People, Places, and Things/ (Puttin' it Away)

As usual, I forgot something else. When we crossed the bridge the first time, there were people on the side of the freeway and standing on top of the off-ramps waving signs and banners. They looked old and weary. We honked at them, and made sure to flip 'em the bird. According to their signs they were standing there cheering for McCain and Palin. They were gone by the time we came back from Tacoma. Yay!!!
I woke up with a very odd hangover. I was moving like I was decrepit. Lonie was feeling unadventurous. Tom was like the only one with the girls that wanted to go some place out. I wanted to visit Seattle. Here's the problem. It's longer going by freeway to Seattle, plus very difficult to find parking. Also, expensive as hell that's what I've been told. They charge for parking everyday. If we took the ferry from Port Orchard it would an hour to get there. Now, that is was Football Sunday, we also knew it was the day we had to fly back to San Diego. We wanted to avoid getting ourselves too disracted that we'd miss our flight.
So, finally we headed out the door. Tom had an idea. He took us to Manchester State Park. From there, we could see Blake Island where Tom used to work as park interpreter. He had that job while he was a student at SDSU. It was a paid internship. It seemed so long ago and it was his second visit to Washington. We also got a great view of Seattle from the port. Lonie complained that her youngest daughter Julia either wasn't dressed right or was wearing the wrong shoes. We had to walk through a lot of mud. Tom was very convincing. He mostly spoke for me that I'm the visitor and I won't be able to see all this or go to these places that's why we're out here. He went to say that we would be going out to eat after this. Originally we were gonna do breakfast. Well 9:30 became 11:45 a.m., Tom was talking to total strangers again and taking pictures by the dozen, but finally he got us there. My stomach seemed to be half-empty and half-full and I had a slight headache.
We drove the lush country side around Port Orchard and we arrived at this Chinese Buffet. Most of us were pissed afterwards. I barely touched my plate. The spices were doing a number on my stomach. I made two trips to the restroom. Second time I checked myself. Ok, the belching is normal. No harm, no foul. The soup was ok. Not much variety at this place. I took Tom's advice and put fruit on my last plate with some vanilla pudding. Sure enough, I was beginning to feel better. We went up to the cashier paid the $48! Freakin' bs. It broke down something like this: $6.50 for the girls ( 2 children) and $10 for us (3 adults) drinks were like $2. The hosts didn't even come by with the water pitcher, so I stole it from the counter and refilled my glass. They didn't bother me. haha.
We pulled in front of the Walmart again. Saw some very peculiar people. There was this Hispanic man walking into the stores with his wife and kids wearing overalls. There was a woman leaving wearing a bathing suit with flowers all over it and skirt on top. Then, you had a middle-aged lady waiting for her rode who appeared to be wearing a bathrobe and dress underneath. Those people ain't right. My mom later told me, Jeremy you got to understand WalMart serves people of low income that's why they look the way they do. I'm like yeah, but they don't have license plates from Alaska, Oregon, and Iowa. To some degree, she's right. Ok, the movie-watching experience was over. Tom, got to pull out of the no-parking zone when Lonie returned with my medicine. She got me Pepto Bismal, so that I wouldn't honk.
We made back to Lonie's place. The three watched part of the football game between the Seahawks and the Eagles. I took about 3 doses, every half-hour of the Pepto-Bismal. The girls played around with the Play Doh and they made a mess with pictures they cut up and threw on the floor of barbie doll ads in magazines. lol. They asked so many questions. Sometimes it seemed like I was hooked to a lie-dector. haha. Yes, at times, they did stress Tom and I out a little. Then, came to big surprise. It was time to unload and pack for the airport. Lonie and the girls got to have 3 of our remaining water jugs, 11 cans of Dr. Thunder, the 2 soup cans, Dora the Explorer paper cups, the pot we bought for the stove, and finally the machete that Tom found went to Lonie. Lots of tears shed at the end. It was a poignant fare well and off we went. Tom was sad a later very nervous. I continued to stay calm and direct him as we made our way back to the airport.
Our flight to SD was 7 pm. We left Lonie's house at 4:15 p.m. The good news was Sea-Tac is south of Seattle, so we didn't have any problems with the traffic leaving the Seahawk game. We did alright. We arrived with the rental car, which by the way was a Ford Focus and it sucks. Although, it was great on gas. It showed you how many miles were left until it ended up on empty which was cool. It was 5:30 pm. My phone was out of commission, I guess it rained out on Friday. Tom's phone only had one bar, I didn't remember my friends number. I chose the homephone, wrong but I got through. The friend forgot Sunday we fly back to SD. She was resting; however, she managed to get up and bring my old childhood buddy along. They live 5 min from the airport. Sure enough we walked to the top of the parking structure level 4 and they arrived at 5:40 pm. I saw my old buddy, Jimmy. Even though, he has severe case of autism he remembered me. He didn't go to college, but at least he graduated high school. He was very happy to see me. I gave his mother all the camping gear she loaned out to us and I let them know that there could be a chance that I'd be coming back when the marathon is held there next June. I wished them well and we headed over to the security check-point. No problem. They found the medicine. All the woman said it has to be out of bag when it goes through the machine, and got to keep it. Whatever. Flight was good. I didn't order a meal this time. My mother's tote bag had a pink stain when unloading it. Oh well, at least my clothes didn't get peptoed out 'cause they were places in the center pocket and P-B was in the side. That's all. Great trip!! See ya!!