So I haven’t posted anything for a while, but I have been going over a trip I took in Seattle several weeks ago since it was so memorable and enjoyable. It all started pretty uneventfully as I was up there for the Emerald Cup, and had finished shooting the Saturday night finals. The requisite parties were in full swing, and I attended with feeling detached and apathetic, since my spoiled San Francisco club scene had pre-jaded me to what the Seattle clubs would offer.

Of course expectations are bad, and although they were met expectantly and even exceeded (on the bad side of the spectrum), I did enjoy the fact that the ‘scene’ at cheesy clubs can be quite entertaining when you separate yourself from trying to enjoy the music to just enjoying the sights.

As I took in the far-too-young ladies pining for the attention of men that were predominantly looking to get laid, the soundtrack in thet background was quite fitting. The various pro athletes in attendance only furthered the circus-like atmosphere creating a very enjoyable experience since at this time, I decided that in addition to the herb we had, to top it with something to take me on a more explicit trip.

As the after party ended, we ended up going to someone’s place, where I basically chilled and let time move forward while having some suprisingly coherent and philosophical discussions with some of the aforementioned pros. As dawn was approaching, my tripmate and I proffered a ride to the SEA-TAC for the pro who had a flight to catch and was also coming down.

After dropping the enlightened one off, we went back to my friend’s place and dropped off the car, and then walked down to Lincoln Park. It was a beautiful brisk Seattle morning with the dew fresh on the grass, beading up in little droplets of water that caught the glinting sunlight as it rose.

Moving beyond what seemed like endless “DEAD END”, “WRONG WAY” and other such signs, I felt like we were entering the forbidden lands that time had forgot. The first sign of water at the entrance to the park welcomed us with the lapping sounds of the water in Puget Sound, while the waves of water and haze melded into a mind-blending visual that made it almost impossible to continue on. So we stopped. And chilled and just stared out into the water, saying to each other repeatedly – “it’s all just waves”

The driftwood had the ancient look of a prehistoric anachronism, which I am sure was somewhat aided by the acid. As we walked forward, my senses were pushed to the edges. My walking companion continued to morph from Aragorn, Son of Arathorn, to some hairy homeless troll, to a beautiful maiden, to Steve… Luckily it was all out of my peripheral vision, since I was almost afraid to look directly lest what I was thinking I was seeing was real (especially when he became a hot chick!).

As we walked under a lush green canopy on the shoreline, weaving a path that was as direct as we were sober, we were jolted by a thunderous sound and jostling above us. As we peered up, two bald eagles were flying out from under the trees off into the sunrise…

My companion had just mentioned something about American Indians and/or spirituality and as we looked towards the sun coming up, we were greeted by the most amazing rainbow I had ever seen. A full 180-degree arc. Brilliant in color as it was in size and hue. I was not sure if I was seeing it for real, until several early birds who were taking their dogs on walks were also standing at the same angle facing the water and mumbling under their breaths and to their companions to check out the awesome rainbow…

Ah to have had the camera, but without it, the memory serves as the best film ever.

Our stroll continued unabated by the beauty of nature. Having spent so much of my time in San Francisco, in my own urban jungle of concrete and SOMA-ness, the greenery of Seattle was a welcome and refreshing connection with nature. We hiked up to the top of the park and saw a curios tug boat pulling some sort of vessel that seemed to be half sunken. We stared and stared, unable to tell what it was. Our curiousity so piqued, we bounded down the trail into a full gallop to see how close we could get – what was this?!

It was Easter Morning (oh yeah, that’s where the spiritual/religious/native american thread came from before), and a friendly woman on a morning walk told us she suspected that they were illegally pulling the boat since it was Easter Morning, and if we noticed, the Coast Guard was not out.

So the tug boat just kept going until it was out of sight, effectively stealing a giant ship in broad daylight. I love it!

Well, we continued to enjoy the trees, the hike and the trails and walked back home, since I was supposed to be back at my hotel by 10:00 a.m. (or was it 9:00) for a morning photoshoot, which I called and cancelled. I ended up doing the 11:00 shoot though at 10:30 and apologized for my disheveled appearance (and wondering how my face looked, but not daring to look into a mirror!) Luckily the shoot went well (the model was very happy with the shots she called to tell me just yesterday, and wants to shoot again), and we even made out at the end of the shoot.

I guess that was a good way to start off my Easter Sunday, which continued with more much revelry but at this juncture, I am done writing…