Honeymoon: Day 7

Friday, July 3, 2009

Jacob and I woke up early to catch the bus that would drop us off at the train station so we could take our train ride back to Portland. I had never traveled by train before and Jacob had not in the US. We were both really looking forward to the experience.

And it did not disappoint. Jacob had reserved a sleeper car for us so we had our own private room with two big comfy seats. We traveled along the edge of the Puget Sound for the first bit of travel and it was absolutely lovely. We were able to play some games, eat some snacks, and enjoy lunch in the lounge car. I felt a bit like a character from Harry Potter traveling to Hogwarts.

But no, we ended in Portland.

At the train station in Seattle

Enjoying our cozy seats.

FUNNY STORY ABOUT OUR TRAIN RIDE:
Each sleeper train car has an attendant to help out if you have questions or need your beds put down. Well we lucked out because we got "Crazy Tom." Yep, that's what he called himself. He was coming through the car as we neared Portland to let everyone that was getting off at that stop know they needed to start getting their luggage and start getting ready. The room across the isle from us had their curtains drawn and weren't responding to Crazy Tom's knocks on the door. He turned to us and said "I bet they are doing the hot and nasty." I sort of laughed and Jacob looked at me with the best face ever. His jaw was dropped and he was all shades of red. Then Crazy Tom proceeds to explain that "we would be surprised at all the things that happen in those rooms." It was pretty funny! And Jacob's response was priceless.

At the train station Jacob left me to gather all the luggage while he headed to pick up the next rental car. There was a slight problem with this plan: my cell phone had no reception...not sure why. So when I tried to call Jacob to let him know where I was waiting, no dice. And he tried to call me several times. He was getting worried and I was getting hot out there with all the luggage. Eventually I went inside and used a pay phone (when was the last time you did that?!?) just as he was pulling up to the station. It all worked out in the end but it was a frustrating few minutes. It made me keenly aware of my dependence on my cell phone.

We arrived at his parent's home in good time. I felt really useless because his mother and her sister were so busy getting things set for the open house and I asked if I could help but there wasn't much for me to do. Eventually I had to start getting ready myself. I had to fake do my hair and it wasn't going so great. But luckily Jacob's sister, Rachel, helped me out and even more luckily, I was wearing a veil so it didn't really matter what the back looked like too much. And the front looked decent. I was pretty satisfied. My parents arrived and then I put on my dress. I was pretty surprised it still fit after all the eating from the week prior!

The open house went really well. It was a good time with great food. We had burgers and pulled pork with several salad options. We also had so many good pies and ice cream. The flowers were red, white and blue and I loved that!

After the open house we opened our gifts. My parents left after the gift opening and other neighbors came back over for fireworks. Jacob's parents had bought a huge set of fireworks from Costco. It was a lot of fun. I introduced his family and the neighbors to dancing around the "flashers." Had to be done. The strobe light will not be denied.

Rachel enjoying some pie.

After the fireworks came to an end Jacob and I headed for our hotel. I really was exhausted at this point. I fell asleep pretty quickly that night.

EMBARRASSING MOMENT OF THE EVENING:

At some point between opening presents and lighting off fireworks, I had gone upstairs for something. Jacob's mom and some of the neighbor girls were in the living room picking out fire works and Jacob was outside in the back yard. As I was heading down the stairs somehow my feet came out from under me. I could see it happening in slow motion but had no way to prevent it. I landed on my back and slid the rest of the way down the stairs. Oh, but don't worry if I wasn't wearing a perfect stretchy skirt that came up to my armpits as the sliding came to an end. Jacob heard the fall outside. The neighbor girls looked around at me, skirt showing things that shouldn't be shown, and asks if I'm okay. I quickly respond that I am fine and jump up to try and make myself modest. I walk outside to Jacob and tell him what happened. He demonstrated concern for my back and then probably had a good laugh to himself. I really was fine. Slightly bruised in body and definitely bruised in spirit. But what can you do!

I was sore for a few days, that is for certain.