Air Journal: Heather'n'Dave'n'Noelle-a-thon

A month ago, I took a very long weekend to visit Heather'n'Dave in the Seattle area. Here's a rundown of the visit:

• I took the bus to the airport. I cut the schedule a little close, and then my first bus was a little late, so I missed the connecting bus. I got there with plenty of time to check in, but apparently my bag didn't. When I got to SeaTac, my bag didn't. Plus, there was additional confusion because there were big snowstorms throughout the Midwest, down into Texas. It was the day American canceled something like 600 flights, and while I wasn't flying American, the delays were affecting all the airlines. So, they didn't know exactly where my bag was or when it would get to the dreary Pacific Northwest.
• I took a bus to Bellevue. Whee! (Some people may be thinking it was about time I ended up in Bellevue, but that's the wrong one.)
• I warned Heather I was really braindead. Because work is perennially crazy these days, and, well, I was braindead.
• I had not quite managed to finish my baby shower gift for H'n'D before getting there, but I managed to finish about an hour after sitting down on their couch:
  
• I officially presented it to them the next day (like they didn't know what was coming), along with a gift for their first-grader, Noelle:
  
  Later I had to impersonate a jellyfish, because apparently that's what sea turtles eat.
• Noelle really liked watching me play Minecraft. She especially liked watching sheep get dyed various colors.
• The second evening, we went to the International District. Heather and Dave and found a promising Chinese restaurant on-line called the Red Lantern. We parked a few blocks away and when we got to the street it was on, Dave said, "There are red lanterns in that restaurant. That must be the place." Then I pointed out that there were also red lanterns in the place two doors down from that one. Turns out that neither one was The Red Lantern, which was on the next block.
• Afterwards, we went to Daiso, which is kind of a Japanese dollar store. I had heard of them before, but there aren't any near LA, so I'd never been. It was awesome. They had yarn, plus cool pill boxes which are great notions carriers, and these adorable little 3"-long pound cake tins.
  
• I now can't walk over a zebra-striped crossing without going, "White line! White line!"
• We reminisced about Pandora, who had delivered herself to H'n'D all those years ago in Glendora so she could then take over my life. I miss that cat.
• They have a big tuxedo cat named Marmaduke. He's about the same temperament as Spoon and about the same weight, but somehow he looks bigger. I think it's because Duke has a big paunch which makes him look like he swallowed a cantelope whole, whereas Spoon's avoir dupois is more evenly distributed along his body.
• It rained a lot.
• Dave showed me their backyard, which is on a hill, so they're having it terraced. Right now, it's mostly a big pile of dirt. Basically, they're playing Minecraft in their backyard.
• I got to hear all about Bellevue infrastructure politics. It sounds dirtier than Dave's backyard.
• Monday morning, I took the bus back to SeaTac.
• At the security checkpoint, the person in front of me and the person behind me were sent through the pornoscanner, but I got waved through the regular X-ray machine. Score!
• When I got to BUR, my bag was once again not at the claim. Ugh. Apparently several people from my flight had the same issue. Lucky for me, my bag had actually beaten me this time and was waiting for me. The others were not so lucky.
• Dipity was insanely happy to see me. Spoon was confused because Dipity was insanely happy to see me and that's usually his job.

All in all, I had an excellent time. It may not have been exciting, but I didn't need excitement. I needed Minecraft spectators and Japanese dollar stores and the like.

And congratulations to Heather and Dave, who welcomed their daughter Lily on Monday.