Mind-boggling Trip Completed

Yes, we took our anticipated trip to Washington but before we left we discovered we had somehow made double reservations, we had four seats on our flight from Tucson but there are only two of us. Along with that issue we also had made reservations for rental cars, yeah, that's correct, two cars. It took some effort but we managed to cancel one of the cars and change the dates of one of our plane reservations and we were on our way and arrived in Washington State without further incidents. Well, I won't write about the other difficulties.

After several days with my son, Todd and his wife Joy and with my sister, Mary we drove to Beautiful Lake Chelan which has been tormented by wildfires and smoke all summer. The locals don't call it summer anymore, instead they refer to it as fire season. It was clear and sunny upon our arrival after a little rain. By day 3 we couldn't see across the lake. We packed up and left heading further south to the Tri Cities area where Katherine's brother lives and we had plans to be there for birthday party. We arrived a couple days early so did some sightseeing and shopping. And then the party, fun time for all present.

Next, we drove back over the Cascade Mountains and north practically to Canada. A visit to Bellingham which was where I went to college for one year, my junior year at Western Washington University. It turned out to be the day before classes would begin so the place was over-run by new and returning students looking for the best bar and restaurants to frequent during the fall quarter which was about to begin. The city looked like a different city than when I was there, much bigger and of course a Walmart and Costco since the population is now approaching 100,000.

We drove back to Seattle to get our flight back to Tucson. Sea -Tac Airport was chaotic. Our reservations were with Alaska Airlines which has recently acquired Hawaiian Airlines and have also "upgraded" their check in system so it's all done with technology. We and the hordes of other passengers had no idea how it worked nor did the staff. What a mess. We should have caught a flight to Hawaii but thought better of it and landed safely in Tucson and drove back to Rio Rico. So our journey took us from very close to Mexico to almost Canada and back again. Incidentally, I doubt that we will fly with Alaska Airlines again unless we have no choice. 

With our rental car we drove around 1000 miles on this trip. Well, I can't say we, because Katherine was the only one who drove, the entire distance. My doctor gave me approval to drive in spite of suffering a stroke but I have chosen to give up the keys due to a chance for a second stroke. Luckily, I have Katherine who is a very good driver. 

Until next time, 

Stan the Man