PNW'd

Economic stimulus payment leads to irresponsible, impulsive trip to the Pacific Northwest!

Having never been west of Iowa, I decided to finally take the opportunity to see some conifers. Kelli, one of my roommates from college and probably damn near my favorite person on the planet, has lived in Steilacoom, Washington, for a couple of years now--we haven't seen each other in three years, and I thought it was about time for a visit.

This trip started out as the grand breakup recovery voyage, since I got dumped on Mother's Day. (That wasn't fun, and I frankly don't wanna discuss it further in a public forum.) But being stubborn and never giving anyone such satisfaction, it quickly morphed into my own riot grrrl pilgrimage (read up on that group here) when Kelli suggested we stop by Olympia.

So here's a brief list of cities and towns I visited while there:
--Seattle
--Tacoma
--Lakewood
--Steilacoom
--Olympia
--Portland
Not bad for a two day trip, if I do say so myself.

From the highway, you could vaguely see Mount Rainier in the distance. I've seriously never seen that many evergreen trees in one place in my entire life. It's a stunningly beautiful landscape.

[Knitting content alert] I started on Stefanie Japel's Bad Penny, just in time for what little bit of spring we'll have in the Midwest. Here's what I knit while on the plane:



That was one hellishly long flight, and there's the evidence.

Met Kelli at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, on a gorgeous, unseasonably warm Saturday. We ate Greek food for lunch in Lakewood (since that was just about all I could think of that I could possibly eat), pissed around Steilacoom for awhile, and finally made our way to Seattle.

First stop: Pike Place Market.



Twas fun being a tourist--watching the fish get thrown, looking at the beautiful local produce and flowers, sniffing soaps and eating cookies. (Yes, I found gluten-free cookies!)

Next: The Space Needle

We didn't go into it, but we were close enough for me.



Experience Music Project was nearby, so we looked around for a bit. I'm still not sure if it was worth the price of admission, but the live Hendrix footage being shown in the theater was pretty amazing, if typically lowest-common-denominator appeal. I love Hendrix, but perceptions of his work in the US are pretty off the mark.

Here's a shadowy, mysterious Kelli:



That woman has the best posture in human history.

Stumbled upon a nearby folk music festival, which consisted of mostly young punks playing trad fare...and some fundamentalist Christian protesters. Jesus, they really are everywhere.

This kid tried his damndest to charge me a dollar to watch his skateboard tricks...but I took his picture instead:



Day Two: The Trek to Portland

On the way to Olympia, I had to get this picture:



In Oly we visited a coffee shop and bakery that Kelli loves called the Bread Peddler. From there we found the Olympia Co-op, where I could actually find breakfast.

Onward to Portland, which I quite frankly found boring. The city where provocative artists go to make babies and die, I've decided. The whole city seems to shut down at 6pm--I walked around by myself for a few hours after Kelli had to drive back to Washington and couldn't find a damn thing to do with myself.

[Knitting content alert] After continuing to work on Bad Penny during my flight home, I discovered that, even after my severe adjustments to the pattern to make it fit my scrawny self...the damn thing is still too large for me. I haven't restarted it yet, but I have a feeling that I won't get to wear it until fall.

I think I had more fun hanging out with Kelli than I did being in the Pacific Northwest, if that makes sense. This trip, if anything, drilled into my brain that Chicago is home to me now. You jerks are stuck with me, whether you like it or not!

(More photos from my trip can be seen here.)

In other news, I'm more than likely moving to Humboldt Park. I apparently enjoy gentrifying working class neighborhoods.

How the hell is everyone else?