(Puget) Sound Off

Thanksgiving week is a notoriously crowded week to fly in America. Hordes of people are headed every which way, and you'd be well-advised to avoid the airports if at all possible.

Unless... maybe... not?

My husband and I decided to use Thanksgiving week to take a vacation, with (we think) a clever work-around in mind. Most people are traveling to be at their destinations by Thanksgiving itself. We were going to fly out the Saturday before, enjoy a few days at our destination, and then fly back home on Thanksgiving when most everybody else was already where they were trying to go. (We were backed up on this theory when we went to book tickets. There was much wider availability, and at a notably lower price, if you returned on Thanksgiving Day.)

All that was left was to pick the destination. We wanted something fairly close and easy, a place with a decent list of things we could do, where neither of us had been before. We decided on Seattle. Yes, in November, which I hear is their rainiest (and dreariest?) month.

Unless... maybe... it isn't?

In our four and a half days of being there, it was sunny and clear almost the entire time. We'd heard it was a rare and special thing to be able to see Mount Rainier, sticking up proudly and in solitude on the horizon; we were able to see it every day until we were nearly done with the trip. It sprinkled half-heartedly only on our last full day there, and then rained again with a touch more gusto on the morning of the sixth day, when we were leaving. (Even then, things cleared up nicely before our actual takeoff.) Things were cold, to be sure -- the humidity in the air makes a clear November day in Seattle a very different thing from a clear November day in Denver. Still, when it came to the weather at least, Seattle wasn't much like it had been advertised.

It was a very friendly place, which we got a taste of at the airport while waiting at the baggage claim. A little girl, about three years old, came running up behind me, screaming "Daddy!" loud enough for everyone to hear. I turned around just in time to stop her about a foot from throwing her arms around my legs, when she realized to much confusion and embarrassment that I was not, in fact, her Daddy. But hey, cute kid.

In the days ahead, I'll regale those who care with tales of our trip (peppering in other blog entries for those who don't). We did quite a lot with our time, so there's plenty to cover.