Day 1 - BWI to Seattle

Day 1 of vacation was all ups and downs, literally. We finished all (most) of our last-minute chores before vacation, dropped the dog off at sleepaway camp, and had our limo service (aka in-laws) take us to the airport. Our first flight was running just a few minutes behind (which was a little nerve-wracking for me, since we only had 30 minutes to make our connecting flight in Kansas City), but a nice Orange Fanta and pretzel from Auntie Anne’s kept me content. I’m easily pleased these days.

The flight out to Kansas City was fine. I got a few naps in, and Joe watched a movie on his cell phone. We arrived in Kansas City and hustled 2 gates over to catch our final flight to Seattle. Luckily, we not only made it in time, but we were able to get 2 seats together. However, they were in the very last row of the plane. I’d sat in that last row before, and loved it because I could recline and not worry about the people behind me. Well, apparently only the seats on the right side recline, and we were on the left side, stuck sitting upright for the whole trip. After we pushed back from the gate, we were told that we’d be hanging out for a little bit while a mechanical issue was resolved. It turns out there was a busted air conditioning unit, and as a result, the plane would be fine to fly, but we couldn’t fly any higher than 24,000 feet. Well, combine that with tornados all over the middle of the country, and you get quite a bit of turbulence. I mean a seriously bumpy flight. As in, the woman in front of us said “I’m taking a bus back to dallas!” Now add in the STINKY man sitting next to me (with my still-enhanced sense of smell). Joe thinks that dude was passing gas during the whole flight. I was never sure if it was B.O., bad breath, or what. I know it started off bad when he opened up his pickle sandwich to eat during the flight. (Yes, I am pregnant, and NO, I still don’t like pickles!) And it only got worse. I couldn’t sleep due to the turbulence, and the smell was making me sick. I actually looked to make sure my seat was fully equipped with a barf bag. I spent much of the flight facing Joe, with my hand covering my nose, trying to keep the smell away. But, on the bright side, we landed safely in Seattle, caught a shuttle bus to our hotel, and started off our vacation. Our shuttle bus driver showed us a few sights on the way – the Starbucks headquarters, the two Seattle stadiums, and probable some other important landmarks. We checked into our hotel, and then walked up to the Pike Place market to find dinner.

We quickly learned that most places in the market closed by 6p.m., but there were a ton of Falafel shops open, so it was Falafel for dinner! After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed an ice cream for dessert (not knowing this would be the start of a pattern for the rest of our trip), and tucked into bed, already exhausted!