I made it to Portland!

Well, I made it... and for the most part safely. ;D

Justin dropped me off at the airport around 6:35pm on Monday and it was smooth sailing for the first leg of the trip. I waited for about a half hour at the gate, boarded and about 15 minutes later we were off. We landed in Atlanta around 9:30pm and my connection departed at 10:10. I was relieved to find out that it was in the same concourse I de-boarded in.

I was NOT however relieved to find out that it had been delayed by an hour and a half. The thing is, the plane was there, and in perfect running (flying) condition, but we weren't allowed to leave. Turns out a flight from Maryland was delayed big time... and it carried 36 passengers from our flight. Since it was the last flight of the day, and AirTran would be responsible for the 36 passengers financially... we waited for them. How kind, huh?

Truthfully, delays don't bother me that much. I have been flying twice a year since I was seven, I expect delays at this point... but in this case, I was a little upset. You see, a friend of mine was picking me up from the airport, and she had to be at work by 7:30am the next morning. I felt sooooooo bad! Luckily, she took a nap before my plane arrived, and was able to sleep well after, so she wasn't dragging. As a thank you though, I took her to lunch at a cute deli called Eats Cafe and Market in West Seattle. Well, she took me, but I paid ;D.

The 36 passengers were all together... and all middle schoolers. There was a lacrosse tournament in Maryland and a group of middle schoolers from Seattle had attended with their club lacrosse team. Two boys sat next to me and we had a discussion waiting for the plane to take off. As it turns out, their team ended the tournament 0 and 5. I felt bad for them, but they seemed to enjoy the trip nonetheless. After take off, I was out!

After lunch, Shana (thanks again for your help girl!!!) dropped me off at the train station. I got my ticket and decided to walk around Seattle a little. My walk was, sadly, very uneventful. Since I was carrying a heavy backpack, and the sun was hot (who would have thought?)... my walk lasted about 15 minutes. I spent the rest of the two hours reading (and partially writing this blog) in King Street Station.

The train ride was uneventful as well... and almost depressing, at least compared to my last train ride to Portland. If you wish to hear stories about that train ride, ask me in person, I can't do that story justice with simple text. In short, Marshall, Brian and I were seated next to an interesting group of guys headed to Portland to celebrate a birthday... and they visited the dining car for drink refills quite frequently.
Anyway, back to this train ride, nothing happened. Seriously, the guy next to me wouldn't even talk... which of course, made me sad... I really do hate silence, I thought I was going to die from it.

Enough about travel... after arriving in Portland, I gave my aunt and uncles their Christmas gifts... yeah, you read that right...
Their gifts were from Kenya. For my aunt I brought a shawl... and my uncles got hand painted soapstone bowls. Everyone loved their gifts, but I kinda cheated, when the gifts are from Kenya, it doesn't matter what they are, they're automatically loved.

We headed to dinner at Shari's (sorta like a Perkins style restaurant). During dinner we discussed plans for the week. It looks like I'm doing a day at the coast, dinner at Outback (oh yeah!), and a day (or two) in Portland.

When we got back I went through my aunt's scrapbooking stuff, stole some for myself ;D and headed to bed... traveling really takes it out of ya!

More to come!

-Britt