Headed for Seattle

I wrote most of this while sitting at the airport waiting for my plane to depart for Seattle. I had been a little concerned that I would not be getting enough exercise today; I didn't need to be! The Potential Most Favorite Roommate dropped me off at the airport at 12:35 for my 2:25 flight. The 1st thing I encountered was a message saying that my flight was now delayed to 2:45, no big deal. Then the kiosk wouldn't print out my bag tag, so off I went to stand in the "Expedited Bag Tag" line, no big deal. Then the U.S. Agricultural Inspection line, still no big deal; that was a snap so I headed for the TSA line at 1:01. It was the longest TSA line that I have ever seen, so I started up the walking app to see how long the line was and how much time it would take to get through; I'm glad I did.

The line continues off to the right.

About 10 minutes into my wait a Hawaiian Airlines guy came through asking for people going to Oakland, San Fransisco, & Seattle to follow him. It was like the Pied Piper, according to the app we walked 0.48 miles to get to another TSA line at a pace of 2.9 mph; it took us 10 minutes.


Fortunately that TSA line went really fast, 52 seconds to go 0.01 miles! I think they opened up a bunch of lines because the flights we were trying to catch were supposed to be leaving in about an hour.

I also used the app to see how long it took to get to gate C-1 from TSA and how far it was. It seemed like we were going back the direction we came from, and we were, but there was no way to get in to that part of the terminal without going the way we did or coming from the other very long TSA line. It took 6:39 for us to go 0.37 miles. All total my airport escapade racked up 0.86 miles!


And it turns out I could have done some birding at the airport. There was a Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) walking around in the terminal while I was getting my bag tag. Usually I can't get within 10 feet of them when I am walking. I think this one was putting up with being around so many people because it was differently abled, its left foot had no toes on it. And there was a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) at the waiting area for our gate; they are quite versatile and will feed by artificial light from store fronts so I was not surprised that it was there.

Spotted Dove.

House Sparrow.

Since my I had an afternoon flight, I was able to do my morning walk. It was very breezy this morning; I was a little cold when I started because of the wind chill but I quickly warmed up.

Five minutes before sunrise on Maunalani.

Twelve minutes after sunrise on Sierra.

Dad was sleeping in front of his breakfast, but he had already finished off half of his fried egg sandwich! He had also finished off 3/4 of his Breeze and half of his banana.

I forgot to mention on Sunday, during my morning walk, I saw a new bird that I have never seen here before. My first thought was, "Mockingbird!" My second thought immediately after that was, "Nah!" I finally got around to looking it up in the Hawai'i Audubon Society's book Hawai'i's Birds and have found that the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is, "Uncommon on all main islands." Which is probably why I haven't seen it before; I will be sure to keep an eye out for it now.

As part of my preparation for leaving, I was cleaning up all my old checklists that I had not submitted to eBird, hence I was reminded about the new bird. Unlike the Chestnut Munia (Lonchura atricapilla) that I had seen about a week earlier than the mockingbird, I did not feel as confident about my gut feeling identification because it just seemed so unlikely that I would see a mockingbird here. And the Chestnut Munia is very distinctively colored whereas the Northern Mockingbird is shades of gray; its size, shape, and behavior are what got my attention & led me to my split second identification. I intend to keep up with the checklist-a-day while in Seattle and was able to schedule a trip with my birding buddy Charlie! For the rest of the days I have scheduled myself to do a sunrise walk with Louie & will bird while he does his business.

I also had to make a quick trip to the Hawai'i Doggie Bakery for some omiyage for Louie! Hope he likes what I got for him. On my way to the doggie bakery I saw 3 Manu-o-Ku flying over my route, all headed inland; mid-morning must be when many of the adults come back from foraging to feed the chicks. It was about the same time that I saw the Manu-o-Ku on my mid-morning walks.



Sometimes when I glance at things my mind makes up its own story about things. I thought this was the Ninja Market!


Hawaiian Airlines has made a point of supporting the use of the Hawaiian language. Their safety info videos are now closed captioned in both English & Hawaiian!

(Screen shot from Hawaiian Airlines safety video.)

Lunch was a Pesto chicken Sandwich, Hawaiian potato chips, and Chocolate covered macadamia nut candy. I couldn't taste the basil at all but I ate it anyway. The steward filled up my water bottle during the first beverage service.


At the Seattle end of things it was a little better since there really was not waiting in lines. It took 6 minutes to go the 0.21 mile to baggage claim because a portion of it is in the underground shuttle.


Picking up the rental car was also easy. And since I go with Alamo all the time, I got a free upgrade! The car told me the outside temperature was 38 degrees F! At one point I passed through an area where the temperature had dropped to 37 F and it gave me a low outside temperature warning!


Once I got to Mary Ellen's house she made me a little snack before bedtime! Louie also got a snack, he liked the Sweet Potato biscuits I got for him!



I like to weigh myself before I go on a trip, then once again when I return. It helps me keep track of how terrible I am at portion control when I am visiting! This morning I found out I had lost 0.9 pounds since last Friday! Winner! According to the WiiFit my ideal weight is 104.7 pounds which puts me at a BMI of 22.0. Right now I am 115.8 pounds, so I need to lose 11.1 pounds. If I feel energetic & healthy at that weight, then I'll stop there. If not, I will continue on down to 100 and see how I feel there. If I'm still not feeling it, then I'll work down to 90 and see how that feels.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau to Jane! And Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo #9 to Brianna & Key!