Seattle Part One

We flew out of DFW last Monday at 7am. We arrived early at the airport as suggested. After going through security, we found our gate and started the two hour wait for boarding. Kylie thought she was already on vacation. You wouldn't think she got up at 4am from the way she was running around. We took turns following her and making sure she didn't make our fellow plane riders crazy. They all smiled as she ran from chair to chair, but I think they were secretly hoping "I hope that kid is quiet on this early morning flight". They got their wish. Kylie was an excellent passenger!! We boarded the plane and she just looked out the window until we took off. I had Kylie on my lap for the flight. We figured it would be easier than having to take our carseat, plus it didn't cost any extra. Thankfully Kylie isn't two yet. After she turns two, she has to have her own seat and ticket. Our seats were near the engine, so not even ten minutes after taking off, the engine vibration put her to sleep (which I think the running around for two hours helped with that). She only took a nap for about thirty minutes. The next three hours consisted of coloring, watching videos, waving at the nice lady sitting next to Joe, and eating snacks. Kylie and I shared a fruit and cheese platter. We had grapes, cheddar cheese (white and yellow), crackers, and brie cheese. The nice lady ( I never got her name) offered Kylie the rest of her grapes, which of course Kylie accepted. She even pulled up cartoons on her laptop for Kylie, but we didn't want Kylie messing up her laptop so we pulled out the DVD player we brought. The flight seemed like it went by fast. We even arrived about twenty minutes earlier than expected. After arriving at the airport, we went in search of the baggage claim. After getting our suitcases and KJ's stroller we headed for the car rental counter. As I posted in the previous post, we decided to rent a car (a minivan) and drive to Portland, Oregon to try Voodoo Donuts and see whatever else we could find. Portland was a BUST!! We found the donut shop, however they were closed for construction (even though the website said it would be open), there was another location, but we didn't feel like searching anymore. We hadn't eaten for a few hours so we stopped for lunch at Byways Cafe (which was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). It was good food. After lunch, we decided that Portland was not for us. We think that Austin should give their quote "Keep Austin Weird" to Portland. We definately did not fit in with the people of Portland. The drive back to Seattle was quite long. We hit traffic a few times, but finally made it back to the airport to drop off the car. We gathered our all of our things (or so we thought) and got a very expensive taxi ride to the hotel. After arriving at the hotel we sort of unpacked and realized our camera was not with our luggage. We remembered having it last in our rental car, and knew that is where it was. I called the rental agengy at the airport immediately. The young lady I spoke with said she would check the car and call me back. Four hours later she called me back and said they couldn't find our camera or our rental car. They don't know what happened to the car, but think it went back to "Home Base" (whatever that is). I told her we really needed our camera. We hadn't taken very many pictures of our vacation, but the pictures that were saved to the memory card already were of Kylie's first snow and other Kylie pictures. She continued to tell me they had no idea where the van was. She told me I could contact Lost and Found and see if anything had been turned in. I called and the message said they closed at 4:30pm ( it was 7pm). I called the young lady back and she said "Yes, they close at 4:30", however she didn't tell me that the first time I spoke with her. She contined saying "Well it will show up sometime" in a very rude voice. Everytime I asked her a question she said "I don't know". I was getting very upset. I told her I wanted to speak with her supervisor and she said he had just left to run an errand (how convenient). I told her I did not care and expected to hear from him. About ten minutes later, her supervisor called me and again said they did not know where the van was (how do you a van that just got turned in??). He acted as if he didn't care, but said he had my information and would contact me if our camera was found.
It had been a long day (up since 3am), so we went to sleep and hoped for a better day on Tuesday.

This was not the way I wanted our vacation to start out.

To be continued...