Seattle Waterfront Day

 Morning came way to soon, if you ask me.  

We had several choices for breakfast.  Cold cereal, hot oatmeal, and cheesecake.  Yummy.  Around 9:30 am we headed to downtown Kirkland (about a 5 minute walk DOWNHILL) to catch bus 250 to the Redmond Transit Center.  

We went on the newly completed Seattle Link light rail system across the lake to the Seattle waterfront.  

We made a quick stop at the Seattle Art Museum to use the facilities.

The bigfoot statue was a growling moving statue.  Ivan did NOT like it at all.

Nathan and I wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel.  We couldn't talk Ivan into trying it.  So Nathan and I went.  It was about a 10 minute ride.  Great views of the city.

George took this of Nathan and me.

When we got down, Ivan asked us if it was 100% fun.   When we said yes, he decided that he wanted to try it.  We had lunch first.

Then we went to the playground.  Roman was on his way to join us and he wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel as well.

Roman arrived so we went to buy the tickets and got in line for the Ferris Wheel.

It was 100% fun.  

Ivan wanted to ride the carousel.

Then it was time to start heading back home.  

4 people on one escalator step.

We reversed the process of light rail to bus, to walk home.  The walk UPHILL seemed much longer. 

I guess if you want to buy some interesting stuff, here's an auction for you.  It sounds sketchy to me.

Nathan, Ivan, and George played a variety of games.  Madeline fixed dinner.  She made a delicious dinner of chicken and rockfish (separate dishes), carrot salad, cheesy bread and tomato soup.  We had to hurry because Madeline and Ivan were going to the airport to meet Dorothy and Ed.  They landed at 6:30 pm.  

Roman, Dorothy, Ed, George, Nathan.  We kept Dorothy and Ed company while they ate dinner. We had the cheesecake.

Grandma Dorothy got to read a bedtime story to Ivan.

After Ivan went to bed we sat and visited for a while.  

Adventures to Kirkland

 Nathan, George, and I were going up to Kirkland to visit Madeline and Roman.  Dorothy and Ed were coming out to visit as well.  They arrive on Saturday.

Nathan took the MAX from his apartment and then walked the rest of the way to the train station.  We drove to Union Station and then Rebecca took our car home.  

Mural near the train station.

Union Station

We had heard that the train might be delayed.  It was supposed to leave Portland at 5:55 pm  But they kept announcing a later and later time.  Mechanical issues.  So we went to Wilfs next door to have a glass of wine while we waited.

Got to hear a little sultry jazz

We pulled out of the Portland train station at 9:14 pm. Argh!! 

Then on the trip north the train could not go at the usual speed so we got further and further behind schedule. The conductor called it "The Train That Could." 

Crossing the river into Vancouver.

The one interesting thing was that they were giving away food in the snack bar.  I had eaten the sandwich that I had made for dinner so I wasn't hungry.  I just got a bag of chips and shared a 1/2 bottle of wine with Nathan. The wine wasn't free. One of the mechanical issues was the refrigerator, so before the train got to Tacoma they said all the food was free.  We went to the snack bar and helped them get rid of the food they were just going to throw away.  

When we got to Tacoma they announced that the train would be there at least 1 hour, maybe longer so we decided to get off the train and take an Uber.  We weren't the only ones.  Just about everyone got off.

 That was very slick.  We got to Madeline and Roman's at 2:15 am!!!  Poor Roman, he had not gotten our last messages, so he had already driven to the King Street Station, Seattle to meet us.  He beat us to his place but not by much.

Addendum:  It is a good thing that we took the Uber.  We found out this morning that it did not get into Seattle until 4:33 am.!!