My Day In Hell

I just realized it's been over a year since I last wrote on this blog, so here I am again. This story is about my day in Seattle.

So I went to Seattle on Thursday, had an appointment at the courthouse. Sounds easy right? But of course, I always find ways to make it hard :D
Here is how my day went.

I am currently living in Duvall, a little town about 25 miles Northeast of Seattle. Knowing my issue with being on time, and getting lost in new places I decided to leave two hours early. I got to Seattle with almost 1 1/2 hours to spare, so I went looking for a parking space. For goodness sakes, have these people ever heard of free parking? So in a stubborn effort I decided to drive around aimlessly looking for parking that wasn't going to cost more then my monthly insurance. Thank you Derek and Pat for listening to my insane ramblings and yelling at the other drivers. And what the heck with with all that one way street crap? Very nerve racking to be driving on the wrong side of the street, we are not in England people! Anyways, I finally gave in, to pay for parking, which I still think is stupid. But I wanted to find the cheapest place because I didn't have that much money on me. But of course, since Seattle if just freakin' weird, I kept running into one way streets and couldn't turn. I even found a street had a sign posted stating you couldn't turn onto it during certain times of the day. What kinda messed up *$(&$ is that ?!
Anyways, back to my parking. I found a parking lot, got into spot, got my stroller our, loaded up Sarah and my bags, locked the car and went over to pay for the spot.
The darn machine only accepted credit cards.
By this time I only had about 35 minutes left to get to the courthouse, and I was on the verge of freakin' out.....Oh whatever, I already was freaking out. Thank goodness Sarah was asleep.
So I got everything back into the car and went to the lot next to the one I was in. In my frazzled state (those of you who know me well, know I DO NOT handle stress well) I tried parking my minivan in a tight spot, once my brain caught up with me, I decided to get a different spot, but the lane I had chosen to go down didn't have a way out.
I had to turn my car around.
So I turned my minivan around 180 degrees in a VERY tight spot. Between two NICE cars. And one car still had people sitting in it. All I could think was "Dear God, do NOT let me hit one of these cars"
Thankfully I got out and found an easier spot to get into. But this time before pulling everything out of my car I went over and checked to make sure I could pay with cash. So once again I got my stroller out, baby and bags and went to pay.
7 freakin' bucks for 2 hours. I only have 4 ones and a 10. There was a sign posted that said it didn't give cash back. So I paid for 4 hours of parking. I headed to the courthouse, went through security, waited for an elevator, had to go back for my bluetooth that I left at security and FINALLY made it to my appointment with about 5 minutes to spare.
And my day was just getting started.
After my appointment I decided to walk around Seattle a little bit. I had paid for 4 hours of parking and my appointment only took an hour, so I didn't want to waste my money. I just checked a google map to see how far I walked. So this is a guess.
I walked around aimlessly for about 3 or 4 blocks, then went down to the waterfront which was about 3 blocks. I went South for about 3 blocks, found freakin' China Town. Didn't even know there was one in Seattle.
By this time I declared myself lost and called one of my best friends, Alex, for help. Didn't know where I was, didn't remember what street my car was on and wasn't sure what street the courthouse was on. Oh yeah.
Freakin' fantastic.
So Alex said he'd look at a map and help me. While I was waiting for him to call me back, I called another of my best friends, Lara. And she did what every best friend should do when they are told someone is lost, without their car in Seattle.
She laughed her butt off.
THANK YOU LARA!
Lol, I would have done the same.
Anyways, back to the lostness of me.
Alex called me back and told me where to go. So I stated walking again. For 12 blocks, uphill, pushing a stroller. Yay me!
Then I went North about 15 blocks, uphill some more. You know, you would think with all the uphill crap there is in Seattle, there would be some downhill stuff too. If there is, I certainly didn't find it.
From there I turned West and went down about 13 blocks ( I had remembered that I was parked somewhere on 5th Ave). Along this way I got told by a old homeless man that he liked the way I walked.
At this point I didn't know if I should laugh or cry.
Now I was starting to get into a time crunch. I had to get my car by 5:38 and I really didn't want to be in Seattle, alone in the dark.
Yay me again.
I made it to 5th and Alex had me go right. I had gone 7 blocks when we figured out I had gone the wrong way. Alex misunderstood where I was and I should have gone left. NOT YOUR FAULT ALEX! He is truly my knight in shining armor!
Now I was ready to cry. So I turned around and went back the other way. Uphill again!
I also got stopped by a nice lady who asked if I was okay. I must have looked as freaked out as I felt. After assuring her I was okay I continued on my way. Made it back the 7 blocks. Walked 4 more to the courthouse, then another four to where my car was parked. Thankfully Sarah was asleep or happy all of this time. Loaded everything up and got in my car at 5:20.
Freakin' 18 minutes to spare.
After that I called my mom for directions on how to get home and I made it back, safe and sound. Thank you Mom!
I hate Seattle. And I am never going there again by myself. It sucks.
And looking back all I can really say is....
Thank goodness it wasn't raining!