From Texas to Washington, Part III: Seattle
The flight was blissfully uneventful. Our children were well-behaved and our cat was calmer and more patient than I dared hope. I was fascinated by the view over Oregon near the Columbia River of all these green circles on the landscape.
K thought they might be water treatment plants, but there seemed to be too many for that. Some of my readers may already know that they are irrigation circles, but it took me a while to find that out! In Texas, the fields are all rectangular in shape and the view of farmland from above looks like a patchwork quilt. Apparently the irrigators up here are long arms on a central axis, and water circular patches of farmland.
As we were flying, I saw what I thought might be Mt. Rainier and started taking pictures.
The pilot even said if we looked out there we would see Mt. Rainier. I felt smug that I had figured this out on my own, and then the real Mt. Rainier came into view.
After flying for hours and seeing everything so far below us, and then to suddenly come upon this peak that looked like it could almost reach the plane was awe-inspiring! Based on the location of that first mountain relative to this one, I think it might have been Mt. St. Helens. This flight marked the beginning of my infatuation with Mt. Rainier.
Our luggage had arrived the day before and had already been set aside, so when we got off the plane, we picked up two rental cars (a minivan and an SUV) before collecting our eleven boxes and bags. The minivan was a one-day rental, but had a navigation system, which was nice. I've become completely dependent on the one in my Odyssey!
Upon our arrival in our neighborhood, we saw this notice posted on the mailbox just around the corner from our house:
Bears! Bobcats! Cool, yet scary.
We love the house. Good thing, since the children and I were pretty much stranded there after we returned the minivan and K started work. We were there a week before the movers finally came. The truck couldn't make it up our hill, and tore up the pavement (and his truck, no doubt,) backing out of the neighborhood. I informed him that we had been told there was an easier, less steep way in that we should take if there was ice, and that perhaps he could try that if he had a map. He said that it wouldn't make a difference (although having driven that route ourselves now, we think that it would have,) and went away to unload everything onto two smaller trucks (and to charge us nearly $1,000 for the trouble,) before bringing it back to the house. As they neared the end, they no longer cared about the labels on the boxes or where they were supposed to go, and just started stacking everything in the garage. Among the overall damages: the back of the refrigerator was heavily dented and the front panel of the water/ice dispenser was skewed (they insisted the refrigerator was like that when they picked it up, but it wasn't,) approximately 2 square inches of the lower front corner of an armoire had been chipped off, the bottom drawer of Rayan's dresser had fallen out and broken beyond repair, the metal frame of Maya's and Rayan's bassinet was snapped and beyond repair, a folding chair was missing (this was left on our doorstep the next morning, but I couldn't help but wonder what less obvious things might be missing as well,) the pegs necessary to place the shelves in our TV stand were missing, the bed was reassembled improperly and a nut was missing (even after I gave him the vital missing piece he had left behind in Texas,) and despite the promise that 5 boxes of my choice (which I had placed the required "welcome home" stickers on) would be unpacked for me, none were. Still we were glad to have our things, and glad to see the movers go. We were even more glad a day or two later when our cars arrived! Other than being filthy, they were in the same condition we had left them in, and I was so happy to have my car and my navigation system back!
K is settling into the practice, but it will take some time for it to feel like home, I imagine. We've been spending most of our free time at furniture stores. Our top priority was a kitchen table, since we gave our old one away in Texas. K is so happy to have an Ikea nearby, but I'm very tired of Ikea furniture. I want real furniture that I don't have to assemble myself! That said, after a week of disagreeing on furniture, I finally agreed to one that neither of us hated, at least, just to have a table in the house. I had to pick it up at the warehouse and ... assemble it myself. Still, at least we have a place to sit and eat now! Next on the agenda: a king-sized bed. We put our queen in the guest room. I'm looking forward to not being squished or hanging off the edge when one or more children climb into the bed in the middle of the night!
K thought they might be water treatment plants, but there seemed to be too many for that. Some of my readers may already know that they are irrigation circles, but it took me a while to find that out! In Texas, the fields are all rectangular in shape and the view of farmland from above looks like a patchwork quilt. Apparently the irrigators up here are long arms on a central axis, and water circular patches of farmland.As we were flying, I saw what I thought might be Mt. Rainier and started taking pictures.
The pilot even said if we looked out there we would see Mt. Rainier. I felt smug that I had figured this out on my own, and then the real Mt. Rainier came into view.
After flying for hours and seeing everything so far below us, and then to suddenly come upon this peak that looked like it could almost reach the plane was awe-inspiring! Based on the location of that first mountain relative to this one, I think it might have been Mt. St. Helens. This flight marked the beginning of my infatuation with Mt. Rainier.
Our luggage had arrived the day before and had already been set aside, so when we got off the plane, we picked up two rental cars (a minivan and an SUV) before collecting our eleven boxes and bags. The minivan was a one-day rental, but had a navigation system, which was nice. I've become completely dependent on the one in my Odyssey!
Upon our arrival in our neighborhood, we saw this notice posted on the mailbox just around the corner from our house:
Bears! Bobcats! Cool, yet scary.We love the house. Good thing, since the children and I were pretty much stranded there after we returned the minivan and K started work. We were there a week before the movers finally came. The truck couldn't make it up our hill, and tore up the pavement (and his truck, no doubt,) backing out of the neighborhood. I informed him that we had been told there was an easier, less steep way in that we should take if there was ice, and that perhaps he could try that if he had a map. He said that it wouldn't make a difference (although having driven that route ourselves now, we think that it would have,) and went away to unload everything onto two smaller trucks (and to charge us nearly $1,000 for the trouble,) before bringing it back to the house. As they neared the end, they no longer cared about the labels on the boxes or where they were supposed to go, and just started stacking everything in the garage. Among the overall damages: the back of the refrigerator was heavily dented and the front panel of the water/ice dispenser was skewed (they insisted the refrigerator was like that when they picked it up, but it wasn't,) approximately 2 square inches of the lower front corner of an armoire had been chipped off, the bottom drawer of Rayan's dresser had fallen out and broken beyond repair, the metal frame of Maya's and Rayan's bassinet was snapped and beyond repair, a folding chair was missing (this was left on our doorstep the next morning, but I couldn't help but wonder what less obvious things might be missing as well,) the pegs necessary to place the shelves in our TV stand were missing, the bed was reassembled improperly and a nut was missing (even after I gave him the vital missing piece he had left behind in Texas,) and despite the promise that 5 boxes of my choice (which I had placed the required "welcome home" stickers on) would be unpacked for me, none were. Still we were glad to have our things, and glad to see the movers go. We were even more glad a day or two later when our cars arrived! Other than being filthy, they were in the same condition we had left them in, and I was so happy to have my car and my navigation system back!
K is settling into the practice, but it will take some time for it to feel like home, I imagine. We've been spending most of our free time at furniture stores. Our top priority was a kitchen table, since we gave our old one away in Texas. K is so happy to have an Ikea nearby, but I'm very tired of Ikea furniture. I want real furniture that I don't have to assemble myself! That said, after a week of disagreeing on furniture, I finally agreed to one that neither of us hated, at least, just to have a table in the house. I had to pick it up at the warehouse and ... assemble it myself. Still, at least we have a place to sit and eat now! Next on the agenda: a king-sized bed. We put our queen in the guest room. I'm looking forward to not being squished or hanging off the edge when one or more children climb into the bed in the middle of the night!
posted by Nikki | 9:54 PM
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