Have you met Flat Stanley?  He’s a world traveler.  Recently, he came to visit me and see the greater Seattle area.  Travel arrangements made and paid for by the Kindergarten classes of Caprock Academy, my Son and DIL, and Grandma Cherry (that’s me). Today, he joins me for a pictorial tour of my doings of late.

I picked Stanley up at my cousin’s house in the Richmond Beach neighborhood of Shoreline, Washington on February 17, 2011.  Stanley had traveled 1120 miles to visit me. We drove another three miles to my other cousin’s where I had been house-sitting while the owners traveled to Egypt.  Besides loving to travel to other countries, my cousin (Virginia) also collects teapots.  She has over 300 in her house.  She is also an award winning quilter.

My immediate concern was to find Stanley some warm clothes as it is cold in the Seattle area in February and we would be catching the commuter bus to work the next morning.  At first, I was unable to find Stanley a winter coat, so he traveled snugly in my lunch bag.

The weather was frosty at the bus stop and 20 commuters were lined up in their wool coats and work clothes waiting for the 301.  Finally, our bus arrived.  Stanley and I caught the 358 downtown which runs North and South on Aurora Avenue, also named Pacific Highway 99.  When I boarded the bus, I tapped the back side of my purse against the bus fare scanner to pay for our ride.  My Orca Card – to pay the bus fare-is tucked in the side pocket.  An Orca Card is one of the benefits provided by my employer to encourage us to save natural resources by riding mass transit.

Stanley and I pulled the stop-requested cord at 105^th Street just after we passed the Krispy Kreme, a Jack-In-The-Box, and another Starbucks.  Right when we saw the Home Depot up ahead, we stood up and started walking to the front of the bus, holding on to the bars and rails to keep from falling over as the bus came to a stop.  We got off at 115th Street and walked East five blocks to Northwest Hospital, where I work on the second floor. The sun was just coming up, so it was a beautiful walk.  

Once on the second floor, I hung my coat on the back of a cubicle, put my purse in a file drawer, and released Stanley from my lunch bag. The other women in the office were smitten with Stanley immediately.   I had taken time to outfit him for work with a blue lab coat the evening before, and to choose a colorful tie. Robin, the grossing tech and PA, made sure he had a name tag.  Nicki colored Stanley’s hair and insisted he needed some lab gloves, which she also provided. I was glad Flat Stanley arrived in slacks, shirt and tie as all the male pathologists at my workplace wear a dress shirt and tie every day. One of the women who was there to train me in anatomy plans to download Flat Stanley from the internet, so she can send him to a friend in Iraq.

On Saturday morning, I tried not to wake Stanley as I made my tea, ate oatmeal and took a shower.  Stanley did not need tea, oatmeal, or a shower; but, I knew he needed his rest if he was to have energy for all that was planned for the weekend.  The list of activities for Saturday included: Take a long walk on the beach, house hunt in Edmonds, go to the grocery store, and wrap up the evening with a community swing dance at Third Place Books in Lake Forrest Park.

Stanley thought he was too short to be my dance partner, so he stayed in the car.  I did snap several pictures of him earlier in the day at the Kingston Ferry in Edmonds, the Amtrak and Sounder train station in Edmonds, and on Edmonds beach as well as Salt Water Park in Richmond Beach, Shoreline. Stanley also went to church with me in Lake Forest Park on Sunday morning.

Stanley visited me for 10 days after which it was time to put him aboard The Envelope for a ride back to Grand Junction. Good Bye, Stanley!  I hope you enjoyed learning about life in the big city next to the sea!