The bus did arrive at the later time and the bus driver stepped off the bus and started yelling that he needed to get back on the road as fast as possible! I politely showed him my ticket and he said "Just get on the bus!" I hurried up the steep steps and quickly realized that this bus was just about as full as it could get. About 3/4 of the way to the back I did find one empty seat with a young man stretched out in it and his window seat asleep. I carefully woke him and sat down. I had hardly gotten my behind rested in the chair when the driver slammed the door and took off. I have to say, I have been over those roads many times myself and knew how sharp many of the curves and corners are but this driver thought he was at Nascars Brickward!! And I have to say I was very thankful that it was dark so I couldn't see what was really happening.70 fast and scary miles down the road we pulled into a small town and changed drivers. What a relief!!!!
Of course we pulled into the Seattle terminal on schedule!!! As the bus emptied the driver and another gentleman opened up the bay doors under the bus so the weary travelers could recover their luggage. Well, of course my luck had definitely run out by that time... (6:50 Saturday morning in Seattle!) as I looked everywhere and my bag was no where in sight. I let the bus driver know but he said I would have to go inside to the ticket counter and talk to them
Well, this advice brought me no new luck as the lady agent said she could only give me a few phone numbers to call and good luck! She did suggest I return when the next bus from Missoula arrives to see if my bag is on that one.
So son and I went to his condo and returned to the bus terminal at 10:00 that morning. Of course there was no bag on this bus!!!! I knew in my heart that it wouldn't be there. But my luck was changing...just a bit...as the manager of the terminal happened to be on duty that day. I told her my story and she said she would see what she could do to help me. She said 2 more buses were coming in today so she said she would call me if they were on any one of those.
So son and I returned to the condo again. I called the phone numbers the agent had given me and the first one happened to be the office in Missoula. You can't imagine the shock I felt when the agent told me that it was really my responsibility to track down my bags!!! I was speechless. Of course I let him know in no uncertain words just what I thought about that statement. Then I called the second number I had been given. Of course it was the main office in Texas and all I got was a recording.
It was now early afternoon and son suggested that we go somewhere to relax. So we caught the bus (the city bus!!!) down to the waterfront at Elliot Bay.
The weather was wonderful and it almost made me forget that I was still wearing Fridays clothes.
We took this cute little shuttle boat over to West Seattle for a stroll on the sand and a wonderful lunch of fish and chips on the pier. As we were enjoying a very tasty meal we were able to watch the amazing Blue Angel Jets as the performed over Lake Washington for Seattle's SeaFair Celebration. What a beautiful sight! They were fantastic. This added some bright moments to our day.
This was the wonderful view from the shuttle as we were heading over to West Seattle. Downtown Seattle really is beautiful but the steep hills don't show up in this photo. I know why they don't sell very many stair stepper machines in Seattle....just go for a walk and you get all the "climbing up" exercise you need!So that is my first post of my "Great Adventure" to the big city. The story continues tomorrow!
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