End of Day 1: Sunset Over Puget Sound

With Day 1 coming to a close (even if it wasn't even 6:00PM yet, I was exhausted) I headed to hop on the Bainbridge Island ferry. I'm generally not reserving hotels along the way but did this first night. Unfortunately I was just a bit too late to get on the 6:20 (by about 10 cars) so had to wait another hour. Which at the time I was a bit peeved by, but had I not missed the earlier boat I would have missed the sun setting over Puget Sound, which made the delay far more than worth it. Once you've parked your car you're free to head up to the passenger deck to check out the views...

And yes, I headed to the front of the boat and had my own Leo and Kate moment facing into the wind, thinking "I'm the king of the world!".  I only thought it, I didn't shout it. Missed opportunities... As the ferry heads westward into the setting sun, from the other end you can catch some great views of Seattle receding behind, lit in that orangey glow of the waning daylight. Have you ever seen big ugly dock cranes look so good?

And one of the city skyline and big ferris wheel built on one of the piers (something for another trip). You can also see the Space Needle in the distance.

Most people come too Seattle for a week or at least a long weekend. Me, I had an afternoon. All in all I wish I had more time to spend in Seattle, seems like a great city. That's the drawback to the kind of trip I'm on, you see a little bit of a lot of places, but you can't spend too much time in any one of those places. A problem that will again rear it's head when I reach the larger "destination" cities of San Franciso, LA and San Diego I'm sure. But they say it's not about the destination, it's about the journey, and that couldn't be truer here. I'm not exactly sure who "they" are though. Maybe I'll come back if/when the Bears play here and make a week of it. Enjoy the city plus experience the added bonus of watching Chicago kick the Seahawks' ass.

DAY 1: Seattle In An Afternoon

4:01AM

EENNNNNK EENNNNNK EENNNNK EENNNNK EENNNNNK EENNNNK EENNNNNK EENNNNK... HIT

The day (and I use that term loosely) starts out with the worst sound in the world, the blaring of the alarm clock. Though today it signaled something other than having to get up for work, so it wasn't so bad. Oh who the hell am I kidding, getting up at 4AM sucks. I set it for one minute after as a kind of little lie to myself. No snooze, the cab is scheduled to pick me up in 29 minutes.

The next seven hours are the typical jumble of air travel - check your bag, get through security (I've never seen Des Moines airport security as busy as it is at 5AM), a refreshingly phallus free layover in Denver, arrived in Seattle 10:30 local time. After a brief delay in picking up my suitcase (looked at the wrong line on the monitors and headed to baggage carousel 14 instead of 2... 14 was FAR) I hopped on a shuttle bus to the rental car facility where this happened...

 "Chrysler 200 or Similar"

When I checked a couple days before leaving I was thrilled to see convertibles had dropped in price to the point they were only about $50 more than the mid-sized SUV I'd already reserved. Reserved one of those instead, cancelled the SUV and has prepared for a "Chrysler 200 or similar" as described on the Alamo site. Then as the woman checking me in called down for he car I overheard something like "If the Mustang is all that's left then he can have that, he reserved a convertible. So now I'm driving a Mustang convertible down the PCH, how perfect is that? And I certainly didn't pull something in my hip getting out of it... an old man might do something like that since it sits kind of low and he may not have been able to figure out how to tilt up the steering wheel at first... Made a brief stop in Des Moines, Washington - honestly just pulled into a Lowe's parking lot so I could check in on Facebook in the city, then headed off to my next destination to the north...

The Fremont Troll

This ugly fellow was a challenge to find, then I turned left not thinking I was in the right place and he was at the top of the hill, straight ahead. He lives under the Aurora Street bridge snacking on Volkwagons. I've heard he was featured in a scene from the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, but since that was a chick flick aimed at high school girls I've certainly never seen it. I don't own a copy of it on DVD either.

War On Words

Seeing a Starbucks in Seattle is about as common as seeing a fat person eating a corn dog at the Iowa State Fair... twirl a butter cow over your head by its tail and you'll hit half a dozen of them. But this particular Starbucks is THEE Starbucks. The original location that opened back in 1971 and started the company's crusade to excise the words small, medium and large from Americans' collective vocabulary.

Tossed Salad & Scrambled Eggs

Of course everyone recognizes The Space Needle. It was made famous by being featured in the logo for the 90's hit sitcom Frasier. There's also a restaurant know for making tossed salad and scrambled eggs. Below are some various views taken from atop the Space Needle on its observation deck, click on them to see them bigger. Going up the side in a glass elevator did freak me out a bit. I'm not afraid of heights. I'm afraid of falling. Which is an evolutionarily sound fear to have.

Eight Legged  Freaks

One thing I observed from atop the Space Needle were these giant spiders attacking a warehouse.

(Don't worry Fran, these are far away in Seattle and must only be indigenous to Washington, no need to worry about them heading east towards Des Moines,)

Fish Tossing

No afternoon spent in Seattle would be complete without a stroll through the Pike Place public market. The fish tossing fishmongers were very entertaining to watch, and the colors of the veggies and flowers for sale were absolutely incredible. (Notice how I gloss over the smell of the fish for sale.) The only bad thing was there were just so many damn people there, it was like trying to walk anywhere down the Vegas strip (just replace gambling and those stripper cards with fish, flowers and vegetables). A few more pics below, can you spot my dinner?

(And I'm tired, so my Sunset Over Puget Sound pics will have to wait until the morning...)

Pacific Coast Highway Road Trip '013 Eve

Tomorrow morning, bright and early (well, early anyway) I take off for Seattle, Washington to start my vacation. I'm roadtripping it from Seattle to San Diego and following the scenic Pacific Coast Highway. Or in true Colbert fashion it's my Pacific Coast Highway Cruntastic Road Trip '013 Sponsored by Cool Ranch Doritos (hereafter shortened to PCHRT'013). I have been asked WHY I am flying somewhere just to drive somewhere else and then fly home. There are a couple reasons. 

First, the trip from Seattle to San Diego is roughly 1750 miles. Nine days of driving, that's a couple hundred miles a day, a nice leisurely (or vacationly if you prefer made up words) pace. Driving from Des Moines to Seattle would add  another 1750 miles to that, then San Diego back to Des Moines adds almost another 1750 (which I'm now realizing would roughly form a giant equilateral triangle which would be kind of cool...). That would require 500-600 miles a day, a very un-vacationly pace.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, is the fact I don't own a convertible. What is the point in driving a regular car with a roof on it, especially once you get to southern California, down the PCH? 

THE LUGGAGE CONUNDRUM

Facing the packing problem everyone faces taking long trips. There's the regular "How many T-Shirts will I need?" "Should I take extra shoes?" "Will I really need to change my underwear EVERY day?" kind of questions that go with every trip. But with this trip I also need to take along my DSLR camera (I plan on taking a LOT of pictures along the way) and all its assorted cords, chargers, lenses, memory cards and filters. Plus the tripod if I actually want to be in any of these pictures myself. Then there's the laptop and its cords. Not to mention the GPS and cell phone plus their assorted cords and chargers. Modern travel is really a lot about cords and chargers for all the devices you take along. Almost none of which can be used on anything other than the one device it's designed for. I thought I had solved that issue with this Case Logic backpack, specifically designed to carry a DSLR camera, a laptop and with compartments for all the stuff that go with them. Only problem is the thing literally weighs a ton* once everything is in there and there is no way in hell I'm carrying that on the plane, much less lugging it down 1750 miles of scenic coastline. So instead I'm forced to take several sub-bags - camera bag, tripod bag and laptop bag - and pack some of them inside the suitcase for the flight. Bags inside of bags...

* For all you grammar police types like me that were thinking "Literally? LITERALLY weighs a ton?!?!", take a deep breath and chill out. If I've told you once I've told you a million times not to get worked up over the hyperbolic use of the word "literally."

TRAVEL SIZES!

As is usual the night before a trip it's off to Target for all the things you somehow have managed to live without all these years but all of a sudden need because you're about to go on vacation. One of the best thing about going a trip is getting travel sizes of things like toothpaste, saline solution or deodorant. Because it's always nice to pay 25x as much per ounce for something just so you can have a miniature version of it. Plus when you hold travel sized items it kind of makes you feel like a giant.

Bowl/Lounge

Taken 7/3/2012
Aberdeen, SD

Ahhh... lovely Aberdeen, South Dakota. Also home to the Hub City Machine Works. And I'm sure the attached lounge is one happening place. Bowling alley bars always are, aren't they?

Who else in or from the Des Moines area remembers Jim Zabel's Let's Go Bowling! on Sunday mornings? Not sure I really ever watched it, but I do remember it existing.

Red's Cafe

Taken 7/4/2012
Hartley, IA

Located across the street from the über patriotic Steve's Bar & Grill. 

 

Creston & Back Again

On the weekends, usually Sundays, I'll often just take off with my camera, pick a direction and drive through various small towns in search of something that catches my eye and seems to say "Take my picture." There's quite a range of small downs dotting the Iowa landscape. Some nice and idyllic, like the perfect small town seen in schmaltzy Hollywood movies. Others I expect to hear banjo music playing and be told I've got a "purdy mouth."

This past weekend the direction was south-west and I ended up in Creston. Taking me through such bustling small towns as Truro, East Peru and Orient along the way. (And I only once thought I heard banjo music...)

The Iowana
Taken 8/11/13
Creston IA

You know me and signs by now. This "The Iowana" sign sits atop the tallest building in Creston (6 stories!) that was once a luxury hotel, then abandoned and empty for a quarter of a century, now refurbished into apartments. Also a very difficult building/sign to get a decent angle/shot.

Tanks
Taken 8/11/13
Murray, IA

Just a parking lot full of rusty propane tanks up on cinder blocks. I assume the propane accessories were nearby. I'd like to redo this shot from a higher perspective looking down so the tanks fill the whole frame. I find the tanks far more interesting than the trees behind them. If I'm ever back in Murray...

Barn
Taken 8/11/13
Murray, IA

On my weekend mini-roadtrips I drive by hundreds of barns. Iowa is lousy with them. Normally not something that catches my eye (farm scenes feel to "done" for me, and too "Iowa" for that matter) but once an awhile I come across an interesting one. Usually the barely standing ones. Here I tried to play with the depth of field to keep everything in focus. Which I don't know that I like. Still learning after all.

Miller's

Taken 3/10/13
Edison, NJ

I figured in honor of We're the Millers opening this weekend I'd post the shot I took in New Jersey of Miller's Party Rentals. From the looks of it I'd say they opened in 1973 and haven't even considered updating their store front sign. Orange is the new black after all.

EAT

Taken 3/10/13
Iselin/Woodbridge Township, NJ

Visiting the homeland of New Jersey earlier this year for work and drove by this huge EAT sign. I just wish I'd seen it at night in all it's gaudy neon glory.

Iron Gate

Taken 6/29/2013
Woodland Cemetery
Des Moines, IA