Richard's Seattle Trip

Hiya,

I've been in Seattle for the last three days at my first professional conference: The Humanities And Technology Camp: Pacific Northwest (aka "THATCamp PNW." They say it's more of an "anti-conference" because it's free and it's participant organized, but still). It's been a great experience: I've got some great teaching ideas, I was able to share a lot about what I'm working on, I've been able to travel solo (which I hate, but which is good for me), and, as you'll see in the montage, I've been able to explore Seattle a bit.

Laura was sick right before I left, and I think I was fortunate (blessed) not to get any more nauseous/head-achy than I got. The very first image of me at the airport was when I was feeling Blaghh. Luckily, Laura's mom came and helped Laura with the kids. Thank you!

I was intrigued by the plant-life in Seattle. There were vines everywhere, growing on everything. In the video you'll see pictures of these strange, round, red, mildly pointy fruit. I have no idea what they are...I know the picture's not that good, but if anyone has any idea what they are, I'm dying to know. They were really squishy--there wasn't any seed and the insides were the same color as the inside of peach.

There were really cool bridges. Under one end of a certain bridge was the "Wall of Death," and under the side on the other end of the river were a couple of bums in sleeping bags.

At one point I show the street; you can't see it very well, but there are puddles because of the torrential downpour. It wouldn't be Seattle without getting a little drenched, right? It cleared up later though.

Those are cool boats, sea planes, and river apartments, huh?

I decided to do a lot of walking (almost four hours worth. My feet still hurt!) after my conference. I found some really cool art and buildings and stuff under the Space Needle (which I was planning to go to the top of, until I found out it was 18$--no thanks).

I had to wait until Monday morning to get a flight because we waited too long and that was the cheapest flight. It was nice to relax in the hotel room for a while though.

A few notes about the video--I used a default iMovie theme because it worked well with this trip, I didn't have that much time, and it looks nice. The song is "It's Up to You" by John Denver.

Anyway, I hope you get a sense of how much fun this trip was. Enjoy!