A Journey of Five Thousand Miles Begins

Immediately following the conference that left me crabby, I attached the Slippah Luggage Tags to my luggage and whisked off to visit family in Honolulu. The flight over included multiple indignities, not least exorbitant fees for checked baggage and snacks, which made DH and me determined to spend as much of our long layover in Seattle away from the airport as possible.



To that end we took the light rail – sound transit, indeed! – which has frequent, convenient, bike-friendly service to Pike Place Market, one of the oldest farmer's markets in the country. Some say it started the Meet the Producers movement – see, the truncated sign says so.



It was raining, of course. It always rains when DH visits Seattle. He's been there how many times and never seen Mt. Rainier or even Puget Sound. He consoled himself with some excellent Dungeness crab shooters from City Fish, occasionally vouchsafing me a morsel. While we were munching, a guy came by and told the counterman, "The other place shouts and throws things, but your fish is better!" Fresh, apparently.

We also gawped at the beautiful fresh flowers and produce...

   

... and at the whimsical sidewalk art and the gentle mural documenting the impact of Japanese American internment on the Market.

   

I wanted more shooters for the next plane ride, but common sense prevailed. We bypassed the place that shouts and throws things and Starbucks No. 1, which had a line of over caffeinated tourists out the door, in favor of Three Girls Bakery, which had many tasty offerings, both sweet and savory.

By the time we got to Honolulu, we were bleary from being up for over 24 hours and things were getting a bit blurry. Our travel time could have been shorter, but our stop in Seattle was enjoyable and I know from experience that the only thing worse than not flying nonstop from Newark Airport is flying nonstop.



Even with jetlag, there's something deeply wonderful about being in Hawaii. But more on that in the next post. To be continued....