So I’m officially cheating on Texas. I have fallen in love with yet another great American city. My love affair will last ….oh, until the next great city I visit. I use to feel the same way about Chicago….until I landed in crack town with Jana one night a couple years ago and then nearly killed us on numerous occasions throughout the week trying to drive around in our rental. Really, how we ever survived that trip I have no idea. I think at one point I nearly ran another vehicle off the road by going down a one way street. That was the end of the love affair with Chicago.

It’s been a while since Chicago and I think I was ready to move on. When I first found out that my sister in law, Kathleen and her husband were going to be stationed in Seattle while he was in the Navy I was tha-rilled! Awesome! I love when people I know land in cities I want to check out. So, it took nearly four years and the birth of their first child to actually get me out there but I made it and I loved it.

I couldn’t wait to get out there. I mean, look at everything that was waiting for me! Winter weather, tall beautiful trees, the mecca of coffee & grunge music and a teeny tiny baby that didn’t grow in my uterus! I was reeling!

Like a fool, I didn’t realize I was going to have to contend with a two hour time change and an hour shuttle to Kat’s house from the airport so I didn’t actually get to her house until nearly 2am, um 4am sweet Texas time. I was still pretty stoked to be there so I actually was pretty ok with the late night travel. I had a nice layover in Denver which gave me time to grab a glass of wine at a bar in the airport and daydream about skiing.

I about died when I saw my sweet little baby niece for the first time. Little Kendall Ann was seriously….little! I could barely find her in her carseat! It was a little unnerving at first because I give birth to 4 month old children and she was like barely bigger than Mrs. Potato Head. It was insane!

We spent most of our time just hanging out laughing at Kendall and getting to know her. I would catch myself watching she & Kathleen interact with each other and it was really emotional. Here was this beautiful woman, who by all accounts is just as much my sister as she is Mark’s. A little girl I watched grow up. She was just 10 when Mark and I started dating. That’s just 2 years older than Brooklyn. I knew her when she had braces and when she tried out for cheerleading. When she played soccer and when she got her first job. When she graduated from highschool and when she graduated from college. When she got married and now…as she became a mother. It’s kinda freaky and surreal and amazing and incredible and I am so incredibly happy I was able to be there with her. She said many times that she was glad I was there and she was sure to make me feel like she needed me there but there was never a doubt in my mind that she knew exactly what she was doing and how to take care of that beautiful little girl she held in her arms every day.

We took Kendall to the dr. on Thursday and she had gained back all of her birth weight plus 2oz. She was a whopping 5lbs8oz, which is still about 3lbs less than any of my kids at birth! We hung close to home most of the time and it was nice and relaxing. Even with a newborn and a new mom I was getting more down time then I knew what to do with!

I decided to hit downtown Seattle on Saturday. Kat & Kendall decided to stay behind to rest so I headed out on my own. They actually live outside of Seattle so I had to take the ferry over. I nearly had a panic attack after I got on the ferry. I mean, it’s huge and all and I totally felt safe but I have this weird thing about being around water that I’m not familiar with. I do it when I fly over large bodies of water too. It’s just strange. It gets worse as I get older….so by the time I’m 50 I should pretty much have to be sedated to do any sort of traveling. Nice.

It was a pretty foggy day so I didn’t expect to see much on the ride over so I tried to read in between hyper-ventilating. The rest of the time I spent trying to find out where the restroom was in case I needed to hurl. I finally spotted one within a safe distance so I think I started to relax at that point which was right about the time I saw this.

so you know how awesome it is when you see something for the first time, even though you’ve seen it a million times in your mind, or on tv on in a movie or magazine or where ever. But then it’s like, “awww, look how awesome that is!” And honestly, not to be a hater but the Space Needle does nothing for me. I mean I figure I live in a town with The Tower of Americas and have been there, eaten there done that and I’ve rode the damn Big Shot at the top of the Stratosphere in Vegas so I was just like …eh, the Space Needle. But then you see it and you really see it and it’s still pretty darn cool. So even though I had no desire or intentions of trekking down to the Needle I was still glad I managed to catch a glimpse and a photo.

So after 3 shots on my 8gig card my camera was telling me the card was full. Um, no. So i erase and reshoot. Then I format. Then I shoot again. Yea, it would only take 3 shots. So here I am about to disembarck this damn ferry and I have no other CF cards to shoot on. So now I have to try to find my way downtown and hope that somewhere there is a Best Buy or some place where I can grab a new CF card. So that was pretty much the first task at hand. Which I took care of and even then only shot about 6 frames while meandering downtown for 6 hours.

I have no idea what this really was but it was cool and it was right when I came out of the ferry terminal so I shot it.

all i really wanted to do when I was down there was hit the market and go to the art museum. I guess I got distracted with everything going on around me because I saw SAM and then I shot a photo and kept walking. There was too much to see & do to stop in. I’ll get in next time.

I am totally pissed that I didn’t get ANY shots at the library because that was probably my favorite site. Completely cool structure and the interior was spectacular. Although the red reading rooms upstairs completely freaked me out.

The Market was of course, incredible. I didn’t get to see them toss a big giant fish but I stood there a while waiting.

Loved, loved all the cool vendors. The dried flowers were amazing but I heard it’s ideal to visit during the spring when the flowers are fresh. So a Spring trip is in the works.

I came across the bubble gum alley and managed to grab a couple shots. it was oddly disgusting yet riveting all at once.

I grabbed a cup of coffee while at the market. Sat next to some old man who wanted to talk to me about the conspiracy of digital cable. Saw the original Starbucks, but resisted the temptation to go inside….and didn’t shoot a picture of it.

At one point I got on the ferry to head out, only to have this weird feeling come over me that I was not done seeing this amazing city.  I hadn’t shot nearly what I wanted so I got up and left the ferry. Held up the whole ferry getting off and probably made an ass of myself but I just wasn’t ready to leave. I ended up staying for a couple more hours and grabbing a few more shots.

I think one of the hardest things about being a photographer is that you feel this insane pressure to document everything but it’s so hard to document and experience.  That revelation hit me several years ago after returning from a cruise with the family. Hudson was 3 and Brooklyn was 4. I remember looking through the photos I had taken. One in particular of Hudson playing in the sand on a beach in Belize. I realized I had spent so much time behind the camera shooting and documenting that I had missed experiencing so much of that vacation with my family. It’s a hard balance. I think I just need 2 days everywhere I go. One to first walk through and take it all in….the other to re-trace and shoot. I think this trip to Seattle was more about experiencing the city as it moved around me. Walking, smelling, seeing and hearing it all. Jana and I want to go back in the Spring and maybe that will be the trip where I grab alot more photos and spend a little time capturing my love affair with this amazing place.

This was the last shot I got before I boarded the ferry.

I’m looking forward to my next trip out. I hope to hit Tacoma and an amazing Museum of Glass.

On the ferry ride home I was a little sad to leave behind my beloved Seattle but I couldn’t help but smile when I stepped off the ferry and it was raining. Later that evening it snowed…a light little dusting and I knew my trip was almost complete. All I had left was a fabulous photo shoot with baby Kendall. That would have to wait until Sunday. Check back later for some of my fave shots from the session and part 2 of the recap. (I know really? could there be more?)