non-random sampling

Here are a few pictures taken over the last week or so. I’d like to dedicate the captions to Dr. Joseph Sulock.

One of the things I like most about photography is it makes you more observant to the world around you. Until we meet again Seattle…

In 1889 33 blocks of Seattle burned down and when they rebuilt it they….wait for it…….put the streets at the 2nd floor! So you can go underground now and see what was the ground level in ye olden times. Also, if you get lucky Norm Macdonald will be your tour guide.

The Seattle Underground is a network of underground passageways and basements in downtown Seattle, Washington, United States that was ground level at the city’s origin in the mid-1800s.

In 1907 the city condemned the Underground for fear of bubonic plague. The basements were left to deteriorate or were used as storage. In some cases, they became illegal flophouses for the homeless, gambling halls, speakeasies, and opium dens.

Thanks Wikipedia!

It was a much better drive back to Bozeman than it was going out. It is amazing how much of the landscape you can see when the moon is full and everything is snow covered. Also, Luke was nice enough to stop in Butte and let me run around in the -15 degree weather trying to get a decent night shot.

The entire trip to Seattle from Bozeman consists of driving 5 minutes to I-90, staying on that interstate for 10 hours or so, and then exiting in downtown Seattle. About 200 miles west of Bozeman lies the great city of Missoula where my friend Hilary just moved to.

My traveling companion Luke and I stopped for a little while and visited Hilary and Missoula’s fairly vibrant downtown. It was a good stop, unfortunately we had to carry on before the snow overtook us.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was our visit to the Seattle Aquarium. I haven’t been to a lot of aquariums (none?), which is too bad because they are really interesting. The colors of things that live underwater are just amazing. I don’t know why that is, but it would certainly be awesome if more things above ground were bright orange and purple.

There were pools where you could touch starfish, anemones, and all sorts of other funny-feeling animals. There was a wheel of jellyfish, squid, otters, sea lions, and too many other things to name. The sea is really a remarkable place that I never experience.

It was a great trip. Seattle is the kind of big city where I would want to live in. Now I’m back in Bozeman where it was -15 degrees last night and I have work to do

In a few minutes (hopefully) Luke and I will be bound on a weekend trip to Seattle. Why am I going? I hope to take some pictures and see some interesting Seattly things. I haven’t been there since 2001 when Rebecca and I made a quick stop during our fabulous cross-country drive. We’re planning on staying a a Hostel and going to see a friend of Luke’s, Mike Daisy, who does a one-man show.

We’re also stopping by Missoula to see one of its newest residents, Hilary Schoendorf, on the way out of town. Hilary is a friend of mine from NC who made the plunge to Montanaland to take a job as an urban planner. Huzzah!

In the meantime here’s a picture of a llama and Luke in a tuxedo with a bull-whip.

This was the second time in a week Kez and I had made the trip. I thought this Geothermal Feature was especially cool.

No one else I know works harder to make the world a better place.

My boy’s all growed up!

I must give homage to biking on the Blue Ridge Parkway Ride with Davy, Chris, Binky, and Gary. Good times.

Here are 22 more pictures in a rar file