Seattle Seagulls.

July 25th
Jaya Jagannatha drives us to the Airport, we get there twenty minutes before our flight leaves. We had to stop at the post office before to pick up our digital camera, we got lost as usual, and then when at the airport the soutwest lady charges us $100 for our bikes to be delivered on a later flight. We run to the gate, get stuck in security, they take away my $40 leatherman multitool which i was attached to and then they start calling for us over the intercom, we hop on the plane without a check in and find two middle seats with random passengers. I have Sri Mridanga with me and have no where to place Him. The stewerdess(and man-steward?) refuse to assist me in finding a nice safe place for this fragile clay instrument-so instead they make me sign a waiver saying they arent responsible for it and throw him in under the plane. They said i can get off the plane is my only other choice since I was not complying with Federal safety regulations! So I chant for four hours and read while on our direct flight to Seattle. All is well and we got there a half hour early. I ask where is my drum and everyone plays dumb. I stand near the luggage merry go round and in Seattle they appear from two stories above ground and come down an escalator. My prayer was that they wouldnt dare throw The Mridanga down that mountain like slide- but I stood close just incase... Sure enough in a few minutes i see Sri mridanga come rolling in jumping over suitcases at top speed! I jump onto the merry go round and reach for Him before he smashes to a million peices on the ground. I catch Him and embrace him and offer my prayers for forgiveness and hope he isnt damaged. Not one scratch! -perfect condition! Sri Balarama Ki Jaya-indestructable! Our bikes didnt arrive for three more hours. AS we waited we did three hours of kirtan in the baggage claim area with harmonium and mridanga. we put out the harmonium top for donations and made 12 dollars for lunch and bus fare. Not one person bothered us while we did kirtan, on the other side one security gaurd gave us two dollars!

Our bikes arrived, all in one piece. We put them together in the baggage claim area(we lived there practically) and took off to the bus stop. We hop on a bus and go into downtown seattle to the amtrak station. The Seattle devotees never corresponded with me about accomodations and programs so be decided to bypass Seattle altogether and go to Bellingham at the border of Canada. Oh yeah in Seattle we were very hungry due to fasting for 15 hours so we went to this awesome vegan chinese restaurant on top of some hill. We feasted and then rode down the hill to amtrak at 35 miles an hour with a sunset view of Mount Ranier on our left. The train ride to Bellingham was most gorgeous and inspirational. We were very thankful to be in such a beautiful environment.

On the train we met the king of kettle corn. he had his girlfriend bring us two bags to prove it.
Chaitanyas Aunt Sarah Picked us up and took us to her house for the evening.