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On October 17, 2009, I was browsing the website of Matthew West when I first encounter a promotion for the Alaska Cruise with Michael W Smith & Friends. The friends include Matthew West, Natalie Grant, Max Lucado, and Henry Cho. Jacque & I had frequently talked about doing a cruise, and we expressed our desire to see Alaska, too, so this cruise would be the trifecta when adding the guest mentioned above. To totally cap it off, as if we needed an ‘excuse’ to go on this cruise, we will mark our 25th wedding anniversary on 8/9/10, so this would be our present to each other to mark that milestone in our journey together.
As we finalized our travel arrangements, flight times would allow for us to arrive in Seattle a day ahead of embarkation and in doing so we could visit my dad’s brother and his family – most of whom I haven’t seen in almost 30 years. After informing them of our travel plans we were invited to eat dinner Saturday evening (some home grilled salmon), and spend the night under their hospitality.
So after many long months, the time has finally come to begin this odyssey.
Our flight out of St Louis was delayed 30-40 minutes, due to a computer glitch. After everyone had boarded the plane and the crew was beginning to make ready to back away from the terminal, one of the 4 or 5 computes on board stopped cooperating with the others. They basically had to reboot all systems to get things working smoothly once again. There were no other signs of problems during the flight, but the late departure did cause for some anxious feelings for Jacque & I as we were uncertain how close we would be, now, to making our connection in Salt Lake City. As we exited the plane in SLC, we discovered our connecting flight was just four gates away, and upon arriving at that gate we discovered that this plane had just landed too, and was still unloading its passengers. So we were able to grab some food at a nearby deli and board the plane without much stress.
Upon arriving in Seattle, we found our way to baggage claim to retrieve our bags, headed over to the Hertz rental location in the parking garage across from the terminal, and then were soon on I-5 North heading to Whidbey Island, with a quick pit-stop in Everett, WA. PAC Tour, the folks I did my transcontinental bike ride and other bike camps with, was rendezvousing at the Cascadia Inn where they would be embarking on a 30-day transcontinental tour across the northern tier of the US. We made a quick stop to say, "I was in the neighborhood, and thought I’d drop by to say Hi!"
As we continued our trek to Whidbey Island, one of the neat things we saw was an ocean inlet of Puget Sound called Deception Pass. This is on the north end of the island, and the only way to drive onto the island (there are a few ferry’s that provide access, too). There were people all across the pass taking pictures of the water, the surrounding land, etc. and we thought about stopping too. But with all the pedestrian and car traffic, we figured we would stop in the morning on the way off the island.
We made it to Jim & Mary Lynn’s house, and enjoyed a wonderful dinner of grilled salmon, some baked vegetables, and strawberry shortcake with plenty of whip cream for dessert. Joining us for dinner was Laurie and one of her three daughters, and Michael, along with two of his children. Jacque & I retired to the 5th-wheel that served as our guest room for the night.
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