Coast Starlight Countdown

Our trip to Seattle was easier than we expected.

We enjoyed dinner with Greg and June last night during their brief visit.

We all drove to Seattle this morning in separate cars, and we drove straight to the airport to pick up Tom and Ellyn, who arrived early enough to have to wait awhile for us. It was light traffic both ways.

From there it was an easy drive back up to Seattle, where we all checked in at the Seattle Hilton.

After a leisurely lunch at a nearby restaurant, Purple, we and Greg drove our cars to the airport, Greg to drop off his rental car, and us to park our car at the Doubletree, where it will await our return in a week and a few days. We then hopped the light rail from the airport back to Seattle. That round trip totaled about two hours, largely because of heavy southbound traffic on I-5. Still, our stop was less than three blocks from the Hilton.

Our Dave was able to join us for dinner tonight, and met us up in the Hilton lounge. Rather amazingly, we bumped into two Flyertalkers we'd met in Honolulu, who are on their way to Vancouver for a conference. It was fun to touch bases with them.

We ate at the Daily Grill. The gift cards Tom bought on the Internet at a great discount fortunately put a considerable dent in an otherwise steep bill.

The dining results were mixed; more important, the company was excellent. Tomorrow we'll head to the Amtrak station so as to arrive at least an hour before the scheduled 9:45 a.m. departure and our rail expedition begins.