10.17.13 : back down the washington coast.

I had to give myself the goal of completing my "up the coast" blog posts before the year's end because of my recent slacking tendencies. In my defense, my life is just about as busy and exhausting as I've ever known it to be right now, so the last thing I want to do when I come home from a long day of work is sit in front of my computer screen and edit photos. Alas, it's my day off and I've found myself with copious amounts of laundry needing to be done, so I'm forcing myself to edit while I finish that task.

We're picking up in Washington on day nine of my second half of the coastal trip. It was my second to last day and a very full one at that. I left the cozy town of North Bend to head west and back to the coast. Taking a ferry across seemed like my best option, and I caught one just north of Seattle. Again, I kept up with my tradition of stopping for anything that looked even a little bit interesting, which put me very behind schedule and found me getting into my camp destination just before the sun disappeared.

10.16.13 : north bend.

My days in North Bend, WA were a much needed laid back escape from my trip since I was staying with friends, but I did get to go out and explore a little bit with my friend Sarah. My favorite spot was probably the Salmon Fish Hatchery we went to. I grew up visiting fish hatcheries, and seeing the salmon jumping (unsuccessfully) was pretty cool and brought back a lot of fun memories. I would love to get back up to that area and have the time to thoroughly explore all the little towns in that area. There's so much uniqueness in that area that I could probably spend months and not get to everything I'd like to see.

10.15.13 : snoqualmie falls.

On my way to North Bend, Washington, I swung over to nearby Snoqualmie Falls to check out yet another waterfall (I have a weakness for them, ok?) and was surprised to find it right there on a busy road with a hotel built looking down upon it. I guess I got spoiled by the hike-in spots I'd been previously visiting. The falls were gorgeous, however, and I enjoyed the fact that they seem to be fairly famous for its appearance in the tv show, Twin Peaks (which I'd heard of, but never seen). Having added a new tv show to my docket of Netflix shows to watch this winter, I moved on, satisfied that I'd crossed yet another waterfall off my list.

This is my attempt at "free-lensing" – a technique that involves removing your lens and holding it freehand to replicate a tilt-shift effect. I found my results to be more like a pin-hole camera than a tilt-shift lens. I suppose that means I need more practice.