Sorry if I'm boring you once more, but it seemed like a good way to finish off the year...
So I'm sitting here listening to "Wilderness of Mirrors" by Fish, wracking my brains to recount the events of the last two weeks.
It started by knocking off early to catch a flight to Glasgow, on the 17th. I normally catch a boat and drive down, but I managed to get a flight that was cheaper, so I went for the comfort instead. Mistake number one was forgetting to print off a map for the carhire place, though. I vaguely remembered it being just outside the airport and fancied a short walk to stretch my legs. A mile later I stumbled across a cluster of car hire places where I was informed that the car was actually waiting at the airport - Doh!!! More fortunately they had a spare car there, so I drove off in a Seat Ibiza. They're plasticy but not too bad
I spent most of the weekend with family. It was good to see my nephews again, and catch up with my sister. I was going to go down and visit Dansk, but he wasn't as well as might have been hoped, so we cancelled. At least I got to wish him Happy Birthday on the phone, though. He's not doing at all bad for a guy who shouldn't have reached this birthday
It was nice to be able to meet up with a few old friends, a JWD lurker (that isn't as derogatory as it sounds ) and to do some leisurely last minute shopping (especially for haggis and malt Whisky)
Tuesday morning was the beginning of a long day of travel. I caught the 7am train over to Glasgow, a short walk uphill to the bus station, before catching a bus to the airport. I even had a little time to browse the shops at the airport before boarding the first plane to Newark NY.
The Transatlantic flight was uneventful and I got to watch "I, Robot", which coincidentally I had talked about wanting to watch, with my sister, and nearly bought the DVD the day before. I cleared customs and immigration in about 15 minutes flat, which was a first, before enjoying a long wait for the luggage and heading for the next plane. I had time to spare, so browsed some more shops and was gratified to find that Maestro (which recently replaced Switch in Britain) allows me to draw money out of my chequeing account even in the States
The flight to Seattle was also uneventful, being only about 30mins late leaving, as it was over subscribed. I was tempted by the offer of $300 worth of flight discounts if I took the next plane, but knew that I already had a late enough arrival time (9pm) without tiring my hosts with an extra couple of hours wait. I occasionally glanced at "First Daughter", as the onboard movie, but to be honest found it boring, so I read and napped some. Finally I arrived 22 hours after I had set off that morning.
We drove directly back to Edmonds, but I still wasn't able to totally switch off, so it was another couple of hours before I finally wended my way to bed (at about 7am Brit-time).
Wednesday started with coffee from a machine that I just have to get - complete with built-in bean grinder! After a lavish breakfast of eggs, ham and pancakes with maple syrup, we then headed down to Seattle. THere we visited all sorts of attractions such as the Space Needle with it's fantastic views, a seafront fish n chip shop with delicious cod and semi-tame sagulls that ate from your fingers, an "Olde Curiosity Shop" complete with mummies and shrunken heads, Pike Market (for which one neon sign made it look like being on Puke Street LOL) with it's remarkable variety of goods including an extensive seafood selection, the original Starbucks where I bought a bean grinder and later realised that a 110v device would likely explode on British 240v power, and a drive around the streets of Seattle looking for a carousel.
Finally we found it and parked... near Pike Market - oh well LOL!
There we met up with Mulan, BigRed, and other members of the family, before taking a traditional annual ride on the carousel. After a trip to a department store for tree decorations (hope you found the fiddle, Rachel) we grabbed some dinner in a neaby mall and I experienced curry American-style. So far I had managed to try "Brit-Food" in an attempt to compare (I had done something similar with McDonalds, etc. on other trips ), and it didn't compare too badly at all.
Thursday began with a lazy morning (more coffee) and a trip to the dive shop to hire/rent some diving gear. Steve (SteveEgner), Randy and I had a dive planned in Puget Sound, which would be cold water and limited viz, so I had decided to get gear there including a drysuit, etc.
The day was fairly foggy and damp, but there was barely a wisp of breeze. Those aren't really the kind of surface conditions that I'm used to, as we pretty much always have some wind on the West coast of Scotland, and fog doesn't tend to last too long. The surface swim was unimpeded, though.
The water temperature wasn't actually too bad, and the visibility was better than I expected at about 20'. It was a nice shallow dive at no more than a depth of 35-40' so decompression wasn't a problem, especially given that we were going to swim back up the shore. I needed to take a little more lead than I expected, given that I don't usually dive with a Buoyancy Compensator at home (I wear a lifejacket, instead, as a failsafe for my Drysuit) but 24lb wasn't too shabby. I could possible have done with another couple for comfort, given that I was diving with unfamiliar equipment, and that the zip fastener of my undersuit was diggin into my sternum with the squeeze (I should have left it partially unzipped).
The dive itself visited a few manmade reefs, including a sunked wooden boat called the Triumph, that was deteriorating but still servicable for the wildlife. Sea anenome, starfish of great variety, shoals of black rockfish (sea bass) and 4' Ling Cod were the staples of visual delight. Fortunately they hadn't properly started spawning (though there were some signs), so we weren't butted - they can be a little territorial over the coming months.
After refilling the airtanks and returning the gear Steve and I headed home for some forbidden donughts...
Well, cookies, actually...
Well, what are the guys to do, while they wait for everyone else to return?
Friday we had decided to drive down to Mt St Helens, though we were concerned about what we might see, given that the fog was present again. After driving up into the hills the clouds cleared, however, and we were greeted with magnificant views. Mountain peaks jutted above the cloud cover, behind us, and St Helens was entiely clear.
The gift shops were all shut, however, and up ahead the road was closed. We did get to within about six miles of it, at a guess, and while we were there it "burped" a plume of steam about 200' into the air. It was a tranquil setting with remaining evidence of petrified trees from the 1980 devastation, even though there has been extensive re-forestation.
This was truly the highlight of my trip, as I had wanted to visit it since the 1980 event - a 24 year dream come true.
On the way back down the kids got to throw some of the meager snow and ice at me, before we grabbed a big-ass American burger (to complement the big ass British breakfast that I so enjoy ). A half pound of meat slab on a sesame seed bun!
Later we had turkey, cramberry sauce and whisky, as well as some other stuff that didn't seem as important as the foodstuffs that I've already mentioned! Marilyn (Mulan) sure can cook!
Saturday was Xmas day!Everyone got to unwrap presents, and the kids got all excited n stuff. Dave (BigRed) read them "A Christmas Story", which I think is a wonderful tradition and we got stuffed full of Ham - Rachel (Princess) sure can cook, too!. At the risk of showing my colours, are we getting a picture of lots of food, yet - hehehe.
This was the only day that I recall it actually raining. It didn't snow (as predicted) and it was too wet for the zoo, so we stayed in for a change and just chilled.
That evening we picked up Gumby from the airport, brought him home and I presented him with a present - dolly the sheep! I wont tell of what extraordinary things it got up to, that evening!!!
Sunday was spent preparing for the Fest, getting there, and enjoying everyones' company. It was great fun, and I really enjoyed getting to meet folks, though it would have been nice to have got to talk longer with each one.
One thing about Fests is that there are often a lot of nervous people there. Everyone suffers some degree of it, but I guess that's totally natural, when meeting strangers for the first time. It's always interesting to see how it manifests itself, but one clear sign is laughter that's pitched a tone or two higher than usual Even our stalwart Gumby confessed to experiencing a little of it, and he's one of the coolest guys I know.
Many of the events have already been discussed in the passing, but I will recount two relating to non-JW's who were in attendance:
Firstly, Jared, who came with Jaredg. Those are the most amazing earrings, but stretched five times!!!
Apparently he later commented something about my hairy sack being in his face, after I departed - LOL. I hope he was talking about my sporran
Secondly, Maybebabies fiance, Guy. The guy is an absolute hoot!
Ratboy and I had gone outside for a smoke (coz I was missing my pipe) and were shortly joined by a few others, non-smokers included. It was hilarious, but IMHO Guy stole the show and had us in fits of laughter - talking about everything from merchant shipping to baseball. I almost felt sorry for the pizzaguy, too - almost - but that's another story.
I should also mention that getting Steve and Odrade on the topic of "fish" is probably not a good move, unless you want to stay there all night. I was enthralled by her "wwet spot", though...
I should probably re-phrase that, but shan't - LOL
Eventually we all departed at a reasonable hour, but not until after we'd raided NightWarrior's CD collection and played "The Smiths - Girlfriend in a Coma". I was surprised to find it, in the first instance, but also that others (e.g. Piph) knew it.
The day after a Fest is always a little bit of a climb down, and I guess Monday was no different.
I was missing my TaiChi, so I disappeared outside for some practice. I was a little stiff, especially in the cold air, but it got better and I was soon turning a sweat as I sped it up some.
Steve had come up with a great idea. While the girls went shopping, he, Gumby and I would go to a public shooting range. I'd never fired a gun in my life, other than an air-pistol, so he decided a 45 semi-automatic Glock would be in order. That's not a handgun, it's a slug-cannon (though there were much bigger guns in the shop!) We made mincemeat of the target, firing between 20 - 45yds, braced, two-handed, one-handed, and rapid fire. We shot off about 200 rounds between us, and left feeling like real men - LOL. THis was the very antithesis of Valis' "testosterone sucking couch"!!!
Then we went for a coffee and a ferry ride across Puget Sound. The scenery was breathtaking as we watched the sunset reflect off the various mountains. It was an incredibly clear evening, with a beautiful full moon.
Over on the other side we had dinner, or at least everyone else did but my order never came...
By the time they finally got around to making it everyone else had eaten and my hunger had disappeared with the entres, so I cancelled, and we disappeared over the road for icecream (??? ) where the icecream parlour got a significant portion of the tip that the Diner would have got.
It was here that the "many faces of Gumby" were revealed!!!
We capped off the day with a trip around some of the "lit up" streets of Edmond and then a visit to an electronics store so that I could make use of the excellent sterling/dollar exchange rate to buy an IPAQ for $100 less than the Brit price. I can't thank the other car-occupants enough for their forebearance while I shopped.
The following morning (Tuesday) started as it meant to go on with a bit of a rush, since I had to pack and get to the airport. The fog was thick, once more, and we couldn't even see Seattle as we passed it. We arrived just in time, but the kerbside checkin wsent me inside to checkin, after a significant wait in an outside queue (I guess you've got to be stoic and laugh about these things).
I got to see "Catwoman" on the flight, to dash between terminals in Newark, chat to a nice young Canadian (Toronto) lassie who is doing teacher-training in Glasgow, snooze, and just catch an earlier flight home instead of spending the day in Glasgow airport
That put me home by a little after 10am Wednesday, in time to get the grocery shopping and laundry done and nap some.
Thankfully jetlag hasn't hit, though I have been a little tired. The later body clock should come in useful this evening, for our NewYears celebrations, especially given that my sister is home on the island, and my friends want to party!
I just want to give a final shout out for Steve and Rachel. They were gracious hosts who went far, far, far beyond the extra mile to make this a vacation to remember! I can't thank them enough, and especially Rachel for organizing the Fest, so that I could meet a few more folks from the board. You guys are the best! Thank you!
