November 15th: the park and the slam

It takes me a long time, a way too long time, to post these posts.

It's just I always want to paint the exactly right picture.

But I think I would like to be done with this project more (I counted--10 posts to go before this trip is fully documented as it should be).

So don't be offended if this feels a little short on the details.

That being said, a picture:

Driving on the bridge to Seattle or something. 

We had lunch at some Teriyaki/Hamburger joint with our good friend

American Idol Finalist Jon Peter Lewis before heading over to Adam's house. 

I love saying AmericanIdolFinalistJonPeterLewis like it's one word. 

I'm sure he doesn't like it as much as I do. 

Surprise, surprise. I didn't take a picture of the event.

Enjoy this picture of JPL from the internet. 

A you're Adorable 

B you're so beautiful 

C you're a cutie full of Chaaaaarm. 

It turns our that teriyaki is a BIG DEAL in Washington. 

There's teriyaki places on every corner. 

Even more than Starbucks. Mind. Boggled. 

Then, Adam's house in Auburn, WA. 

I hope this does not come across as insincere or too gushy, but I am so grateful to Adam and his wonderful family for opening their home to us for two weeks. They treated us so well and were so generous with their whole home. Adam is a fantastic host, and his parents are wonderful people. I know they probably got tired of us after two days, and they were troupers to just let us hang out at their place for so long. Thank you, Range family!  

I felt right at home with them, even though they have little yippie dogs. In fact, I even liked their dogs. And if you know me, that is really saying something. 

Two weeks of this, ya'll. 

We planned on going to a slam later in the evening, but had plenty of time to hit up some of Adam's old  haunts from the glory days before we headed into Seattle. 

I LOVE GOING TO THE PARK! 

 Truly lovely. 

Adam is a male model. 

Uh... camouflage? 

Sasquatch. 

Just saying. 

Awwww I love this.

Compliant hipster photo. 

"Garrett, step into the light."

That moment when you feel a sasquatch behind you. 

That moment when you catch sasquatch. 

Just kidding, ya'll. 

Friends. 

This is real. 

"Plank me" 

"Naw, dude, I'm not going to plank you."

"C'mon. Plank me!" 

"Whelp, your loss"

Male Model strikes again. 

Doc Martens. I'm soooooo Seattle. 

Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. 

I can show you the wooooorrrld. 

Well, I can show you Tacoma. 

Adorable. 

Frolicking in fall! 

"Garrett, smile!"

This is Garrett trying to kick me in the face. 

I'm sure he got tired of me taking pictures or something. 

So that's fun. 

Love this. 

BABIES. 

More accurately, this is Adam's brother's adorable and well-behaved baby. 

I was a little in love. I was def in need of some baby-love by the time we got to Auburn.  

Finally we left for Seattle. Poetry slam at the Re-bar. 

Seattle at night, a delight. 

True to form, this is my only picture of Seattle from this evening. 

I didn't mind the Seattle slam scene per se, but I was surprised how cold it felt compared to Portland. The host had to beg for the audience to participate. I almost felt like I should be wearing an all-black dress with a really cool beverage and standing around like I'm "so over it" or something. It just colder and darker than other poetry venues. 

And maybe it's just a Seattle thing--because when I smiled at passing fellow pedestrians on the streets, they did comically surprised double-takes. In Portland, people just smiled back mostly. So I'm willing to concede that it's more like New York than Portland in the sense that the culture is more business. 

That being said, I really dug the most poets each night we got our poetry on in Seattle. There is some stellar poetry happening in Seattle. 

This is a vid of one of the poets, Amber Flame.

Mom, don't watch this video. You will yell at me after. 

But I thought she was a fantastic performer. 

Fin.