July 11--A Full, Full Day

Body time and clock time don’t always match. On Saturday morning, Alan and Joyce both woke up early and decided to explore the hotel. They dressed prepared, and found the hot tub open and nearly empty. A nice “bubble” brought a good start to the day. John and Alan were out early to take the shuttle to the airport to take the rental car shuttle to the lot. We had reserved “wild card” cars, which seemed to be the best deal. Our cars ended up being a white Chrysler 300 for the older folks and a red PT Cruiser for the Schaeffer’s.

First stop of the day was at Top Pot donuts in downtown Seattle where we met up with Darrell, Kathy, Lauren and Mike, who had walked down from Darrell and Kathy’s condo. Walking is the chief way that Darrell and Kathy get around the downtown area, and it is keeping them quite healthy. We have a ways to go to stay up with them, but we certainly got our chances to try on Saturday! Lauren and Mike live near the University of Washington in the same building there and are not quite the seasoned walkers that their parents are, but were still more advanced than their Indiana relatives. The donuts, hot chocolate, tea, and (of course) coffee were great and a good start to our day. After enjoying a quick catching up over breakfast, we caucused and developed our plan for the day.

One group, consisting of Forst, Louise, Darrell, and Joyce got on the ‘hop-on/hop-off’ bus that gave a tour of the downtown area, with a chance to stop at different places and take in the scenery. The rest of the group walked up to Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World’s fair. Alan and the Schaeffer’s went up in the Space Needle for some spectacular views of Seattle and Puget Sound. Next stop was the Seattle Science Center. We arrived just in time to see an IMAX 3D movie, “Under the Sea”. The adults saw most of the movie (just a few quick cat naps), and Paul and Sydney were engaged throughout. Paul took on another competitor in a couple of games of Giant Chess with his dad cheering on while Alan, Sandi, and Sydney took in exhibits about insects, a butterfly house, animal behavior, mirrors and all kinds of other things. There were some water games to be played outside, and then it was on to the long walk to Pike Place Market to meet the other group for lunch.

Pike Place Market was booming with people on a Saturday afternoon, but Group A had arrived earlier and found a location near some food vendors that had space for all of us to get what we wanted and still have a chance to eat and visit together. There was about an hour afterwards to do some exploring of the market before Group A (minus Joyce) took off on the bus tour and eventually back to Darrell and Kathy’s for visiting time.

Joyce joined group B (minus Lauren) for a walk down to the water front to the Seattle Aquarium. We had a chance to see many different species of underwater wild life, so the IMAX movie came in handy. However, the river otter exhibit was probably one of the most enjoyable parts of the aquarium for the group overall.

The afternoon group made their way back up the hill to Top Pot Donuts to get the cars, much to the relief of Paul and Sydney (and the rest of us as well, if the truth be known.). We drove a relatively short distance and arrived at the Dunnuck condominium, where we all met up again, this time with Lauren having her friend Andrew in tow.

Yet another configuration of the group was formed as Forst, Darrell, Mike, Lauren, Andrew, Jon, and Paul headed out to see the Seattle Mariners play the Texas Rangers in a Major League Baseball game at Safeco Field, just over a mile from the condo. Louise was pretty tuckered out, so Alan and Joyce took her back to the hotel and then came back to meet Kathy, Sandi, and Sydney for dinner. They decided on Mexican at the Azteca, just north of the downtown area. After dropping Kathy off at her place, the rest made their way back to the hotel for a much welcomed rest.