We were so very excited for the first day of vacation to finally arrive! Even though our plane didn't leave until 5:45 pm, we both made the decision to take the day off from the "w" word.
Explanation: We made a deal not to talk about or mention the "w" word - work - on the trip at all. For every infraction, the user would have to put $1 in the kitty ... Rob has tactically changed the name to "My PlayStation 3 Fund" ... which is usually followed by a lengthy explanation of Blue-Ray DVD's vs. HD-DVD's and how PS3 is the cheapest Blue Ray player around, so if I let him buy a "Blue-Ray" player, it would be like we're geting a free PS3. Right -- I digress ...
After a leisurly morning of laundry, packing and some housecleaning, plus a couple of detours to Jamba Juice, Subway and Target, we were on our way. The flight from Sacramento to Seattle was super uneventful, with some pretty amazing views of Mount Rainier from the plane.
Mr. Habib's Wild Ride
We splurged on a cab ... little did we know, but this would become a bit of theme for the trip ... to make the trip from the airport to downtown Seattle and ended up with a cab driver whose navigation/driving skills resulted in a ride on par with the boat to Bishevo! Apparently he didn't believe in gradualy turning the wheel to make a turn or go around a curve-- NAY NAY! He would go straight for as long as he possibly could and then at the very last nano-second, he'd whipp the car around. Luckily he drove around 85 MPH so the 14 mile drive was (thankfully) over before we knew it.
We arrived relatively unscathed at the Renaissance Hotel, where they graciously gave us a room with a great view of the city from the 18th floor. Room 1812 to be exact ~ like Rob said, "You know, as in 'War of ...'"
Safe and Sound
We were starving and were on the point of venturing out in search of some reasonably-priced food, when Rob asked, "Are you sure Seattle is a safe enough city to be wandering around at night?" It looked fine -- nice and clean with quite a few people still walking around -- so I said, "Of course," and I kid you not, that very moment we looked out the front door and saw this crazy homeless man go running by, flailing his arms and screaming at the top of his lungs -- yet another recurring vacation theme, but more about that later!
We opted for a quiet dinner of beer and clam chowder bread bowls in the safety of the hotel's restaurant instead.
