The road to Seattle turned out to be much faster by car than by train. While the train wouldn't have arrived until morning, we arrived by car in the middle of the night and even managed to get some sleep. On the way, we drove through Idaho, stopped at a few isolated stores to refuel, grab some food, drinks, and cigarettes for the road. We took turns sleeping during the trip. Yes, as I already mentioned, I wasted $77, but I got the pleasure of traveling from state to state by car for the first time in my life. It's worth it, by the way. After all, you can see some interesting places along the way. And it's just a good, fun experience. By the way, here is one of the interesting stores on the way:
Once we reached Seattle, we decided to get some sleep first.
To be precise, we didn't quite reach Seattle, but Kirkland - a city located about 20 minutes from downtown Seattle. Kelsey and her 3 friends rent an apartment there. In the morning, we had to get to another city - Poulsbo, where her parents and sister with her husband work. It's very interesting and terribly confusing in this regard. It turns out that Seattle is surrounded by several small, roughly speaking, provincial towns, and this creates a huge territory. You can work in Seattle but live, for example, in Kirkland. You just need to have plenty of time for your commute to work. Ouch.
So, we had to visit her friend, whose car we arrived in, since his car was left in Glacier. Last time, when he was visiting us, they hit a deer, and his car had to be left for repairs in Montana. And they left in the sisters' car. Confusing, right? And now Kelsey returned that guy's car.
After meeting him, we had to meet her mom, and she works... at an elementary school. My God. I've never been to American schools. And it was a unique experience. Not just a visit, but an interactive one!
Taking advantage of the unique opportunity, Kelsey's mom sat all the children in front of me and asked me (as usual, of course):
-Remind me, where are you from?
-Uzbekistan.
-Um..
-Uz-Bek-I-Stan.
And turning to the children, she announced that we have a guest from a distant country, a friend of her daughter, who can tell us about... (turns to me).
-Uz-Bek-I-Stan...
-Yes, exactly!
Well, the kids sat and listened carefully as I told them that I came from Central Asia. Worked as a cook, etc. It took a couple of minutes, but I had a mountain of impressions. Honestly.
After that, we got to their house, where we had to change cars again, since before that we were driven by one of Kelsey's sisters, whom you don't know. (She wasn't in that post). Although during my stay in Glacier, I met almost the entire Turner family, there were mom, dad, and all the sisters, friends, etc. They are very sociable and hospitable.
After that, we visited a wonderful bakery in Poulsbo, "Sluys' Bakery". If you are in Seattle, you must visit it! It's just an incredible establishment. And on my favorite topic of incredible people in America. While we were choosing (well, more precisely, I was choosing, Kelsey has been getting the same thing for about 10 years, as she says), a nice man of about 60 started a conversation with us, who said that gingerbread men are a unique thing when we both chose them. We chatted a bit, and then he also chose a man and paid for our purchase. It was incredibly pleasant. Just like the very tasty man.
In general, look at how wonderful the streets look in this town. Some kind of peace and quiet. A real provincial town.
Considering that the territories between the cities are huge, or rather it is water, there are piers created there that can take you from port to port to Seattle and back. That's where we headed so as not to drive around. Although in fact, although it saves time, you still have to travel quite a bit on the ferry. About an hour.
For convenience, the first floor is made specifically for cars, and the others are equipped with seats where you can sit and relax. We even managed to sleep. You can also go out to the bow of the ferry to admire the view of the city.
To be Continued.
