Flat Finn visits Seattle!

In Mid May, I got a call from my nephew Flat Finn. "I'd like to visit you, Uncle Snot!" he told me. "You gotta pick me up at Seattle Tacoma International Airport RIGHT NOW!" I wondered why he was being so formal. Usually he just called the airport "Seatac" just like everybody else. Seemed like something must be up. Regardless, I jumped in my car and drove as quickly as possible, but generally within bounds of traffic statutes, to meet Finn. Here's where I found him:

He wasted no time directing me. "I wanna see the Voyager!" he practically shouted, tugging at my hand. I had to Google it to figure out what he was talking about. Turns out he meant the Rutan Voyager, the first plane to fly nonstop around the world without refueling. Pilots Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed their world record flight in just over nine days in 1986. First we had to find it. Finn helped.

Then we saw it, first in the background and finally up close.

 


We read about the journey ...

... and then Finn had another surprise.

He had some inside information from his "sources," who had told him - he claimed - that a certain Grandpa Tom would be arriving any moment. I didn't know whether to believe him ... but he'd been right about the Voyager being at Seatac, so I figured I may as well follow him again. And sure enough. There's Grandpa Tom!

 

Why's he in Seattle instead of Green Bay, Wisconsin? Who cares! Let's surprise him!



Mission very much accomplished! Now what? As usual, Finn's mind drifted toward mischief. He distracted me with Grandpa Tom's bags and hopped on the dashboard, somehow locking me out of my car in the meantime.


Thankfully, Grandpa Tom, whom we sometimes call "GPT," talked some sense into the kid and got him buckled into the backseat. That didn't keep Finn from regaining control of our journey.

"I want to see the new Highway 520 bridge over Lake Washington. It's the largest lake in the state and a very expensive infrastructure project, to boot." Back to the formal language. He's an odd kid sometimes. But we like him, so we headed to a nice vantage point:

 GPT pointed out the progress made, the work remaining, the affordances for cyclists and the stewardship of environmental concerns:

A helpful cyclist told us how excited she is for the new bridge to open because it will have a bike path all the way across. Yayyyy! The current bridge bike path ends before the lake. Booo!

Thankfully, we were able to get Finn out from the no-trespassing construction zone before anyone noticed.

After scoping out the bridge expansion, we made it finally to my house. This is where I, Uncle Snot, live with Finn's Aunt Pam and cousins Eli and Sam. Eli greeted us.

We spent the evening playing boardgames, singing sea shanties and artisanally roasting small batches of organic coffee, all hobbies widely engaged by the citizenry of our region. We also formed a labor union, grew medicinal herbs, wrote software and sold books online, as ones here do.

Next morning? "I wanna go fishing!" Okay, okay. Let's go!

It was a rainy and kind of rough day on the water.

And sadly, Flat Finn's stomach rebelled against the tossing, rolling ride. He went into the cabin somewhere below the poop deck, to sleep away his seasickness. Poor Finn! But we caught a bunch of fish, mostly like these:

Back at the house the next day, Finn was feeling better and ready to eat our catch, which he'd helped portion and vacuum seal:

And then it was time for Flatt Finn to float home again. We were all busy, so Finn suggested Uber. That kid is just so modern and connected. He had the Uber driver text us this pic once he got to Seatac:

Thanks for coming, Finn! Come back again soon!