Northwest vacation

I'm going to write a post about my vacation today, instead of waiting until next Sunday, because by then who knows what else will have happened that will have obliterated all my nice memories. It was a short but lovely break, and I want it to have its own post.

So this was my sister's and my second baseball weekend together. Last year we went to San Diego over Labor Day weekend, and this year we went to Seattle in late August. 

I was very stressed before the trip, because Rocket Boy had arrived the previous Saturday and it had just been one long disaster ever since, all because of our water heater. After a plumber told us we should return our defective one which was still under warranty and put a new one in by ourselves, we attempted to do just that. But every step of the way was a nightmare -- taking apart and draining the old one, returning it to Home Depot, going to the Longmont Home Depot to get a new one, and then Rocket Boy's endless attempts to install the new one, which kept leaking. He finally got it fixed, but when I caught the bus to the airport on Friday morning, I didn't know that was going to happen and I was Stressed Out.

In the Denver airport I had to stand in an unbelievably long line to go through security. I've never seen anything like it. I think it's because at DIA you used to be able to go through a line either at the north or the south side, but now it's all one line. I hope that's not a permanent change. But I finally got through it and made it to the C concourse. There I bought myself various snacks, not really thinking about the current state of my stomach (on Mounjaro). I bought a bagel with cream cheese and a yogurt parfait at Einstein's Bagels, some mint-flavored Mentos, and a Pumpkin Cream Chai Latte at Starbucks. The chai was the biggest mistake. The pumpkin cream must be very fatty, because while drinking it, I began to feel sick. The sickness lasted until halfway through my flight. I kept thinking, don't throw up, don't throw up, what a stupid way to start this vacation, don't throw up. (I didn't throw up.)

I didn't eat the bagel or the yogurt, put them in my backpack for later, and the yogurt split open in my backpack and got on my black sweater, which was the only warm thing I'd brought with me.

OK, so, not a great start. But things got better quickly. Even though I had a terribly high boarding position, I still got an aisle seat because the couple in my row wanted to sit together in the window and middle seats. They were very large too, so we really filled that row. They were from Iowa, headed for Alaska to go on a cruise, very pleasant people.

Nancy was waiting for me in the Seattle airport, eating a burrito she'd just bought, and I sat with her and ate some of my bagel while we waited for my suitcase. Then we walked a long, long way through the airport to the Seattle Link light rail station, which is a lovely, clean, safe form of public transportation, and it only cost $3 each to ride about 40 minutes to a stop near our hotel. We had a slight problem because they were in the process of changing the name of our station from University Street to Symphony, and about half the signs said one thing and half said the other. So we rode past our stop. But it was no problem -- we just got off at the next stop and got on the next train going the other direction.

It turned out that our hotel, the Fairmont Olympic, was only about a block and a half from the Symphony station, so that was convenient too (once we figured it out).

Our room was very nice, although I think I liked last year's room better. We didn't have a view of anything interesting, just the other side of the hotel, and the beds were very close together (and maybe not as comfortable as last year's). But this hotel had some very positive aspects to it. We were on the 10th floor (out of 11?), and it was very quiet, even though we were right downtown. There were five or six elevators, all very fast. There was an attractive pool, though rather shallow, and a large hot tub which we enjoyed on Sunday evening. I tried to swim a little, but we got most of our exercise walking.

There was a nice restaurant, called The George, where we ate three good breakfasts, and Sunday night we had dinner at the bar, which actually meant in the lobby. Because we were staying three nights, or maybe for some other reason, they gave us a $72 breakfast credit for each morning. We laughed at that -- how could we spend $72 on breakfast? In fact, on at least one of the days, we spent more. The food was terribly expensive. I had oatmeal ($14) on two of the days and a smoothie bowl (also $14) on the other. Nancy had the brunch on Saturday and Sunday, which was more expensive. 

Oh, and they asked us if we'd like to skip housekeeping while we were there, for a $25 food credit, so we said sure, we can keep our own room tidy. So that paid for a little of our Sunday night dinner. I would say the only problem was that we nearly ran out of towels. But otherwise it was fine not to have maids coming and going while we were there.

Our first baseball game was Friday night, so after we got settled in our room and I ate my yogurt from the airport, we put on our baseball outfits and headed off to the light rail again. It was raining lightly and a bit chilly, so Nancy wore layers and a waterproof jacket. I (as mentioned before) had spilled yogurt on my sweater, so I washed it in the bathroom sink -- and that left me with a sopping wet sweater, which of course I couldn't wear. So I wore a little shrug-type sweater that I'd brought, over a light orange t-shirt, and hoped for the best. It turned out that I did not feel the cold in Seattle. It wasn't really cold, for one thing, just cool, and I had been so hot for so long in this long, hot summer we've been having that I enjoyed the different sensation.

Taking the light rail to the stadium was incredibly convenient, although you have to walk a long way once you get off. But of course that was good for us. I was impressed by how physically fit most Seattlans seemed to be. To get around that stadium you have to walk a LOT, and go up and down a LOT of stairs. The first night I was a little overwhelmed, but I got used to it. Nancy got herself some fish & chips for dinner, but I didn't have anything.

We lost the first game, 5-6, but the Giants did very well up until the end. Then the Mariners tied it 5-5 and won in the 10th inning. We left before that -- right after the Giants didn't score in the top of the 10th -- because we knew what was going to happen. When we got back to the hotel I ate the rest of my bagel, took a shower with lovely warm water, and went sound asleep.

On the second day, it was raining again and cool. I decided that I'd better wear my sweater, even though it was still wet. But even in a damp sweater, I was fine. I wore a large bright orange shirt (J. Jill) that I'd gotten on eBay and I was very comfortable. Both Friday and Saturday, the retractable roof over the stadium was closed, due to the rain. This made it somewhat dark inside, even with lights. The Mariners have a rally thing they do where they tell everyone to turn on their flashlights (on their phones) and it was effective even during the daytime when the roof was up.

Possibly the thing that made me the happiest during these games is that Matt Williams (former Giants 3rd baseman from long, long ago) is now their third base coach. Last year he was third base coach for the San Diego Padres, so we enjoyed looking at him in his embarrassing pink and green City Connect uniform. Now he's a Giant again, in respectable gray and black. We discovered during Saturday's game that EVERYBODY loves Matt Williams, not just us. I like to imitate the hand signals he makes, because they are so complicated and it doesn't look as though the players are paying any attention. The guy sitting next to me laughed and tried doing it too. Nancy asked him if he were old enough to remember Matt Williams as a player, and he turned to her and said no as Nancy said, "oh, no, I see you're not." But one of the women seated below us turned her head and said, "I am!" And then I heard the women with her discussing who BESIDES Matt Williams was their favorite Giant. Everyone loves Matt Williams. He is 58.

We were going to have dinner with a friend of mine from grad school that night, Z, so we didn't want to eat much. I ended up having Cracker Jack and a Sprite, and Nancy had a large pretzel. And the Giants won! The score was 4-3 and we really expected Seattle to go ahead at some point, but they didn't and the game was over. Nancy had warned me that we might lose all three games, so it was nice to win one.

We left a little early in order to make it back to the hotel in time to get ready. There was some confusion with meeting Z, and we were outside looking for her while she was inside the hotel looking for us. But we finally connected, and it was so nice to see her again. I think the last time I saw her was about 16 years ago, when the twins were babies. Nancy was thinking she'd never met her, but then she reminded us that she was at my wedding! Z in her turn got Nancy mixed up with another relative she had met at the wedding, but I'm not sure if it was my next older sister or my oldest niece. She said to Nancy, "I thought you were there with your daughter..." and that could have been either of them.

It was clearing up, so we walked down to the waterfront -- which reminded Nancy and me greatly of the San Diego waterfront last year -- and ate a delicious, expensive seafood dinner at Elliott's Oyster House. Z and I had the halibut, which was yummy, and Nancy had the king salmon. I was kind of sorry they didn't serve sourdough bread and butter before the food, but if I'd eaten that, I wouldn't have had room for my dinner, so, OK.

I had known ahead of time that it was very lucky I came that weekend, because Z normally babysits her two grandsons on the weekend but her daughter and family were out of town when I came. During dinner I learned that it was even more lucky I came when I did, because next weekend Z and her husband are going to Switzerland! I don't know how I managed such perfect timing. After dinner we walked back up the hill toward the hotel and stopped to take a picture, but I look enormous in it. That big orange shirt! I should have changed -- or at least brushed my hair. It's OK. I'm just including the tops of our heads here, but you can see the stairs of Seattle behind us and a bit of the Seattle Art Museum on the left.

Sunday was a beautiful day! Brilliant blue skies, warmth -- and I was too hot and got sunburned. In Seattle! I had brought two orange shirts with me, plus a black tank top which I wore with my black shrug sweater on Sunday. But almost immediately I realized it was too hot for the sweater, so I took it off and draped it over my arms. Thus my face got sunburned, but my arms were OK.

I think this is my only sunburn of the summer. And I got it in Seattle!

The Giants lost this game, 3-4. It was OK. The Mariners had a very good pitcher this day, and we were glad to have won one game of the series. I bravely purchased some "tofu tots" for lunch (they were not very good), and a pineapple-coconut slushy, which was delicious (both from Marination, a Hawaiian-Korean food place). Nancy had softserve ice cream, which she said was the best thing she ate at the ballpark. While we were watching the game, I kept thinking, now what shall I have tomorrow for lunch? It was as though I thought I was just going to watch baseball games at T-Mobile Stadium forever.

That evening (after the pool and hot tub) we discussed places to go out to eat, but ended up finding a cozy corner of the lobby and eating "at the bar," which just meant a waiter brought us some menus and we ate in our cozy corner. I didn't see anything I really wanted on the menu, but I ordered a chicken sandwich and it was fine. I ate about half of it. Also a Sprite, which is becoming my anti-nausea standby. We sat and talked and watched the people come and go for a long time. The waiter didn't bother us and we didn't have to give up our "table" to anyone else. Finally we went back up to the room and got ready for bed.

Monday morning we both woke up early, ate breakfast early, and checked out early. We pulled our suitcases to the light rail one more time, rode it back to the airport, and checked in. I bought some presents for my family (chocolate for the twins, tea for Rocket Boy) and some food for lunch (more yogurt and a cookie). My flight was late, but it wasn't a big deal. Again I had a terrible boarding position and ended up in a middle seat between two young people who did not look happy about it. But just after takeoff I looked out the window beyond my seatmate and saw this amazing snow-covered mountain. "Is that Mount Rainier?" I asked, breathlessly. "Yes!" she said, and then the young man in the aisle seat looked over and said, equally breathlessly, "Is that Mount Rainier?" "Yes," the young woman and I both said, and we all stared at it open-mouthed. Then, just a little while later, two more mountains appeared, which she identified as Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood, and they were wonderful too. And then the clouds came over and we couldn't see anything else until we were in Colorado.

Because my flight was late, I missed my bus and didn't get home until 7:15 or 7:30, something like that. But it was fine. It was nice to see everyone, even nice to help with homework. Rocket Boy had to pack, because he was leaving this morning. The house is a mess and I took my shot last night, so I am a wreck today, so tired, keep taking naps, can hardly get anything done. But in a day or two I'll be better, and I'll get the house pulled together soon. The hot water heater works, for now, and I'm very happy about that. Sillers is off her food, so she is going to the vet tomorrow, we'll see how that goes. 

Oh, and right around noon today I got a bunch of phone calls and emails and texts telling me that Boulder TEC was on lockdown, some suspicious individual on the roof. It turned out to be a construction worker, quite harmless, but before they figured that out, afternoon classes were canceled, so Teen A came home to play video games. And I took a nap. All in a day's work for Mom of Teens. My lovely vacation is fading fast, but it was lovely. I'm so glad we did this again!