Ashley picked me up at the apt at 5:15 am and we headed off to Hobby Airport -- Wally Park -- to be exact. Their shuttle picked us right up and dropped us off without any hiccups. I had a TSA Precheck boarding pass, so I headed past all the others waiting in a fairly long line with my carryon bags. Got thru security only to find out that BOTH of my bags had to be searched. :(( this turned out to take about 5-10 minutes, and by the time I was cleared to go, my flight was boarding! Ashley was still going thru security so I went ahead and boarded. The flight was VERY full and I found an empty row with an empty overhead bin and managed to hoist my bag into it all by myself. I put my backpack up there as well to save a spot for hers. She made it on fairly soon after and we even got to keep an empty seat between the two of us for our flight.

We did have a moment of panic during the flight when we thought we weren't going to make our connection in Vegas. We both were thinking that Vegas was on Mountain time but it's actually on Pacific--so once we determined that, we were able to relax.

The Vegas airport was PACKED! And since this was a Sunday, a lot of travelers looked hungover and worse for wear. :)) We boarded and this time the flight was completely full but we had a young (and thin) gal sit in the seat between us, so it was all good.

We arrived into Seattle right on time and Ashley's friend from high school who lives there now, Stew, picked us up and took us to a burger place near the Pier, Red Mill Burgers. After a quick stop at a local grocery for some essentials (wine, shampoo/conditioner, etc), we were off to the dock.

The boarding process went smoothly except they confiscated my fan!!! I don't go ANYWHERE without that as I'm addicted to the noise and can't sleep without it. Or at least not very easily. They said it was a safety issue due to the electrical current not being verified by an electrician. I was in a state of "shock"--that's too strong a word but I was upset nonetheless.

We made it to our stateroom and were sort of surprised at how small it is. However, it's very nice and has everything we need. After muster, our suitcases were delivered and we unpacked. We spent a few minutes exploring the ship and then it was time for the sail away. We headed up to the 16th deck and viewed Seattle as we left. The weather was so amazing--sunny, low humidity and just beautiful. The seas were calm and since we'd forgotten our sunglasses back in the room, we grabbed a slice of pizza and enjoyed the view from a shady spot.

We ate dinner in one of the nice dining rooms and since it was late to us because of the time change, we headed back to the room and called it a night.