Whidbey Island Part 6: The Conclusion

Saturday, October 28, 2017

My shuttle was leaving at 10:30, so we had made plans the night before to meet for breakfast at the Tyee Motel at 8:30. Ronnie is not known for his early morning punctuality---especially on his days off. Mom and I were running just a tad late, but we didn't think he would be there before us. I was touched and surprised to see him, Charla and Brawn all there waiting for us.

None of us were awake, but it was nice to be together.

I tried to get some shots of Charla, Brawn and Ron before we left. Did you ever have one of those situations where you try to do a group photo and someone either has their eyes closed, is doing something, or is getting fake-elbowed in the face by their son? I had that problem. I took a lot of pictures and salvaged these. 

Here.  Just see the video of all of the photos. You'll see what I mean.

After breakfast, Mom and I went back to her cottage. Ronnie surprised us. He dropped off Charla and Brawn and came over to Mom's to see me off, too. Hooray! It was a good opportunity for photo ops of our own.

Mom got a little wacko with all of the photos and gave the camera a raspberry. Ha!

We headed to the shuttle pick-up point and all too soon it arrived. After loading up and getting on board, the shuttle took off. It turned on to State Route 20 and headed towards the ferry crossing at Clinton. Mom and Ronnie were standing in the parking lot, waving goodbye. I was so devastated at that moment. I instantly missed them so very much. I felt like I was leaving home...and yet, I didn't live there. I sent them both an email telling them I missed them already. Mom wrote back and said:

"You need to move here. Got a house to stay in. Don't  have to work or work part time. You could write and publish etc. 

DON'T  HAVE TO WORK. 

Tell him to turn the bus around. You forgot something."

If only I could have made the driver turn around. Waaagh.

Eventually we got to Clinton. There was very little traffic heading to the ferry. Off season is the only way to travel, apparently. Amazing!

We boarded the ferry.

Looking back to the landing, you could see more cars arriving.

The ferry is no big deal, but I thought you might like more pictures. Here are other cars coming aboard.

Inside the ferry was a map of Whidbey and Camano islands. (Camano is the smaller one on the right.) As you can see, Whidbey is long and thin at times and kind of snake-y. At the north, there is a land bridge (Deception Pass) on to Fidalgo Island (which, in turn, has a bridge to the mainland). At the southern end you can spot Clinton and the dashed line that represents the ferry route we were traveling.

Here is a close up of the Coupeville area. Mom's house is just a little south of the corner of Terry Road and Main Street. The Haunted Barn was on the corner of Terry and Ebey roads. Ronnie's house is maybe just beneath the N (in "NE 9th St.") on Main Street. Alexander (where "my house" is) isn't shown, but you can see Madrona Way along Penn Cove and the location Oak Harbor sort of. The ferry route to Port Townsend is directly south of Coupeville

The ferry ride at Clinton is short. Most of the people on the shuttle didn't bother to get off. There was Mukeltio in the distance.

We arrived at Sea-Tac...and my anxiety was already kicking in.

Here is the very nice passenger waiting area.

And the security screening area just before it.

'

I stopped and got a bowl of Ivar's clam chowder for lunch.

Soon it was time for my flight.

I was a Premium Class customer again and was seated early.

The plane was not that full...in fact, it was mostly empty. But then, who wants to go to Fresno...on purpose?

Still, I was preparing for terror in the skies. Barf bags handy? Check!

The captain had his cockpit door open during boarding. Isn't that illegal? EEEK! I guess they figured no one was going to high-jack a flight to Fresno.

As we took off, I dared to look out the window. Waaagh. My family was out there somewhere...

We flew close to Mt. Rainer

Very close. YIKES!

The flight attendant came by and offered me my Premium Class snack box and cheap-o class biscotti. He asked if I'd like anything to drink. I said, "Could I please have a bloody mary?" After seeing the way I was clutching the seat ahead of me and the terrified look in my eye, he asked if I'd like a double. "YES!" I said...and was very grateful.

I'd already had a Xanax before we boarded the plane...but another was in order. 

Look, Ma! Only ONE hand!  Yikes!

I occasionally did dare to look out the window...and usually had no idea where we were. And then, oh my stars! I spotted Yosemite from the air.

Soon I spotted the 180 freeway. We were close to home.

Hey, that's the Fresno Air Terminal traffic control building. We had landed safely. Thank goodness. It had only taken two Xanax and two bloody marys this time.

I grabbed my bags and as I made my way out of the airport, I sent out a call for a Lyft driver. As luck would have it, one had just dropped someone off at the airport and I was home rather quickly.

But I really missed my family. Even putting these blog posts together made the ache even stronger. I'll get up there someday, hopefully.

Thanks for taking the trip with me.

CHEERS!