Finally back at 14 Ashford Lane. The end of the vacation became a whirlwind of
activities. Last night, well technically
two nights ago, we visited the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. An abandoned quarry for many years, turned
into lush and gorgeous gardens by a wealthy widow. You didn’t get to see the pictures yesterday because once we returned from that visit, about
midnight Pacific Time, we needed to take care of packing in order to disembark
in the morning.
That did not go as smoothly as one might like. The transportation arranged to get us to the
airport tried to please too many passengers with different destinations making
those of us hustling to the airport a little tight for time. Still, 90-minutes is usually enough
time. It wasn’t! Sea-Tac airport was a zoo. Three cruise ships arrive Saturday morning to
get rid of 9,000 collective passengers and to pick up 9,000 new ones.
Southwest Airlines didn’t seem to know what to do with all
of the people trying to give them luggage.
They ran out of room to cue people in front of their counter. They created a new cue across an access area
and in front of an area under construction.
When that filled they began winding a line all the way around the public
spaces in the airport. Be advised. Any passenger seeking to depart Sea-Tac
airport from May through September on Saturday morning should leave three hours
to make their flights.
Fortunately, everyone in every destination direction made
their flights although Matt and Eva did some running. Jan and Laura went from Seattle to Baltimore
where the thoughtful luggage handlers who work at BWI left everyone’s bags out
in a pouring rain. Everything in Jan’s
suitcase looks like it was dropped into a swimming pool.
Jesse and I left much later than everyone else. We watched people, who missed flights while
standing in the line for Southwest, frantically try and rebook them. Once onboard our aircraft for a flight to Las
Vegas, the airline added cargo and then removed cargo. They added passengers and then removed more
cargo. All of the chess moves ended up
putting the flight 30 minutes behind schedule.
That’s fine if your connection schedule left two hours of time as it did
for Jesse and me. However, many
passengers were more tightly scheduled and ended up missing their connections
(again). Not a stellar day for air
travel.
Clothes need to be laundered and groceries purchased but
everyone in our party made it home safely.
The pictures of Butchart Gardens need no narrative.
And one sunset at sea to close it out for another
spectacular vacation.
If you are wondering why I am posting this at 3 AM, it’s
because my body thinks it is 11 PM.
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