I've returned from the Seattle area as of last night, Alex has remained. We left to take him off to college on Friday. He had a sleepover birthday party on Thursday night and wasn't able to get any sleep at all; he texted me at around 5 am to come pick him up as soon as I could. The flight wasn't until the afternoon so he could get some rest at home, while Beth and I got everything last minute ready for the trip. We left around 3:00 for a 6:00 flight from Chicago O'Hare. I always feel like we're running late when trying to get to an airport but we made it in plenty of time. The flight was uneventful, but when we got to Seattle I was immediately struck by how cool it was. All I'd been hearing recently was about how unusually hot the northwest had been. It was maybe 65 degrees when we got there. Anyway we got the rental car and headed out to our AirBnB, got there at around 10 or so and since we were both pretty tired, got to bed. Saturday was move-in day. We drove around Redmond to see what was what until it was time to move in, then found the apartment. He has an apartment a couple miles from the Digipen campus, which he will share with 3 other guys, and which comes with only a bed and a desk for each of them, washer & dryer, dishwasher, stove, microwave, and fridge, and that's about it. After dropping off his suitcases we went and found a Target and a Wal-Mart and did a bunch of shopping. Among the stuff we got was a dresser and a night stand which we also assembled. Towels, rugs, some tools, bathroom and kitchen things, comforter and blanket, basically all we could think of that he might need we got. Moving into a lightly-furnished apartment is expensive. Sunday Alex had a housing orientation all morning, so I did some more shopping while he was at it. I also checked out the bus routes and found a way to get from the apartment to the shopping centers and to the campus (although many fewer buses run on Sunday. I was waiting for one to come along when Alex texted he was done, and it was faster to walk from downtown Redmond to the apartment than to wait for it). I also got some new jeans for myself since it was so cool there. I'd only brought shorts and I was cold. After he was done with orientation (which had included walking from the apartment to the campus) I picked him up and we headed to the next town over because it had a Play it Again Sports, and we hadn't been able to find Alex a bike. Well, there are bike shops all over the place in Redmond, but the price points were a bit (a lot) too high. We got a good used one for $120. Later on we met an old friend Scott Mason (the guy who introduced Beth and me) for dinner; he lives in the area now. Still manages movie theaters. Monday was Alex's school orientation (I had thought there was orientation all week, but it's only a day during the week for each major) so he was off at that most of the day, so I got breakfast for us and dropped him off. Afterwards I took his bike and did some exploring of the bike paths in the city, including finding the path from the apartment to the campus and back (16 minutes to go back to the apartment, which is the uphill way) and did a good 12 miles exploring the city along the paths and parks and doing some geocaching along the way. After Alex was all done I took him and his 2 roommates (the third never showed up! Not sure what's going on with him) out for pizza at what is supposed to be the 2nd best pizza place in town (the best was closed Mondays). I had an early flight to catch on Tuesday and left in plenty of time (good thing because I forgot to get gas for the rental on the way back to the airport, and had to take the car back out, and then my phone couldn't find a gas station nearby for some reason!) but with the time change didn't get back to Chicago until pretty late, then sat on the runway for 2 hours because there were thunderstorms in the area and no planes were leaving, so we couldn't get to the terminal. I was home around midnight. Texted Alex a few times during the day, it seems he had a good day. He took his bike to Target for some new earbuds, and he also figured out Uber. Man, it felt strange to be leaving him there, but I think he's going to be all right.

A few days before Alex and I went to Washington, I made another attempt to fly the foam plane. Last Monday the kids and I went to the church parking lot and flew the plane, for less than a second by the video. The plane climbed rapidly, banked hard left, and nose dived straight into the ground. So, I've decided that it's going to be the last flight. I'll always have that one successful flight a few years ago, and a whole bunch of crashes, but by Tuesday I had ripped all the servos and the motor out of the wreckage and put the whole kit n kaboodle for sale on Craigslist. Controller, receiver, speed controller, motor, servos, battery, battery charger, it's all for sale for $50. The foamboard I still have and all the pre-cut parts I;ve already done are going in the trash. Done with it.