Xmas - New Years from PNW
Happy Holidays 2025 / 2026!! With our aging parents (this time, on Kelly's side: Kim and Wendy) and Christmas being Kim's favorite time of the year plus the Borovskys full-house with sister Allison, Jonathan, Lia an JJ, Kelly and I have made sure to visit them at Pacific NorthWest (PNW) this season. This is after two years of gap due to health / healing issues last year. We have purchased our flights on Alaska airlines with very reasonable prices - Kelly got the tickets while it was Baskin's first time flying Alaska.
Day 0 - Wednesday
On December 23 morning, after packing up our dogs, Tucker and Zoey for "camp-Vitters" (our good friend Tim Vitters has agreed to take care of fury friends while we are away) and ourselves without a checked in luggage for an eight-day visit, we left the house at 10:30 AM. Tim lives in Bloomington and it took us 40 minutes to get to his place. Once there, we had arranged the kennel for Zoey, and other dog food, treats, toys for them. And made sure they were all set before we depart.
Then with Tim, we drove our car to the airport. Thinking it will be a backed up traffic on Terminal-1, and due its proximity we opted to check via Terminal-2 and take the shuttle train between the two. As we left the car and said our good bye's to Tim, a few minutes later Baskin realized he had left his phone on the dashboard as he was taking navigation instructions from it. Luckily it was not too late and Baskin reached out to Kelly to call for him. Tim was not too far out and did a circle back to Terminal-2 to deliver Baskin's phone. Whew...
With every checked in place with our luggage, we walked through the TSA line without any delay. MSP is our favorite airport, after moving around, Baskin decided to get a steak-bowl from the food court, and Kelly spotted some healthier options with humus and veggies. Our flight was from Gate E1 then switched to E3, Baskin created an account with Alaska and checked in at the counter to get some miles for this flight.
Our flight was on time and we boarded in group-F. Seat numbers 27 E/F then revised and to 33 E/F with Baskin being in the middle seat, 34 seat was the last seat on this winglet Boeing 737-900 (Flight 555). We sat next to another passenger traveling to Eritrea for the holidays.r He had a connecting flight to Seattle - Istanbul then another leg 4 hours to Assawa. That was pretty neat because we were both in Istanbul in early October. He had a bit longer layover on the way back in Istanbul and inquired about it. We gave him some tips and wished him safe travels.
The flight was was quite bumpy due to weather turbulence which we have been prewarned. There deemed to be 80+ mph headwinds and riding in the tail was quite rough. Baskin tried reading and working on the laptop but it was challenging while Kelly took up on reading on new Kindle with better luck. Arrived on time in Seattle.
Fly over the rockies
Sunset ove Pacific NorthWest
After walking through the checkout, we have met with our pick-up and welcome party, Allison and Lia. Lia is a 14 year old with certain challenges, and she is very sweet. Allison is the mom also sister of Kelly. We were super glad to meet the, and we left the airport around 6 PM for Poulsbo, WA where parents reside. Allison, Lia, and below pictured Jonathan and JJ reside in Bainbridge Island.
Kelly, Allison and Lia around the arrivals
Day 1 - Thursday (Christmas Day)
Xmas Decorations by Kim are always something and very seasonal. Lots of attention and care given to each item and their placements.
Xmas Day 2025 Official Picture
Trail walking - Thursday, December 24
We had great company and food and with the time zone difference with the food we went to bed early.
Day 2 - Friday
The day after Christmas Baskin worked during the CST hours, Baskin's lunch was at Greens on your way, Souther Bella Salad with double chipotle sauce was quite good and took 5 miles of walking to get there. Kelly went a bit of shopping and hanging out with the kids. Another success was hooking up Kim's Sonos Ace headset with the TV. It was a connection through the Sonos app. Baskin's earlier attempts to connect via Bluetooth was not successful as the connection kept dropping. Hope this is an easy solution for Kim to use.
Day 3 - Saturday
The night before Kelly had a sleep over with JJ and Lia and they had activities planned for Saturday. Baskin stayed with the parents, Kim and Wendy watching movies and going to bed a bit early. On Saturday morning (December 27), Kelly went to Jijutsu class with JJ and Jonathan while Baskin went for a jog/run for 3.2 miles. Later Wendy picked up Kelly and brought her home. After getting ready, Kelly and Baskin went to Clearwater Casino for food. Kelly got a bowl of chilli and Baskin got a wok plate plus a slice of pizza. We had some time to for our next gathering.
Our next stop was Highside Distillery where Baskin had a cocktail of Single malt and Kelly had the sunset ginger. After that, we checked out the Bainbridge Island Organic Distillery where Baskin got another cocktail of Maple Cask whiskey.
We later met the Borovsky (Allison, Jonathan, Lia & JJ) for Sourdough Willie's Pizza. Kelly also had a strawberry chocolate crepes. Kelly also put an order to go for the NY-style pepperoni pizza to go from the same place. On the way, we stopped at Safeway just outside of Kingston for bananas, pecan pi and cocktail bitters for Baskin's Bainbridge Distillery drinks.
Day 4 - Sunday
Kelly got up around 6 AM while Baskin lingered and charged ahead with Duolingo / Elevate and Balance daily routine tasks. Kelly took a walk to Walmart and purchased herself rain boots for the PNW. Baskin built up to a slow jogging/running while attending the plantar fasciitis injury trying hard not reinjure while trying to get the rate up. Kelly also worked out an 8 minute stretch cardio.
Baskin walked to Mi Playita Mexican restaurant 20 minutes away walking distance, walked back full. Kelly did a quick laundry.
Bainbridge Distillery
Highside Distillery
Highside Old-fashined Cocktail Selection - Highside Distillery
Kingston Marina
Day 5 - Monday
Baskin started 2.5 days of working on Monday morning but he stuck with the Central Standard time hours, starting at 6 AM and shutting down at 3 PM Pacific time.
Canre Asada at Miplayita Mexica
Day 6 - Tuesday
Full day of working for Baskin, Kelly went out and picked up the rental car. We met with Erman and Jackie in downtown Seattle (Pikes Place)
Day 7 - Wednesday (New Years Eve 12/31)
Baskin and Kelly went to Battlecreek park in Bainbridge with Lia, JJ, Allison and Jonathan, and had dinner at the Borovskys residence on Bainbridge Island/
Day 8 - Thursday (First day of 2026)
Baskin went for a 4 mile run while Kelly drove to the Borovsky residence to spend time with Lia and JJ. Allison ran a 9.5 mile course with her friends.
Day 9 - Friday (day of Travel)
Kelly and Baskin are bound for MSP. Plan is to drive the rental car to the SeaTac airport (Thank you Enterprise for allowing us to do that and have Kelly use her work perks). Plane leaves around at 8:55 AM