", yup, been since the 90s since dad has flown so he didn't know about jackknives and I had completely forgotten. Needless to say he surrendered it and so now I know something I can give him as a gift in the future.
We had about an hour and a half wait for our flight to Portland, yep we got sent there for a three hour layover because apparently that is the route this company takes from Billings. You fly to Portland, and then to Seattle, but when you fly from Seattle it is direct to Billings, so that's nice. It was an Alaska Air flight run by Horizon, and I tell you what, I would certainly fly with them again.
As we waited and I looked around there were some attractive women that were going to be on the flight, some rednecks, and some that were in between...who would I draw? Ooooh look at the beautiful brunette over there, or that lovely lady there, this could work. Boarding the flight I found my seat, and the person I was going to be sitting next to. I said oh this is me, and that was as far as our conversation went. She had a book out already, and so I got mine out and kept to myself. Luckily it was a good book, The Imperfectionists four stars at least. Quick flight to Portland, and my damn ears won't pop, had the same problem when I went to Sacramento for my sister's wedding. Luckily a three hour layover was to occur in a really nice airport.
Since I had only gotten 4 hours of sleep I hit Starbucks and ordered a Mocha Coconut Frapp, I thought it was going to be a hot drink so was surprised it was a Frapp. (just so you don't think I am stupid, I ordered it as mocha coconut only) That thing was fucking delicious, not going to lie. Dad and I found a seat by an outlet so I could charge my phone, and I read some more in between tweeting and whatnot. lol
Charged up, grabbed some grub, and headed to our gate for the last half hour wait. Oh I totally forgot, when the flight attendants announced snack service they told of their complimentary win and micro brew in addition to beverage choices...yup free beer FTW. The flight from Portland to Seattle is beautiful and quick, but still got free beer. lol
Landing in Seattle was quick and easy, also these were the first planes I had ever been on with propellors, and the flight to Seattle I didn't have to sit by anyone, also great. We called mom and saw that night's Braves v. Mariners game on in one of the pubs so quick watched some of it and saw the score on our way to baggage claim. After we got our bags we had no idea how we were going to get to the hotel that was about 20 miles north of there. We looked aimlessly about when some people got our attention that were giving directions. They were very nice people that also collected money for Haiti relief as they went back and forth, not sure but they might have been Haitian as well. Real nice folks that got us pointed in the right direction towards the parking garage where shuttles and things were.
Now our hotel didn't offer shuttle service, but what the hell, there had to be better info on how to get to the hotel in that area. The guy there was really nice and told us not to take a cab as that would be over 40 bucks, but if we went on the light link and went to the King Station stop a cab would only be like ten bucks. We walked towards the link stop and found the little touch screen to buy tickets from. As we went through the stops on the line King Station was not on it, so of course dad get's agitated. I looked at the map that we had been given and saw that Pioneer Square had to be about right for us, and finally talked dad into just going there as it had to be close and a cab would be cheap. Tickets, yeah 2.75 apiece, nice!
Got on the escalator up to the train, got on sat down and off we went. It was probably around 9pm at this time and it was really nice to still see the sun was up. The train ride was a great way to get into the city, we got to see so many parts of Seattle on the way there, one highlight was that the Stadium stop was right at Safeco Field, so we got to see our ultimate destination and it was impressive. Excitement entered my body a bit as we continued on to our destination, at one point as we neared our stop we went through tunnels that reminded me of Willy Wonka, it was uphill so we picked up speed and the light at various spots showed off graffiti and I heard Gene Wilder singing in my head and so I smiled to myself.
Pioneer square was where we departed the train and we took an escalator up to a platform to another escalator that was steep as hell. This escalator led up into the city of Seattle, it was a moment that I really enjoyed, just the anticipation that grew as I went up this steep and huge escalator to arrive on a city block. Once we got up there I looked around and told dad let's go down to that corner and then cross the street and go down a block since this is 3rd and we want 2nd. When we got to the corner of 2nd I was looking around to see which direction to walk next but I could tell dad was getting antsy, two Montana men in the big city with suitcases and unsure of where they were. A cab drove up and asked if we needed a lift, I was still looking to see which direction to go when dad said yeah. So we throw our bags in the trunk and get in the backseat. Dad handed our paper to the cabby that showed where our hotel was, he looked at it for a bit and said "You're here". I looked around and didn't see a hotel so questioned him on it, and he said "yeah, it's right back there". He didn't charge us of course, but the suddenly apparent awning was our new destination. There wasn't a sign you could see unless across the street, but yeah, we were those touristy folk.
We walked into the hotel laughing and told the receptionist our story to explain our laughter. She laughed and said that's kind of awesome and then we found out our room assignment. It was a damn nice room with two queen sized beds and a lovely view of the brick building across from us, across the alley from us. Oh well, we weren't here for the view, we were here to explore and for the baseball. I turned the TV to that night's Braves game and dad called mom. Got to see the last few innings of a Braves win, tell mom about the trip to that point and relax a bit.
I then decided to open my suitcase and get situated, as I unzipped the strong scent of mouthwash invaded my nose and I knew I had a possible problem on my hands. I quickly opened it and saw that somehow my mouthwash bottle had popped open and the ziplock bag didn't hold back it's fury. Luckily it only got one Tshirt and a couple pairs of pants, so I went and soaked them up real good in the tub, and hung them to dry. This would prove to be the cure for this catastrophe. Contacts out, teeth brushed, face washed, I lay down with my book and read the first day of the trip away with a smile on my face.
Okay I will give you pictures now and plan to do each day as it's own blog because these are apparently going to be big. lol
That's my pa.
That's me.
Okay so Day 2 I will write in a week, how's that sound?
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
krito:
XOXO!!
XOXO!! 
mitska:
Hahahaha! Right! No one wants to endure the wrath of Brain!! 
