In Which We Arrive Alive...

 

October 8, 2022

The hardest thing about travel is leaving our furbabies, Charlie & Albert behind. Fortunately, #2 Daughter takes excellent care of them!

Our Alaska Airline flight was about ten minutes late, but we arrived at SEA-TAC a few minutes ahead of schedule. Managed to snap a few shots from the plane as we made our descent.

Mt. Ranier pokes its head out of the cloud cover into the sunshine while the rest of the much lower Cascades huddle wetly in shadow. When we lived in Seattle, we often spoke of Ranier as being "out" or not. Sometimes it was invisible. Sometimes it seemed to hover in midair with its base shrouded. A very odd old volcano. 

The DH was playing with his filters for this one. The shift in colors makes the mountain range seem very "atmospheric." I almost expect to hear the spooky strains of Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain!  

Our Holland America transfer was waiting near the baggage claim for us and we were whisked away to Pier 91. Because we used to live in Seattle, right downtown at the corner of 2^nd & Vine, it was lovely to see the city again.

The DH had filled in all the pre-boarding requirements on the HAL app so check-in was a breeze. We waltzed onto the ship in time for lunch in the main dining room. Our luggage was waiting for us in our stateroom and we found a place for everything—the main challenge of living in a floating “tiny house!”

Almost there! The Eurodam gangway is just ahead! As you can see, there was no line for this embarkation. That may have been because we were so early arriving.

When we get home, I'll add some photos of our lovely balcony stateroom, since I'm using the DH's hotspot to post and things are moving slowly data-wise, I figured it would be best to just "use my words." One of the nice discoveries about Cabin 8150 is that we have two foot stools in addition to our chairs on the balcony.

A feathered stowaway!

And now I can pop out there and relax and shake my head at how silly I am to fret over making our way to the ship.