Farewell Seattle

Thursday Jason dropped us off at the airport with our packed bags. When checking the bags in, my bag weighed in at 49.5 pounds, but we had transferred a few things from my bag to Leiana's at home to get my bag under the 50 pound limit (since hers had been just over 40 pounds), so when she weighed her suitcase, it weighed in at 52.5 pounds. Quick adjustments got a few of the heavy items out of the suitcase into the garment bag and then everything was under weight and we were on our way to the TSA Security check point.

I had made a reservation for a checkpoint time slot last week, but we got there a little before our scheduled time. We asked the attendant at the entry point and she said that she could get us in early, so we breezed right through security with our TSA Pre-Check and only a mild bobble when I set my red Reduced Security card down on the laptop on the rollers and was fumbling with the other items that had to go on only to discover that my TSA-Precheck pass card was rolling into the X-Ray machine without me. Luckily Leiana did not make the same mistake and was able to pass through security and retrieve it for me, hand it to the security agent, who handed it to me, so I could hand it back to her.

With that minor SNAFU out of the way, we got on the train to the North Satellite terminal. We headed up the escalator found some seats near our gate and I sat down with the luggage and Leiana went out for a walk and picked up a light lunch at Wendy's. Just about the time we finished eating, they started boarding. We had spent $80 dollars to fly first class, because it included checking two free bags (instead of $25 each bag) and for just an additional $30 it was a no brainer to fly first class. We were in the first row and the stewardesses gave us a drink of water while we watched everyone else board the plane. We also got to choose the fruit and cheese plate while we were flying, so we were quite comfortable when we finally landed in Salt Lake.

We were the first people off the plane. We followed the signs to baggage claim through the airport, found our bags coming onto the carousel just as we arrived, collected them, walked out the doors and found the shuttle bus to the parking where David and Linnea had left their car for us to collect waiting. We climbed aboard, stowed our bags, found seats and the bus took off.

We got off the bus at the first shuttle stop, because we could see signs signaling the lanes where Linnea had texted us the car was parked. I handed Leiana's bags to her, then worked with the person standing in front of my bags to get me access. In the rush, I only grabbed the big heavy bag, not the smaller one. Luckily I spotted my error quickly. and spotted the bus heading to other stops. I left Leiana with the bags, and went jogging to try and find a stop to intercept the bus in 90+F temperatures. 

I successfully boarded the bus, worked with the person still standing in front of my bag, and finally got the bag. The bus had started moving again, but I talked with the driver and we saw Leiana moving across the parking lot dragging the two big 50 pound rolling suitcases, and carrying the garment bag (that folds up to look like a duffel bag) and our carry-ons. She looked so burdened and determined--nothing stops her! The bus driver stops near her and I call out his window for her to just wait there and I will come back from the third shuttle stop to meet her. She of course is far to determined to do that and meets me halfway between that spot and the third shuttle stop. After that it is only a few rows that we need to search to find the car. We pose for a quick picture of two shady looking masked individuals breaking into David's red Lexus (picture didn't really turn out, but hey--at least we tried).

We then punched the address for the AirBNB into the GPS and were on our way. It was towards the end of rush hour traffic--what Seattle would call good traffic--and it didn't take too long to find our place, unload and get ready for starting classes the next day.

All in all, I feel like we were really blessed by how incredibly smoothly everything went. Sure we made some mistakes and had a few problems, but nothing that was difficult to remedy and seriously problematic. Having David and Linnea flying out that morning and offering us the use of their car while they were in California, was a real blessing. They got to drive to the airport and not have to get someone to drop them off, and we got a $12 rental car. Our AirBNB is only a few minute drive from the BowenTech class location.