On the Road with Booty and Laur

What a fun plane ride we had to Portland! We got to Las Vegas just in time to make our plane (don't ask me how we missed up our departure time so badly). We flew from Las Vegas to San Diego, then to Sacramento, and finally to Portland. We arrived about 1/2 hour late. When we found our hotel, we were severely disappointed. We stayed at a Quality Inn that looks like it is about to loose its franchise. The room stunk, the floor was unvaccumed, and the beds had stray hairs in them. When we woke up in the morning, grateful to wake up in the morning, we figured out why. As the sign says, the motel is located on Skidmore Street, we should have known.

While traveling from Portland to Seattle, we saw an outlet mall complex on the side of the road. One of the stores was a Pfaltzgraf outlet. Bubby was very happy to stop and look around. Of course, we had to make a token purchase, and Bubby was happy to pose with her new salt and pepper shakers and "pinch bowls". They also had a Bali outlet, and an Eddie Bauer storefront. Laur found a skirt and Bubby bought some necessary undergarments. It was a very fruitful stop.

When we got to Seattle, we wandered around a bit before finding Pike's Place Market. We went down by the water first, because we were starved! We went to our favorite on the waterfront dive, and had some alder smoked halibut and fries. It was outstanding! You can see Booty and Laur smiling in the aftermath, and she barely even likes fish. It was super fresh and delightfully smokey. After lunch, we wandered to Pike's Place Market, bought bread a cheese, and generally looked around. We had another 80 mile stretch to drive north of Seattle, so we didn't linger for long.

Our lodgings in Anacortes are great. Our room opens up onto a nice lawn, which was frequented by two different buck deer while we watched! These accommodations are really nice, and we hate to have to catch the ferry and leave them behind. Anacortes is definitely on our list of future Northwest destinations. It was kind of touristy, but in a cute and well kept way. We did go out to dinner in a bar, and they carded Laurie. She didn't have her purse with her, and they almost threw us out. We talked them out of it though, and enjoyed some great bar food. Bubby had a bowl of chili, Booty a hamburger with chili on it, and Laur and I, a salad. Very nice. No DQ in Anacortes, so we will have to do that elsewhere.

The final news is that Booty got his offer from The Republic Group today. He is employed in Dallas, starting November 12th. They even offered money for the move! He and Laur are smiling big tonight.

This last picture shows Booty getting the facts in our motel room. We were all very pleased, and I am sure that Matt and Laurie are relieved that their future can now take a more definite shape. Congratulations to them.

Buboppy