Sunday To Seattle

I made a pot of coffee and bagels with thinly sliced salmon, capers, and cream cheese for breakfast. We finished our packing and managed to be ready for church. We boarded Air VW the Gray and reached the church just as it started. The previous service had overrun, making the Methodist service start a bit rocky.

Deborah and I sat together, and the service ran a bit long for Methodists. Pastor Ken’s sermon was focused on the Hebrew Scriptures again and its rules for Justice and the responsibilities of cities found this time in Isaiah 58 and 60. The sermon series is based on the Hebrew Scriptures and the concept of a righteous city (my words). We are called by God not only to live a good life but also to ensure that the poor are fed, clothed, and cared for. That Justice is proved by the status of the stranger, orphan, and widow in a nation’s cities, not their wealth or confidence in God. Ken covered this from multiple angles, and to be fair to him, I was rushing and kept hoping he was done.

Dondrea covered the offering (I often fill in for the ushers), but I did help put away the money, checks, and so on with Jack after the service. It is a two-person job to ensure they are not mishandled. I did this while Deborah got introduced to a few folks after church. Dondrea and Z were ready, and soon, Deborah and I headed to Dondrea’s house in the EV. Arriving just after Dondrea and Z arrived, we moved our bags to Dona’s Lexus (Dona is Dondrea’s mother). Dondrea took the wheel and got us to Union Station in Portland within sixty minutes of our train leaving. Dona then drove back home following navigation; Dona was still new to the area.

We had four economy seats on 518 to Seattle (518 goes to points beyond, including Canada); this is part of the Amtrack Cascade line that runs north from Portland and south Seattle. I grabbed a sandwich, Deborah a snack, and Dondrea and Z a few items. We did not know how soon food would be available on the train.

Soon, we lined up, learned it was important to line up soon (we had), and walked across the tracks to our train. We then walked to the near end of the train. We found seats, two on each side, put our bags overhead, and enjoyed the large seats and excitement. Trains come with 120V plugs, and soon, items were being charged.

It took about four hours to get there, with quite a few stops on the way. Unlike my cross-country trains, there were no long stops with a walk/smoke break (I don’t smoke, but I still walked). Deborah and I tried the snack car, and it was a walk through three cars to reach it (Business Class is on the other side of the snack car). I got a beer, and Deborah got a Diet Coke.

Just about the time it was getting tedious, the trip ended. We were at King Station and found a guy waving to us. We decided to try him, and he took cash (Dondrea covered it). It took him about ten minutes to reach the State Hotel. The hotel is a boutique hotel a block from Pike Street Market. The rooms were smaller but nice.

We knew they had a strange locked door policy for their lobby, and soon, the clerk let us in. Deborah got to our room, and Dondrea and Z were quickly checked into their room. After getting our rooms in order, we returned to the lobby and decided to consider Ivar’s Acres of Clams on Pier 54 for dinner. But we are in the hills and must find a way down to the pier. We walk and spot a staircase. Neither Dondrea nor I remember stairs being here (we think they are new) and were happy to see them lead down to the piers by the Ferris wheel.

We soon found Ivar’s and got a table looking at the now-dark waters of Elliott Bay. There we had a wonderful meal. We discovered that Ivar’s splits their meals with flair, and Dondrea and Z split soup and their meal. We shared Coconut Crusted Shrimp. Dondrea and Z split Cioppino Seafood and I tried a whole one (I did send more shrimp to Z). Deborah had the fried clams, cod, halibet, and shrimp. She was dream back to Howard Johnson’s clam stips. These were quite good. We all had a great meal.

Next, we returned by stairs to our hotel using the stairs, this time through the Pike Street Market, and walked a few blocks to learn again where everything was. We then had to climb up one hill that was quite steep. I was not ready for that. Dondrea provided me with some painkillers as I had bruised my foot. I had pressed down on it while at dinner and on the train, a bad habit. Once we reached the lobby of The State Hotel (now able to open the doors with our room keys), we sat and chatted for a while. It was early, but soon, we said our good nights.

Thanks for reading.