a day of (mis)adventures, sprinkled with a generous helping of grace

Last night my flight was delayed leaving Ketchikan, so I didn't get in to Seattle until 11:45pm. Baggage seemed piled up elsewhere and didn't come to my eager little hands until 12:30am. By the time Tia and I got back to Kirkland, it was about 1:30am. (Oh, and we also made an extra, random loop back through the airport because poor T was exhausted by the time I got in. Don't worry, folks, she was indeed compensated for her valiant efforts.)

Anyhow, I made myself get up at 9:30 so I would have time to get everything figured out before we needed to be at NU around noon. I had to call my brother floor RA and figure out our plans for the day, since there was no way that I was going to call him when I got in to Seattle last night, which was the original plan.

Well, Tia and I didn't get to NU until about 12:30pm, which wasn't a problem because David hadn't showed up yet either. He was running late because of traffic through Tacoma--he hails from Olympia-ish. Through a random turn of events--or mayhaps God watching out for me :) --I ran into another future RA on campus and got David's cell from a friend she called for me.

Eventually, David and I met up in the library, where we printed up different directions to various locales, potential places for our floor retreat. Our first destination was about an hour north, at a state park. We both thought it was just about ideal as to what we were looking for in regards to activities and such, but we wanted to check the other state parks on our list as well--there were three total. Also, at the first park, we figured the deciding factor would be if the next place had a playground or not. (Yes, we are in college. No, we are not mature yet. :D )

Our next stop was a state park at an undisclosed location--I don't want to let it slip before we go!--even farther north, and somewhat west. This took about another hour or so driving. We scouted the place out--much larger than the first park--and I'm positive God brought us to the right place. I asked Him to help us find the perfect spot for our floor retreat, and I think this is it. David and I see eye to eye on it, we both have good ideas about it, and it looks like we can reserve a group camp site so we won't have residents scattered over a broad area.

While we scouted out the area, we walked along the beaches and through some of the trails. It was a great day for this because it was warm out, but not overly hot. We encountered a wedding party on one of the beaches and David kept joking that we should try to get a picture with the bride and groom. Funny idea, but we'd already trespassed on the group camp sites to scout them out, so I wasn't too keen on the idea. It's too bad, because the cake looked good.

Walking the trails parallel to the beach was a decent hike, but it got better on the way back when we chose to ditch the forested trail and walk along the beach. Problem: beach does not stretch the same length. Instead, large rocky outcroppings break up the beach, which would have forced us to return to the trail, swim around them, or climb over them. So we called on our inner mountain goats and clambered over these various craggy rocks so that we could keep to the beach.

By the end of the beach trek, we'd taken off our shoes and socks and were walking through the surf. The cold water was quite refreshing, and it was much easier to walk on the harder, wet sand than over the dry sand. And we passed the wedding party again, but we resisted the urge to grab cake and punch to refresh us.

Once we left [undisclosed location] it was 6:30pm or so, and we were/are both convinced that this was the perfect place for our floor retreat. (Thank you, God!!!) On the drive south, we decided to stop at an Arby's for dinner only to lock the keys in the car as soon as we got there. Well, being the flexible types, we decided to eat dinner first. Fortunately, there was a Lowe's across the street, so we were able to buy all the required utensils to break back into the car and continue our voyage.

Fastforward about an hour or so and we were at Fauntleroy with me trying to juggle TOO MANY THINGS so that I could catch a ferry back to PO. (Bless David for driving me to the ferry so that I wouldn't have to take a bus AND a ferry.) Well, when I bought my ticket, the ticket guy--I don't know what his job title actually is...--radios ahead and asks if there's time for "one more Southworth walk on." They radio back and say yes, "if she hurries."

So, already juggling the aforementioned TOO MANY THINGS, I attempt to book it down the dock to the ferry, which is already behind schedule. One ferry worker met me halfway down and helped me with my things, took my ticket. She passed off what she carried to someone else at the other end of the dock, and then someone else came alongside me as we got to the elevator and took another one of my bags.

Three different workers physically carried my luggage to ensure that I would make that ferry, y'all. I so didn't deserve the extra grace God gave me through people today. (And this weekend.) Once I got on the ferry, I called ahead, hoping to find someone to pick me up on the other side and get me to the Jennings' house where my car is parked. Found someone very easily, and at the end of the ferry ride, one of the ferry workers volunteered to help me with my bags again. (He also used to work in Alaska, so we struck up a conversation over my box of xtra-tufs. :) )

Well, this blog is more than long enough. I need sleep because more campers come on the morrow.