PAX Prime 2010 – Day 0

My Fiancé Hannah, and I were woken up at 5AM on Thursday, September 2nd to the theme of Top Gun blaring from my iPhone that rested on the night stand. The night before I set my iPhone to wake us up to the Top Gun theme because this day needed to start off with an awesome song. This was the first day of our vacation and the day we would be traveling from Juneau, Alaska to Seattle, Washington for the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). It was the start of what I knew would be a legendary adventure for the both of us!

We where both checked in at the airport by 6:45AM and seated on the plane by 7:40AM. We were no sooner seated when we heard the announcement made that we would have to de-board the plane because it was discovered that the brakes on the plane needed to be replaced. With a collective sigh from everyone on board we all grabbed our language and made our way back to the gate seating area. Every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours we were updated by the overhead speaker system saying that maintenance was still working on the plane and they hope to board everyone in the next 30 minutes. Even though it was frustrating to hear this statement every 30 minutes I am glad that the airline took the time to notice this braking issue with the plane and fixed it before trying to send us on our way.

The non-stop flight from Juneau to Seattle was just under 2 hours long. The weather in Juneau when we took off was overcast and rainy. Hannah kept herself entertained on the flight by playing games on her Nintendo DS and I switched from reading a book to trying to nap. We landed with Seattle welcoming us with 72 degree sunny weather.

We made our way from the airport to our hotel in downtown Seattle via the new Link Light Rail system. The $2.50 ride from the airport to downtown was worth every penny. Through the windows of the rail car we watched as we were carried through traffic, weaving under and above ground at times till we made it to our University Street stop. From there it was a short 3 block walk with our bags to our hotel.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Seattle on foot. We walked around and made sure we could find the PAX convention center. We checked out a few shops while trying to get the lay of the land. We had dinner at the HardRock Café and dessert at the Cheese Cake Factory. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at little convenient store and picked up a few bottles of water and hand sanitizer to take with us the next day. With everything ready for PAX the next day we went to sleep.