Traveling Home?

Although I am a native of the Pacific Northwest, the longer I stay away, the more foreign it seems. Coming home this time, with my Polish girlfriend Marta -- on her first trip to the states outside of New York City -- I am trying to "see" these places through a new lense, picking destinations only sometimes for their sentimental value, while also trying to pick places to visit that best embody the area. Over the next several weeks we will be doing the city thing in Seattle and Vancouver, biking in the Palouse and on the Hiawatha Trail, Camping on the Olympic Peninsula, and climbing Mt. St. Helens. We will do our best to keep you updated with pictures and thoughts from the trip. I am looking forward to the journey home more than most years -- visiting places I have never seen, and revisiting places that hold many of my most treasured memories.