Day 3: Onward & Upward

I am currently waiting in the Seattle Airport for my flight to Taipei and then on to Bangkok and then on to Chiang Mai. All told, I think this will take around 25 hours. Since I've done this before, it somehow doesn't seem like a big deal. I am excited to have some time to just chill on the flight and get some reading and other stuff done. I ended up with an emergency row seat, so at least I will have ample leg room and the ability to stand up and move around without disturbing the hordes of sleeping passengers (which I am never one of).

Coming to Seattle was a great way to start the trip. It was relaxing and fun to just visit with friends I haven't seen in a long time. I stayed with Jensen and Christina, their son Frank and their aging, but still excitable dog Henry. I was able to go running near the Puget Sound (pictured above) each morning and eat several meals with my hosts. Christina is a really good cook! She made some great dishes that took into account all my dietary restrictions. Two days ago, our other friend Lauren and her husband Finn came to dinner and we ate delicious kebabs. Yesterday, to celebrate the 4th, Christina made potato salad and a peach strawberry cobbler that were also quite tasty. Here are some photos:

Additionally, I helped Jensen assemble some of his record shelves and went grocery shopping with him about 4-5 times. After the first day, Frank warmed-up to me and wanted to play ball and interact with me more today. Despite nothing too notable happening, it was a good visit! I did get a short tour of some places I had never been, including Bruce Lee's grave and a small park next to Kurt Cobain's house, between the various trips to the grocery store! (We even unknowingly discovered an illicit nude beach when we parked near the Kurt Cobain house...or, maybe it was just a random naked guy hanging out near the lake.) Today, we were able to take the '69 Malibu out for a spin, too.

I definitely want to come back to visit again sometime soon. I think the last time I was here was about 10 years ago! The weather here was more or less perfect. It was also great to reconnect with my friends and meet their son. I am glad that Henry is still doing ok. (He is rivaling Laika for amount of medical procedures in his life!) Yesterday, he was pretty stressed from all of the fireworks being shot-off all day long. It made me miss Laika, who used to have similar reactions to the "merrymaking" around certain holidays. Regardless, it was nice to spend time with him despite his distress.

Thanks to all of my friends here, who took the time to let me enter their daily routines for a few days. It allowed me to start this trip off right; sharing time with others without doing anything extraordinary. I hope the rest of my trip takes a similar path. I am not looking forward to anything in particular, other than shared experiences with old and new friends.