Planes, Taxis, Buses and Hiking

Well, another vacation rife with weather delays. Our trip started Sunday with the cancellation of our flight from Chicago to Seattle due to a blizzard in Seattle, of all places. I can't tell you how exciting it is to take a round trip vacation to O'Hare airport. Not to mention that our luggage could not be retrieved when they canceled our flight.
The next flight we could get to the West Coast was two days later to Vancouver, British Columbia. Now, Vancouver is one of my favorite cities in the whole world but that didn't make it convenient under the circumstances. We were able to fly to Vancouver Tuesday but only barely given the weather there. They too were having intermittent airport closures. We met a gentleman in Vancouver who had flown from Toronto en route to Sydney and had been in Vancouver for two days already.



So there we were in Vancouver, our luggage allegedly in Seattle. We checked in to a hotel and tried valiantly to get a rental car. No cars to be had in the entire region! We managed to find a bus to take us to downtown Seattle despite plenty of snow in both Vancouver and Seattle.



We also managed to take in a wonderful Chinese dinner and a great Chinese breakfast (my first) near the airport and did some frantic last minute shopping in a pan-Asian shopping mall across the street from our hotel. Then off to the bus.
Some 6-7 hours later we arrive in Seattle only to be told that there are no taxis available. Fortunately as our cab driver later explained that was a lie. The hotel had a deal with a private operator and was shunned by local cab agencies. We flagged down a cab by the Seattle Center and headed to my father's house. Alas the cab could not make it up the final snowy hill and we had to walk the last 10 blocks or so. Hiking up a snowy hill seemed the fitting end to our trek, or almost. I say almost because we have yet to see our luggage. It might be at the airport. Then again, who knows? If we can make it from where we are currently staying to the airport tomorrow, we will try to retrieve our stuff. Until then we survive on borrowed clothes.



But our spirits are bright though the skies are gray and snowy. I finish with a quote from my older son after an hour of sledding: "Ahh, my butt is cold!"
Happy holidays to all!
Sarala