Seattle the Lovely

So I think we'll start at the beginning. Flying in the States is very tedious. I'm not sure we're going to be doing this again. First we have to drive our car to the airport, then park at one of several overnight parking garages. Since we were going to be driving in Seattle, we had to bring both carseats along. So out of our car come two kids (who were not pleased about being woken up from their nap), two carseats and one huge luggage (which was too heavy so we had to pay a surcharge on the flight - $25). Everything and everyone gets loaded into a shuttle bus to the airport. But the LA airport stinks. The layout is lousy, the staff are not helpful, all while we're struggling to manage the two kids and all our stuff. I know the security checks are necessary, but everything's just such a hassle. Everyone has to take their shoes off, all jackets off, all electronic equipment have to come out of our bags. (K wants to me to point out that his pants almost fall off because he has to take his belt off too. So there is he, trying to get the laptop back into his backpack, while keeping his pants on, and struggling with his shoes too. I would be laughing but then again, I'm too busy handling both kids.) Then we wait and wait and wait for our flight on Alaskan Airlines, and eventually we arrive in Seattle an hour behind schedule. A WHOLE HOUR, ok.

The Seattle-Tacoma airport, on the other hand, is much more pleasant. The staff are so much more helpful too. After we had gone through the security checks (on our flight back), one of the staff actually carried our tray of shoes and J's bag over to some seats so that I could get the kids' shoes back on.

Anyway, by the time we landed in Seattle, picked up our rental car, put the carseats in, and the kids too, I was tired out! Thankfully our hotel was just a short drive away, and we got checked in quickly. We could only make it across the road to Denny's for dinner, where J insisted on having breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon. Oh well. At least he was smiling.

I love how beautiful Seattle is. We drove on the I-5 very often, to get into downtown Seattle. And here's the view out of the front window of the car.

Lined with green green trees on both sides of the road. Beautiful shades of green: jade, olive, forest. And swirls of clouds in the sky that look like they'd been painted there. I hadn't realised how much I miss the green. It's much more arid and hot here in Claremont, so you see a lot of brown. (Plus, we're in a heatwave right now in Claremont, up to 39 degrees today.)