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Seattle Vacation - Summer 2007

Planning for this vacation began a few weeks ago. Since we are AAA members, we first utilized the AAA website. The main AAA website asks for your zip code then transfers you your local AAA office website. This was fine until the AAA South website went down (offline). Numerous attempts to connect to AAA South failed. This was not very helpful. It is much easier to browse hotel features and amenities online than it is to spend a few hours on the phone talking to an agent. Also, online I can compare rates, locations, and other features at a glance or in detail…something you can't do with an agent on the phone. Unfortunately, for a few critical days during the planning of this trip, AAA South's website would not respond. I Emailed AAA about the issue on June 19th and received the automated response "we will respond to you shortly." "Shortly" is defined as June 28th…9 days later and 3-days before our vacation. On June 29th, I received an Email from them with detailed instructions on how to use my browser and clear the cache. They also explained that the AAA South website was only down for "2 hours on Wednesday". This is not correct since we tried for a few days, unsuccessfully, even after clearing the cache. But, thank you for the instructions anyway. Due to their lack of interest in helping with our itinerary - a phone call to their voicemail was finally returned with a response "that's really short notice" - we visited other travel sites: Orbitz, Expedia, Hotels.com, and others. After comparing hotel and car packages, Expedia won. Our hotel selection was Silver Cloud Inn, Bellevue. The car was rented through Alamo Rental at Sea-Tac airport in Seattle. DONE!  We are on our way…

Our arrival into Seattle was scenic. We flew alongside Mount St. Helens and finally, the majestic and ever-present Mt. Rainier. The terrain is rugged in this area of the country, that's for sure. And, even in July, these two mountains were full of snow. Most of the mountains we could see during the flight had snow on them. In July. The Sea-Tac airport is easy to navigate and baggage claim is located right across from the car rental desks. We headed to the Alamo counter and waited in line. And waited in line. Did I mention we were waiting in line? There was one Alamo representative, "Andre" behind the desk. As the line grew behind us, we noticed there were only about 7 people in front of us. "Andre" said if we already had a reservation, we could use the kiosk. Now at the kiosk, I was sure this would speed us out of the terminal and to our car…WRONG. The kiosk was full of questions, size of car, upgrade it now, how many traveling, buy insurance, buy roadside assistance, buy this, add that…I just want the car I booked and selected online with the options I wanted. "Need a GPS?" Ah-ha! I wasn't offered this on Expedia - YES! To finish the lengthy transaction, I swiped my credit card - "Sorry, the name doesn't match the name on the reservation, please try again." WHAT? All that time was wasted. Luckily, Marianne stayed in line holding our spot. While at the kiosk, I did over hear "Andre" ask another couple if they wanted to add insurance and then "Will you be needing a GPS? You can rent one for an additional fee." Once at the counter, talking to "Andre", you can tell the day was not going so good. After repeating everything the kiosk had asked for, and everything that was already booked online, we were almost done. "I'd like a GPS added with that.". "Oh, GPS's are only available if you reserved them ahead of time." I explained that he asked a couple if they would like one and was told they already had a reservation for one. No…the question I heard him ask the couple was if they needed a GPS - it was an option offered to them. A few would-be customers in the Alamo line got frustrated and went to neighboring rental agencies, National and Avis, which had no lines. "Andre" made an announcement that there were 2 other Alamo rental desks at the airport. Getting the car and exiting the airport went without any incident.

We were now on our way. Our hotel, the Silver Cloud Inn, Bellevue, was located west of Seattle in the upscale town of Bellevue. It was a nice drive and the Silver Cloud was very nice. The staff in the lobby proved to be friendly and helpful. We needed to know of nearby restaurants - they provided a list of eateries within a few blocks. Brochures, "things to do" magazines and a computer with internet access were very helpful. We had our laptops, though, and the hotel had free wireless internet access in all rooms. Our room was on the 4th floor. The hallway on this floor was warm, but the room was comfortable. We were greeted by the usual amenities - coffee maker, microwave, small fridge - as well as a 42" flat-screen LG TV hanging on the wall. Very nice. The bed was soft with extra pillows (5 total) of various sizes. The view from our window was plain - a large building under construction. This didn't affect our vacation since we didn't spend much time in the room, or peering out the window. The Silver Cloud Inn was very quiet at night and comfortable, which equals a solid night's rest. Our problem, though? We're still on eastern time - 3 time zones different. So, our first night was not an easy adjustment. The sun set, or it started getting dark, around 9PM (Pacific).

This is the beginning of our vacation story. On the following pages, I will review the other days which followed.

There is also a "summary" page with more photos. More photos are located in the new photo gallery!