{"id":1191,"date":"2013-05-30T22:28:10","date_gmt":"2013-05-31T03:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/?p=1191"},"modified":"2013-05-30T22:33:07","modified_gmt":"2013-05-31T03:33:07","slug":"1191","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/?p=1191","title":{"rendered":"Special Guest Post – Seattle Visit Day 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Day 1 of a special guest post series by Mary Voorhees on Will’s parents’ recent visit to Seattle!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am very pleased to have been asked to write a guest blog post about our trip to Seattle; a privilege not offered to just everyone. I like to think it is due to my good writing skills, but it\u2019s probably because others have not visited Seattle and I have. Joni and Will can put in corrections\/additions as they see fit.<\/p>\n

A few tips to keep in mind when planning to visit Seattle. First, there\u2019s no need to bring your sunglasses. They just weigh down your purse. Second, don\u2019t bring any books or knitting. You won\u2019t have time for that sort of thing and, even if you did, you would be too exhausted to read or knit anyway. Third, plan to have a wonderful time! Joni and Will are excellent hosts, so welcoming, know exactly where to go and how to get there, and they feed you a lot.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s get going! FRIDAY<\/span><\/p>\n

We arrived in Seattle last Friday afternoon. We followed the signs to the Link Light Rail, got on and rode to the last stop, Westlake Station. This is the perfect way to get from the airport to the center of the city; so convenient, quicker than anyone could drive out and get you, safe and easy. Even old people can manage it at the senior discounted rate of .75 cents. As we stepped off the train at Westlake Station, there were Joni and Will on the platform to greet us.<\/p>\n

The station is only a few blocks from where Will works so we walked over to the Amazon building(s). Here\u2019s Will entering the same door he enters every workday morning. He walks through a Starbuck\u2019s to the elevators. That girl in having coffee looks familiar. Wait, that\u2019s an optical illusion!<\/p>\n

\"01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We had to stop at Security and got badges we swiped at all the doors. We saw the cubicle where Will works. The cubicle is against a glass wall so he has a great view of the city. Amazon (as well as the whole city of Seattle) is very \u201cdog friendly\u201d so there were dog toys laying in the hallways and dog beds in many of the offices. We saw the Cereal Bar where they have a bowl of cereal every morning at 10am.<\/p>\n

\"02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the view from the lounge area a few floors up, but Will\u2019s lounge view is pretty much the same.<\/p>\n

\"03\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Take a look at this picture below. See that tall darker building in the center?<\/p>\n

\"04\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The building to the right of that, with the glass side, is the one Will works in. Both are Amazon buildings but neither is labeled as such until you get inside and up to one of the work floors. Then you see the Amazon logo. Amazon has a big bunch of buildings a few blocks away that house other departments, Human Resources, the owner\u2019s office, and all that stuff. Now take a look in front of those buildings. You can see a construction area with orange safety fencing around it, next to that turquoise building. That\u2019s going to be Amazon buildings in there too.<\/p>\n

There is a big crane down in that hole. In Will\u2019s lounge area, they have a white board on which someone wrote \u201cHow are they going to get that crane out of that hole?\u201d About 25 people wrote guesses below. One guy won when he suggested \u201cbuild a ramp and drive the crane out\u201d. My point is, not only are Amazon employees trying to solve their own problems, they are very busy solving other people\u2019s problems as well. It amazed me that the whole Amazon organization, with its many facets and departments and all of us ordering a zillion items each day, is run by a bunch of young people taking care of their dogs, eating cereal, playing ping-pong, and watching the neighbors. It\u2019s no wonder the boy loves his job! It was really fun to see where Will works, what his daily routine is like, where his colleagues have their offices, etc.<\/p>\n

We got on the bus for Fremont<\/p>\n

\"05\"<\/a><\/p>\n

and arrived at our hotel, Hotel Hotel.<\/p>\n

\"06\"<\/a> \"07\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This was the perfect place to stay; 3 blocks from Will\/Joni\u2019s. It was a very busy place with many young people checking in and out, but it was very quiet, clean as a whistle, outside door locked at all times, and the boys at the desk checked everyone going in and out 24 hours a day so it was very safe. They served a breakfast in the morning and you could cook your own food in a kitchen. The other guests did kind of a double take to see us old folks around there but they were all so polite, respectful, and left us alone. Unfortunately I can\u2019t say the same about myself. I tried to engage them in conversation telling them I lived on a farm, was in Seattle to visit my son and his wife, the morning is the best part of the day, and announced where we had gone during the day. They all just nodded and smiled. If you stay at Hotel Hotel, bring a bar of soap, shampoo, and a washcloth (they give you a towel) and you\u2019re good to go.<\/p>\n

We got checked in, went down the street for a hamburger, and called it a day. We went to bed and the kids walked home.<\/p>\n

See you tomorrow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 1 of a special guest post series by Mary Voorhees on Will’s parents’ recent visit to Seattle!   I am very pleased to have been asked to write a guest blog post about our trip to Seattle; a privilege not offered to just everyone. I like to think it is due to my good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1202,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions\/1202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maryjoandwill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}