Washington State 2024 - The Long Trek Home

 Initially we had booked a non stop flight home. A few weeks prior to leaving we received a message that our return flight had been canceled and we would have a short layover in Dallas, adding several hours to the trip. So, we would be traveling southeast to get northeast. 

We had a final small breakfast at the Starbucks in the hotel, Seattle is, after all, the home of the ubiquitous, overpriced chain, before leaving for the airport. The heavy traffic outside the airport concerned us but once inside the terminal the crowds were not bad and we were checked in and through security quickly, at least by airport standards. 

Once past security we found ourselves surrounded by the usual kiosks, festively decorated for the holidays, selling the usual expensive airport restaurant fare, including the uninspired $15 prepackaged sandwich and the $20 hotdog we had to purchase to sate our hunger. As opposed to the construction zone we encountered on our flight in there were several live musicians scattered about adding a unusually pleasant ambience to the normally sterile, form follows function, environment of an airport.

After boarding the plane the normal instructions regarding seat belt fastening, flotation devices etc were given. We were told to pay attention to the flight attendant during the spiel. We were only to happy to comply as the attendant, whose sleeves on his uniform shirt were a tad shorter than uniform length, was young, tall and somewhat hunky. A friend, years ago, used to refer to male flight attendants as "air mattresses".

We were in the exit row my husbands always books for the extra legroom but we lacked a window. I leaned back just after takeoff to peer out the window behind just in time to see Mt. Rainier in the distance. It had been hidden by clouds the entire trip. It was a satisfying end.




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