My flight to Seattle from Ketchikan was pretty much uneventful. Since no one was sitting next to me during the flight down I was able to stretch out and get lost in reading one of the books in the Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis. If you find yourself reading these books, regardless of your age, don’t be surprised if and when your imagination is filled with possibilities of “what if” wandering through a make believe world.Nothing like a hard landing to pull you out of the make believe world of Narnia. Found myself following the herd towards the baggage and rental car area. In my opinion the Seattle International Airport is a real gem with the redesign of the terminal over the past 3 years.
The central terminal court area with the ceiling to floor glass wall provides a sense of being outside even though it’s an indoor facility. Included a couple of photos in this post with the evening winter light streaming into the terminal court area. Quite beautiful.While driving on I-5 headed north to a hotel near Seattle Center I couldn’t help but think with the wilderness and ocean as our back yard in Ketchikan, the world seemed so boundless. Even knowing that there is only just 30 miles of road system in Ketchikan it seemed the world went on without end. Looking out the car window seeing so many vehicles headed in the same direction for some reason my world just got smaller.
After checking into a hotel room I noticed that the view from my window was that of the Space Needle which was all lit up this evening. It was late so I decided it was best to stay in this evening and just relax and prepare myself for my medical appointments at the PolyClinic.The next day I almost drove past the Clinic as it is located in a neighborhood of what appear to be a residential and business section of town. In order to find the parking garage entrance I had to drive around the block a few times.
The personalized service from the doctor and clinic staff was great! It is the most efficient medical facility I’ve been to in the past 10 years. With the large number of people lined up at the check-in desk, not once did I feel like any of us were being treated as number in the system. Several of the staff came out to chat with people in line to pass the time which was surprising.After about two days of blood letting and imaging my inners it was time to check out and head to Bellingham, Washington to visit with Eric and Anna. It was a beautiful drive and my time with them was great and much needed break from work for me. They run a medical practice and attend the Institute of Structural Medicine which has a primary focus on myofascial pain. It was great getting one of their treatments as the PolyClinic, though very nice people, they were able to provide any pain relief. On my drive back to Seattle to catch my flight home I decided to take the Chuckanut Drive historic tour that ran along the coast to Burlington. Breath taking views from the many rest stops along the way were quite wonderful and gave me time to reflect.
Flew home to Ketchikan just long enough to see my wife off to Kodiak to visit her sister for about 2 weeks. During that time Ketchikan had quite the dumping of snow.
The temperatures were down in the single digits for about a week and a half thus I ended up chasing off some frozen pipes and tried to stay up with the shoveling. Quite the adjustment after being in the Seattle area with it's temperatures being in the 60-70’s. Even with being snowed in for a few days it’s always good to be back home.
