Edmonds: Vibrant sunrise and life updates

Hello internet friends, randos, and other curious visitors! It's been a minute since I posted last, for which I apologize. Life has been a bit hectic for us at 710studios, as we're currently in the process of preparing for a move and our internet connection went from decent-ish to utterly and laughably abysmal, so the battle for bandwidth is a real struggle right now. But that's right, y'all! We're moving out of the suburbs and into the big city proper, and we're so excited!! Not only will the relocation make my daily commute incrementally easier than it's been for the last 10 or so months, but we're absolutely stoked about the new home we've found. We'll have our own private space and be able to walk around naked again! We'll have tons of storage and the space to do tie-dye again! There are fruit trees, hammocks, a community garden, even a yoga studio on-site! It's like a dream come true and I can't even begin to fully express how grateful and enthusiastic we are about this change up to our routines. We're looking forward to learning more about our new community, too, which is comprised of some truly talented and inspiring creative and professional individuals who are involved in some utterly mind-blowing artistic projects! 

My long-suffering car with over 200,000 miles, Svetty, and I recently did a quick run-up to Lynden, Washington, which is kind of like a suburb of Bellingham if I'm understanding it correctly, but I apologize to anyone I may have offended with my lack of knowledge about Northern Washington's townships. Since I got booked for the event only about a week prior to its occurrence, I didn't have enough lead time to request time off at my day job and as such drove to Lynden and then back to this burb North of Seattle in one night... roughly around 3 hours of driving, on top of commuting in to the city earlier that same day for work... it was a lot. I listened to a few Podcasts, as is my usual form of vehicular entertainment, and thoroughly enjoyed the drive through the countryside, but upon returning I could tell my eyes and brain were starting to fry from too many hours behind the wheel combined with 4 hours of straight drawing, too, but it was worth it. Not only did I have a blast drawing at the event, but it's also wonderful to see somewhere new. If you've never been outside of Seattle, the rest of the state of Washington offers an astounding array of natural beauty and lush green spaces to blow your socks off time and time again and I'm a bit sad I didn't get to spend any time exploring while there on this brief visit. It feels really good though, cruising up the 5, feeling a tingle of excitement as Vancouver (Canada) grows closer and the trees open up to adorable farm houses presiding over large expansive lots... I don't know about you guys, but I love seeing new cities pop up on the road signs as I'm road-tripping, the possibility and shiny newness of it all. Leaving from my old hometown of Las Vegas you're faced with a few hundred miles of barren desert before you start to see other pockets of civilization crop up, but here in the Pacific Northwest, you're more likely to find yourself deep into a forest or suddenly surrounded by rolling fields of agricultural green goodness. Even in the city, the abundance of trees makes rounding each bend an exercise in uncertainty, as you can never quite predict what you might spot, whether it's a herd of goats casually grazing in the city, or a Sasquatch peeking out from behind a tree, it pays to keep your eyes open. 

I'm grateful, too, for the time we got to spend living in this cute little house in its cute little suburb. It's been an interesting adventure, for sure, and it allowed us to get onto our feet firmly planted in the area, which can be a real challenge.  But times change and it's high-time for a new chapter, and while it's been nice, the move ahead is going to be great! New dawns, new days, new adventures lie ahead! 💖

Washington: Picnic Point Park Sunset and High tide

I've done a post showing off how gorgeous Picnic Point Park is before, but that was during low-tide, which is an entirely different sort of experience from the park during high-tide, which is when these photos were taken. If you're not really familiar with the significant difference the tide makes, I understand- coming from the desert, there was a long portion of my life where I really didn't comprehend or appreciate just how much the tide can change, and how heavily that impacts the landscape. The Pacific Northwest, and especially Seattle, is predominantly rocky cliffs and forested hills jutting out of the surf, in case names like Queen Anne Hill or Capitol Hill weren't suggestive enough. Some of these hills are artifical, like the majority of Occidental Park and the nearby sports stadiums that house Seattle's professional sports teams, but the natural ones are largely the result of volcanic and tectonic activity causing the plates to protrude and gain altitude. In a city with as much water as Seattle has, either surrounding or occupying space within it, being above sea-level is a wise thing to consider when looking at real-estate.  

Picnic Point Park is close to several different small cities north of Seattle, making it a popular destination for the locals of those various little municipalities. On this particular visit we found the beach somewhat less crowded than the last time, which was a nice surprise, but the high water levels combined with the bracing cold might serve as an explanation for the absence of other visitors. Sure, it was brisk, but we had an excellent time wandering the beach and watching the sunset. Our friend Christina went with us, taking photos of her own and providing commentary as she's much more knowledgeable about the area than we are. She's been living in Washington for years now and is an active outdoorswoman who gets out and takes photos whenever the opportunity presents itself. It was her idea to go to the beach, in fact, and who are we to argue?  

There are, of course, ample photos below!

Washington: Sunset at Picnic Point park

Coming from the Mojave desert and its unfriendly clime full of rattlesnakes, scorpions, mountain lions, Gila monsters, and seemingly endless inhospitable expanses of desiccated, arid land, Washington state is something of a mind-blower to nestle into. Not only does life profusely pop up from any crevice it can take a root in, as exemplified by the colorful variety of mosses that pop up upon startlingly varied surfaces or the curious caps of any variety of mushroom that makes its way to the surface from the mysterious depths below, or the dense groves of forest crawling from any uninhabited corner, but it thrives! Never before in my life, or Antho's, have we witnessed such a profligate procession of fungus! Or moss! It's so wet here, things gladly grow and grow. It's strange to be so inundated with moisture that you have ample to spare, after our lives being so deeply marked by the severe absence of this necessary fluid. I spent years, literally years, suffering from dry, cracking lips that would sometimes be so severe that the simple act of smiling or trying to speak would lead to bleeding. It was the pits, and no amount of chapstick seemed to help- hell, if anything, it leads to more intense shedding of my epidermis. No fun, believe you me. Two months in Washington's moist climate (say it with me, MOIST), the ambient humidity of the environment has healed what years and profuse amounts of money couldn't.  Maybe I should have just bought a humidifier... 

So, naturally, when we had more time to spare prior to nailing down our current jobs, we'd spend much of our free-time exploring. There's no shortage of places to adventure off to, with Seattle itself having over 6,000 acres of parks incorporated into it, and the outlying areas riddled with hiking trails and forests. We're pretty close to the Puget Sound in our new home, and we couldn't take root without going to see what all the fuss is about! Amusingly, during our very first walk along Picnic Point park's beach, a group of young stoners was loudly going about their teenaged shenanigans, and one of the youth's approached us to compliment Antho on his sweater and muse on the wonders of Washington. "Where else can you watch the sun rise over the Cascades and set over the Olympics?!"

Nowhere, man. Thanks for reminding us, dude.

And it's beautiful here. Crowded, yes, with roughly 7 million people living in the Seattle metropolitan area, but I strove to minimize the intrusion of other humans into my shots, so you get a vision of the park that isn't exactly 100% on point with the reality of the situation, but lets us enjoy the beauty of the scenery. After all, bright, sunny days are often a rarefied commodity here in the Pacific Northwest, where winters can seem to stretch interminably in their grey days, so you can't really fault the locals for wanting to get out and enjoy it while the loveliness lasts!

Picnic Point Park is surrounded by residential areas, too, despite being so close to the water. I can't begin to imagine how expensive the homes with the views are, and there are private beaches not far from this public place, but the park remains open to the public to enjoy and take in the view, for which we're grateful. There's a whole world of wonders out there to explore, and it's pretty cool to have a glimpse of some the more natural offerings from our own backyard.

There's even all sorts of new and unusual lifeforms to discover, like this sad jellyfish!