Northwest: Little Towns

Anacortes / Mt Vernon / Arlington

May 10 . 2012

I've driven up and down I-5 more times than I can count. On each of those trips I passed freeway signs declaring the existence of the towns Arlington and Stanwood. Until this past thursday though, I had never set foot in either of these little populaces. I didn't willingly choose to spend my time visiting these towns, work forced my hand and sent me on an adventure. They weren't anything to write home about, but on this nice, mostly sunny spring day, they were something. 

Bellingham: Tyrell

Tyrell Johnson

Physical Specimen

"People are always saying he's deceptively quick, deceptively athletic, and I don't know if that's just because I'm Asian or what it is, but obviously there's going to be stereotypes that you have to fight." - Jeremy Lin

People undersell professional basketball player Jeremy Lins athleticism because of his race. Coincidentally, people undersell Tyrell's athleticism because he has the voice of an angel, the striking looks of a Gap Young Adults model and the comedic timing of someone who is funny because of their comedic timing. Make no mistake, Tyrell is athletic. He sprints like a graceful gazelle being chased by a ravenous mountain lion, jumps like a kangaroo out for his daily pounce-about, and throws objects of much mass and weight distances only steroid abusing meatheads achieve. And he does all this with the beard of a wise old man. The Olympics called and said "show us why Tyrell should be invited to London". Good luck turning this down, Olympics.

Northwest: Mount Vernon

Tulip Town

May 4 . 2012

It was a gray, drizzly day. Half the daffodils in this particular field were dead. My pants got dirty from the muddy fields. The ideal Tulip Town visit this was not. But I had neglected these flowery fields for almost 20 years, I didn't expect much hospitality.