3000 Miles of Musings

Last Wednesday,we loaded up the family and flew to Seattle for my middle sister's wedding.  She's the last of the daughters to tie the knot, and we were glad to be able to share he special day with her and my now brother-in-law, Patrick.  We were able to meet some of his family and their friends, as well as reconnect with some old friends of our own.  It's been a long, long time since I've been on the west coast, and I must say that it was long overdue!  The kids were great during our travels, and we had a lovely time.  I could tell you all about everything we did, but that might get a tad boring for you all.  Instead of rehashing the minute details of the trip, I'm just going to highlight a few of the thoughts I had while we were traveling.  They might be (maybe) a little more entertaining than a play-by-play of each exhibits in the Seattle Aquarium!  Here you go:

• When I was little, I used to think that when you used an airplane toilet, there was a hole at the bottom of the plane that just dropped your pee on some poor unsuspecting victim below.  After this last trip, with two small children and too many trips to the airplane lavatory to count, I'm not so sure I was wrong!  Holy violent flush, Batman!  I shudder to think about the spray that came from the toilet and sink, and what I carried home on my body from using those restrooms!
• While we're on the topic of airplane bathrooms, let me say that I highly recommend sitting as far away from the bathroom on an airplane as possible.  The best seats are the rows in the single digits, but unfortunately, for 3 of our 4 flights, we were in rows 25 and higher.  For about 2 hours straight, I had a steady line of people standing right over me, staring at me, breathing on me, leaning their butts and bellies on my shoulders and in my face.  At one point, I wanted to yell, "just hold it until we get to the ground, for crying out loud!"  
• Greg is a smart man.  He has many more redeeming qualities than a lot of other men I know, but after this trip, I really have to wonder about how he managed to get to any destination in one piece before he met me!  I swear, he wasn't able to remember any of the details of our itinerary for more than 30 seconds in a stretch.  If I answered what gate number, what flight number, or where we were going once, I answered it 200 times!  Dear God, it's gate A22, seats 28 A-F, Seattle - not Oregon, not California.  It's not that difficult, just remember it already!  
• This was Andrew's first experience on an airplane.  The perspective of a four year old with no prior flying experience was quite cute.  We parked our car at a nearby lot and took a shuttle to the airport.  When we got on the shuttle to the airport, he said, "Mom, is this thing going to turn into an airplane?" 
• When we got on the plane, he put on his seat belt and declared, "I'm ready to blast off!"
• I'm certain that everyone on all four of our flights truly enjoyed Andrew's rendition of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, sung loudly during all of the landings.  On our second flight out to Seattle, there was another 4 year old in the seat behind us who decided to sing along with Andrew.  Two pre-schoolers singing "Ra-ra-ooo-la-la.  Ra-ra-ooo-la-la" over and over was quite entertaining!
• After the first flight touched ground, as we were taxiing to the gate, Andrew yelled, "Everyone remain seated!"
• Andrew was enjoying the view from the window as we approached the ground in Seattle.  Greg was pointing out Mt.Rainier, which was rather cool, and Andrew said, quite loudly, "Dad!  I see a thing full of beer!  It's blue!"  Um...I think this may be a sign that we have too many parties at our house!
• When we landed in Seattle, Andrew and his buddy in the seat behind us were talking about all of the other airlines we were passing.  Andrew saw one plane that he was sure came from "Galaska."  Michael, however, insisted that it was just an airplane made of wood, not an airplane from Galaska.  I think it was probably a wooden airplane from Galaska. That's the most likely scenario, in my opinion.  
• In the car on the way to the hotel, Andrew asked when we were going to Seattle. "We're in Seattle" I said.  "But when will we see her," he asked.  "This is it," I said.  "Where is Addle's house?" he said.  And then it hit me.  He thought we were telling him that we were going to "see Addle."  For months, the poor kid has thought that he was going to meet someone new!  
• Seattle is a beautiful city.  It's clean, and it's full of organic, environmentally friendly food options, which was great for me.  The roads, however, were another story.  I've never been in a city within my own country with such confusing roadways!  They were twisty and turny, with bizarre highway on and off ramps.  We got on one on-ramp that must have previously been a one way street in the opposite direction that it currently is.  They never painted over the arrows on the ground, so we were terribly confused and frightened, following the road onto the freeway!  I'm glad to be back in dear-old PA, with lots of potholes, but clearly marked signs!
• Seattle is also a very friendly city.  Even in that crazy traffic, instead of the typical "I'm going to tailgate the person in front of me so you can't get over" mentality that we have here, people were very accommodating and seemingly happy to share the road with us.  However, even with the nice people, green conditions and cleanliness, I must admit that I am not a city girl at heart.  It was a fun experience for us, but our time sight-seeing in the city was not relaxing by any means.  Taking two small children, both of whom do not listen to me worth a grain of salt, made me one nervous mama.  It wasn't specifically Seattle that I minded, it was just city life, period.  It's too fast paced, too crowded, too confusing and too hard to keep track of those unruly rug rats for my linking.  I'll take a beach or a lake any day over a city vacation, at least with the kids.  Now, had it been just Greg and me, I might feel differently....
• With that in mind, let me say that trying to keep track of my kids, who can't be together for more than 0.25 seconds without fighting, left me feeling rather frazzled at times.  I don't usually subscribe to corporal punishment with my kids.  I don't think it sends the right message at all.  However, that said, I have to admit that there were many times when I felt like I could possibly beat the hell out of both of them.  I didn't...but I felt like it!
• You know you're outside of Pennsylvania when you see every brand of ketchup except Heinz.  What the heck?  Don't these people know there's nothing better than Heinz ketchup?  Even Annie's Organic Catsup is no match for Heinz.  
• My mother can make things slightly uncomfortable at times...like when she allows the kleptomaniac side of her personality to overrule the rational side.  (OK, I'm not so sure she has a rational side, but for argument's sake, we'll pretend that she does!)  We stopped for lunch at a little seafood place on one of the piers along Alaskan Way.  As soon as we sat down, she said, "Hey, I'm going to need you to put my beer glass in your purse when we are done eating."  "No way!"  I said.  "I'm not stealing that glass!"  So she bought a sweatshirt, just to have a bag to lift her own beer glass.  Then, as we were eating, she noticed someone else drinking wine and said she needed a wine glass too!  When the people at the neighboring table left, she quickly jumped up, grabbed one of the wine glasses off of their table and stuffed it into her bag.  When we left the restaurant, I noticed that she had also stolen a cloth napkin.  I said, "Oh my God, you took a napkin too?"  She said, "Well, yeah.  I needed something to keep them from clanking together in my bag."  Of course she did.  Of course.  
• Greg is ultra paranoid about strangers.  He's constantly talking about getting mugged, protecting ourselves from burglars and thieves and scammers.  While I think it's good to be cautious, I also think he goes overboard.  He probably (no, not probably, I know that he absolutely) thinks that I am not cautious enough.  Greg also reminds me very much of his dad.  While I love my father-in-law, anyone who knows him, knows that he has some seriously cockamamie ideas and approaches to life.  There are times when I look at Greg and I see Ed.  I had one of those moments on this trip.  While we were eating lunch, I noticed that Greg had a large rubber band around his wallet.  "What's with the rubber band," I asked, thinking that he probably needed a new wallet.  "It's to prevent pick-pockets."  "What?"  "Yeah, it makes it stick inside my pants so they can't get it out without me feeling it."  That's when I started to laugh.  "It's not funny.  It's true.  It works."  "It's not that I doubt its effectiveness.  It's just that I think it's ridiculous that you are carrying your wallet around with a large rubber band that you probably got off of a bunch of broccoli that I purchased at Giant Eagle last week, in order to prevent pick-pockets."  Yep.  Eddard, through and through, broccoli rubber band and all! (But hey, no one pick pocketed him!)

And that pretty much sums up my random traveling thoughts.  We had a nice time.  I posted a bunch of photos on Facebook, but if you don't have Facebook, or aren't my friend, then hold tight (or friend me!).  I'll post the pictures on the blog tomorrow or the next day.  You all know that I don't go anywhere without a camera!  

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this:  while I'm glad for the opportunity to travel, it's always feels good to be home, in my own bed, in my own time zone, and on my own schedule.  As they say, "home is where the heart is," and my heart belongs in dear old Hollidaysburg.