We managed to travel across the country by plane late last night, landing safely in Sea-Tac around midnight local time. And then the flawed directions from Google Maps (Why south on International Blvd. out of SeaTac?) put us on a minor roundabout, so that along with a slow rental car check out (the antithesis of supersonic, let’s say) a hotel check-in, and parking in a garage where all spaces are labeled “compact,” we weren’t setting heads to pillows until 2:30 a.m. local (i.e., 5:30 a.m. in CNY). Suffering a great soul delay from this–all of the lag and fog-headedness you would expect.

The flight was uneventful except for two small matters. One: Is. was not interested in sleeping, but there were others near us who wanted to rest. Three restless hours, seat kicking, loud rather than quiet voice, and so on. We felt sheepish about the noise and activity until our friend in 8B began to snore with such great violence and volume that we all quietly worried whether he would be okay. Two: in JFK, she championed a cheese-eating contest (and was the only contestant in this private game of indulgence). But there were consequences whose details I won’t relay except to say that she over-celebrated with a lot of jumping up and down and that I now understand why JFK always smells a little bit like the throw-up.

Today’s upshot: our hotel is two blocks from the Space Needle and also three blocks from a Whole Foods Market, where we ate breakfast and shopped for fruits, milks, and other stuff to sustain our breakfasts for the few days were are here. Nice to have a hotel room with a kitchenette, refridge, and so on. Mid-morning we walked about ten blocks to Pike’s Market, browsed a couple of shops, and scaled the 10 or 11 flights of stairs to get down to the Seattle Aquarium where we glanced at fishlife for a couple of hours. Next: back at the hotel for Is.’s nap. When she wakes up in an hour or so we will drive across town to have dinner with my grandparents. Tomorrow, on to the conference.