Gloria was going out to a party. The only requirement
was, she had to look ridicules -- she managed quite well. And my
granddaughter, of course wanted to take some pictures.
Rev. 07/01/01
Alaska & beyond - continued 6/30 - 7/1
Seattle
Gloria was going out to a party. The only requirement
was, she had to look ridicules -- she managed quite well. And my
granddaughter, of course wanted to take some pictures.
After Gloria left, my granddaughter and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo. It has changed a great deal since her dad, was there as a boy. I'm not sure he would even recognize it at all now.
It is organized and grouped by areas of the earth -- "Tropical Rain Forest," "Northern Trail," "African Savanna," etc. This allows you to see animals in their natural groupings.
After the Zoo we drove down to the Space Needle, Seattle's premier
landmark to take a few pictures. She wanted one of the whole length
of the needle. So we finally had to climb Queen Ann Hill to position
us for a good shot -- no, it isn't leaning, just the inept photographer was.
Sunday, July 1st, she was to fly back to Boise to meet her dad. It has been great having my granddaughter along on the trip for a week.
As we drove out to Sea;Tac airport, between Seattle and Tacoma, the day was bright and sunny and there was Mount Rainier, a bit hazey on the horizon -- but what a sight.
It took me a bit to find the over-sized parking where I could park the 8'6" Roadtrek. After the third time around, with the help of the airport police, I found it, went through the gate and got an electronic ticket stub to pay for later as I left the airport. I stuck it up in my visor as I usually do. After parking the RT, I reached up on the visor and retrieved the ticket to take with me, as instructed. I was interested in how this electronic ticket system was going to work
Got
her checked in, waited for boarding, and finally watched her plane take off.
I'm going to miss her.
Walking out of the airport to the parking area, there were a bunch of machines to pay for parking, even using a credit card. So I inserted my ticket in the slot -- went in, came back out, turned it around, same result. Finally a uniformed attendant came over. She put it in -- it popped back out. In desperation, she pushed a button and talked to the person in the main control room down by the exit gates. I was told to return to oversized parking, cross over the road (where impatient drivers were zipping by), and go to the control room.
After walking a very circuitous route. I finally was at the security-glass enclosed control room. An attendant approached from the other side. Though a microphone I explained my plight, hold the ticket up so he could view it.
"I'm glad the machine didn't accept that ticket, it's a New Jersey Turnpike Ticket." Looking at it closely, sure enough it was -- dahhhh, I'd grabbed the wrong ticket out of my visor.
Last October, when I traveled the 'Jersey Pike I had, some how, missed the toll both and escaped without paying my toll. I just kept the ticket as a souvenir -- stuck in my visor as usual -- maybe my one hour, two mile walk was sort of post-payment extracted by New Jersey..
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