We got out of bed at 4:45 am. We were in the taxi thirty minutes later, headed for the airport. We ended up sharing the cab with a guy who had missed his supershuttle and was also on our flight to Seattle.
Our plane took off just as the sun was breaking over the horizon. The ride was short and unremarkable, as it should be, and the flight was barely half full. We landed at Sea-Tac on time, and looked out the window at pouring rain and thick sheets of clouds.
Got a cab right away and headed for the ferry terminal. On the way we skirted around two accidents on the road. At the ferries, we waited a while for the boat and I drank a double espresso.
Rode across the sound, and I watched the rain splashing against the windows. It was difficult to see the island through the mist and the downpour.
Walked swiftly from the ferry and to the first taxi van that waited on the curb. Piled in and pulled away, but an elderly man pounded on the window just then. It turned out we had almost taken the cab he and his wife had phoned ahead for. The confusion arose from the fact we were all going to the same town. So, for the second time this morning, we shared a taxi.
As we made our way along the eleven-mile route, the rain began to very slowly, gradually, change into snow. And by the time we got into city limits, it was full-on snowing, and piling up on every surface. The flakes were fat and wet; it was just above freezing. The people we were sharing with lived not far from us, but it was up a hill. The cab turned and started the ascent, but it was very soon clear we weren’t going to make it.
The four of us and our luggage were dropped off at a Chevron station at the foot of the hill. The snow was piling up, no plows in sight, and the sidewalk didn’t even have any tracks. We were faced then with a walk of over a mile uphill with no gloves, each of us carrying heavy suitcases.
We got about ten steps when suddenly a woman driving a new Jeep flagged us down and offered us all a ride. We could scarcely believe it. But then we had all crowded into her SUV and were plugging our way up the snowy hill with no trouble. The woman first dropped the elderly couple right at their house, then drove me and Brian all the way to our front door as well. We thanked her over and over.
After a few days in what felt at times like a mean-spirited San Francisco, this was the perfect homecoming.
The cats were thrilled to see us, and continue to be freaked out by the falling snow, which has not relented. Luckily we have enough food for a couple of days. No way am I taking our car down that hill. Maybe the plows will go through tonight, once it has stopped.