Day #2- Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head 6/9/22

 We woke up refreshed and happy after a great sleep in our cloud bed.  Loren ran down to the lobby in search of coffee.  The hotel apparently does not offer breakfast, so we got dressed to head out in search of java.  That is a sentence that is pretty ironic.  Having to search for coffee in Seattle?  Isn't that what this place is known for?  Starbucks can be found every 50 feet at home, yet none to be found in Seattle.  

We found a local bakery across the street and attempted to get coffee.  I guess the rest of Seattle had the same plan because the place had a line that stretched down the block.  We continued our search on a day that is exactly how I pictured Seattle- chilly and rainy.  We found coffee and had a great morning drinking coffee and exploring the neighborhood around our hotel.  

Seattle seems a lot like NYC- just cleaner and with less homeless people.  I always read in the news about the terrible homeless situation on the west coast.  We experienced that in California, but not here.  Everyone we see has on their backpack, rain gear, and busily walking to work or tourist-ing.  

The nice drizzle turned into pouring rain, so we came back to our cloud bed and just had a lazy day of reading and tv.  We were able to run thru the rain to a Japanese take away and brought some really yummy food back to our room.  We changed out of our wet clothes and into Hotel Andra robes.  Yep- this is vacation!

Day #1- Do You Know the Way to San Jose? 6/8/22

 WE ARE BACK!!  Welcome to our SUMMER 2022 travel blog!!  I took a new path last summer and created a website for our travel blog.  I decided to go back to the classic blog format this year due to the places we plan to visit.  I can use my phone to write the blog if we have wifi issues, which I am anticipating.  An exciting update was made to Blogger and it now allows pictures on each entry!  That new feature just brought together the narrative part with the picture part.  Now we can show pictures of what we are writing about.  

Ok, so today was a travel day.  I had been packed for way over a week.  I was super excited to pack into my new Friends suitcases!  Mom and dad were kind enough to chauffeur us to the airport.  ✈.  We checked our bags at curbside and waited for only about 5 minutes at security.  We were so very happy at not having to stand for hours in a security line, however, as soon as we stepped foot into the gate area, that happiness melted away- literally! 

 Apparently the AC was not working or was having trouble cooling on a 101 degree day.  We looked around and every person was using something to fan themselves- except for security.  They were just fine with their two huge fans (as you will see below).  Our flight was originally booked to have a layover in Vegas.  Sadly, we had a flight change and instead flew thru San Jose.  

We had a decent boarding spot and were able to have a good pick of seats.  We found a row that was not around others and parked ourselves.  I always take the window and Loren takes the aisle.  We do our best to make people NOT want to sit next to us.  We have pretended to sleep, we have pretended to be oblivious to the people looking for seats and dig through a bag on the middle seat.  We have pretended to be in an argument, and so on through our years of travel.  Luckily, no one wanted to sit by us.  We got all of our in flight activities out and were ready to be entertained.  Next thing I know I am being woken up with the pilot announcing we were approaching San Jose!

We go off the plane and walked the plank into the San Jose airport.  Loren says- "We got on in an airport and got off in a bus station!"  That statement summed up our experience at the San Jose airport!  🚌

I promised myself I would stay awake this time and watch a movie or something with Loren.  I accomplished my goal, but this time Loren was immediately snoring.  Our books and magazines and  games and puzzles were never touched.  Oh well, it made for a very quick trip.

We arrived in Seattle and actually had a really easy time getting our luggage, Uber, and hotel.  For whatever reason the hotel upgraded our room.  I am not sure what the difference would have been, but we are happy with Hotel Andra.  The beds are strange.  They are very very low to the ground.  The mattress is on a wooden stand, not bed springs.  The mattress is the softest we have ever felt in our entire life!  We may just stay in bed until we leave for the cruise!  The room has a stocked drink/snack mini bar.  Loren has been warned that his hands will be chopped off if he tries to sneak any snacks from the bar!  By the time we got to our room and got settled, we had limited choices for dinner.  We are right in the middle of downtown, so most restaurants were closed.  We ended up getting subs delivered from some near by pizza joint.   

We were scheduled to have our COVID test appointment tomorrow morning, but that appointment was made before we knew we would already be in Seattle.  We are not waking up at 4am to shove a stick up our nose!  We were able to reschedule for Friday.  

Off to sleep in our bed made of clouds.  Til tomorrow...stay tuned!