Flying (stand) by the seat of our pants

We left the Hoffman's and headed for the the house my mom grew up in. 9241 20th SW in White Center

We learned from Uncle Alan that Grampy & Grammy originally bought the property just south and moved into the home on that property. They also bought the property next door for $50 and eventually had the house they raised their family in built for $12,000.

On the way there, we found some cattails.

Randi and I were so excited!! My mother LOVED cattails...she used to squeal with excitement when we'd see them growing somewhere.
When we finally found it we were so excited!!

The cherry tree my mom used to talk about climbing all summer to sit in & eat cherries was still there (at least we think it's the same one). The house was so cute.

We were also lucky enough to find the elementary school mom went to. It was called Roxhill Elementary on 30th SW and Roxbury.

Then we drove to the Chief Sealth HS on Thistle & Deldridge Way, where my mom graduated from.

After HS graduation she left for BYU, where she met and married my dad (in 1966)...and graduated with her bachelors in 1969.

We were flying stand-by...so latest flight headed to Phoenix left at 7:05 pm. We raced toward the floating bridges that cross Lake Washington

...made a loop and headed back west on another floating bridge that ended up taking us right to the the ferry for Bainbridge Island. We didn't care where it was going, we just wanted to drive our little car onto the boat and go for a ride.

We sat in the car on the ride over to Bainbridge...drove off the boat...made a u-turn...got back on the ferry in order to accomplish the other goals we had in our limited time. On the ride back we went up to the passenger decks and looked around. It was fun...totally a different lifestyle than we are used to. We liked it. We took a few pictures and then went back to the car.

After the ferry ride, we drove toward the fish market.

We needed to fill-up on good food before the long flight. We knew once we got to the airport and on the plane...there would be no chance at eating until after 10pm.

We walked around the market for a bit...and even took our turn in gum alley.

We drooled over the beautiful flowers and I longed for a farmer's market that was even a fraction of theirs.

We found some fresh clam chowder in sourdough bowls and shared a shrimp cocktail. After we stuffed ourselves, we walked across the street to the original Starbucks. There isn't really anything special about this place...they have the original logo & that's about it for being different than the others. There is one on nearly every corner in Seattle...literally. Even at the same intersection we saw more than one. Kinda funny.

We raced our little roller-skate rental car back to the airport...we decided to chance it and not fill the car up with gas. We weren't sure if we'd given ourselves enough time to make the flight...plus detouring for gas made us too nervous. When the rental car guy announced it was a $9 charge for gas...we high-fived!! Best 9 bucks yet.

We made the flight and had an uneventful ride home. It was the shortest trip ever, but every second was a memory worth making.