Week 15 | Aug 10-16
Back in the US, back in the US, back in the US of A
Heading back into the US after 3 exciting weeks in Canada!
It was a nice visit and I'm glad I took the detour up to Banff. This wasn't part of my original itinerary, but I realized it would be a wasted opportunity to be so close and not go.
Now that I'm done with the neighbors to the north, I start a month-long trek down the Pacific states.
Being back in the states is weird, because it's not weird at all. I thought I'd feel something, IDK what, about being 'home' but nothing happened.
It was just 'ok, I'm here... moving on.'
Sunday August 10. Day 98
Security Theater is my least favorite kind of theater
KOA Campground in Concrete, WA
There was a long line at customs to go into US, but I think it had more to do with where I chose to cross back through.
RVs and Campers had their own lane, which I thought might mean more of a search. The ICE agent at the border asked a lot more questions on the way out than the Canadian agent did coming in.
The feeling I got was like he wanted to give me the third degree, but also couldn’t quite be bothered to care.
He quizzed me about why I was in Canada, what I was doing, and where I’m going next in the states. It didn’t occur to me until later that wtf does he care where I go? I live here. I’ll go wherever I want.
When I mentioned taking the van down the pacific coast, he asked with a bit of an incredulous tone “You’re retired?”
“Kinda.”
And he gave me a weird look.
After another 5 minutes of “banter” he handed my passport back and waved me through. Never looking in the van or anything more.
On the Canada side there was a decent sized city and a lot going on. The US side was almost desolate. There was a tiny town with a 2 lane Main Street and 25 mph speed limit (oh, hello ‘MPH’ again!)
It struck me as odd to funnel so much traffic through such a tiny town, I expected it to be a little more developed.
Probably the thing I was looking forward to the most being back was cheaper gas. Except it wasn’t cheaper at all. Womp womp.
My next destination was North Cascades National Park, though I didn’t have any actual plan. I drove most of the way there and then found a campground for the night at a KOA about an hour outside the park.
Good: This was the first KOA of the trip. There were good showers and a nicely laid out campground. I can see the appeal for people and families doing extended stays there.
Bad: The asinine security theater at the border crossing.
Unexpected: The check engine light hasn’t come back on since being parked for a week at Glacier, almost a month ago! Previously when parked for a while the light would go out, but come back after a couple days of driving. This time it hasn’t.* I had planned some time in Seattle to stop at a ford dealership, seems I might not have to.
The light was for an O2 sensor that wasn’t reading correctly. I suppose there’s a chance that it works now.
* Note from 3 weeks in the future, it still hasn’t come back on!
Monday August 11. Day 99
Wish upon a star
North Cascades National Park
I was slow out the gate this morning, taking care of van stuff and making breakfast (taking advantage of the van being plugged in!) After noon I finally made my way to North Cascades National Park. It feels like I’ve been putting off getting here, but I think I’ve just been enjoying taking my time without an agenda.
The park is lovely, very PNW; tall pine forests and jagged mountains. There’s a lot of hiking here, but I passed on that, been feeling blah all day.
Found a photography spot for the evening and just parked, waiting for dark. Used several hours of that time to work through my postcard list, and got a couple dozen taken care of! If you’ve been expecting a postcard and haven’t gotten one yet, keep an eye out. If you want one and aren’t on my list, message me!
Daily listen: Simon & Garfunkel’s greatest hits. (I got this on cassette for the holidays when I was 11 or 12!)
In particular the song ‘America’ resonated today.
“I’ve come to look for America.”
“‘Cathy I’m Lost.’ I said, though I knew she was sleeping. ‘I’m empty and aching and I don’t know whyyyyy.’”
“Counting the cars in the New Jersey Turnpike. / They’ve all come to look for America.”
Is that what I’m doing? Have I come to look for America?
Good: At the visitors center a kid said my Cap tattoo was cool.
Remember kids, Captain America punches fascists!
Bad: This damn cough persists
Unexpected: Did some night skies photography! Unexpected because it’s just past the full moon and the skies should be drowned out with light. But the moon is rising behind a mountain range which gives some light to illuminate the mountain while allowing the stars to still be visible. Additionally, I had zero intention of doing night skies photos before a friend texted me to ask if I was photographing the Perseids meteor shower. Oh shoot, that is starting tonight! I scoped out a spot in the park with a view I liked, and waited. At 10p, in the dark, I hiked about a half mile up a trail to an overlook. I set up my camera to shoot continuously for an hour and just hung out. A while later I saw a fireball streak brilliantly across the sky and quickly checked my camera to see if I got it!
I did!
Tuesday August 12
100 days!
North Cascades National Park / Mount Rainier National Park
It’s always cool finding an overnight spot in a national park. I’m usually worried I’ll get chased off in the middle of the night by a ranger. Last night I felt more confident about the spot when I saw four other RVs and three cars also parked for the night.
This morning, when I got up to stretch my legs I saw a father and daughter picking huckleberries and went over to grab a handful. These were more ripe and ready than the ones I had in Glacier, they were delicious!
I retraced my route out of the park, stopping in some of the same spots to take pictures again. (Different light, different picture!)
I also stopped at one of the lakes to pop in for a swim or just a dip. A family was hanging out at the water's edge, they had just gone in and were exclaiming how cold it was! As I was about to go in they were cheering me on and shouting encouragement to go in the frigid water. It didn't seem that terribly cold to me and I just dunked right in. Swam for a bit, floated, and relaxed. It was cold for sure, but for whatever reason that afternoon the chill just didn't bother me.
Dried off and changed in the van, then hit the road for the 6 hour drive to Mount Rainier NP for another night of photography!
6 hours is a lot of driving for me, I try to keep my travel under 5 hours to allow more time to explore along the way. However I also wanted to get to Mt. Rainier before sunset (about 9:00).
My destination was Sunrise Overlook and I discovered on the way through that there was restricted timed entry for that area! However my timing worked out and it was well past the timed entry. Sometimes procrastination pays off!
As I was pulling into the park around sunset I noticed smoke from a forest fire trickling into the dusk sky. Would this clear up before the meteor shower? (Spoiler: No it did not)
The photos below show the progression of the smoke through the night.
At the Sunrise Overlook parking lot there were 2 other photographers already set up. I went over and chatted. Sometimes other photogs are very friendly and sometimes they're standoffish. I was happy to find these two guys were super friendly! And they were just as happy to have me join them (they'd also just met earlier this evening, the same way.)
We ended up hanging out and shooting together all night.
It also worked out that I had a little more experience and knowledge about night skies photography and they knew more about the Perseids and about Mt. Rainier park.
Over the years I've learned a lot about night skies by meeting and chatting with photogs I've met along the way. It's great to be able to 'pay it forward' and share some of that knowledge with others that I meet in the same way.
Good: Woke up in North Cascades National Park and went to sleep in Mount Rainier National Park! That's pretty a pretty damn cool way to spend my 100th day!
Bad: In the evening the smoke was severely exacerbating my already annoying and lingering cough. I dug out a K95 mask from the deep recesses of my van and it helped tremendously.
Unexpected: Pulled another all nighter last night staying up to photograph the Perseids! Smoke from a fire in Victoria, BC rolled in around sunset and got steadily worse as the night went on. By 11:30 the sky had became completely obscured by the smoke. At midnight I finally “called it” as a loss and headed back to the van to go to sleep. Before turning in I wanted to take one more pic of mount Rainier lined up along the road. I set up and took the shot, then noticed in the photo that some stars were visible above the mountain! I looked around at the sky and saw that the smoke was clearing up suddenly and very quickly! In less than 20 minutes the entire sky was almost completely clear. I set back up with my new friends and shot for another 3 hours!
At 2:07am I saw a tremendous fireball directly over the Mt. Rainier peak and quickly checked the camera to see if I got it, and I did! I declared that was my "money shot" for the night and didn't expect to get anything better than that. Shot for a little while longer and then finally went back to the van. Instead of going to sleep I pulled up and edited that photo right away! I couldn't wait to see how it came out.
This is one of those photos where I could shoot for the rest of my life and not get another one this good.
Wednesday, August 13. Day 101
I’ve changed the terms of our arrangement,
pray I don’t change it again.
Mount Rainier National Park
Slept in pretty late in the Sunrise Overlook parking lot. I heard people coming and going all morning. It's always a bit weird hearing people going about their day just a few feet from where I'm sleeping. I know they can't see me or have any idea I'm even in here, still it feels a little like being in a fishbowl.
Eventually I got up and made coffee. Sipped it as I walked around the overlook taking in the scenery. The smoke from last night was back. Not as bad as in the evening but bad enough that I needed the K95 mask again.
From the overlook I drove further up Sunrise Road towards the peak of Mount Rainier and the visitors center up there.
It was a short drive that was nonetheless spectacular. I've seen so many amazing mountain vistas on this trip, it’s nice to know I can still find myself in total awe of something magnificent like this.
At the Mount Rainier Lodge and visitors center they had cans of 'Mt. Rainier Beer'! I remember that beer from a frat party my freshman year of college! I'm not a beer guy at all, but even I knew back then that it was terrible. Maybe 30 years later it's improved, but I'm not going to try and find out.
On the way out of the park I spotted one of the guys, Cliff, from last night at the overlook and I stopped to say hi.
From there I headed to Tacoma, with the plan of heading to Seattle next to catch up with a friend for our weekend plans.
Trying to stay over in Tacoma, I’m finding most cities are generally hostile to people sleeping in their vehicles. Most shopping centers - even the ones know for allowing overnight parking - had signs up warning people off.
I tried a Cabela’s (aka, bass pro shop) where I’ve had luck before but the parking lot security guy told me I couldn't stay there (he was friendly about it, though.) Parked elsewhere in the same shopping center near a closed Applebees instead.
Daily Listen: “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC on the ‘90s rock’ playlist comes on just as I’m thinking how awestruck I am by Mount Rainier.
Good: Running into Cliff at the Sunrise Overlook. He was doing a livestream for his Youtube or Twitch channel and invited me to join him for a guest spot! We hung out and chatted on stream for almost 2 hours! People watching the stream posted questions and we replied. Talking about photography, philosophy, mental health, Star Trek, and more. It was a lot of fun for me! Unfortunately it's not posted anywhere or else I'd share it.
Bad: Wanted to do a hike today but “dangerous” air quality from the smoke nixed that.
Unexpected: Since before even leaving on this trip I’d been planning to visit with a friend in Seattle. Over the last few months he changed the plans a few times, settling on inviting me to a group villa in puget sound for the weekend for a couple nights. This evening he rescinded the invitation, because other friends wanted to come. Now I’m reassessing my plans for the next few days and the weekend.
Thursday, August 14. Day 102
Just a little off the top
Tacoma, WA
I woke up early and around 7am was about to make coffee when I got a knock on the van door. A gruff old woman in a security golf cart told me “You can’t be here, no sleeping overnight in the parking lot!”
In the petulant tone of 'I'm taking my ball and going home!' I was thinking 'I don’t need you, I was leaving anyway!'
[Being serious for a second] Instead I simply said 'Ok' and got ready to leave. I am on a personal journey to be better about not let things bother me to rile me up. Just let it roll off. If I can choose to let something ruin my morning, I can just the same choose not to. Oftentimes I still have a knee-jerk reaction, but I try to temper it and let it go.
Same thing last night with my weekend plans being cancelled. Move on, make new plans. I can choose not to let this ruin my time here.
"Anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. A Jedi need not these things. This is the path to the dark side." - Yoda
Moving on.
I went looking for a post office to mail some postcards and found one in a section of town called Edison Square. It turned out to be a cool hipster-esque area with a lot of local shops, bars, and music venues. I saw people waiting in a long line for something and went to investigate. It was a bagel joint called ‘Howdy Bagels’, and I figured with a line like that it had to be good! It was pretty good.
Taking some time to explore the area, I found a barber shop and got a haircut. Had lunch at a small place advertising Burgers & Beignets. I got neither. I’m a bit burgered out and got a Nashville hot chicken sandwich.
A friend from back home had set me up with a guest day pass to Planet Fitness and I used that today. Had a quick workout and a long shower. Nearby found a laundromat and did a couple loads.
Earlier at Edison Square I noticed that the street parking signs didn't say anything about overnight parking and decided to try my luck there. Hung out at hipster bar for a bit and then called it a night.
Daily Listen: ‘The Contino Sessions’ by Death in Vegas. I liked it, but I don’t think you will.
Good: Walking around an interesting section of Tacoma most of the day. Checking out shops, restaurants and a couple cool music venues. Unfortunately there were no shows playing tonight.
Bad: The haircut. It’s not terrible, but not exactly what I wanted. The ‘bad’ though is that I asked for a tiny trim to clean up the top and he cut off almost 3”!
Unexpected: Getting hustled out of a shopping center parking lot when it was already morning. Sigh, why bother?
Friday, August 15. day 103
Dare to be stupid
Tacoma, WA
It was raining lightly when I woke up. Thought I'd head back to Howdy Bagels until I saw the line was halfway up the block. The bagels were good enough, but not 'stand in the rain for 30 minutes' good.
Went to a coffee shop across the street instead. It was spacious and had wifi. Sat with my laptop, a coffee and a muffin and edited photos from Banff! (Ugh, I’m almost 3 weeks behind!) But I successfully got the photos processed and the blog posted.
On a whim I looked up photo printing shops - not expecting to actually find anything - and found a photography/print shop 10 minutes away! I got a bunch of 4x6 prints made, bought some more film, and got a new battery for my 35mm camera.
It rained most of the rest of the day (It’s raining in Seattle, go figure) and I sat in the van catching up on journaling, more photo processing, and sending postcards of my newly printed 4x6’s!
Now that I'm stocked up on recent photos, here’s another call for anyone who’d like to be added to my ‘postcard’ list, message me!
Good: Parked overnight in the Edison section of Tacoma and was in-and-out of sleep all night expecting to be run off. The “good“ here is that I nobody actually bothered me about being there.
Bad: My new plans for tonight were canceled due to rain. But my impromptu backup–backup was very…
…Unexpected! Saw an ad on social media for a band tomorrow night in Seattle. That prompted me to look online and see who’s playing tonight - and I found a ticket online For Weird Al Yankovic! The last minute ticket was only $40! The show starts in one hour and I am 45 minutes away!
Bonus, the ticket was amazing, 20th row, far left. Easily a $100+ ticket sold for a fraction the day-of. I’ll have to keep an eye out for other last minute shows!
Daily Listen; “Weird Al” Yankovic!
The show was fantastic! Tremendously entertaining. I’m not a huge Weird Al fan, but many of my friends are and I know his music well enough. The stage production, the accompanying videos, and the layers of humor among the band on stage all came together to elevate the show. I’d go see him again in a heartbeat.
Saturday, August 16. Day 104
The Emerald City
Seattle
In the morning I headed into Seattle and spent most of the day walking around the city. There was a small art market in Pioneer Square I browsed for a bit. Saw a line for an ice-cream place and got a cone.
Online I’d found an party at an art gallery downtown and bought a ticket for something to do Saturday night. Got my extrovert on and socialized for the evening.
On the way out afterwards I saw a Tesla driver try to run down a pedestrian, then the driver jumped out of the car and chased the other guy down the block. They fought, ran, fought some more. I was contemplating if I should report the incident. Literally just as I was about to call 911 a firetruck comes around the corner and is blocked in by the abandoned car in the middle of the street. A few minutes later a police car shows up, and shortly after that a tow truck. I wonder if chasing that dude down was worth having his car impounded.
After that I decided to leave the city and drive back to Mt Rainier at midnight.
I felt better leaving the city. Both for getting back to nature, but also staying somewhere I wasn’t on-edge all night.
As an added bonus, the spot I want to go tomorrow in Mt Rainier requires an entry reservation between 7a-5p. By getting there tonight night I’m in a position to hike the next day.
I also thought I might get some nighttime photos, but the cloud cover was too heavy.
The screenshot below is the extremely windy road I drove at 1:30am!
Good: Had a huge ice cream cone downtown. It melted all over while I tried in earnest to finish.
Bad: Paid in advance for day & overnight parking only to decide that I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my van in a sketchy area. Found street parking elsewhere.
Unexpected: Seattle is very steep! It’s a real workout walking around the city.
That brings to a close my time in Seattle! As uneventful as it was.
Next week I head to Portland to pick up a photography friend and we're going to do a photo excursion down the Oregon coast!
A little taste of things to come;
Beachfront night skies
Seals and Puffins
Forest Fires!
Glacier Lake Sunrise
We got some amazing photos that I'm excited to share!
(I just have to finish going through all of them!)
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