A few friends and I went biking on the Hwy 101 so that I could see it a little better and explore the beaches. One of us biked in NYC regularly and was considered fairly knowledgable. Within the first five minutes we came to a stop sign and she flew through it, barely slowing. The rest of us followed, uncertain but assuming that the pedestrian/vehicle designation for a bike was fluid. Unfortunately it is not - a bike is most definitely a vehicle and none of us realized it. The police lady pulled us over and took our IDs, visibly disappointed and annoyed at us. She went and sat in the car. Her partner came to talk with us and, from the only person brave enough to talk to the police, learned that they had all just graduated, I was visiting from Washington, most of us didn't bike regularly (or at all), and that she was interviewing for a position in local government the next day. Hearing all of that, he was kind enough to talk to his partner and we were let off with a warning. I suppose she would be pleased at how cautious we were for the rest of the trip. We stopped everywhere we would as a car, didn't bike on the pavement, and walked our bikes across crosswalks. At one point we deliberated for a few minutes about whether the path we were driving on was considered a bike path/trail or pedestrian-only. A man sitting on a bench told us it didn't matter and then laughed when he heard about our close-call with the police. We eventually decided to bike on the road only and stressed about accidentally getting hit by a car (at least I did). Our only stop in the two hour journey was Cardiff beach, where we sat for half an hour and I tried to make my way to the water without being soaked.
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I've been comfortable with airports since I was young, likely due to taking my first international flight before I was even a year old, and then taking flights almost every year after that. I have 20 years of experience flying places. However, my experience at SeaTac this time around was a little odd and I have some things that caught my attention. 1. The water fountain near my gate was extremely aggressive about its job. Anytime anyone used it, it would gurgle like an angry river through a speaker set under it. It could be heard from 10 feet away, even with the noise of people rushing down the hallway while wheeling suitcases. One man filled three blender bottles and had people eyeing him and the fountain every time. 2. An old lady sat at my gate with me for twenty minutes. She was patiently waiting for a wheelchair that she had paid for and reserved multiple months ago. She watched others get taken to gates in their wheelchairs and hoped they would call her name soon. Finally, with ten minutes to boarding, she wobbled over to the staff at the gate and they informed her that her name was not on the list for wheelchairs. Eventually they flagged down one of the electronic carts and she was taken to her gate. 3. As a short person, I take luggage out of the overhead bins at a weird, apparently concerning angle. While I felt that I had the situation under control, one man asked if I needed any help and another put his hand out to block it from falling should I lose my grip. A baby sat across the aisle, playing happily in her dad's lap while he too watched my movements. When I got my (fairly light) suitcase to the ground successfully, the concern hadn't left any of their eyes.
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