Road Trip 2011 – Part 1 – Getting There

Earlier this month Cora and our daughter, Wednesday, took off for Seattle. They had some stuff to do with the ongoing court case, and it was also a chance to see and be seen by family and friends. (They were even spotted crossing the street by a lapsed blogger who lives a couple of blocks from Cora's mom's place.) Wednesday got to see a couple of friends while she was out there, and the court stuff went pretty well.

Me on the other hand, I was a wreck. I had a week to myself, and it started off with me wandering around the condo like a sad puppy looking for it's owner. Something funny would be on TV, and I would look over to where they sat to make a comment, only to be surprised that they weren't there. It got so bad that on the second night, I slept on the sofa, because the bed just felt too empty.

But then I snapped out of that, and enjoyed the freedom of walking around in my underwear and peeing with the door open.

So, Friday the 19th came, and I went to the airport after work. Flew thru security, got a tasty sub from Potbelly's, and headed toward my gate for my 7:10 flight. After a 3.5 hour delay due to a storm in Newark not allowing my plane to leave for Hartford and then fly to Midway, we got to board the plane. Aided by a free drink coupon that netted me a double rum and diet Coke, I slept a decent portion of the flight. I'd sent Cora a text long before we took off that I was going to be late, and aided by one of those online flight tracker sites, she wasn't waiting too long at the airport for me. So, it's now technically Saturday, and the road trip hasn't even started and it's already just a touch behind schedule.

After we awoke Saturday, Cora, Wednesday & I headed over to a place on Puget Sound called Seahurst Park. It's a beach along the Puget Sound. This is not the same kind of Pacific coast beach you get in Southern California.

Trying to restore the beach to a more "natural" state with big rocks…	And huge logs of driftwood everywhere. Wouldn't want people enjoying the sand!
Wednesday is modeling her "New Age Victorian" beachwear. Exposing an elbow. How daring! How darling!	My two little chicks, up in a tree.
Besides the beach, there is a nice section of woods and streams leading down to the Sound.	Look @ me getting all artsy playing with light and shadow and shooting at an angle and stuff.
Voted "Puget Sounds Worst Play Lot" 3 years running!	And seriously, WTF? I mean W?T?F?

We then went back to Cora's mom's place and took a nap. Oh, the glorious nap that helps set you on Pacific time, how I love you! And after dinner, we went to Shari's for dessert.

Sunday was a busy day, also. First, we had breakfast at IHOP with Cora's mom & sister and her family.

I've got them Harry Potter "apperating" skillz. Either that, or I forgot to set the 10 second timer, and just took the picture, then had to reset the timer, and run back in place. One or the other.

And as you can see, I fit into the family nicely.

And here's the little star of the show, showing off a skill she learned a few weeks prior.

After our pancake party, it was off to Seattle for the Mourning Market. This is not to be confused with your mother's craft show in the grade school gym or the Pike Place Market. This is a dark, goth market, with some steampunk elements thrown in.

The show was located in the SoDo neighborhood, just down the street form Starbucks headquarters.	Not everyone came dressed for the occasion, but some did. Yes, that's one of 3 hearses that were parked outside.
This was a very interesting display of items for sale.	Imagine trying to carry this bad boy thru the airport security line!

At the show, we met up with Cora's friend, Callista and her husband. We had a nice chat with them before the show opened. At the show, Wednesday bought a new pair of fingerless gloves. Her current pair that she wears all the time have been sewn a couple of times, and really, aren't long for this world. After the show, the 5 of us had lunch @ Jimmy John's and then hung out for a while by the cars. As we left, Callista's husband gave me the tub of Lego Star Wars kits that I bought off of him a while ago. (The Yoda will be getting put together soon. That's all I know right now.)

Later in the afternoon, after a round of laundry and packing, we headed over to Cora's dad & stepmother's house. This was my first visit, so I got the tour and the explanation of how they are going to lift the house, move it up and over a little bit, then add a story under it. Plus, I got to see his outdoor train setup.

After a good visit and the tour, the five of us headed out for dinner. A nice Mexican restaurant. It was a calm, relaxing visit, which masked the nerves over the drive to come. Having driven Cora's stuff out last fall in basically 3.25 days with no sightseeing, her dad was a bit skeptical of my plan to do it in 4 days, with a lot of sightseeing along the way.

He was right, but that's for a later post. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Cora's mom's for the final bit of packing and prep-work before hitting the road.

Let the adventure begin!