taking the long way: travel

travel

24 December 2009

most wonderful time of the year

the annual holiday card is finished...
just in the st. nick of time!
have a joyful, reflective and festive holiday!

p.s. click on the image below to view it in full.

Dec 24, 2009 12:00:00 AM | art, design, landscape, memory, photography, travel

06 December 2009

natefest

Every year around this time my friend Nate organizes a fest in his honor - to get friends together and to celebrate his birthday. I was lucky enough to be able to attend the 15th annual Natefest which was held at the Olympic Hotel in Centralia, Washington this past weekend. I tried to attend last year, but caught some sort of nasty flu on my return home from Thanksgiving in Mexico... yes it could have been the swine flu. And yes, as many people have joked I could have been patient zero. Though no one I know got sick after me so that puts that theory to bed. Anyhoo, Nate scouts out locations early in the year, makes all the arrangements, and then collects $100 from each of us in the fall. All we have to do is pack and get there and everything else is covered. About forty people came this year. We were booked in nearly every room at the Olympic Hotel, a former brothel, that from the histories I read provided quite a service for quite a few men during the early 20th century. The hotel is linked to a pub, pool hall and movie theater and located along a historic main street that seems to have the corner on antiques in the area. A full-sized full set plastic glow-from-within Nativity set was on sale for only $450. Quite a steal! So Friday I took the MAX from work to the train station and boarded the Amtrak going North. I met up with my friend Molly (whom I've known since the 2nd grade) when she boarded at the next stop (Molly is married to the Nate of Natefest). About an hour and a half later we deboarded in Centralia and walked across the street to the Olympic Hotel where the festivities had already begun. The weekend was full of yummy drinks, food, friends and field trips. A quick trip to Mima Mounds came close to resembling a Gilligan's Island style three-hour tour. Our Saturday night festivities were capped with the annual Feuerzangenbowle and the season's first snow fall. On Sunday I hopped out the back of the Oly Club and on to the train for a lovely ride back to Portland through fresh snow-covered hills. Quite a way to start December!

Dec 6, 2009 12:00:00 AM | friends, pacific northwest, photography, travel

20 November 2009

vancouver reminiscence

Vancouver, British Columbia holds pivotal moments for me. Threads in my life today spin back to two trips I took in the 80s. I was young and impressionable and through those visits found that I love international travel (well any travel really), cosmopolitan cities, people, photography, and yes... decadent hotels. The trips were so different, but together they left an indelible impression on me - one was a week-long international exchange and the other a weekend at the Four Seasons with my aunt. Both were heady experiences. I had just started experimenting with photography on a simple point and shoot. A few of those trips' sights and sounds are captured on film, but most are just memories - sensory experiences whose images have never faded. The strongest impressions remain...

Walking into a warm and comforting pool solarium at the Four Seasons Hotel that was surrounded by floor to ceiling windows with views of the city's twinkling skyline. Swimming in that pool at night was like a dream.
Discovering a seemingly similar culture that was much more unique than I imagined and whose depth could only be discovered by being there. An experience I've since repeated in Japan and Italy.
The smell of sugar. We visited a raw sugar warehouse where sugar crystals attached to the air's humidity and swirled around all of us like ethereal cotton candy. We all breathed it in and never wanted to stop.
The constant buzz of the city - its energy and sophistication created a place on par with a shiny new toy, but with a buzz of activity that was palpable and addictive.

Queen Elizabeth Park - Bloedel Conservatory (love the mid-century modern style of architectural features in this photo)

Queen Elizabeth Park

American and Canadian Exchange Students (including me) playing around on the bus to the aquarium

Aunt Janice and I (at Halloween) - Unfortunately I don't have any photographs of our trip (check out the old school Nikes I have on my feet) Like Portland, Vancouver has changed a lot since that decade. I'm just a hop, skip and a jump from getting the chance to discover it all over again. And this time the city's energy will be through the roof - multiplied by athletes and enthusiasts and journalists from around the world. My heart skips a beat just thinking about being a part of that experience.

Nov 20, 2009 12:00:00 AM | canada, memory, travel

23 October 2009

minidoka internment camp

remnants of the entry garden designed and built by the internees in view of the guard station

former warehouse which will be rehabilitated to serve as the site's visitor center

from here you would have been able to see hundreds of barracks spanning the landscape towards the horizon

one of the barracks blocks - block 22 - covered this field. each block consisted of 12 barracks buildings, one mess hall and two bathroom buildings

remains of the root cellar which was built by the internees to store the vegetables they grew, which contributed to the fact that the internment camp was completely sustainable by 1944

Oct 23, 2009 12:00:00 AM | landscape, national park service, photography, travel

hagerman is a helluva place

I'm not sure if "varmint" refers to the local delicacy of alligator that is on many restaurant menus, but they've got guns if you need 'em. Apparently the gators like the warm water in the area (thanks to the many hot springs) and the constant supply of fish guts from the Idaho trout fisheries that surround Hagerman. Regardless I tried the alligator - deep fried of course! This may be taking the local food movement a bit far.

Oct 23, 2009 12:00:00 AM | photography, travel

17 October 2009

silver creek campground

I loved summer camp as a kid and started going away for at least a week each summer when I was 7 or 8. The trend continued though high school when I spent my summers as a camp counselor. I loved packing my duffle, grabbing my favorite pillow and sleeping bag and heading on the bus with my best friends to a place in the woods or on the Oregon coast. I loved singing camp songs and performing skits, playing capture the flag, hearing reveille wake us up, and taps before we fell asleep. I loved campfires and s'mores and bells that signaled it was meal time. Not to mention making sand candles and plaster masks, hiking and canoeing, and sleeping in rustic cabins.

So why all the nostalgia?! Well I discovered a beautiful 1930s era summer camp in Silver Falls State Park that brought all those memories back. The rustic cabins and lodges were built during the last economic downturn by the Civilian Conservation Corps as part of FDR's New Deal. The workmanship of these places - the stone work and wood work in particular, is incredible. Not only did building these places help turn our economy around, but thousands, probably millions of kids have been able to enjoy the fruits of their hard labor for decades. I'm thinking of getting a big group together there someday - maybe next year to celebrate my 40th.