You Think You Know

Big Rock Garden

Oct 24.2010

Just when you think you know a place, it goes and drops a little surprise on you. In this case, I thought I knew Bellingham. I thought I'd seen it all. Turns out there was a hidden little sculpture park that I had no idea existed. Tucked away on top of Alabama hill there sits a small little park. Inside this park are over 30 sculptures planted in a very well thought out maze of paths, bushes, shrubs, trees and a bathroom. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the most passionate fan of sculpture art. In fact, a lot of it confuses me. A lot of it seems pointless and simple. Especially that stuff they planted all over WWU's campus. But this park was interesting. Well worth a visit. Well worth a second visit when the lighting is better.

The Bully

Boulevard Park Boardwalk

October 19, 2010

If you're sitting there thinking, "i've seen a picture like this before" you're probably right. I've taken a picture like this before. A lot of them. Some would say too many of them. It's hard not to go to the Bully (Boulevard) at sunset on a nice evening. But here's the deal, I bought a new lens recently and I wanted to use it. So I did. Now you may be thinking, "well that story wasn't very interesting". Well, you're right.

Hello Dawg Fans

UW vs ASU

Husky Stadium - 10.9.2010

The score wont be mentioned here. Neither will the weather report from the evening. Instead, all that will be featured is the beautiful Husky Stadium. Greatest College Football venue in North America.

Aloha Means Goodbye

Maui, Hawaii

Kapalua

Final Thoughts from Hawaii:

1) Locals can make up anything they want to impress travelers knowing full well travelers will take everything they say as 100% truth. Take this made up conversation for proof;

Traveler 1: "Did you know Hawaii is home to the second most variety of native breeds of elephants in the world”

Traveler 2: “That’s ridiculous. I haven’t seen a single Elephant on this island. Prove it!”

Traveler 1: "Don't have to. A native hawaiian told me."

Traveler 2: "Oh I see, well that’s cool then. I like Elephants... Want a Mai Tai?”

The minute Hawaii gets Internet, and thus Google, Native Hawaiian’s will instantly seem 40% less knowledgeable. (Based on my feeling that native Hawaiian’s make up about 40% of the “facts” they throw out while leading tours, spouting off in bar’s and engaging in friendly conversation at the local surf shop.)

2) If the beaches weren’t so beautiful, refreshing, relaxing and entertaining, no one would go there. The water is nasty salty and sand can often be rather annoying.

3) Bringing a child under the age of 5 on a trip to Hawaii seems to be a solid way to make sure the trip will suck more than it should.

4) The true Definition of Snorkeling: Watching beautiful and rare fish use the ocean as their expansive and limitless restroom.

Aloha Means Hiking the Ridge

Kapalua Resort:

Mahana Ridge Trail and Arboretum

We took a quick day hike through the west Maui Mahana Ridge hiking trail and adjacent Arboretum. You've got quite the flora and fauna Hawaii, quite the flora and fauna. And those views aren't too bad either.

Aloha Means Si Suns

"Si Suns" is Greek For Sick Sunsets

Special thanks to: Char Beck for his creative word play and extensive knowledge of foreign language

& Tyler Gorsline for introducing me to and teaching me the ways of Charspeak

3 Separate Days. 3 Separate Sunsets. Yet all strikingly similar. That's the nature of the beast here in Maui. The weather is the same everyday. The sunsets are the same everyday. The pool and beaches are filled with newlyweds everyday.

You may ask, does it get boring? Go ahead a take another look at those sunsets for me. The answer is no. That can never be boring.

Aloha means Free Golf

The Petersen's hit the (affordable) Links

- Kapalua Resort Putting Course -

Aloha Means Hello

Kapalua, Maui

September 2. 2010

A few thoughts so far...

- You know your mom doesn't like flying when she discusses her will at length during the drive to the airport. She also calls my lawyer uncle to let him know where it's kept in our house. I'm not a therapist, but I would think that's not necessarily the healthiest of pre flight jitter habits.

- Humidity is overrated. Not unbearable, i'm fine with it. It's just overrated.

- Eating a handful of Dry Roasted Macadamia nuts w/ a hint of sea salt from the islands is the equivalent of hitting the game winning three in a hotly contested 3 on 3 game of pickup basketball at Lake Padden court. In other words, it's good, smooth as butter good.

- When my mother says "this (hiking) trail is a real taste of Hawaii" I assume the taste she is referring to is that of a Hawaiian Slurpee.

- There are all sorts of things I have wanted to take cell phone pictures of and send to friends back home, but then I don't because I feel like I would just be showing off and reminding them that I am in Hawaii and they are not. I don't want to be that guy.

more to come...

Goin to the Parish

Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Established: 1905

"Love consumes us only in the measure of our self-surrender." -- St. Therese of Lisieux

A General Statement of Thanks to Louise and Clark

I went to the Oregon Coast this past week with the extended family on my mom's side. Gearhart to be exact, about half a mile north of Seaside. In case you've never been to either non-tropical beach location, here's a little rundown. Seaside is like your uncle who dropped out of middle school so he could become a traveling carnival attendant along with his girlfriend at the time, a 19 year old former aspiring musician whose only actual recording was a YouTube video cover of R Kelly's "I Believe I can fly". He spent many years wearing stained tank tops and rocking his slightly askew NRA trucker hat all the while sporting a filthy mustache that the ladies down at the local dive bar couldn't resist. Now he's trying to pull his life together; get a nicer job, move into a better house, eat healthier. The problem is, his old carny friends keep trying to drag him back down. You can hang out with him for a bit, and you have a relatively good time, but when it's all said and done, you wonder, would my life have been better spent had I not partook in an afternoon with Uncle Seaside? Gearhart on the other hand is your successful, good looking uncle who has a beautiful trophy wife, two wise, athletic, and very healthy children and uses copious amounts of extra hold hair product to get that front tuft just right. He made his money while he was young by starting a very prominent accounting firm and investing wisely in alternative energy startup companies. It's always great to see Uncle Gearhart because he lets you play rousing games of croquet and boche ball, eat pizza that a normal family would have to put a down payment on, take a long ride in his 50 miles to the gallon Toyota Prius and sometimes even lets you have a sip of wine, even though you're only 14. Things aren't all great with Uncle Gearhart though. It's not very entertaining to listen to him talk endlessly about the governments refusal to adequately address and combat ocean acidification, the sweaters your mom makes you wear around his family are hot and scratchy, and he won't allow you to bring your dog because he might "mess up" all over the couch. But you genuinely enjoy his company and are very appreciative of the time you get to be around him, even though sometimes you wish he would just give you the $10 bills he wastes using as toilet paper.

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Family Coastal Trip 2010: The weather was bum/marginal. The gathering of Love's was great though. We stay in a large but very old house. It barely holds our family. We make it work. This is the house framed by the grass reeds trail that we walk through to get to the beach.

And this is a common beach sunset

Name Recognition

You know you've made it in life when even though you just met a couple the day of their wedding, you can show up to that wedding and have a name placard made out in your honor. Regardless of the fact that I'm a Petersen (not an "on") and I've never been to Edmonton, Alberta, it's still nice to be recognized.

Bump. Set. Spike.

"I am a Warrior. I Tame the Cobra of Fear"

- An actual quote, by an actual person. An actual person who was serious when they said this.

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I ran across this the other day. A triathlete who is trying to get sponsored by the company I work for shared her blog with me. This was part of the inspiration section. I thought it was funny. Who is this cobra of fear and how can I tame it? Why just the cobra of fear? Why not the black bear of destruction and harm? Or the water dragon of death?

Why Clouds in the Summer can be a good thing...

Exhibit A, B & C

The Wedding Crasher

Daniel Visser: Professional Groomsman.

If you're ever planning a wedding and trying to figure out how to spice things up, call Daniel Visser. He will make your wedding day fun, exciting, unexpected and an overall joyous celebration. I was supposed to help Josh take pictures of the wedding couple, but sometimes I couldn't help but point the lens in the direction of the most entertaining wedding participant.

K&K Wedding

Ky and Kailee's Wedding

Semiahmoo, Wa - june 19 . 2010

Congrats to the Johnsons

In order to find summer, I had to travel 4 hours northeast to Kelowna, BC. Turns out, Kelowna in the summer is more like California than anything else. Who knew Canada could be so like California. Ty and Tessa Knew. Or mostly Tessa knew. That's why they got married up there. Which is why I actually went up there. Stayed at this little beauty of a hotel right on lake Okanogan. Great weather. Great trip. Great wedding. Great Couple. Congrats Ty and Tessa. Had a wonderful time celebrating with you!

Cool Glass of Lemonade.

It was a kite flying kind of day...

Bout' time summer showed up.

The Links

Golf is fun when it's a beautiful day, you have a golf cart, you're playing with entertaining, fun people, you're celebrating the upcoming marriage of a good friend, you didn't have to take out a loan to fund the 18 holes, you actually play decently all day, you have a bag full of crappy golf balls so you don't care if you happen to lose a couple deep drives into the woods, some of the holes have amazing views of Whatcom county and Mt. Baker, the course is mostly empty, and did I mention you have a golf cart to drive around in all day. Turns out, we had all the above mentioned factors. Therefore, it was a fun day of Golf. I haven't played a legit 18 holes of golf in a long time, far too long. It was great to get back out there and swing the old graphite sticks again. Reminded me why I used to play more often when I was a little squirt. That and my dad used to pay for greens fees. Man I miss those days.

Raise Your Glass for the Kid

As you can see, the above photo features unquestionably the greatest player in Mariners history, not to mention the greatest player of the 1990's. Of course we are speaking about Bob Wolcott. The cheerleader like leaping white guy fist pumping like it's the new millennium. Nah, just kidding. Of course we're really talking about Ken Griffey Junior, or just Junior... or the Kid. He was my hero growing up, had the swing I emulated the most while practicing downstairs on our hitting cage and the person who I most wanted to see play, weather that be in the field or up to bat. That goes for when I was young all the way up until now. He was baseball to me. He had fun with it. He wore his hat backwards, so I wore my hat backwards. He wore a gold chain around his neck, so I wanted a replica chain with his number 24 hanging off it. He played in a way that seemed so natural and effortless that I often tried too hard to play as though it came natural and effortless to me. And he was one of the few northwest stars that also became a mega star around the country and around most of the baseball appreciating world. I loved watching him play. I literally grew up watching him play. The first game I saw him play I don't remember because it was when I was 2 years old. When he was drafted by the Mariners his first assignment was here in Bellingham playing for the Baby M's at Joe Martin Field. My dad took me and my brother down to Joe's and we watched Griffey's career begin. I probably colored or read a book. But I was there. That's all the counts. Since that game 22 years ago, I have probably seen Griffey play in person over 100 times, whether that be in a Baby M's uniform, a Seattle Mariners uniform, or even a couple of times, in a Cincinnati Reds uniform. 100 seems like a lot, but right now, it's not enough. There will never be another player like Griffey. Thanks Griff.

Mr. Blue Sky

Since nice days apparently are a rarity in the Great Northwest right now, I had to take advantage of a nice one a few weeks back. After work I found myself downtown with about 2 hours until I had to be at some friends house for a party. Seeing as that I live a half hour or so from downtown, I wasn't about to drive all the way out to the boat house just to sit at home for an hour and then turn around and drive a half hour back into town for the party. That would require multiple trips to and from Sudden Valley, something of which I do not do. For those counting at home, I have officially only driven into town, back to the boathouse andthen back into town in the same day 3 times this year. 3 times. Only 3 multiple trip days all year. When I leave the house for the day, I stay away until I am fully committed to being at home for the rest of the night. Frustrating? a little. Annoying? yeah. I basically live out of my car. I throw everything I could possiblythink to need each day in my car and head out. It's not an ideal way to live, but it saves a lot of gas and a lot of time. And instead of wasting that gas and time driving to and from myhouse in a single day, I can instead cruise places in Bellingham like the old GP waterfront site. Which is exactly what I did to get these pictures. See what I did just now. I came full circle. I started this post by talking about why I had taken these photos. Then I veered off topic to explain why I've spent a majority of my life this year living as a transient in Bellingham. Finally, while wrapping up my explanation on my driving/living habits, I seamlessly and effortlessly concluded by telling about how these pictures to the left came about. Sometimes you sit down for 10 minutes to post some random pictures and scribble out an explanation about those pictures. And sometimes, those scribbles turn out to be a pulitzer prize worthy piece of literature.