Seattle: AJ's Day out around Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill is one of the trendier neighborhoods of Seattle, rife with hipsters, indie cafes, local coffee shops, tongue-in-cheek gay bars with outlandish names, a weekly farmer's market, and SO MUCH ART! There's a lot to do around the area, and parking isn't exactly the easiest thing to find, or cheapest if you end up having to opt for one of the long-term parking lots, but there is so much to see and do in the area that it ends up being almost kind of totally worth the exorbitant parking rates depending on what you do or the day you visit. I had a gig to attend to, so I was going to be busy for at least 3 hours, while Antho was free to roam around the area and partake of the local culture. He had a lot of fun and got a ton of awesome photos capturing the colorful vibe and ecclectic nature of the area. 

On our way to get there, we passed this friendly fellow who was happily feeding the gulls. He'd forged a sort of kinship with the birds, and was ensuring they got plenty of snacks on this awkward little bit of corner. We had a nice chat with him before we moved on with the flow of traffic, and I like to think he's carrying on a piece of Ivar's legacy, as the founder of Ivar's was a fan of seagulls, too. 

One of the first things to catch Antho's eye during his explorations were the streetlights and posts, which were predominantly wrapped up in deep layers of flyers. Each proceeding generation of flyer had seemingly just been stapled, spackled, or otherwise smashed on top of the previous generation, causing the heavily trafficked corners to have poles over-stuffed in decaying layers of flapping paper, advertising months, if not years, worth of local events and entertainment. There is no order to the chaos, other than the chronological necessity of the most recent things landing on top of the pile, only to be covered up by the next big thing. 

So it goes. 

Plenty of photos below!

Japan: Bridge to Tokyo 2012-10-07

Urayasu station was one of the three train stations within walking distance from my residence. Normally I would take the trains into the city, but on this day I had to run an errand to the Arribas offices, located just across the bridge from Urayasu station in another burg of Tokyo. 

I could bike to the corporate offices in about 15 minutes or so from my apartment. :) 

I was quite fond of those wedge boots I picked up… I still have them, too!

^_^

Heading to the Tenderloin

After two nights at Casa Loma, we had to pack up and prepare to move on to another hotel for our third night. Rather than stay in the same location for the entire trip, we thought it would be more interesting to spend some time in different neighborhoods during our stay to get a more thorough feel for the city. Before leaving Casa Loma, we utilized their shared showers... The last time I used shared showers was when I was in Kyoto's 9hour Capsule hotel, so this was a bit different to be certain. :P

San Francisco Haight Street

Haight Street is a haven of art and culture overflowing with colors and eclectic creations. Famous landmarks include the Grateful Dead house on 710 Ashbury, which we made a pilgrimage to on July 10th (7/10) at 7:10pm, but I digress, this post is about the rest of Haight street!

The area is known for being a bit "hippie-dippie", which is perfectly fine by us. 

Personally, I LOVED all the murals and street art adorning the buildings in the area.

I think every city really should have an area where they let the creativity flow freely…

Places for artists of all varieties to commune.

That was more or less the vibe I got on Haight street, so check out the photos below !

San Francisco Casa Loma

Our first two nights we stayed in hotel Casa Loma! We were booked into a room with two twin beds, which was fun. Through the window behind Antho was a beautiful church which held within a surprising secret…

Leaving Las Vegas July 8th, 2015

To celebrate our one year anniversary Antho & I ditched the scorching summer heat of Vegas for the cooler breezes of San Francisco for 6 days. It was an all around wonderful trip! As you may have noticed we really like to travel fairly often having gone to Los Angeles in April and hitting spots like the Whiskey, Venice Beach, Santa Monica, and Union Station as well as having gone to L.A. last fall. It's always nice to explore someplace new and when the tickets are going for as low as $44 it's pretty budget friendly. Hopefully we'll be celebrating our anniversary with new locations for many years to come!

Seoul Trip: Hongdae

Hongdae is famous as a youth district in Seoul, with a college and many restaurants and art abounding.

Check out these cool murals near the train station, so much character and life.

I love seeing street art like this, if you haven't noticed. 

As I had an appointment later on that day, I didn't have quite as large of a window of time to explore the area as thoroughly as I may have wished, but I enjoyed the vibe and scenery of what I saw!

Enjoy the photos!