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A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

seattle washington

Seattle: A fun trip to see a different part of the country

September 18, 2015

It’s time to start talking about Seattle.

In August, I had the chance to take a trip to Seattle, mainly for geocaching. It was also a chance to see other parts of the area, take a road trip to Portland, and catch a baseball game.

All in all, a pretty solid trip.

The Seattle Great Wheel was pretty cool to ride in.

The Seattle Great Wheel was pretty cool to ride in.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to sprinkle some posts about the trip on the blog. There will definitely be some geocaching posts, but there will also be some posts about other things I had the chance to do.

If you remember, I already did one about Voodoo Doughnuts in Portland. I also had a post about visiting Geocaching.com HQ as it was part of my Day Zero project.

There was so much more on the trip though. From seeing a different part of the country for the first time to walking through a 2.5-mile tunnel to good food to going up the space needle, it was a really cool visit. I’d like to visit there again one day if the opportunity came about.

Before getting into a few of the individual posts about specific things, allow me to give some of the overall “statistics:”

  • Three new states grabbing a geocache (Colorado, Oregon, Washington)
  • 73 geocaches found (includes five events)
  • Found the original caches stash plaque, visited geocaching HQ
  • Went to Voodoo Doughnuts
  • Went up in the Space Needle
  • Found the perfect spot for photos of the skyline of Seattle
  • Saw a minor league baseball game
  • Took the tour at Safeco Field (home of the Mariners)

The trip was interesting. It was my first time out to the western part of the United States. The flights were somewhat long and all the planes were full, which kind of stinks because it’s nice to be able to stretch out a little bit.

The weather was good, too. The one day it really rained in Seattle (historic, from what people were saying), it was the day of heading down to Portland, where it sprinkled a little bit at worst.

I got some pretty good photos, too. I used the phone, obviously, and had the main camera as well, which was nice. It was good to be able to take in some of the scenery.

The one regret was not going after one of the historic caches in the Portland area (weather worries, time etc.) as it will be hard to get that “placed month” in other spots. I’ll either get back out to Portland to do it or find one elsewhere.

Outside of that, it was a pretty fun time. I had the chance to meet some cool people, run into somebody I know who lives out there and find a lot of geocaches. I also really upped the step count for the weekend and found some great places to eat.

I’ll cover a bunch of these topics in future posts. It’s a trip I’m glad I made, though, as it’s a pretty cool area of the country.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: My world, Travel Tagged With: seattle, seattle trip, seattle washington, summer, things to do in seattle, travel, washington

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Holga Challenge – Your Town: Seattle, Washington

July 11, 2012

Photo by Jeff Soderquist.

Note: This is the fourth in a series of six stories that are being done by participants of the HooHaa Holga Challenge. The rest will run through Friday. See information for the rest at the bottom of this post.

By Jeff Soderquist

Seattle, Washington is located in the far northwest corner of the United States, nestled in between the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges along the shores of the Puget Sound.

The Emerald City is a town defined by its surrounding natural beauty and distinct neighborhoods. Born and raised in Washington, I’ve lived in the greater Puget Sound region all my life, and had the pleasure of calling Seattle my home for going on six years now.

I have a very similar view of the Monorail and Space Needle from my desk at work. (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

I’ve been told a time or two over the years that you can never truly appreciate Seattle unless you live somewhere else. To that, my response has always been, “What if I love it so much I couldn’t bear to leave?” I have immense pride for my town, which is why I jumped at the chance to share these feeling through the Holga My Town project.

The challenge called for each participant to shoot two rolls of film in their Holga, one color and one black and white. I chose to shoot with Ilford Delta 400 and Kodak Portra 400. From the 24 photographs we then had to pair those down to 12 which best represented how we see our town.

Freeway Park next to my apartment, where I walk my dogs. This is my favorite tree in the city. (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

Initially I was teeming with grand ideas of things to photograph around town. My list of potential sites crisscrossed the city,
with a general disregard to any sense of order or theme.

While a few of those original ideas ended up making the cut, I quickly redirected my strategy towards the project to reflect more of a daily life approach to my town. Shot over the course of two weeks, I used my Holga to record how I live, work,
and play in my town.

The nature of the project is such that if done again, the resulting photographs would be completely different, yet the themes within them would be similar. Perhaps that is what I love so much about Seattle; the seemingly endless opportunities to explore and experience what it has to offer.

Since moving to Seattle back in 2007, my wife and I have bounced around. We’ve lived in a variety of Seattle’s distinct neighborhoods — the Central District, First Hill, Queen Anne, and Wallingford — before settling into our current location on the edge of Downtown and the vibrant Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Kerry Park (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

This time spent living in different enclaves around town helped me grow an appreciation for just how rewarding urban life could be. Having spent my college years in a small city with a thriving downtown core, I was becoming increasingly interested in locally owned and operated businesses in an attempt to distance myself from suburban strip malls and chain restaurants.

Seattle’s collection of communities with bustling main street style atmospheres was like a dream come true. I can honestly say I take pride in the fact that my town does not have a single Applebee’s or Olive Garden within city limits (although to be honest, several other large chain restaurants have operations in Seattle).

Bauhaus Books and Coffee is a Seattle institution, and a corner stone of the Capitol Hill neighborhood. (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

One has to look no further than Seattle’s beer and coffee culture to see just how passionate this town is about locally sourced goods and services.

Coffee shops and brewpubs dot the city’s map, and are the corner stone of its communities. Not just one of each mind you, but several.

I could easily obtain a
cup of coffee from a different coffeehouse with in a three-block radius of my apartment for a week and still not exhaust all my options. That’s without even considering the likes of Starbucks, Seattle’s Best or Tully’s.

Seattle is a beer-centric town, which is good cause I am a huge beer geek. (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

If you’re looking to unwind and have a beer, the options available to you are nearly as diverse. Most neighborhoods are home to a brewery, if not a handful. They vary in size and stature, from the nationally known Pyramid Brewery to the one-man operation at Northwest Peaks Brewery.

Beyond the breweries, it’s not uncommon for restaurants to have upwards to twenty beers on tap to quench your thirst.

Beyond caffeine and cold ones, the Seattle sports scene plays an important role in my day to day life.

I’ll admit Seattle isn’t necessarily known for its success in sports, but that does not mean I don’t pour my heart and soul into the local teams.

The Mariners might struggle to contend, but I still enjoy going to the games. (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

Large portions of the country are without a professional sports team, and I simply could not fathom living in such an environment. The painful loss of the Supersonics in 2004 to Oklahoma City only made me appreciate this fact more.

What would warm summer nights be without trips to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners? Or Saturday afternoons in the fall without trips to Husky Stadium with my dad to watch college football?

Sports at its best bring a community together, and I am thankful to be able to live in close proximity to so many professional and collegiate teams and experience their game day atmospheres.

Another aspect I love so much about living in an urban area is the walkability factor.

I often use the bus to get around town, or as like to call it the Urban Limo. (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

Growing up in a suburban neighborhood 30 minutes north of Seattle, owning a car was your ticket to freedom and mobility. Life without wheels was simply unimaginable.

My time in Seattle, however, has taught me that a car is not always the most effective mode of transportation through the city. Most of the areas of the city I’ve lived in around town have been set up in such a way that walking was easier and sometimes faster than taking the car.

Beyond walking, I’ve learned to rely on the bus, or as I like to call it, the urban limo, to link me between districts.

Ultimately the quest for the perfect apartment in a location near both work and a thriving community led us to move to a building located at the nexus of downtown and the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Pike Place Market, beloved by locals and tourists alike. (photo by Jeff Soderquist)

Everything we could ask for is within a 15-minute walk of our apartment, including work.

I’ll admit we have yet to go completely car free, but rarely do we take it out of the parking garage. Even rarer is our need to use the bus system.

Moving about the city on foot has helped me feel more connected to the city in ways public transit and a car never could. I feel more connected to things around me, I recognize people on the street, and have discovered new stores and restaurants I might not have otherwise.

Our central location in the city affords me the luxury to be able to walk to the Pike Place Market to get meat and produce for the week, have lunch up on Capitol Hill while I wait for film to be developed at the lab, and bar hop through Pioneer Square before attending a baseball or football game that night all without the stepping foot in a motorized vehicle.

By now you’re probably getting a sense for why when someone tells me that living somewhere else is the only way to appreciate Seattle, I simple reply, “No thanks. I have all I need right here.”

Seattle, my town, my home.

More photos from Jeff’s challenge are below:

View of downtown Seattle from the rooftop deck of my 16-floor apartment building.

The Seattle Central Library, a few blocks my apartment is my favorite place to photograph in the city.

Capitol HIll 60 Photo, one of two local labs I use to develop my film.

See  more of Jeff on the web:

  • Flickr
  • Twitter

HooHaa Holga Challenge:

  • Day 1: Totness, England
  • Day 2: Waco, Texas
  • Day 3: Geneva, Switzerland

Day five of the HooHaa Holga Challenge is Thursday, with Nada and Kuwait City, Kuwait.

Filed Under: blogging, Cameras, challenges, Guest Post, HooHaa Holga Challenge, Photography Tagged With: film, film photography, holga, holga camera, holga challenge, holga film, hoohaa holga challenge, seattle, seattle washington, washington

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She was so still for this photo. Make sure you f She was so still for this photo. 

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You know, of course, Santa Paws travels with Santa Clause, making sure to find treats and toys for all the good little doggies! (We know they are all deserving, right?) So, Harper put out some milk for the big guy, carrots for Rudolph and the reindeer, and special cookies for Santa Paws! She is ready! 

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One of the best parts about having Harper as my be One of the best parts about having Harper as my best friend… ❤️
Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to sna Couldn't resist stopping on the way to work to snap this shot. The colors in the sky were fantastic and the scene was nice looking (though, to be fair, I drove by what I think would have been a better scene -- the valley and hills full of snow etc.)

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The best of times??? 🤪🤪🤪 The best of times??? 🤪🤪🤪
Just a break on our morning walk … #goldenretri Just a break on our morning walk …

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Harper is ready for tonight! Let’s go Phillies! Harper is ready for tonight! Let’s go Phillies! 

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I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I look at her and sometimes still can’t believe I have her. It’s been a year and four months and she makes me smile and laugh more each day. It’s amazing how much a dog changes your look on life, and how much joy they can bring. 

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I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to I’ve recently realized how many photos I have to post here, as well as on Harper’s (@harper_dublin) account). So, as I start to transfer photos, I’ll try and catch up. So photos coming could be from all seasons and who knows when. 🤣

This one is recent from the courthouse square in Delhi. We had some pretty good fall colors this year. 

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From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper t From a few weeks ago. I was trying to get Harper to put her paws on the bridge and looked out, but she was more content jumping on me and looking up. I do love the way she seems to be looking at me.
Instagram post 17992900117561614 Instagram post 17992900117561614
Couldn’t resist a quick stop this morning with t Couldn’t resist a quick stop this morning with the fog and frost settled in. 

Hamden Covered Bridge 

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Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend! #g Harper’s friend Lucy is around this weekend!

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So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t So… @harper_dublin wants to know why she can’t have @mallons_homemade_sticky_buns.
This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this This is why we can’t have nice things. Saw this on me morning walk Friday with Harper. Likely some college kids, but also as chance at local hooligans. I had Harper so not a lot I could do, but I managed to get the cart off the chair. (See second photo) This was in a local park.
Harper is ready for #nationalfetchday on October 1 Harper is ready for #nationalfetchday on October 15! @chuckitfetchgames 

Should be fun! @discgolfdarren @harmm23
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A video looking at my first year and a half of owning a golden retriever, my first dog. It's had its ups and downs, but I've truly loved the ride and look forward to the future. 

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I hate being in front of the camera, but also realize sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world. So, I'm getting better with it. Week 4's theme was all about us and having us in front of the camera, so I tried to come up with a creative way to do it. 

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