Adam arrived on Tuesday evening and I picked him up in Greg’s car at Seattle airport. I drove him back to Alex’s house with the rest of the family. Sorely and Finn fell asleep in the back of the car, but everyone else seemed to have plenty of energy still despite a journey of 12 hours on Iceland Air.
Shortly after I arrived back with this party Alex and family came home from Sadie’s graduation from Coe. We moved out with the arrival of the Reid-Smillies. We had booked a 3 day stay at University Pineapple Inn. The hotel staff always very polite, helpful and ready to chat, especially an English boy who is new to Seattle.
We messed around for the next few days. On the Thursday we visited Discovery Park. We usually park at the south entrance, but this time we stopped at the North Parking lot. Maggi still can’t walk easily, so we were quite slow, but the route took us through mostly forestry in the park, plus of course the mandatory view of Puget Sound.
For the first time on this trip we could see Mount Ranier from Highland Drive.
On the Friday morning we bought a load of shopping at QFC, popped into see Alex and then headed up the I-5. We arrived at the ferry port for Whidbey and waited for 1 ¾ hour to get on the ferry. It might have been quicker to drive the long way. We tried to find a place to buy something for lunch but found ourselves going round in a circle. We then gave up and arrived at our destination. Jeff the proprietor didn’t want us to come in 1 ½ hours early and we left to buy a sandwich in a nearby mall.
Maggi had booked an AirBnB own Whidbey Island at great expense. I’m sure she was a little nervous about how her choice would turn out. You can never really know from looking at pictures on the internet. As it turned out everyone loved the place.
The house has a terrific view eastwards towards the Cascades and Puget Sound. There are loads of very comfortable bedrooms. We have a great room with shower, bath and dressing room and loads of space. All the kids have loved their attic room with TV and bunk beds. Both sets of parents have exceedingly comfortable rooms as well.
When we came back we found Jeff was one who could talk for Seattle. He was however very friendly. We explored the house and were suitably impressed. Adam, Sarah and I also had a wander around some of the extensive grounds and found the rope swing and tree house.
Maggi and I had bought all the stuff for Fajitas for everyone as our first night meal. We all queued up to receive our food.
All is working out well for the first day of our 7 day stay.