We woke up at 3am and made the 13+ hour drive from San Francisco to Seattle. It was long. Michael started to not feel well. Little did we know at the time, he was about to really not feel well very quickly.
Wednesday, November 22, 2017: Seattle
We had a fun day of sightseeing planned that day at Pike Place Market, a tour of the Boeing manufacturing factory, and the Space Needle. One look at Michael told us none of those activities would be occurring. He was sick. Very sick. And we set out to find an urgent care center after talking to the on-call doctor at our pediatrician's office.
They stuck a giant plastic q-tip thing up his nostrils and tested him for the flu. It was pretty awful for him. But, in typical sweet Michael fashion, he thanked the nurse through his tears at the end of the test. As I'm sure you've guessed, his test immediately read positive for Influenza A. Suddenly, Mike and I needed appointments at the clinic, as well. We were all started on Tamiflu (as a precaution for Mike and a possible treatment for some of my growing symptoms). It took us the next couple of hours to track down pharmacies that had the medicine in stock. When we returned to the hotel later that night, we all pretty much knew we'd be hunkering down for the rest of the trip in hopes of Michael feeling better for our flight on Friday night and praying that Mike and I didn't come down with the flu, too.
Thursday, November 23, 2017: Thanksgiving in Seattle.
We rested in the hotel for the day and ordered take-out from Buca di Beppo's. Fortunately, the hotel were were staying at called the Silver Cloud Inn, Seattle Lake Union, was the nicest and largest hotel room of our whole trip. It even had a pseuo-balcony with french doors to the outside world so we could get fresh air in our germ-infested room. This was the view from our room. At least we could see the Space Needle. And we were able to watch seaplanes taking off and landing on Lake Union. That was cool.
Friday, November 24, 2017: Tacoma and HOME!
Michael was feeling much better by Friday morning. AND Mike and I never did come down with the flu. Perhaps it was the Tamiflu that saved us or just luck. We decided to keep with our plans and stop at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma on our way to the Portland airport for Michael to see Polar Bears, one of his favorite animals.
An adorable Arctic Fox. There were 2 of them and they even did tricks for their zookeeper.
This is Boris.
There were different species of Puffin.
And this beautiful guy.
Michael was finally hungry after not eating for several days and wanted a burger. This place was yummy.
Then, we drove to PDX to catch our red eye flight into Atlanta and make the final drive home.
FROM MICHAEL:
I had da flu. It sux.
FROM MIKE:
Kurt Cobain killed himself.
MY RANDOM THOUGHTS:
I was really worried about my poor baby. Luckily, he only had 24 hours of really bad illness and then a few days of feeling yucky. The weather in Oregon and Washington was yucky, too. Even though our sightseeing plans never came to fruition and we didn't get to see much of the Pacific Northwest, I am grateful that we were all together and nothing more serious than the flu interfered with our trip.
TRIP STATS:
States: 9
Georgia, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington)
Cities: 12
Atlanta, Denver, Colorado Springs, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland
Miles flown: 3369 miles
Miles driven: more than 4300 miles
Thanks for following the Wandering Wrights. Until our next Wright family epic adventure, WANDER OFTEN!!!
