Travel: Flight from SeaTac to Las Vegas

Travelling is one of the things that I value most highly in life, though I don't always have the means with which to pursue that passion with the regularity I'd like. For most of us, that's probably the case, otherwise, we'd all be off circumnavigating the globe instead of toiling away at our day jobs for 40 or so hours every week and society would probably cease to get things done for awhile. I know there are people who do get paid to travel, and while I admire (and envy) their lifestyles, but for me, currently, that's just not in the cards. I'll be reserving my travel to occasional weekends and work trips for now when funds allow, but I was recently lucky enough to be able to take a brief work trip to my hometown of Las Vegas. It feels like only just yesterday that Antho and I even made our journey up to Seattle, which is no small (or short) feat by automobile, and it took us three days of driving. Flying is certainly the more convenient way to get between Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Las Vegas's own McCarran International Airport and only takes a few hours, time awkwardly wandering around waiting at the airport included. Given that I'll take nearly any excuse to travel, I was eager to take this opportunity and quickly agreed to fly down, even if it was only for a brief 48 hour window. I was able to see our good friend Mae, who throws some of the most ridiculously awesome parties I've ever had the pleasure to be invited to, along with our pal CeeDro, and I even got to devour some of my favorite tacos before packing it back in and departing for the Pacific Northwest yet again.

Flying from Seattle to Las Vegas is an excellent opportunity to witness some of the sheer diversity that mother nature has to offer, as you'll travel from the densely forested and mountainous regions up North to the Mojave desert's rocky, sandy expanses that are sometimes flecked with reds, purples or greens to contrast all that openness (or vice versa if you're doing the trip in reverse). During my flight, I got to witness snowy peaks, walls of clouds, the gentle transition of the landscape from one terrain into the next. I may have even squeezed in a brief nap, due to the fact I took the flight in the morning and had woken quite earlier than normal. Overall, I'm so glad I got the chance to fly down to Vegas for a few days and see some of my beloved friends once more, there's never enough time to enjoy the company of the people you enjoy!

A girl's gotta snack, and Waji's is an affordable option for a quick bite in SeaTac airport.

 Plenty more photos below!

Vegas: Drunkachu and so long to Stan The Man

We live in strange, unpredictable times where anything is possible, no matter how incredible or how awful it may seem. Some of our greatest heroes have left us behind as they venture off to traverse the Rainbow Bridge, leaving a gap that many fans of superheroes and comic books will sorely and deeply feel. So long, Stan the Man. It's been an incredible ride, and your empire of creative work will undoubtedly continue to inspire and strike awe into the hearts of young and old for decades to come. Sigh. Not only did we lose Stan the Man, but then we got the trailer for Detective Pikachu. A live action Pokemon film in and of itself doesn't necessarily bode of impending cinematic craptitude, though previous anime adaptations to the third dimension have generally struggled to bring their subjects to satisfying reality, but we get a wise-cracking Ryan Reynolds as the voice of the typically linguistically limited character of Pikachu. To be fair, anthropomorphizing the little squeak isn't exactly new terrain as speaking animals have always been a favorite in films for Disney, but when it comes to Pikachu the last time he(she?) spoke people lost their minds.  

I guess, if I were a real-life Pikachu, I might want to run away to Vegas for a weekend of debauchery in a futile effort to escape my situation or the reality of losing another architect of my childhood. The world can be a dark and disturbing place, and we need people like Stan Lee to help us reimagine things, to look for the good, the heroic in people. While sometimes the stories of Good Versus Evil can feel trite, it's because they've been built upon an archetype established by the imaginations of men like Stan early in the advent of widely accessible comics. The premise of this escape from the difficulties of life was a huge part of what inspired the founder of Critical Care Comics to establish his non-profit organization! It may be only 28 pages of fantasy, but when you're stuck in the hospital it can be an absolute lifesaver to have a distraction from the endless beeping of machines or unsettling nature of hospitals themselves. Due to my location, I'm no longer able to volunteer my services to the group, but it makes me so happy to see them out there still doing their good work for the community of Las Vegas and any nearby hospitals they get called to. They're a seriously wonderful group of human beings, and I know that they'll be mourning the loss of Stan over the last week and into the future. I guess we all kind of need an escape these days, huh?

Photos in this post were taken by Antho!

Oregon: Deschutes National Forest

Onward and upward, away we went. Oregon is one of my favorite states to visit, probably because I've only ever spent a brief interim in the state on the long journey South or North. When some of my friends lived in the state, I was happy to spend a night in Portland, and another further South near Corvallis in a small farming town. The property my friends further south were occupying backed up onto a river and had expansive fields of wildflowers that would bloom during the right time of year. And once, upon a long ago time, my friend Christina and I made a trek down to Portland area from Seattle for some hiking and waterfalls, even stopping to grab some Voodoo Donuts along the way. This time, however, was more for getting to our destination rather than idle enjoyment of the scenery, unfortunately, as the Deschutes National forest is absolutely stunning! Most of the drive, whether you're going up towards Seattle or South towards California and Nevada, however, is going to be beautiful scenic routes through the forest, generally, two lane winding routes that made us clench our cheeks at times. Not only is it massive (like, huge, as in 1.8 Million acres HUGE) but the scenery evolves as you wind your way along, from mountain lakes to dense forests, burnt plains to tunnels. And did I mention it's massive?! Yes, 1.8 MILLION acres of forest are included here in the national forest, which meant there were multiple points along our drive where I'd see signs for entering the forest, again, and balk at the fact we were still driving through it hours into our journey. No wonder the mystery of Sasquatch lingers on, unsolved. With this much terrain, in mild temperate climate, there's ample room for some fuzzy hominid with exceptionally large flippers to nest and scurry undetected. 

Sometimes the drive would see us entering small towns, forcibly slowing the traffic with their traffic lights and stop-signs, before inevitably finding our way back to the forested wilderness. When we were still in Merrill, sweet young Diana had warned us not to stop too long among the mountain ranges, as there are supposedly hungry mountains lions that linger known to have an appetite for human flesh, or so she claims. We still had to stop and take in the scenery at least once or twice during the drive, if not solely for the excuse to shake our legs out and get some stretches in. We were making pretty good time, all things considered, and we thoroughly enjoyed the densely terpene-laden air streaming into our windows as we drove. Even the squeakers would poke their snoots up for a sniff from time to time, curious about the cool evergreen scented air. 

On and on, away we go!

Reno: Wild horses and gliders in the city limits

Since most of our drive through Southern and Central Nevada happened at night, we didn't see much of the landscape until we awoke the next morning in a small town just a short drive from the city limits proper for Reno. We'd made a fair bit of distance for leaving so late in the day, but we still had quite some distance left yet to cover so we didn't want to dawdle in our campsite for too long. Upon waking, however, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that we had some four-legged company grazing not far from our vehicles. We were able to get some photos of the crew, what seemed to be a small family unit with a youngling in toe. There's a lot of wild horses throughout Nevada, but they're not something you encounter much when you're in Las Vegas, you've got to get a bit further out. We weren't in the total boonies here, either, which made our guests all the more of a wonderfully unexpected delight to see! 

Antho, in his typical fashion, was up around sunrise and exploring the area a bit. I was so wiped out from driving late into the night prior that I slept closer to 8am, landing me about 4-5 hours total sleep. It's not easy hauling across the country on a set time frame (places to be, job interviews to attend, that sort of business), and we were only in the first stage of a thousand-plus mile journey! Given that circumstance, we did a quick stretch and vehicle check to make sure we were ready to go before preparing to embark out for the day. For the drive, we had walkie-talkies in each of our vehicles, allowing us to stay in immediate communication without having to manhandle our phones while on the move. Don't text/navigate/call and drive, guys! For real! It's dangerous out there! My car has an updated stereo to sync with Bluetooth, allowing me to drive and listen to the map directions without having to hold my phone...most modern cars are going to come with that sort of thing standard, but my car is over 25 years old so she came with a cassette tape deck and AM/FM radio. Old school, baby. 

So after admiring our four-legged friends in the desert, and looking up to catch someone gliding in a strange fan-powered chair set up. Quite the exciting start to the day, and we'd barely just gotten started! 

Vegas: Voodoo Zipline at the Rio

 When it comes time to celebrate yet another successful revolution around the sun survived, I like to do things that might instinctively run contrary to that continuous survival, like jumping off of tall buildings while strapped into a rather minimal-seeming-is-this-really-safe-I-mean-how-is-this-even-legal-harness. Many moons ago, I celebrated a birthday by jumping off of the Stratosphere tower and braving their Sky Jump, so it seemed only appropriate to carry on this tradition by jumping off yet another tall building in the city of Las Vegas! For this round, we went to the Rio for their Voodoo Zipline. There also happened to be a Groupon available at the time that let us do the ride and purchase the video package at a pretty good discount, so there were even fewer excuses available to try to justify a way out at the last minute. On the day of, we were concerned about the wind levels, but to our surprise, the ride was still going and seats were available, so it was time to bite the bullet and go for it!

The ride itself is pretty short, but leading up to it you get some spectacular views of the Las Vegas strip to enjoy. I squeezed in as many photos as I comfortably could before we were being beckoned onward, either to get in line for our date with destiny or escorted towards the elevators to go back to the hotel. We were a bit disappointed by not getting a chance to see our ride photos, as a group of girls who'd missed their own viewing chance decided to just go ahead and jump in front of us in line. We decided to try to take some photos while we waited, but then a ride hostess was by our side politely-yet-firmly informing us we needed to keep moving. A shame, I guess...if I had wanted to be brattier, or more assertive, we probably could have done the same as the girls who cut us and commandeered a chance at viewing the photos, but I didn't want to keep that shit-cycle rolling. It's a domino effect, you see? Because we were inconvenienced by their lack of consideration, we would have had to inconvenience others, and it just wasn't worth it to us to further perpetuate that nonsense. We mosied onward and went on to have an excellent meal at Ichiza just up the road. While it might seem a bit of complaining snuck in here, because seriously, fuck those girls, I really had an enjoyable time riding the barely-secured seats of the zip line and I'm glad we went!  

Vegas: Cloudy day on the Strip

Las Vegas is nothing if not a city of extremes: popular settlement for Mormons in the early days (and frequently seen riding bikes in their dapper missionary uniform throughout the city to this very day still) and den of hedonistic revelry, debauchery and sin, there's something for everyone! The weather itself follows this pattern of extremity, due in large part to being situated squarely in the midst of one of North America's deserts. Drive beyond the dazzling neon of Las Vegas Boulevard for more than 30 minutes in just about any direction and you'll find yourself gazing into the abyss of sand and stone, the occasional shrubbery or cactus daring to break the monotonous landscape's overarching tone. In some directions you'll notice an increase in the Joshua trees, others the elevation, and some even lead you towards some small reservoirs of water lingering in the lowlands or dripping off a snowmelt in the mountains, where even the pale looming trees keep their sun-bleached eyes on you...as do the coyotes and cougars, from their dens in the dark.  

Of course, the ravenous cougars aren't just limited to the mountains here, so don't let your guard down too much in the city if you're easy prey. In a city of extremes, just like the intensity of the environment that surrounds it, there's a certain degree of toughness needed to survive the long haul. Skin grows thicker, leathery and tanned by the blistering sun that makes it's brilliant presence well known for the vast majority of the year, and when the chill of winter finally does sink into the land it brings a bracing grip with it. As few and far between as they tend to be, any cloudy or otherwise alternate form of weather that brings a break to the endless routine of boiling hot and baking is a welcome respite from the intensity that makes Vegas. People are a little less angry, a little less harried and hostile, when the sun retreats for a little bit and the heat dips back into a reasonable level.  Enjoy it while it lasts! These things have a tendency to blow by as quickly as they appeared, unfortunately. 

Nothing last forever, especially not in a city like Las Vegas that's built on constant evolution. 

Photos kindly taken by Antho!

Seoul Trip: Day 3, Namdaemun market at night

     After leaving Namsan Seoul Tower by cable car, I walked through the neighborhood until I was able to find the market, which was mostly closed up for the evening due to the late hour. Not to be deterred, I took advantage of the somewhat solemn shadows and deserted corners for many photos. This is kind of a theme of mine. I love seeing cultural centers in their off-hours.

Warning! This post is going to be photo heavy!

This post focuses on photos of the market itself, if you're curious about what I ate while there read here!