It's good to be home

Even if I was looking forward to arriving back in Seattle, I wasn't particularly thrilled about the trip that was required to get there: 2 trains, 2 plains, over 7 hours of waiting between said trains and planes...

... but it was one of the best long-distance international trips I've had. I met some great people along the way (it seems so easy to talk to people when you know they probably speak English fluently!) and even arrived a bit early in Seattle and made it to Carkeek Park in time to watch the sun set behind the Olympic Mountains.

I seem to be in "I want to get everything done at once" mode -- hence being awake at 4:40 a.m. -- but I think that a large part of it is that I'm genuinely excited to be here.

Note: I know it's time to head home when looking at a photo book of the USA, in German, in a German bookstore, about the United States gets me a little choked up. (In my defense, it's a pretty cool book...)