| I forgot to mention one last Seattle culinary experience. On the way to the airport we had some time (or so we thought) and got off the freeway in search of a place to eat. It was a bad exit because there was nothing except fast food there but we kept driving along the road and came across a few casinos. We were somewhat surprised to find casinos sitting out there. Anyway, I kept driving and ended up finding a place called Barnaby's which turned out to be a nice steakhouse with a unique decor. The place looked quite old but up close it didn't look that dirty or worn so it was hard to tell if it was really old or just made to look that way. Anyway, the steak was quite nice. However my partner took a phone call for 20 minutes and by the time we got back on the road, it was going to be a close run to the airport. In fact I thought I'd probably end up staying the night. The flight was at 10:25pm, it was 9:35 when we left the restaurant and I still needed to return the rental vehicle. By the time we got to the airport, it was about 10:50pm. I left my partner off at the curb so that at least he could make it on (and so he could hopefully hold the plane for me). I raced to take the car back. Luckily Seattle rental car parking is in the parking garage connected directly to the main terminal. If I had had to take a shuttle bus I would have been sunk for sure. So I zoomed up into the parking garage and got into the line for the return. There were about four people ahead of me and just one guy checking in cars. But he was coming down my lane so I grabbed him and said I needed to catch a flight. Then, wouldn't you know it, he couldn't get his handheld device to print out the receipt! I said, I gotta go and he said no problem he'd close out the vehicle. I sprinted to the elevators and ran into the terminal. Fortunately there was no big line at the security. However I had large piece of electronic equipment in my carry-on plus some metal book-ends (don't ask). So they put my bags through a couple of times. Oh, jeez, I thought. What timing. One of the screeners checked my keys in my coat for some reason. Actually I had a swiss utili-key on my keychain but either she didn't notirce or didn't care. I don't know what she was looking for. The eventually let my bags go. It seemed like many minutes but the whole process probably took less 2 minutes. So I ran to the train for the S gates and impatiently waited for it to arrive. Two girls came just as I got on and weren't about to board but asked if it was for the S terminal and I said "yes, get on" and held the door for them. In our minute on the train I learned that they were from Canada and heading to Pittsburg. They asked me if Pittsburgh were dangerous and I said I didn't think so. But they were young waitresses heading off to the big city. If they don't get in with the wrong crowd they should be all right... The three of us ran for the plane. And... we made it. It was about 10:15. So we made it with 10 minutes to spare but they can shut the doors 15 minutes before departure so we could have just as easily been denied our seats. Anyway alls well that ends well. I settled into my first class seat (that's one advantage to the late night flights -- better chance of upgrades) and tried to get some shuteye before arriving in Detroit in the early a.m. |