Northern State Hospital...

One thing I love to photograph is abandoned buildings. They're gritty and cold, and they leave you imaging what they were like when they weren't abandoned. One such place is Northern State Hospital in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, a little over an hour north of Seattle.

The drive is uneventful; and, for the most part, all along I-5. And, on a clear day, you might even be able to spy Mount Rainier:

"The mountain is out" is often heard from the locals when you can see Rainier...

Northern State Hospital first opened in 1912, and was once the largest facility for the mentally ill in Washington state. At its peak, it housed over 2,700 patients. Northern State Hospital fell victim to the changing perceptions of mental hospitals in the 1970's, though, and it closed its doors in 1976 after the state legislature cut off funding. While many building are still in use (and off limits) for job corps and drug rehabilitation services, the remaining grounds and buildings are open as a recreation area.

When we arrived, the surrounding area looked like any municipal park you would find anywhere. As we walked from the parking lot, down a path and up a hill, however, things changed.

 

Our first glimpse of what was once Northern State Hospital...

 

There were a number of building on the site and, as you might imagine, the vast majority of them were abandoned and in varying states of disrepair:

To be perfectly honest, there were some building I refused to go into. They just looked like they were waiting to fall down an, frankly, I didn't want to be inside them when they did.

One thing you always seem to see at abandoned sites is graffiti. Some of it is sparse and  simple, still more could almost be considered, given its environment, ornate. But graffiti abounds in abandoned places, and Northern State Hospital was no different:

What I found the most striking was the vivid colors against the drab grey of the ancient cinder blocks. Add to that the fact that the ceiling and roofs were long gone, and it really does make for some cool photographs. with those vivid colors now displayed beneath the green canopy of the surrounding woods, as well.

And, if you want a creepy place to take pictures of your friends, abandoned mental hospitals are good locales:

This is my daughter, Jess, walking through one of the graffiti-ridden, broken down, partially collapsed  buildings at Northern State Hospital in Sedros-Woolley...

 

Oh, and the other thing about abandoned mental hospitals? You just never know what kind of off the wall creepy stuff you'll find. Apparently, here at Northern State Hospital, the "creepy stuff" tends to be dolls. really, really creepy dolls:

 

After spending about an hour and a half or so walking through these dilapidated buildings, we decided to head over to another part of the hospital where most of the buildings are pretty much intact. Most are padlocked and no longer in use, and there's no such thing as a window that isn't broken:

 

 

Unfortunately, none of the buildings in this area were accessible. All we could do was shoot from the outside. That's fine, I suppose, but you just don't get photographs with the same character as when you can actually walk among the broken glass and shattered floor tiles. Be that as it may, though, we made due until deciding we would call it a day.

It dawned on us that we hadn't eaten since breakfast, so we found ourselves a barbeque joint call Double Barrel BBQ:

 

 

Now, living in northeastern Florida, good BBQ is easy to come by. Sometimes it seems like you cant swing a dead cat without hitting another great eatery. For whatever reason, I guess I just never thought that quality barbeque would be found in the pacific northwest.

Yet, there it was:

Cornbread with butter, smoked turkey, brisket (can I get a "Hell, yeah!"?), mac & cheese, and cole slaw, all washed down with a tasty sweet tea. It was outstanding and 100% legit:

At this point, it was getting dark and it was clearly time to head back to Seattle. Thankfully, I wasn't driving, so I was able to get a good nap in during the trip.

Our last outing of the day would come the next day, both local and iconic...

Chateau Ste. Michelle...

It's no big secret that I enjoy a nice glass of wind on occasion. I'm a red wine guy; primarily a nice Merlot or a Cabernet Sauvignon. And, when that glass of wine is poured on the property of the winery that made it, all the better.

My daughter and I made the 45 minute drive from Seattle to Woodinville to visit the vineyards of Chateau Ste. Michelle. I've had their wines here in Florida but, like I said, there's something special about enjoying a glass on the grounds of the vineyard which made it:

Chateau Ste. Michelle was built on the 1912 estate of Seattle lumber baron Frederick Stimson, and dates back to the repeal of prohibition. A more modern French chateau was added in 1976:

 

We decided to do their wine tasting and, at $25 per person, it's not a bad deal at all. The thing I enjoyed most about it was that the wines we'd be tasting were wines that were available nowhere else. As much wine as this winery ships throughout the country, these were to be featured and sold only here.

 

I know I said I'm a red wine guy, but this Chardonnay was really good...

The winery also features a concert venue, and the estate itself is quite expansive. We took the time to explore the grounds for  little while, but before too long decided to hit the road and move on to other things.

One of the things I like to do when I travel is cruise Craig's List. I look mainly for camera gear (it's easy to carry home) and, every so often, I get lucky. This trip would prove to be somewhat fruitful.

I found a camera that I was interested in, and we arranged to meet at the seller's house that afternoon. For $60 I was able to procure a Canon FP SLR from 1964, in very nice condition:

It seems to work perfectly, but unfortunately the one roll I've put through it wasn't fed onto the take-up reel properly, so nothing was exposed. I'll have to try again with some of the film I bought that day. One of the nice things about it is that, since it doesn't have a light meter (I can use an iPhone app for that), it doesn't require a battery.

When I get a roll of film through it successfully I'll send it to my daughter who'll process it for me, and then I'll be able to get some pictures from it posted.

The next day we opted, once again, to veg out in the apartment and relax. My daughter is self-employed, so she needed to do some things on that front and, quite frankly, I don;t mind getting some extra rest!

Seattle - Days 1 & 2...

The last time I was in Seattle was n April of last year. I'd driven out to Washington state to pick up my daughter for an epic drive back to the east coast along US-20 which, at 3,365 miles, is the longest road in America. That trip remains my favorite vacation ever.

My daughter and her fiance came out to visit for my birthday in July, and one of the gifts they gave me was an Alaska Airlines gift certificate so I could visit them. So, late October seemed like a great time to visit. I booked my ticket out of Orlando and started planning what to do while there.

As an aside, people ask me why I flew out of Orlando instead of Jacksonville, which is much, much closer. Well, I was able to get a non-stop flight out of Orlando. In retrospect, though, Orlando is just such a freaking madhouse (it's the 7th busiest airport in the United States), next time I'll happily fly out of JAX and deal with any layover.

The flight was okay; I slept for a little while, and we actually landed in Seattle a bit early. It was around 9pm when we got to their apartment, and I had been up for a while, so it didn't take long before I was laid out on the couch, ready for sleep.

The next day, we walked around their neighborhood a bit. While I'd brought my Canon 5D MKIV, I also had my trusty Fuji X100F. It really is a handy little camera to have around when you don't want to lug the big rig around, but when you want something more than your cellphone.

The apple of my eye...

We had lunch at the De Lux Bar & Grill. Really good food!

Some garage doors in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle...

Tasty cocktails are always a good call...

Needless to say, I was still dealing with the effects of jet lag, so we didn't make it a late night. We spent the evening watching horror flicks. In the morning, my daughter and I would be heading over to her photo studio, which is right across the street from Lumen Filed, which is where the Seahawks play. I've been looking at photos of the studio for months, and I was excited to finally get into it and check it out.

The studio is about 1,200 square feet, with high ceilings and running water (which is nice, as my daughter processes her own film there). It's set up with some excellent lighting rigs, as well as a backdrop wall for those seamless shots you always see models in:

My daughter, being the frugal shopper she is, bought that 6' umbrella reflector for $1...

If you didn't know, my daughter has done a bit of modeling, but I think she'd be the first one to tell you that, first and foremost, she's a photographer. I guess that's a genetic thing, as both my brother and I are photographers. The apple, as they say, doesn't fall far from the tree.

As such, she simply insisted on taking advantage of the chance to photograph dear old dad with her Hasselblad. And, considering how good she is, I was more than happy to oblige.

 

One of the things I wanted to photograph was a guitar I built back in 2001. I was working for a small travel guitar company back then, and built the guitar for a special event that was being held in Louisville, Kentucky that year. The front of it is simple Sitka spruce and, to be honest, is kinda' boring. The back and sides are flamed Maple, though, and look pretty striking. 

I thought it turned out rather nice:

 

I love working in the studio and, hopefully, I'll get to see the photos my daughter took of me soon. It's been a while since I had my portrait taken, so I'm getting pretty anxious to see what my daughter comes up with.

The third day in Seattle would actually be spent being pretty "low voltage". My daughter wasn't feeling 100%, so we decided to lay low and recharge for what would end up being a highlight for me the next day...

Colorado Springs - Pike's Peak

After Garden of The Gods, it was hard to imagine another natural feature which could have such unrivaled beauty. Such a place exists, though, in Pike's Peak.

Pike's Peak as seen from Garden of The Gods...

I first laid eyes on Pike's Peak in 1976. I was heading to the Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. We had flown into Denver from New York, and our bus trip to Philmont took us past the mountain. But that was it. We got to see it.

From a distance.

This time, though, I would actually step foot on it. I've lost count of all of the television shows I've watched about it, so I was excited to finally get to the top.

We decided against driving to the summit and, instead, decided to take the Pikes Peak Cog Railway, which runs out of the small town of Manitou Springs:

The Cog Railway...

Believe me when I tell you that the effects of altitude sickness are very real...

The Cog Railway offered a leisurely, if not somewhat protracted, trip to the top of the mountain. When we got off the train, it was pretty obvious that I had started to succumb to the effects of altitude sickness. I had a bit of a headache, and a bit of dizziness, and all I wanted to do was sit down. But, of course, being my first time here, I wasn't going to spend it sitting down.

Despite the hour and 15 minutes it took to ascend to the summit, once we got there we were treated to some pretty spectacular views:

 

Believe it or not, you can see Kansas in this photo...

The Cog Railway train at the summit of Pike's Peak...

While at the summit, we treated ourselves to some bottled water (served in aluminum cans due to the altitude) and yeast-free doughnuts (again, due to the altitude). But it seemed just as I was getting over the effects of altitude sickness, it was time to board the train for the trip back to Manitou Springs.

In hindsight, should I ever have the chance to visit again, I wouldn't take the train. It's too expensive, too uncomfortable (the hard plastic seat digs into your butt-cheek if you're in an aisle seat), it takes too long and there's no bottled water water to buy at the train station (unless you want to buy a "collector" aluminum bottle for $37). There are a number of companies which will get you to the summit in comfort, and you'll actually have time to explore the summit for a bit longer than you do when you take the train.

So, it's definitely worth the trip to the summit, just choose your transportation wisely...

Colorado Springs - Garden Of The Gods...

The second big trip of August would find me, once again, in another time zone. This time I traveled to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The main point of this particular trip was to photograph Garden of The Gods. 

Designated a National Natural Landmark in 1971, Garden of The Gods is actually a Colorado Springs city park. In 1879, Charles Elliott Perkins purchased 480 acres of land which included a portion of the current park. When he died in 1907, the Perkins family gave the land to the City of Colorado Springs, with the provision that it would always remain a free park. 

The rock formations are nothing short of spectacular:

Rock climbing is permitted within the park...

 

The Kissing Camels

Balanced Rock

Many wonder where the name originated. Well, two surveyors who helped to set up Colorado City explored the site in August of 1859. One of the surveyors, Melancthon S. Beach, suggested it would be a "capital place for a beer garden". His companion, the young Rufus Cable, awestruck by the impressive rock formations surrounding them, exclaimed, "Beer Garden! Why, it is a fit place for the Gods to assemble. We will call it the Garden of the Gods."

And there you have it.

And, having visited it, I must say it's quite an appropriate name...