Alaska Trip Notes - at last!
We were up at 4am today and out of the house at 5am. We drove to Syncfusion and Clay’s co-worker Jake drove us on to RDU and parked Clay’s car back at the office. There was absolutely no line at security this morning and we walked through the whole process pretty quickly and sat near our departure gate to await departure. Clay asked me if I wanted breakfast and I walked around and decided not. I had a glass of juice before leaving home. We both read the newspaper and then it was time to board. The nonstop flight to LAX was about 2/3 empty. We had also paid extra to get the economy plus seats or whatever they were calling the seats with extra space. Anyway, the whole plane except the full business class section each had a row of 3 seats to themselves if they wanted it. I walked all the way to the back about 3 hours into the flight and all but a couple of parents with small children were asleep in rows to themselves. It was great. It was a smooth and painless flight. I lay down across my 3 seats and slept for at least half the flight. I think I saw us cross the Mississippi River before I pulled my window shade down and I think I saw the Grand Canyon a little after I woke up. They served us Cokes and cookies at the beginning and end of the flight. The plane was very cold!
We got to LAX early by about 20 minutes. We had to ask where to find our next flight because it was not on a departure board. Since we were ticketed through Alaska Air and this was a Delta plane we had to change terminals for our Alaska flight to Seattle. We landed at Terminal 5 and walked through an underground tunnel to Terminal 6 and found our gate. Clay went and bought a brat sandwich and I shared a few bites. I walked away from my new blue rolling Samsonite suitcase and almost boarded the plane without it! A woman who was sitting next to me went and told an airline employee and he came and queried me about it. I didn’t even realize I was without my suitcase! Getting too infirm to travel!
This flight to Seattle was packed. They said they had equipment problems with the first flight of the morning to Seattle and had to cancel that flight and that most of those passengers had been moved to our flight so it was jam packed. Clay let me have the window seat and he took the middle seat. It was a little rougher and warmer and stuffier, but it was also shorter. It was about an hour and a half. We flew over Crater Lake!
In Seattle, we walked toward baggage claim looking for signs to the Sound Transit Link Light Rail train into Downtown Seattle. Signage was sparse but we knew we needed to cross a sky bridge into the parking deck to find it and once we were inside the parking garage there was plenty of signage and you couldn’t miss it. It was about a 15 minute walk to the train. You buy your tickets from an ATM-like machine on the wall and then go upstairs to the trains. They take cash or credit cards. There is nowhere to scan your tickets or anything; you just have to have a ticket to show for random checks onboard. We didn’t see any ticket checkers though.
The train starts out elevated then it travels in the middle of a road and then it enters a tunnel that it goes in and out of the rest of the way to the end of the line. There are 13 stations in all. We had to travel the entire length of the Link Light system from SEATAC to Westlake Station so our fare was $2.75 each. The ride had 11 stops and lasted about 38 minutes. We exited Westlake Station at 5th Avenue and turned left and walked up a slight incline for about 2 blocks or 5 minutes to arrive at the Red Lion Inn. We came out by Nordstrom’s and right across the street was the Monorail Terminal too.
We walked down to Pike Place Market and stopped at the Information Kiosk and picked up a free Guide to the Pike Place Market. I had printed out a Frommer’s walking tour, too. So we tried to follow that. I think we saw most of what we wanted to see. We arrived first at Rachel the Pig by actually following the cloven hoof prints of brass inlaid in the sidewalk to it. Clay told me to put Bob up there and we both panicked when we realized that I only had my purse and Bob was still clipped to my backpack in the hotel room. Bob was pretty steamed at me and Clay was beginning to think I am losing my wits entirely. Bob was pretty pissed at us for causing him to miss the first day in Seattle. Bob can hold a grudge.
I had sweated so much I needed to wash my bra and blouse to
wear for the next flying day. Clay also wanted his shirt washed. We both had
showers. I flipped through the TV channels and found the movie The Proposal
just starting. We thought that was topical since we are on our way to Sitka. So
we watched most of it, me more than Clay! But, I had to go to sleep before it
ended. We both know how it ends anyway and it also wasn't filmed in Sitka! We both had a good night’s sleep and
were up around 6:45am.
