Round The World and other travel

If it aint a Boeing ...

... then I'm not going! So we were all told to say when next talking to our travel agents, but there I go jumping ahead again. I lay in bed a little longer than originally planned because, rightly as it turned out, I just couldn't convince myself that the Boeing Factory tour was going to be very busy. It was post-Labor Day, after all. So I just relaxed and eventually took breakfast in the hotel's in-house restaurant, hoping that the early morning fog would burn off soon. After checking out, I left the car in the hotel lot and simply walked the 100 yards or so to the front door of the exhibition hall / tour centre. I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a place on an unscheduled 0930 tour. There were only about 20 of us so that, as our guide pointed out, it felt a bit like a VIP tour

There are absolutely no cameras, phones or other personal items allowed on the tour. After a brief introduction, the bus took us round to the assembly area for 747 / 767 / 777 aircraft, which is housed in the world's largest building by volume, and which was being partly remodelled for forthcoming 787 production. Following the tour, I spent some time looking round the exhibition, in which the 787 is heavily promoted. By the time I'd done all that, I was ready for a light lunch in the cafe before returning to the car and taking my leave.

I started off by taking a short drive down to Mukilteo itself, but there wasn't a huge amount to see and I turned round without stopping to get out. I quickly found my way back to I-5 and drove south, finding the turn-off for the West Seattle bridge without any difficulty. I was following one of Bruce's recommendations and, as promised, the views of the city were excellent, both from the high viewpoint on Admiral Way and from the shore road. I followed the shore road round from Elliott Bay to the main part of Puget Sound and it was one of those drives where I kept pulling over to admire the latest views. Eventually I found my way to the Southworth Ferry, having determined from my basic map that this offered an alternative route down to Tacoma. I enjoyed the short crossing in the afternoon sunshine and, once on the road again, found my way to Tacoma and to the Sheraton without a single false move. I was feeling just a trifle smug and quietly pleased with myself - as I've told people before, I don't really do 'lost'. (How's that for setting myself up? )

I settled in to my latest one-night stop and had a most enjoyable dinner in the hotel's top floor Italian restaurant, watching the fading sunlight on Mt Rainier. (It rhymes with veneer, by the way )