Seattle: Walking from Capitol Hill towards Pike's Place

Seattle, for all it's many acres of parks and labyrinth of bike lanes and trails, is a bit of a challenge at times when it comes to parking. Some days, you get lucky-maybe that particular day of the week street parking is free, and if you're really lucky it might be unlimited, but generally speaking a two-hour limit in exchange for a free place to park isn't such a bad bargain these days. When free parking is, unfortunately, not an option, you'll have to look towards pay-to-park, whether it's a lot that charges by the hour, a meter you can pay by phone, or a covered garage. In our case, the van is too tall for most of the covered parking garages, so that option is automatically out, and knocks a lot of potential parking spots out of the running. Capitol Hill is a pretty popular neighborhood, with a lot of apartment complexes and homes dotting the narrow streets, so it's often packed. If you're patient, and are willing to shell out a few bucks, however, you can find parking. We managed to secure a spot in this colorful lot, where the van's spot was paid for before safely locked up the vehicle. From here, we ventured out, aiming to get to Pike's Place Market, eventually. It was another nice, sunny day, which is a rare gift this time of year, so we took advantage of it and enjoyed our stroll. There was a lot to take in between the van and the Waterfront, after all; from the Jimi Hendrix statue rocking out on Broadway, to the curious nests of people without homes congregating under a bridge, even some serious demolition work going on, and a Christmas tree to top it all off (this was pre-X-Mas day). It was a pretty serious walk, one that took us all the way down the water's edge and back to Capitol Hill, and by the end of the day we were pretty pooped! It was well worth it, though. Sure, we eventually found a lot closer to Pike's Place that we could have squeezed the van into, but we wouldn't have taken in nearly so many different sights. Sometimes it's better to slow down and take it all in with a stride.  

Nevada: Boulder City, Summer 2018

Boulder city is a very small little town outside of Las Vegas, where gambling is illegal within the city limits, and there's only a handful of traffic lights (if that). It's a quiet place, where families that tire of the excitement (and crime) rampant in Vegas proper can go to escape the city, while still benefitting from the predictably arid, sunny climate and close proximity to all the entertainments of the city. I actually spent a few years living in Boulder City when I was younger, and was exceptionally bored by the quaint, quiet little town as an energetic teen. Now that I'm older, and presumably wiser, I suppose I can see the allure to moving out of Vegas for Boulder City, if you're 60. It's a great place to retire, and if you can afford one of the homes on the slope towards Lake Mead you'll have an excellent view of the dwindling resources at the bottom of the hill. Of course, the ongoing drought has impacted some of the landscape choices in the area, but there are still plenty of open, green areas where the Big Horn sheep of the area will congregate to graze and get their fill of grasses. In a town as small, and quiet, as Boulder City, it should come as no surprise that the cops get stuck playing sheep-herder when the stubborn sheep begin to wonder perhaps a bit too close to the nearby residences. 

If you like outdoorsy or water-bound activities, having Lake Mead in your backyard is certainly a boon, despite it's drying out. As bored as I was throughout much of my angsty youth, I have to admit certain gratitude for the friends I made in that little town, the experiences and mischief we shared in that safe little burb, and the opportunity to explore. I'm certainly not going to be moving back any time soon, but for old time's sake it was fun to breeze through. We didn't stop for lunch, like we normally would, as we'd had plenty of snacks out at the Lake and had been driving for a while by this point. We were more eager to get home and grab a shower than to get down on some grub. Given as much, the photos are going to be a bit scattered. Still, I hope you enjoy!

Las Vegas: National Atomic Testing Museum

Tucked into an innocuous lot off of East Flamingo road, it'd be easy to drive right past the National Atomic Testing Museum and never notice the presence of this scientifically abundant space. I can honestly say that we certainly did exactly that for quite a long time, before finally realizing what we were missing out on and making a point to check it out. As luck would have it, we found time to make the trip not long after our weekend out by Lake Mead, so after a long morning hauling through the desert, we found ourselves basking in the air-conditioning and soaking in the vast supply of information available. Despite eluding our awareness for some time, the Atomic Testing Museum is a pretty legit experience, allowing visitors a glimpse into history to the Las Vegas area that not many people know about, but continues to have an impact on our country to this day. The ramifications and reality of nuclear fallout are real, guys, and more widespread than their scientists predicted back in the heyday of atomic testing, impacting the states of Nevada, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico the most but extending as far out as even New York, though the proliferation of super-fund sites is a whole different problem in and of itself. You can learn about this sort of stuff at the museum, along with checking out some of the pop-culture memorabilia that has sprung up around it, in some way or another. We spent a couple hours wandering around, reading the various plaques and signs and trying to absorb as much as we could.

There are some thematic areas that might be a little spooky for small children, and the words to pictures ratio might not be favorable to young kids, either. For the literate, the curious, and the passing through, it's absolutely worth popping in to explore the Atomic Testing Museum if you find yourself in their neck of the woods. During the time of our visit, there was a woman have a very loud, very dramatic and very public sort of fit, screaming at her phone, a guy across the street, and otherwise making a scene, which was a little appetizer of free entertainment before even stepping foot inside the building. The museum is a bit more together, thankfully, and after obtaining your ticket from their friendly staff, you'll be soaking in the knowledge! You might be able to find a discounted ticket on Groupon, as we did, but they also partner with the Mob Museum to offer discounts for visiting both museums during your time in Vegas, or there might even be separate discounts still available for locals! It doesn't hurt to do a little research before your visit, after all.  

Happy 2019!

Happy New Year guys!!!! 🎆

I hope you all had safe and fun festivities to participate in last night, whether you went out on the town or nestled in at home with a bottle of champagne, but no matter how you choose to ring in the new year, there's no denying that 2019 is officially upon us. I think it's fascinating how different cultures choose symbols to ring in the New Year in good fortune, whether it's long noodles for long life, carrots golden orange hue representing riches in the year to come, or shooting off countless explosives into the sky! 

Personally, I'm a complete and total homebody, happy to bury myself in a mound of blankets and celebrate the event with a homecooked meal, a snuggle buddy, and a drink. I've been fortunate enough to celebrate New Year's in my hometown of Vegas, abroad in Tokyo, and now in Seattle... while living in Tokyo (or, at least, in the next suburb over) I was able to watch the Tokyo Disney Sea fireworks display ringing in the New Year, so I'd stand on my little patio with a whiskey and coke in one hand and a smile on my face as the brilliant illuminations crackled across the sky. Vegas, as you might expect, goes absolutely bonkers- the Strip shuts down and becomes a pedestrian haven, where heavy drinking and outlandish behavior is the normative way to bring in the countdown. As much fun as I'm sure it is to get lost among the sweaty, drunken masses marauding through Las Vegas Boulevard's most populous corridors, that was never particularly appealing to me as a local... and, let's be real here, most jobs in Vegas are based around the tourist economy, so chances were I was stuck working well past midnight on one side of the Strip, and then faced with the conundrum of trying to navigate my route home around the road closures. All this given, perhaps it's no real surprise I'm happiest to sequester myself away at home and take in the annual tradition in a more low-key way, with only my most precious people around. To each their own, though! You do you, boo-boo. 

I've been gearing up for this change for weeks now, and am quite excited for all the things to come in the year ahead. I hope that you, too, are going forward into this new year with optimism, hope, and a heart full of love and joy. Thank you for joining me here, and I look forward to all the new content and adventures to be shared over the coming months! 💗

Washington: Icy Winter's Morn

Is it cold where you are or are you gliding into the dog days of summer? Here, now, it's pretty chilly, with winter's grasp holding firm over the Puget Sound and surrounding regions. Clouds in various shades of grey generally dominate the skyscape, though there are the occasional bursts of blue and hints of the sun's warmth breaking through to remind you it still dances out there, just beyond the blanket of moisture hovering above. While it's generally just shy of cold enough to snow, we still get ample rain that, in the coldest hours of the darkest portions of the evening, can freeze over to a delicate frost decorating the world when we wake. Depending on the morning after, the frost can last for a surprisingly variable window of time before dissolving into steam in the sun's rays. Like I said above, though- it's rarely cold enough to snow, with the chance of it snowing on Christmas day somewhere around 7% or lower. That's generally a good bit more likely than in Vegas, where they average only 2 inches of rain per year (whereas the Seattle area gets an average of about 37.5 inches of rain per year).  I'm no statistician, but even I can see the odds of a white Christmas in Vegas are exceedingly slim- though it has happened, once, in 2008, so it's not an utterly impossible thing, just exceptionally improbable. Not so improbable as to get your ship to the restaurant at the end of the universe, but certainly improbable enough to note. 

Antho and I, of course, have been luxuriating in the cold and ambient moisture in this variable and transforming an environment. Waking to a bright, cloudless morning with our world metamorphized by a glittering profusion of ice droplets is fascinating, and new.  While we slept, a giant came through and dropped fistfuls of glitter, or perhaps a fleet of faeries flew in with an army of bedazzlers and spackled everything they could in shimmer. But again, like most of the magical things in life, this beauty is fleeting and as the rays of sunlight dance across the droplets they begin to lose form and evaporate, disappearing into the ether.  All this hydration means that the plant life, at least that hardy enough to weather the declining temperatures, is still thriving. We were surprised to find these brilliant pink blossoms bursting into abundant bloom after the rains started sweeping the area with more vigorous regularity. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the fleeting beauty of the beads of ice on this brisk winter's morning!