Alki

writing from this vantage point of a few months after the fact, recapping the rest of this trip feels a bit unimportant for all involved (the reader, the writer). so much has happened in the past few months in both of our lives that overshadows these happenings of march and april. as a practice, though, reflection via this public forum has proved helpful (and therapeutic, almost) in recalling the past, in dealing with the passage of time and the relentless drive forward. so, without further ado, we present washington, "alki" (by and by).

the drive from portland to seattle was pretty much doubled in time due to the skateparks and thrift stores and artworks lining the I-5 all the way up. the way north began by going south, to tigard, the land of dinosaurs and fourteen foot transitions comfortably slayed by the local 13 year olds and timidly carved by yours truly. the northwest concrete intimidation continued. and here is th' dinosaur.

soon enough we were going in the right direction, getting side tracked by the plethora of well stocked thrift stores and then this, RichArt's art yard. styrofoam and scrapwood and various trash-objects fashioned into sculpture and patterns, everything white washed. yet again, something quite un-captureable.





the grunge tour began at sleater kinney road in olympia and didnt seem to stop until we re-crossed the wa/or border.

more miles and thrift stores later, we found yet another esoteric creation. tacoma is home to John Lewis' mosaic monoliths. these mysterious creations in the forested back yard of mr. lewis were heightened in mystery because mr. lewis does not give tours and nobody came out to talk with us as we took in these creations in his back yard. after a brief chat with somebody we assume to be mrs. lewis, we self guided our way about one of the best environments we have seen up to this point. truly one of the most mystifying and intriguing and overwhelming art related experience ive had.

this met us up front.

and soon enough we were sucked in to the sculpture world out back.


as you can see, one of these works is about three of me

and two of melissa

beautiful! amazing! inspiring! creation for the love of creation, not for the love of talking about that creation...

dazed and amazed, we continued north to seattle. the next morning, our amazing friend and seattle host danny took us to the mind blowing wayward cafe. below is my "ex-benedict"

and melissa's "country bumpkin." (so good we had to return the next morning so i could get th' bumpkin).

continuing our grunge tour, danny led the way to the fremont troll. below, danny and myself contemplate plaids resurgence.

and soon enough, we were deep in rain forests.



saw the world famous snoqualmie water slides

snoqualmie falls itself. here is a great travel diary of the twin peaks lands we were ensconced in. badalamenti tunes were on continuous loop in m'head.

sir danny...

growth

seattlites from pennsylvania love german analytical psychologists, apparently.

had the good fortune to meet up with the nomadic/sporadic and always lovely liz keller. shes m'friend from way back and we gorged on pho. seattle possibly rivals north orange county in its pho output. broadway hosts an incredible amount of pho palaces.

we continued our grunge quest with a visit to the black hole sun. danny, melissa, liz and june remained on the hole's periphery, thinking about soundgarden and kurt cobain...

...while i interacted with the black hole sun itself. quite possibly one of the worst pieces of public art/sculpture ever.


june and melissa reflecting on all they saw together.

and then contemplating the future

we made our way ever more north, about as far as we could go sans passports. bellingham washington. so quaint and beautiful. the ever-elusive tim beardshear showed us about his adopted town, even taking us to super mario's.

juggalo infestation

and back to the wayward one more time for ruebens

and then to the sound garden itself.

even in the slightest wind, these things made amazing droney tones. we were stunned into silence by the atmosphere it created.

and donut tour continued with gusto.

soon enough, we left the loving and rainy seattle city limits for things further afield. on the way down the washington coast back to portland, we paid homage to marsh's free museum in long beach. akin to many other places we've visited (and will visit, no doubt), this familiar cluster of miscellany and mythical beasts was a very welcome addition to our collective memory of such miscellaneous beasts and bits and bobs.


hmmm....

jake the alligator man!


IT LANDS ON COWS

wellington marsh, sr. himself


see you soon.