What a wonderful post! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed the bit about the natural born story teller on the Metro. I kind of feel hopeful when I hear things like that, because people feel kind of cold these days in the sense that they're always buried in their phones.

I went on a Western trip a few years back, but time was limited. We went all the way from the East coast to the West coast and back in around three weeks. I remember in the Badlands, we encountered a family that allowed their (bratty) children to run around on the rocks. Needless to say, we were pretty outraged and told them off. They just laughed and kept on doing what they were doing. It's sad to see that some people have such little respect for their national treasures.

Be sure to really adventure out while in Seattle. It's an absolutely fascinating city.