West Coast trip of awesomeness!
I just came back from a short work trip to San Francisco and Seattle. San Francisco was good. Seattle was better. Oh so much better!
I worked out of our Berkeley office for a couple of days and then helped with logistics for a bee pesticide movie that we were showing supporters to highlight some of our campaign work. I had a chance to pop into Japantown and stuffed my suitcase full of random Japanese snacks but didn't have much time to do anything else.
I hopped on a plane to Seattle the next morning after the movie screening and even though I spent less time there it was really, really good. I had a chance to stop by one of my favorite shops, Mishu Boutique, and picked up the cutest purple hoodie that is double-breasted with tux tails on it. The next day brought the Keystone pipeline protest that 350.org was giving which was fun but sort of like preaching to the choir, ya' know? Not much new blood to try and convince.
What made that day awesome was one of our contract people has a tiny boat that he brought out to take pictures of the protest. I got a chance to hang out in it feeling kind of like a superhero when everyone turned to the ocean and waved madly at us as the photographer took photos and I hung out in a Friends of the Earth shirt on a boat with Friends of the Earth logos tied to it. We then picked up the rest of the FoE crew that came out, sped out a bit into the Pugent Sound waters and found ourselves magically surrounded by tons of orcas. I think we must have seen three different groups of whales popping up with big, deep exhalations, spurts of water, and a couple of tail fin slaps. And I saw an amazingly large one crest out of the water shooting up high into the air right in front of me before splashing heavily down below. There must have been like 40 orcas there and whichever way I looked I could see dorsal fins peeking out of the water. That was followed up by an amazing dinner and my day was complete. I have never, ever been on a whale watching trip like that and it was just.... stunning. Really, really stunning. We were so incredibly lucky to have the stars align in such a way that the weather was perfect, the sea was calm, and there were groups of whales just swimming around looking for dinner. Definitely a day I am going to remember for a long time to come.
It made me wish that I could move to Seattle. My first trip there was good but this last trip was amazing and I just miss how open and friendly everyone I met was, how crazy hair is the norm, and how full of lush, green trees it was. If I could somehow magically keep my job and move to Seattle after this trip I think I'd do it in a heartbeat.
I worked out of our Berkeley office for a couple of days and then helped with logistics for a bee pesticide movie that we were showing supporters to highlight some of our campaign work. I had a chance to pop into Japantown and stuffed my suitcase full of random Japanese snacks but didn't have much time to do anything else.
I hopped on a plane to Seattle the next morning after the movie screening and even though I spent less time there it was really, really good. I had a chance to stop by one of my favorite shops, Mishu Boutique, and picked up the cutest purple hoodie that is double-breasted with tux tails on it. The next day brought the Keystone pipeline protest that 350.org was giving which was fun but sort of like preaching to the choir, ya' know? Not much new blood to try and convince.
What made that day awesome was one of our contract people has a tiny boat that he brought out to take pictures of the protest. I got a chance to hang out in it feeling kind of like a superhero when everyone turned to the ocean and waved madly at us as the photographer took photos and I hung out in a Friends of the Earth shirt on a boat with Friends of the Earth logos tied to it. We then picked up the rest of the FoE crew that came out, sped out a bit into the Pugent Sound waters and found ourselves magically surrounded by tons of orcas. I think we must have seen three different groups of whales popping up with big, deep exhalations, spurts of water, and a couple of tail fin slaps. And I saw an amazingly large one crest out of the water shooting up high into the air right in front of me before splashing heavily down below. There must have been like 40 orcas there and whichever way I looked I could see dorsal fins peeking out of the water. That was followed up by an amazing dinner and my day was complete. I have never, ever been on a whale watching trip like that and it was just.... stunning. Really, really stunning. We were so incredibly lucky to have the stars align in such a way that the weather was perfect, the sea was calm, and there were groups of whales just swimming around looking for dinner. Definitely a day I am going to remember for a long time to come.
It made me wish that I could move to Seattle. My first trip there was good but this last trip was amazing and I just miss how open and friendly everyone I met was, how crazy hair is the norm, and how full of lush, green trees it was. If I could somehow magically keep my job and move to Seattle after this trip I think I'd do it in a heartbeat.