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We hopped in the car and headed out for the Portland (PDX) Airport, but of course we had to stop at the magic shop and pick up our potion, without which we could hardly be exepcted to function. I collect mermaids, and so it is only right that Starbucks' logo should be one. 
When we got to the Short Term Parking lot, I drove all the way to the top, where the spaces are all uncovered. It was a bit of a gamble on this day, because the clouds were thick above us, and looked like they threatened rain. But it was the twenty-second of July and we don't get much rain in July. And we found a parking spot fairly close to the elevator, so even if it rained, little harm would be done.
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We were early, because we like to be at the airport an hour before planes are supposed to land. The reason partly hails back to my childhood, when my father taught me that you always leave for work early enough to change a flat tire if needed and still arrive on time. It wasn't that we had to worry about flats so much as the importance of arriving on time, rather than having a good excuse for being late. I think Dad was a very bright guy!
As I said, we were early and so we had time to take advantage of the view afforded this top deck location. I placed my coffee cup (2 points for the creamer in an otherwise straight cup of coffee) up on a post and looked down over the arrivals road, the terminal, the runway, the Columbia River, and off in the distance Washington State where we live.
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 I next found something far more attractive than a cup—even one with a mermaid on it—to pose with "PDX" in the background. Once again, I am struck with just how lucky I am that this beautiful and wonderful woman is my wife! The day was dark and gray, but Dotti's smile lights up the scene like a halogen lamp.
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 After riding the elevator down and walking across the footbridge from the parking garage to the terminal, we checked the incoming flight status. Air Canada was on time, and we just had to wait. Unfortunately, we had more of that coming than we expected when I took this picture.
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 While waiting we walked along the little line of shops in the terminal, built with people like us in mind. I thought this shirt and hat combo was attractive and snapped the picture.
But wait! Who is that shopper in the background pursuing the smut magazines? 
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Four points, and delicious! We are very happy that they put a Jamba Juice in the airport, and we get one almost every time we come here now.
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I keep thinking that they just can't get any dumber with the security stuff at airports, after seeing attack dogs, and attack rent-a-cops in white shirts making sure you don't cross this line or that while waiting for your loved ones. But cops on bikes inside the terminal? I certainly felt much safer after seeing this.
And every few minutes, just to make sure the level of tension hadn't started to diminish, they would make another PA announcement about how security was heightened they would do this or that if you didn't mind your luggage properly. Such a friendly place. (I remember when this airport actually was a friendly place and a pleasure to fly from and to.)
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 We spend quite some time looking at this view. The happy little sign, to make us feel welcome, and the happy little observer at the end of the crowd control walkway made our time spent here most enjoyable. We were told that we could take pictures looking in this direction but not to the right where they were forcing passengers to take off their shoes, and stand by while they were wanded and patted down, and checked over like convicts arriving home at San Quentin. We turned off our movie camera and put the still camera away and still the little troll came by have another go at us. Even if I loved riding on planes, these cretins would stop me from flying again.
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When their plane landed and we didn't see them, or even a rush of other people coming off the plane, we were concerned. The airport people were intentionally of no help at all with our trying to locate our kids. They wouldn't tell us if Glenn and Kai had made it onto the plane, or if they were in customs or anything. We finally went downstairs where "International Flights" were sent, even though they said the Air Canada flight was not technically an International Flight.
Since security makes simple passenger pickup an impossibility, keeping us far away from the gate where they deplane, we feared that we had missed them somehow getting off. Dotti had them announce over the PA system that we were waiting form them here. They even put it up on the screen here, misspelling the name as Koon.
We finally checked with luggage people at United, who shared the luggage carousel with Air Canada at PDX, and they said everything was off the plane and picked up already, and customs was handled in Vancouver, BC for the passengers heading here. So, indirectly, we finally knew for sure they were not on the plane. So, we went home, confused and worried. | |
At home, the first thing I did was to check my email, and sure enough, there was a message from Glenn; they had been held up waiting in line at customs in Vancouver, BC. (Customs only passed them through without checking anything but the line had made them miss their plane by only moments.) Glenn had found a terminal in the airport where he could log on and send an email fortunately. We thought he had our cell phone numbers, but that was not the case. He only had an old defunct number. He had called everyone he could reach to let them know what had happened, but the email was what did the trick. We rushed back to the airport, and were there in plenty of time to meet them, at 6:05 PM rather than the originally scheduled 2:30 PM. (Both flights had been listed on the TV screen in the above picture that I took upon our original arrival in the terminal.)
We were happy they had arrived, and everyone was hungry and off we went to Red Robin, where Kai and Glenn were checking over the menu together. (I didn't use a flash, and that is why Kai's hand was blurred into near invisibility.)
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Things were much better now! Glenn was reading his menu, and our worrying was over.
When Glenn was little, I never dreamed of his becoming a Navy chief. I am so proud of him for doing that! We could tell that he really loves our little Kai as well. 
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 I put the camera on the table and shot upwards to see if I could get my lovely wife in the picture at the same time as the photo behind her with the happy little baby enjoying his spaghetti dinner.
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Speaking of enjoying his dinner, the way Kai is looking at that burger, it isn't long for this world.
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After dinner, Grandma and Dad are watching Kai attacking a pinball machine. As with most kids his age, Kai is an aficionado of games of all sorts that make noises and have electronic creatures moving across a screen. This pinball machine had some components of pinball and of video games and Kai was deep into it.
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With his money on the top, and his fingers on the flipper buttons, Kai was focused on racking up those points.
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After the game, Glenn and Kai slipped back to use the restroom and Dotti and moved out front, and who should we run into but Red Robin himself! Yep, it looks like Dotti has found a new friend.
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Soon, Kai was out with us and he liked Red Robin too! You'd never know he had just spent more than 17 hours of travel in order to reach us would you?
(In the background you can see Border's books, and you can tell why we often walk to Red Robin for dinner and then walk on to Borders for a visit before heading home; they are really close together.)
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Once again Dad and Grandma looking at Kai, this time it was in my study, with globe on the right and part of a glamor shot of Dotti on the left. Kai had been playing a song on my keyboard and just finished up when I picked up my camera.
Although you can't read it, you can just see the wooden sign stuck on my white board that is mounted on the door, and it says, "No one gets in to see the Wizard: NOT NOBODY! NOT NO HOW!" and to the right of that I have a picture of Dotti in a two-piece swimsuit with the caption, "Except for Dorothy of course!"
It was good to have the kids home safely!
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