Returning to a grey, wet Northern Hemispere

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After more than 30 hours of travel, we returned to the Pacific Northwest via Amsterdam.

The Nairobi airport is not the best place to wait for three hours...but we made it through without resorting to buying more souvenirs...We arrived in Amsterdam at 5:30 am after an 8 hour flight. It was a gloomy, cold day in the Netherlands so we decided to stay in the airport for our seven plus hour layover....we rented a shower room which was wonderful (15 euros for 45 minutes) (well worth it especially if you share the time as we did). We also shopped (I bought some great cheese for Bill) and walked around, and around...and around.

Our flight to Seattle was a little over 9 hours. As we flew up towards Greenland, I was absent-mindedly expecting to stay in daylight and so was surprised as it grew dark quickly in the mid afternoon...I had forgotten I was in the far Northern hemisphere in the winter! One side of the plane was bathed in rosy light from the sun resting on the horizon, while the other side was in the day long winter twilight of the north. We flew over the rugged snow covered mountains of a vast and seemingly deserted Greenland, and later ice covered Baffin Bay.

Seattle was covered in dense grey clouds, allowing only a few glimpses of the city and the Olympics as we landed.

It was raining. And dark.

We made it quickly through immigration and customs in an amazing 35 minutes and were greeted on the curb by Bill with bouquets of flowers!

We dropped Vicki off at her home, made a quick visit to Luke and Vlad on the way north (for some reason Luke did not think he would wear the lion's tooth necklace...or the Obama T shirt....) and then headed home....

So, all for now, until the next trip! Hope you enjoyed reading the blogs and thanks for the comments!

Lynn

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Photos

Fog over the islands
This is taken from our yard..the sun actually came out later...we may go kayaking this afternoon.

Logs from the trees that Bill had cut down
Part of these dead trees broke off in a storm earlier this month...so they had to come down....

Comments

[Steve Collins]

Great Adventure
Thanks for keeping me updated on your trip, Lynn. What a great, wild, and educational ride. Was glad to be along vicariously... Thank you! Steve Collins