Traveling with Michelle: Here's your hat and what's your hurry?

Wednesday, 22 July, 2015

Washington

Today was hurry, hurry, hurry! We got up earlier for breakfast and there were people clustered in front of the breakfast room, so Randy went to poke his head in the door and was informed that there was a line because of the sign to wait to be seated. I commented that yesterday we just walked in and ate our breakfast. Well, they stopped seating people just before we got there, but because of the wait, we had to hurry through breakfast. And, you know, the way they laid out the breakfast was not well planned out. Shelby and I re-designed (in our heads) where everything would go to provide better circulation and fewer crowds. But then, we had to hurry to catch our ferry to the mainland (Victoria is on an island). We made our ferry (but lost our reserved deck because we weren't at least half an hour early).

On the ferry

Waiting to get out!

Then we had to hurry through Canada and through Customs/Immigration at the border, then to our reserved (and pre-paid) tour for the Boeing factory. The sign said that there was a 5 minute wait; well, 45 minutes later we were finally back on US soil.

The Peace Arch

Public art at the border--looks like it's made of little twigs--
probably metal. But very cool!

On the way, I called to see if we could switch from a 2:30 tour to a 3:00 tour due to losing time waiting to cross the border, but they could only switch us to 3:30 which would be too late. So we drove quickly and got there with one minute to spare. You are not allowed to bring a bag, camera, or cell phone with you, so we locked them in a locker. Then saw a short video and we were told three times (before and after the video) that you cannot have cell phones with you. Probably product security. The tour was good--a little too much information very quickly, but it was cool seeing the airplanes being put together. 747s, 777s, and the newest 787 Dreamlands. They bused us to the factory where we were only allowed to be high above the floor. We were allowed photos in the learning museum after the 90 minute tour. There were science games for the kids, things to look at and a you-fly plane with controls for the rudder, wing flaps, and back wing flaps; then you fly it into the wind.

we made the colored balls float on air coming out of the silver sphere.

An airplane cabin

An old cockpit

Then, after the tour, we had to hurry to Seattle to our hotel because a blog friend of Randy's lives here and offered to take us out for dinner tonight and show us around tomorrow. Her family (her--Heather, husband--Lawrence, daughters--Aubrietta and Kelsey) took us in their minivan (they picked us up at our hotel) to Mod Pizza. Very cool--it is similar to Subway. You pick the size of your crust (the average is 11 inches), then pick your ingredients as you go down the line, then order fountain drinks. They make their own lemonade--yum! Sour with just a hint of sweet. They cook the pizza and call you by name when it's done. Very yummy. I had red sauce with chopped garlic and shredded mozzarella, Italian sausage and pepperoni, onions, black olives, roasted garlic cloves, rosemary and oregano, then mozzarella and asiago cheese on top. Mmmmmm. Hours later and I am still stuffed! Then, they took us to Snoqualmie Falls (suburbs of Seattle), then to a golf course for sunset. It got so cold we wrapped in a blanket to stay warm! Much of the area is from the old coal mines that were here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In fact on walking trails, they tell you to stay on the path because they don't want you to fall into an old mine shaft!