As usual, higher res and more photos can be found here.
On Friday after work I walked to Burbank airport and flew to Seattle. Byron picked me up at the airport and we proceeded to a local restaurant for some a few bites and drinks. Afterwards we came home and had a few more drinks.
The next day Byron and Christine took me to a great breakfast at a little fusion place before heading over to the Seattle Flower Conservatory.
We walked by the famous Black Hole Sun, which I’d never heard of.
After that Christine had to walk to work, so Byron and I headed home to check out some of the gorgeous shots he took in Bali, New Zealand and Australia on their honeymoon. At 4 we left the house and walked down to a sports bar to watch the OSU game.
To our mutual surprise the whole bar was filled with Arizona State fans. We were the lone buckeye supporters in the place, which was ironic because the game we were watching was giving us a lot more to celebrate than any of the other games on at the same time.
The game was over by 9 and we walked over to a downstairs bar that had lots of games to play. Byron and I sipped drinks (and ate some fried fish) while playing Star Trek Uno.
On Sunday we packed up and headed to Kingston for some breakfast before heading to the Mt. Zion trail.
At the base was a restroom that had been closed during the government shutdown and never reopened, apparently to the great ire of some local gun toting rednecks.
Hiking in Washington State is almost like hiking in the tropical forest in Thailand due to the humidity and foliage. However, Washington’s distinct difference is the constant cold air whipping at your face and old pine trees draped in green lacelike moss. (is it moss?)
When we were almost to the peak we saw an outcropping up above the trail and we headed up the wet rocks to get a view that was actually mostly unobstructed, unlike the peak, which was surrounded by a forest of pine trees.
When we got to the parking lot we realized the peak we’d been standing on was visible from there. You can see it in the photo below if you follow Byron’s finger to the outcropping standing just above the treeline at the top.
From the outcropping we could hear gunshots echo across the valley between ranges. Not the most reassuring thing since we rarely saw another human being after entering Olympic National Park.
Before sunset we headed to Kingston to visit the beach for a bit before visiting Byron’s parents’ new home.
Byron’s mom cooked us some delicious gumbo before we headed outside to take some pictures of the outer arm of the milky way galaxy. Neither of us had the kind of equipment to get a “real” picture of the stars, but it was fun to try.
On Monday and Tuesday Byron and I attended the Seattle Interactive Conference. It was a mixed bag, some speakers really had nothing new to say and most of the content was below our skill/knowledge level, but there were a few interesting panels on SEO that I caught. Byron was inspired to try and get a track together to present at the next Conference that would be more in line with what he and I were looking for (although given our divergence in careers those two things were a little different).
The trip was a good chance to reconnect with my best friend, who I hadn’t spent “real” time with (not bachelor partying it up or working on/in a wedding) in quite a while.
