Seattle Visit Part 2

Thursday Oct 16 was load-out day from our Seattle storage unit.  At 9 AM the movers met us at the storage place, and after some entry gate confusion we finally got them inside.  It took about three hours for them to unload our storage unit on the fourth floor, catalog it all, and move it all down and into their truck.  We were relieved to see that all the stuff in the storage unit was still in excellent shape after almost four years: no collapsing boxes, tape all still sound and stuck in place, nothing looked damaged at all.  We're glad we used double-walled boxes and sought out climate controlled storage.  The movers did an excellent job, nothing was dropped (we watched), and they added extra cardboard and wrapping on some of the oddball unboxed items.  If the remaining transfers all go as well (this truck to shipping container, container to Portuguese truck, truck to our garage) everything should be in good shape by the time it arrives at our place.

Our half-empty storage unit

Some of the 127 boxes & items

This move-out has been a long time coming, and it's a great relief to have it behind us.  We will not miss the exorbitant storage unit fees (which increased every few months until they were double the original rate) or having our storage unit broken into (yes, that happened too, it's a long story but fortunately nothing of consequence was stolen).

We met some more friends and had some more meals together the next few days.  The next day we headed to Bellingham to spend the night with an old friend and colleague of Gerrit's, and stopped in the Skagit valley to see a field of Snow Geese on their migration (see video below).  The following day we headed south to Gerrit's brother and sister-in-law's place in Sammamish, stopping to visit on the way with some old friends in Everett.

At the Sammamish home, as Pat got a glass of water one evening her breath was taken away by the sight of a Barred Owl just 2 m (6 feet) outside the kitchen window.  We got dozens of photos and the video below.  When Gerrit's brother came home he laughed and said "Oh yeah, he's kind of our buddy around here".  A Barred Owl for a pet! 

Snow Geese in Skagit

Barred Owl in the back yard

On Monday Oct 20 we got together with Pat's old boss for a spectacular seafood extravaganza in downtown Bellevue, and a nice visit with him and his wife afterward.  At left is our waiter posing with our lunch.

On Thursday Oct 23 we got the surprising and welcome news that our storage goods had already been loaded into a shipping container and onto a ship!  The sailing is set for Nov 1 and the estimated arrival in Portugal is Dec 26.  We got a nice link to keep track of the whole process, which we'll be checking frequently.

After more visiting, conversation, scenic drives, and down time we said our goodbyes in Sammamish and moved in with friends in Fall City on Saturday Oct 25.  We had a very nice three days with them, doing a leaf drive up and over Snoqualmie Pass to lunch in Roslyn, and even meeting with the Sammamish crew at a special-needs birthday party about a block from us in Fall City!  Gerrit's nephew came to the costume party as a pencil.  Here he is with his mom:

The party

The pencil

After fond adieus on Tuesday Oct 28 we returned our rental car and got to the gate at SeaTac Airport for our 9 hour flight to Amsterdam.  After a three-hour layover there we took a 2-1/2 hour flight to Porto, picked up our car from long-term parking, and drove for an hour to get home.  We had gotten a few catnaps on the planes but had been pretty much awake for 22 hours.  Exhausted but glad to be home, we had a bit of dinner and staggered to bed.

We are sorry we couldn't see all our friends on this visit!  Just too little time, plus we lost a few days to colds when we first arrived.  Next time, we hope.

And here are a couple random observations from the trip.  First, we have been so impressed with the kindness of the people in Portugal, but we also met with much kindness back in the US.  Good people are kind, and you can find that everywhere.  (It IS more common in Portugal though.)

We also really like roundabouts (rotundas in Portuguese) for managing traffic flow.  It's the optimum way to handle small to medium intersections, even with multiple streets feeding in.  You do need to learn the proper rotunda etiquette, but after that it's smooth and fast, much better than stop signs and lights.  Around our AirBnB in Queen Anne there were stop signs at almost every intersection and it sure was a nuisance.

(As usual, you can click on any photo to enlarge it, scroll through them all, and click outside a photo when you're done.  Also, you can click on the bold underlined phrases to play the audio.)

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