City Church

 

At first inspection, you would think you’re looking at the interior of a church in Italy or Rome, or somewhere exotic. In reality, however, this shot was taken in the Holy Name Cathedral Church on State Street in Downtown Chicago. No matter your religious persuasion, you have to appreciate the architecture and history of places like these. The church itself was constructed in 1874, shortly after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The lattice-work on the ceiling is constructed of heavy woodwork, and actually in recent years has needed to be repaired due to heavy pieces that have fallen!

 

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A Walk at Rialto

All along Rialto Beach, in Washington, were these massive driftwood logs. In fact, there are signs that people need to pay attention to, and move out of the way of incoming driftwood, because a good majority of it could actually do you physical harm if you were to accidentally get crushed under, or rolled by it. I mostly just walked up, over, and around the bleached out “vintage” pieces further inland and took pictures.

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Dream Weaver

I took this shot in historic Fishtown in Leland, Michigan. This quaint fishing villiage intermixes some interesting eateries with storefronts, and fishing charters. This is a shot of a fishing net drying rack with the net carefully wrapped up awaiting use.

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Crimson Tide

The hotel Sax in Chicago has this little bar on the ground level that appears as if it was decorated by one of Satan’s hunting buddies. Nevertheless, it is a pretty interesting place that distinguishes itself from others. If I were a member of the post-apocolyptic city of Zion, and I were jacking into the matrix, I would totally grab an appletini at this place.

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Autumn Sentinels

The drive along the M-22 & M-109 in Michigan is beautiful in the fall. Hardwoods line spans of the road, and infuse the area with splashes of radiant red, orange, and yellow. One day it took probably twice as long to reach our destination because I had to keep stopping the car to take shots like the one above.

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Bench at Undertown

The streets of Port Townsend are flush with quaint little shops, eateries, and scenic vistas of Puget Sound peeking through the buildings. What’s especially nice is that the city obviously understands the importance of attracting visitors so they endeavor to keep the streets both clean and presentable; either by flowers on lightposts, trash-free sidewalks, or at least new-looking fixtures such as these benches. It was one of those towns that immediately seemed inviting and welcoming as you’re driving through the main drag.

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Dune Breaks

The iconic dune breaks on beaches are always interesting to look at aren’t they? They’re like a huge maze or something, that my mind instinctually goes into action trying to solve. Maybe it’s because it’s because you don’t want to go the wrong way and over-exert yourself walking through sand…

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Timber Bridge2

From the lodge at Lake Crescent, Washington, you can take a short hike to a Marymere Falls. The hike leads you through a path of old forest, moss, and ferns for a short distance, before it crosses the pictured bridge and starts to ascend through a series of switch-backs up the hill. I really liked this part of the hike in particular, because the bridge is constructed using trimming from an old fallen tree. I love the look and feel of natural elements when they are used for projects like this. Nothing breaks up your Zen with nature like a big metal bridge in the middle of the forest. Know what I mean?

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Council of the Elders

As we pulled up into the lodge parking lot at Lake Crescent, this was one of the first views to greet us. I’m not really sure what type of speeches, or ghost stories, or training may be given here, but it is an interesting seating congfiguration, and a pretty geometric pattern for a photo.

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Driftwood

Looking back on my pictures of the Pacific beaches in Washington, I’m a bit disappointed. The driftwood is massive and many pieces look like they rolled up on the beach from the distant land of Gulliver’s travels or something. But, unfortunately, I didn’t include any people or objects to give much of a sense of scale. Anyway, point duly-noted… and for now, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

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