Washington Pictures!

They're finally up!

Awwwwww, yeah.




As for the narrative, well, we'll see about that.

I woke up this morning and I could almost feel it.

While finishing up our packing this morning, I put on "Recycled Air" by The Postal Service to see if it might come; that wave of nostalgia for everything that a trip to the Northwest brings to me. It's unbelievable to me how a place can leave such gaping hole in your heart that can hardly be filled with music or coffee you try to place in it simply because they remind you of it all.

It's been (almost) five years since the last time I was in Washington. And I knew very little about how much life would change in the month following that trip. I can't say I didn't know it was coming. I sensed something there, some thrill of change lingering in the air that I'd tasted the year before - my first visit there. And now my visit this time includes that change in human form and I can't tell you how excited I am to share this place with Cliff.

Washington brings out great things in me, and I know no other way to explain it except that some part of me feels at home there. Alive. Exhilarated. Awake.

Everyone keeps asking me what I'm most excited about, because goodness knows there's a lot.

And I keep talking about that moment I first walk out of the SEA-TAC airport to feel and breathe the air. Right now, that's what I'm most excited about. And I probably won't get over that for a couple of days because I've been craving that feeling for so long. It's nothing short of a drug. In fact, I'm already dreading the next bout of withdrawal (though at least this time it's only a couple of months since we're headed to Portland at the end of October).

Whew. Just a few more hours and we're off.

Can't wait for the adventures to come.

I Dream About This

All day long.

(sigh) It can't come fast enough.

The Cat's Out of the Bag

And Marianna let him out!

The winning answers are:
1. Hoh Rainforest, Olympic National Park, Washington
2. Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
3. Mount St. Helens, Washington
4. Seattle, Washington
5. North Cascades National Park, Washington
6. San Juan Island, Washington
7. La Push, Washington

Props to Whitney and Karyn for being so darn close. Though Whitney's advantage as a Washingtonian might have helped her out a little ;)

I was going to wait until Marianna got her Washington-themed prize tomorrow (since she works with Cliff) to let you know what the stakes were, but I'll just let the other cat out of the bag, too!


An REI giftcard in the amount of $10, because everyone should get outside and every little bit helps!


A Starbucks giftcard in the amount of $5, for those Chai Lattes she loves so much! I know things.


Thanks to everyone who participated!