Europe Confidential?!?!

Hiking the paths at the base of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park last Wednesday, my cell phone rang. On the other end, a contact of mine at a client I have at a multi-national, intergovernmental agency. Would I be interested, she asked, in coming to Geneva, Switzerland, ASAP for at least a month or more to be an on-site editor and writer for them?

Um. YES!

Problem, though. I was still nearly 1,000 miles from my final destination and my passport was expired. The result: we spent Monday in San Francisco having my passport expedited, then finished driving up to Langley, Washington. I arrived Friday night (May 15) and am trying to get some of my boxes unpacked while also trying to pack for a six week stay in Geneva.

I'm bummed not to be starting my Whidbey Island Confidential blog and I still have five or six posts to put up on my D.C. Confidential blog finishing up our road trip across America. On the other hand, I'M GOING TO GENEVA, SWITZERLAND! Yoda-lay-hee-hoo!

So, I'll be blogging from Geneva and photographing life in Switzerland, France (where I'll be living), and any other countries I happen to visit during my days off. Stay tuned...

Traveling: Seattle in the Daylight

The Space Needle from Queen Anne Hill : Seattle, WA

Sunday morning, Maya graciously continued her tour guiding and took me up to Queen Anne Hill to capture iconic photos of the Space Needle.

Close up : Frank Gehry, Architect : Experience Music Project : Seattle, WA

We also went down to the Seattle Center and the Needle itself and enjoyed a little photo walking around that and the Experience Music Project (EMP) complex. Not long after that, I left and headed out toward the coast to catch some beach time before my flight back to D.C. the next day.

Some sculpture thingamijig at the EMP : Seattle, WA

All in all, I enjoyed Whidbey Island and Seattle. Meeting a fellow photo blogger was a lot of fun and I hope to have similar opportunities with others in the future! If I ever win the lottery, I'm buying a Mini-Wini and traveling to the cities where all of my favorite photo bloggers live. Now, if I could just find the right numbers, I'd be on my way.

Space Needle and EMP between Monorail : Seattle, WA

As usual, this is a just a handful of the photos I took on Sunday. To see more, see the slideshow below. Remember, you can click on it and it will open in a larger format.

Tomorrow: Ocean Shores, a celebrity sighting, and heading home...

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

When Bloggers Meet: Seattle

Pike Place Market decorated for Christmas : Seattle, WA

Saturday evening, I hooked up with Maya of Maya Photography and she showed me all around Seattle's downtown area. I have no clue where we were exactly at all times, but she was a great tour guide.

A tripod would have been useful for these, but I still like them : Pike Place Market : Seattle, WA

Of course, a tripod would have been helpful that night and I had it with me, but left it in the trunk of the car. I've found that it works best there. (That's also where I store my umbrella on rainy days as it's less likely to get wet that way.) The result of being tripod-less were these two happy mistakes at Pike Place.

Carousal at Macy's : Seattle, WA

After we saw Pike Place Market, we walked around the plaza near Macy's and then walked through Capitol Hill. What struck me most, for some odd reason, was all of the neon. We don't have a lot of neon in downtown D.C., but Seattle seems to have a ton of it. Most of my pictures from that night feature lots of neon.

Robin Williams at the Paramount : Seattle, WA

If these five pictures aren't enough neon for you, come back tomorrow when I'll be featuring a few more examples of lighted wonder as part of the weekly Two Things Challenge!

Bus Terminal : Seattle, WA

We also walked past the city's bus tunnel, which looked really cool in the night light, so I snapped a picture. Not your typical, iconic Seattle sight (those will show up here on Monday), but quite beautiful nonetheless.

Tomorrow: Two Things Challenge and more neon.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

Traveling: Mukilteo, WA

Sunset on Puget Sound : Mukilteo, WA

After the Christmas parade on Saturday afternoon, I got ready to head up to Seattle for the night. To get off the island, you take a ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo. These are just a few photos from Mukilteo down around the ferry launch.

Some information about Mukilteo: With a population just over 20,000, Mukilteo is one of Seattle's most affluent bedroom communities. Median income is nearly $84,000/yr. Most of the boom came in the 1980s and 1990s, when the city annexed 1.2 square miles along the Mukilteo speedway for development. Population grew from less than 1,000 to more than 4,000. In 1991, a second annexation doubled the size of the city and increased the population to 10,000.

This seagull on the No Parking sign cracked me up! : Mukilteo, WA

Historically, Mukilteo is the point where Gov. Isaac Stevens and the chiefs of 22 tribes from across Puget Sound signed the Point Elliott Treaty in 1855. For many decades, the settlement was a fishing village, trading post, and port-of-entry. Today, the Washington State Ferry shuttles 3 million people per year back and forth across the sound. There are plans in the works for an additional ferry line to the east of the current line.

Mukilteo Light Station and the Mukilteo-to-Clinton Ferry : Mukilteo, WA

Mukilteo is also home to a light station, just west of the ferry building. Mukilteo Light Station was built in 1906 and has a Fourth Order Fresnel lens that has a range of 12 nautical miles. Of the 26 lighthouses in Washington, only six remain open to the public. This is one of them.

Today's entries are part of SkyWatch Friday.

Tomorrow's entry will be When Bloggers Meet: Seattle and will feature pictures I shot while hanging out with Seattle-based blogger, Maya of Maya Photography.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

Traveling: Small Town Christmas, Langley Style

City Hall decked out in festive delight : Langley, WA

Langley, Washington, is on the south end of Whidbey Island and is a quaint little town with several bookstores, a couple of coffee shops, a few restaurants, cafes, and taverns, a movie theater, a grocery store, a post office, a library, and several boutique stores on the main street. This is a no-stop-light town with a cop everyone knows as Officer Bob and a strenuously enforced speed limit of 25 mph. (For someone from Washington, D.C., the speed-limit-abiding drivers of Washington State baffled me!)

Christmas Parade : Langley, WA

At Christmas time, the town has a Christmas parade. I just happened to be there on the right weekend to see it. It's all of three blocks long, but it was cute and fun to see the kids. It reminded me of the July 4th Parade my siblings and I use to participate in every year growing up in Provo, Utah.

A Bagpipe Brigade from Gig Harbor pipes in the Christmas Parade : Langley, WA

In addition to these holiday photos, see the slideshow below for more of Langley and a few odds-and-ends thrown in for fun. (Click on the slideshow to open in a larger format.)

*****

Mary Elizabeth : Kick-in-the-pants Proprietor of Mike's Place : Langley, WA

Continuing my 100 Strangers series, the lady above is Mary Elizabeth. She owns a restaurant in town called Mike's Place--named after her husband. Every Sunday night is Trivia Night at Mike's. The restaurant is full of comfy chairs in the front and tables for dining in the back. If you ever visit Langley, go to Mike's Place and spend some time talking to Mary Elizabeth. She is a kick in the pants! She's also the person, if I understood this correctly, who arranged a number of the logistics for the Christmas parade, including arranging for the bagpipers. They came up from Gig Harbor.

Tomorrow: Mukilteo Enroute to Seattle

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

Traveling: Whidbey Island, WA (Part II)

Bald Eagle, Late Afternoon : Fort Casey State Park : Coupeville, WA

Since I arrived in the afternoon on Thursday, I limited my explorations on the island to the town of Langley, where I was staying, and Freeland, just north of Langley. The next morning, however, I got up really early and decided to drive the entire length of the island and explore Whidbey as best I could. These are just a handful of the 120 pictures I took that day. To see more than the six or so I'm posting today, check out the slideshow at the end of this entry. The photo above is a bald eagle I captured toward the end of the afternoon when I was out visiting Fort Casey and seeing Admiralty Head Lighthouse.

Adirondack chairs and wreath : Whidbey Island, WA

Some information about Whidbey Island: It is one of nine islands that comprise Island County, Washington. Of the nine, it is the largest and most populous with nearly 60,000 residents. The islands lie in Puget Sound between the Olympic Peninsula and what is known as the I-5 Corridor. At its longest, the island is 62 miles in length and, at its widest, 12 miles wide. Its narrowest width is 2 miles. Whidbey Island is the fifth longest and largest island in the contiguous United States and the largest in Washington State.

Early morning light : Oak Harbor, WA

The northern end of the island is dominated by a U.S. naval air station and most of the residents in Oak Harbor are either active military or civilian defense employees. On the south end of the island, most of the residents are employed in tourism commerce, agriculture, and the arts. Access to the south end of the island is by ferry from Mukilteo.

Deception Pass : Deception Pass State Park

Driving north out of Oak Harbor, you come to Deception Pass State Park. Cross a bridge and you're back on the mainland and on your way to Anacortes, which is where you can catch a ferry to Victoria, B.C.

Admiralty Head Lighthouse : Fort Casey State Park : Coupeville, WA

The island also includes a lighthouse at Fort Casey State Park just outside Coupeville--about halfway between Langley and Oak Harbor. Admiralty Head Lighthouse was constructed in 1860 and was a wooden structure. Later, the U.S. Army took over the area and the original structure was demolished. A new building (the one above) was built in 1903. The lighthouse operated until 1922 and is now a non-profit interpretative center for a group known as Lighthouse Environmental Programs.

Pilings, logs, and driftwood as art : Whidbey Island, WA
(Click images to enlarge.)

There you have it. Just a smattering of information about Whidbey Island. Later that evening, I took the boat over to Mukilteo for dinner at Ivar's fish shack. The sunset was spectacular! You can see pictures of that in the slideshow. (Click on the slideshow graphic and it will open in a new window with larger photos.)

Tomorrow will feature Small Town Christmas: Langley

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

Traveling: Whidbey Island, WA

6:22 a.m. Departure : BWI

I've been lagging behind in responding to comments in last week's blog entries. My apologies for that, but my thanks to everyone who continues to stop by and read. My excuse? I was traveling and didn't have internet access for nearly four days! Last week, I spent five days in Washington State. My visit took me to Whidbey Island, Mukilteo, Seattle, and Ocean Shores. In all, I booked nearly 600 miles in ground and water travel, 6,000 air miles, and saw a beautiful part of the country. For the next few days, I'll be posting pictures from my trip.

Flying over the Golden Gate : San Francisco, CA
(Click image to enlarge)

Today's photos feature shots from the airplane, in airports, and on Whidbey Island. I'll stick to the captions on the first two, but note that my outbound flight commenced at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) and included a layover at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), hence the first two pictures. My final destination was Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), known as SEA-TAC.

Airport Art : SEA-TAC

The third photo is a piece of art in SEA-TAC in the United Airlines baggage claim area. The entire piece is constructed of reflector circles! SEA-TAC airport is full of some really fun art. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the artist on this one.

Towering firs : Langley, WA

My purpose for being in the Seattle area was to check out a business opportunity on Whidbey Island. One of the beauties of the Pacific Northwest are the abundance of coniferous trees. These ones are on the property of a friend who owns a home in Langley, WA.

Sunset : Freeland, WA

Finally, the first night I was on Whidbey Island, I drove up to Freeland. I had to pull off the road to take this picture of a lovely sunset. (Note to Virginia and Maya: No, I did not shoot while driving! Too dangerous on windy, twisty coast/island roads.)

Tomorrow: More about Whidbey Island, a bald eagle, and a lighthouse.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

Traveling: The "Other" Washington

This week will feature a series of photos I took while traveling in Washington State.

12.9: Whidbey Island, WA
12.10: Whidbey Island, WA (Part II)
12.11: Small Town Christmas, Langley Style
12.12: Mukilteo, WA
12.13: When Bloggers Meet: Seattle
12.14: Two Things Challenge: Urban / Art
12.15: Seattle in the Daylight
12.16: Ocean Shores and Home