Quick Tacoma Trip
Today was the end of spring break and so my kids were returning from a weeklong trip to visit their grandparents. Mom said they would be leaving around 2pm so I planned out my morning accordingly. I got up early enough and got ready then spent the rest of the time sorting through my photos from yesterday to go up on Flickr. The plan was to get them ready now and upload them at Erik's where the net is faster.
It took me right up until my mom called to say they were heading out to finish all the pictures. We still took our time getting out the door since we had a shorter trip by half. I had some things planned for Tacoma but nothing that was so important that I needed to get there fast.
We headed out of the house around 2:30 and arrive around 4pm. Before leaving down I picked up some food for the road since it was past lunch and I still hadn't eaten. I thought that in retrospect I should have gotten just the burger shots because they are easier to eat on the go. Noted for next time.
Along the way I started out driving and brought the camera for the opportunity to take pictures. I quickly realized that it was going to have to be Bo driving while I took the pictures because he was just too slow at getting the ones I wanted. So I pulled over somewhere just before Centralia and we switched.
From there I got a good picture of the political sign in Centralia (which never seems to have much good to say anymore). I got a few pictures here and there of the road and some nice photos of Mt Rainer. I wanted to get some pictures of Fort Stevens but my mom called about the time we got there and I just let it go.
Mom called to tell me that they were stuck on the East side of Snoqualmie due to an Avalanche warning. They had closed traffic down to one lane for almost a line up to the summit. She said that as of the time she called they had been there an hour and hadn't moved more than a few feet. I told her that there was no hurry and that we were just making it into Tacoma ourselves.
I got off the phone with her and we continued to Erik's. The were a wreck by the overpass one down from Erik's and the traffic was suddenly backed up at 72nd street. We managed to get off the freeway with no troubles at 56th, but it would have been a nightmare if we had to go farther.
Darrin was outside as we pulled up and greeted us. Erik was inside and we visited with both for a while. I got logged into their new network and got the pictures set up to upload while we took a trip to the mall and Costco.
The Costco trip was actually really short. Darrin wanted to return some LED lights they had bought for the living room chandelier which they realized later wouldn't fit. We wandered around a bit looking for other things but there just wasn't anything of interest so we headed out.
The next stop was the mall. I wanted to get a Julius since I had a sample the day before at the Vancouver mall and now I felt I had to get one. -_- Erik and Darrin were up for the mall too. I got my Julius, Darren got something from Aunt Annies Pretzels and Erik got something from Cinnabon. Bo apparently wasn't hungry. We also stopped by Game Stop and where Bo picked up Midway Arcade Treasures as did Erik for $15 each.
After that I got hungry for a pretzel and so we headed back to Aunt Annies. As I was eating my pretzel my mom called again to say that they had just passed the summit and were on their way. I told them that I was in no hurry so they could take their time. We headed back to the house after that.
I spent the time working on labeling, tagging and describing the 110 pictures I set to upload. About half way through the process my parents finally arrived.
Naturally we couldn't just go out to dinner and get headed home. My dad needed to talk with the neighbors renting the other house and my mom insisted that I follow him over there. -_- Better yet it turned out to be a futile effort. I spent 20 minutes watching him stare at an electrical panel only to say that the main switch needed to be replaced. DUH! That's what the guy said when he go there. _~_ So I headed back to the other house as soon as I was allowed and finished up with the pictures. It was probably 8:30 by the time we finally got headed out to dinner.
Dinner was at the Round Table, which was a good choice. I had the salad bar and a couple pieces of pizza. I brought my laptop to show my dad the pictures I took at the Chinese gardens in Portland and he told me some things about the culture as it related to how things were set up. I really enjoyed it.
In between food and discussions with my dad I glanced at the TV which was playing ad-nausium on the wall. They had this one set to the Speed channel playing a marathon of a show called "Bull Run". I could tell that this would have been a really good show on it's face if they hadn't added on extra challenges and drama from competing teams. -_- Ultimately it felt like they tried to make Survivor into a car show. _~_
We headed out from dinner and Tacoma around 10pm. Bo drove home while the rest of us slept. Even though it was a whole days trip it seemed like it went by so fast! But in the back of my mind I was thinking that I will be back up there in a few days for Sakura Con! W00t!! :D
It took me right up until my mom called to say they were heading out to finish all the pictures. We still took our time getting out the door since we had a shorter trip by half. I had some things planned for Tacoma but nothing that was so important that I needed to get there fast.
We headed out of the house around 2:30 and arrive around 4pm. Before leaving down I picked up some food for the road since it was past lunch and I still hadn't eaten. I thought that in retrospect I should have gotten just the burger shots because they are easier to eat on the go. Noted for next time.
Along the way I started out driving and brought the camera for the opportunity to take pictures. I quickly realized that it was going to have to be Bo driving while I took the pictures because he was just too slow at getting the ones I wanted. So I pulled over somewhere just before Centralia and we switched.
From there I got a good picture of the political sign in Centralia (which never seems to have much good to say anymore). I got a few pictures here and there of the road and some nice photos of Mt Rainer. I wanted to get some pictures of Fort Stevens but my mom called about the time we got there and I just let it go.
Mom called to tell me that they were stuck on the East side of Snoqualmie due to an Avalanche warning. They had closed traffic down to one lane for almost a line up to the summit. She said that as of the time she called they had been there an hour and hadn't moved more than a few feet. I told her that there was no hurry and that we were just making it into Tacoma ourselves.
I got off the phone with her and we continued to Erik's. The were a wreck by the overpass one down from Erik's and the traffic was suddenly backed up at 72nd street. We managed to get off the freeway with no troubles at 56th, but it would have been a nightmare if we had to go farther.
Darrin was outside as we pulled up and greeted us. Erik was inside and we visited with both for a while. I got logged into their new network and got the pictures set up to upload while we took a trip to the mall and Costco.
The Costco trip was actually really short. Darrin wanted to return some LED lights they had bought for the living room chandelier which they realized later wouldn't fit. We wandered around a bit looking for other things but there just wasn't anything of interest so we headed out.
The next stop was the mall. I wanted to get a Julius since I had a sample the day before at the Vancouver mall and now I felt I had to get one. -_- Erik and Darrin were up for the mall too. I got my Julius, Darren got something from Aunt Annies Pretzels and Erik got something from Cinnabon. Bo apparently wasn't hungry. We also stopped by Game Stop and where Bo picked up Midway Arcade Treasures as did Erik for $15 each.
After that I got hungry for a pretzel and so we headed back to Aunt Annies. As I was eating my pretzel my mom called again to say that they had just passed the summit and were on their way. I told them that I was in no hurry so they could take their time. We headed back to the house after that.
I spent the time working on labeling, tagging and describing the 110 pictures I set to upload. About half way through the process my parents finally arrived.
Naturally we couldn't just go out to dinner and get headed home. My dad needed to talk with the neighbors renting the other house and my mom insisted that I follow him over there. -_- Better yet it turned out to be a futile effort. I spent 20 minutes watching him stare at an electrical panel only to say that the main switch needed to be replaced. DUH! That's what the guy said when he go there. _~_ So I headed back to the other house as soon as I was allowed and finished up with the pictures. It was probably 8:30 by the time we finally got headed out to dinner.
Dinner was at the Round Table, which was a good choice. I had the salad bar and a couple pieces of pizza. I brought my laptop to show my dad the pictures I took at the Chinese gardens in Portland and he told me some things about the culture as it related to how things were set up. I really enjoyed it.
In between food and discussions with my dad I glanced at the TV which was playing ad-nausium on the wall. They had this one set to the Speed channel playing a marathon of a show called "Bull Run". I could tell that this would have been a really good show on it's face if they hadn't added on extra challenges and drama from competing teams. -_- Ultimately it felt like they tried to make Survivor into a car show. _~_
We headed out from dinner and Tacoma around 10pm. Bo drove home while the rest of us slept. Even though it was a whole days trip it seemed like it went by so fast! But in the back of my mind I was thinking that I will be back up there in a few days for Sakura Con! W00t!! :D