a great v-day weekend

Let me see if I can sum up this fabulous weekend. I doubt I can, but I'll give it a shot.

Friday night I debated staying in, but a call from Casey pulled me out of my comfortable bed and off to the Cha Cha. His co-worker Thaddeaus joined us and I ended up spending the evening chatting with him about music, movies and food while Casey flirted with an adorable little girl downstairs.

The evening ended very late (or early, depending on how you look at it) and an early Saturday morning adventure turned into a late afternoon quick drive up to Granite Falls.

granite falls

The day before I received a text from Lucas asking if I wanted to go on a hike so I invited him along on my adventure up to the falls. Last time I had been out here I was stupidly hung over and also forgot my tripod, so any long exposures (or any exposures for that matter) came out very blurry. The hangover was small this time around, but I remembered to bring the tripod.

again, a rock

The tall boy scout from Bellevue turned out to be an excellent hiking partner. His summers in the wilderness prepared him and his sense of adventure dwarfed my own. Before I knew it we were forging a trail along the side of the river, all the while he was picking up trash that he would find. It was a nice little hike.

I had to get home early so we cut the hike short. I had a date that evening and I wasn't going to miss it! My dearest Casey got a very exciting piece of mail the other day and I couldn't think of a better way to spend valentines day then with my good friend to celebrate the completion of one chapter of his life. We started out at a new restaurant on the hill called Odd Fellows. A huge space with wooden floors and a great menu. After a bottle of wine we headed up to Smiths (another bar in the family) and enjoyed a toast with a guy who was extremely excited about his chocolate pot o creme.

fin

Sunday morning I awoke early and decided to have a kobna day. I pointed my car in the direction of Magnuson Park and took a quick drive through it before driving up to Top Pot to grab some coffee and decide what I wanted to shoot. I went back down to the park and walked through The Fin Project. An interesting art installation at the park made from submarine fins to represent a pod of whales.

i want to go to there

I love this park, and it was a much better fit for me than Discovery Park. I loved the history mixed with nature mixed with art. The trees were stunning to me. I almost appreciate them more without the leaves, seeing the mountains peaking through their large branches made my heart swoon.

weiner

I went up to the old naval station and drove through the housing project. By chance I came down this old hill and looked to my right to see art painted into the side of the hill. It was a bit creepy but I couldn't help but be drawn to it. One of the interesting things about graffiti up here is that I do consider it art. In LA it was nothing but a bunch of kids marking their territory like a dog. Here I feel like it's actually, as a co-worker once put it, the last voice of the proletariat. More of a statement, less of a territorial marker. However, the irony of the drawing on the bench is not lost on me.

centerweight

I passed by the massive old hangers and under a bridge, pass the new Mountaineers building (further cementing my love of this park) and down to the water. I sat in my car watching a sailboat class in the lake, dancing in circles around each other. I looked at my clock and it wasn't even noon.

I made my way towards the freeway, but a quick view of the Olympics made me continue on towards the Puget Sound. I found myself in Edmonds at the Kingston Ferry. I spoke with the Women in Black, watched the ferry dock, nodded to another photographer (a fellow canon user) when he was so kind as to not get in my shot. He reminded me of Panda. All alone, black jacket, camera in hand...happy as can be just wandering around and shooting. The area was beautiful, but I think I was tapped out creatively and didn't really shoot anything worth posting.

Valentines day has notoriously been one of my least favorite holidays, mostly because of the expectation that everything must be perfect and romantic. I went into this weekend with no care as to who I spent it with or what we did, and it turned out perfect.

Comments

Anonymous said…
cool and ah haaa weiner