to Seattle, Washington

We are finally back on the go for the next week.  Both the school where I work and that Colin attends are out the entire week of Thanksgiving.  I don't know what person dreamed up this idea, but they are amazing in my book.  This is the second year in a row we have been able to go out of town during the Thanksgiving holiday without skipping school!  Oh yes in the past we have both skipped a day or two!  So to beat the rush we are flying out today . . . it is a crazy itinerary I came up with but it is going to work; mainly due to cost.  I dropped my car at our local small town airport and picked up a rental car to drive to DFW for our outbound flight.  It was easy and traffic was moving nicely for a Friday afternoon.  Of course I had built in a couple extra hours just in case which meant we would have to hang out at the airport for those couple of hours.  Since my pass to the Admiral's Club is expiring soon, we enjoyed the quietness of the lounge and free snacks too!  The best part was shortly before our flight we were both upgraded to first class which was good since it was an evening flight and we would be served dinner!  Colin loves the upgrade, and I told him that after today we only had one more free upgrade so enjoy it while he could.  We settled into our seats in row 3 and that is when the fun started.  Across the aisle was a girl with a 'comfort pet'.  I had never heard of this but if your animal is certified as a 'comfort pet' you can keep them out of a carry on kennel in your lap during the entire flight.  The dog was cute and well behaved but at one point the dog was curled up in the seat while its owner was sitting on the floor.  Seemed odd but not judging.  As we got ready to get off the plane, the dog was put in a baby sling and carried into the terminal.  Also, two rows behind us we had a cat.  A cat that meowed the entire flight!  I mean the.entire.flight . . . at one point the owner took it to the bathroom in its carrier.  I got a smell of a something terrible and realized the cat had gone to the bathroom.  About 20 minutes later (no joke) the owner and cat emerged with a big bag of waste.  I swear you can't make this up.  Thankfully, both us and our bags arrived and we made the quick walk across the street to the Hilton . . . while it is super close to SEATAC airport, it was super cold so we briskly walked.  The fun begins tomorrow!