Northwest US 2005

In late August 2005, I spent nearly 2 weeks traveling portions of Oregon and Washington in the Northwest region of the United States. Along the way, I spent anywhere from a few hours to a few days in the major cities of Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Bellevue, Olympia, Tacoma and of course, Salem, where my very good friend Suzanne lives with her mom and 10-year-old son, Robert.

It was nice to get away from Southern California, particularly to an area I have been enamored with ever since my very first visit to Salem and Portland with Suzanne in 1991. Back then, Salem was a nice, quaint state capital while Portland felt like a hidden metropolitan jewel on the verge of the "big time."

Nearly fifteen years later, both places have managed to hold onto their unique qualities despite an ever-growing population base.

Although Suzanne and I did not make it up to Seattle on that first trip, we did manage to spend a day at Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument. I remember being amazed at the amount of destruction evident -- as well as the ash still present -- 10 years after the mountain blew its top. Some areas looked more like the lunar landscape.

In 1994, a return trip to the region allowed a 2-day visit to Seattle, including my first ride up to the top of the Space Needle -- an architectural icon I've been fascinated with since early childhood. From Lake Washington to Elliot Bay, and from Seattle Center to Pioneer Square, indeed, the city did not disappoint.

Although Seattle offered the typical suburban neighborhoods and cities stretching out from the downtown core, what I most remember from that first trip was how downtown itself still managed to be both an actual working and living downtown -- something just not seen within Southern California. Sure, many in Southern California may work in one of the region's few downtowns -- but actually live in one? NEVER! In the world's largest suburb, such thinking was paramount to blasphemy (in many respects, it still is considered as such).

Visiting Seattle that very first time (as well as subsequent trips) proved to me that a thriving downtown and thriving suburbs need not be mutually exclusive -- something Seattle is still proving to us today (even more so, I might add). Fortunately, some of this "new urbanism" thinking has begun to find its way down here to Southern California, most notably downtown San Diego.

Two other places I had vowed to visit on future trips were Spokane, Washington and Vancouver, Canada. Just as Seattle in 1962, both Spokane (1974) and Vancouver (1986) are former hosts to an actual World's Fair. Although Vancouver is still in my sights, I managed to check Spokane off the list with my most recent trip.

Spokane (population 200,000) turned out to be a nice surprise, particularly the downtown area and its former Expo '74 site, which has since evolved into a nice city-center park and cultural hub. Many historic buildings from the city's past remain, including a lavishly-restored Davenport Hotel.

Anyhow, here are some of the photos taken along my travels. Also, for those interested, there's also a simple Flash presentation showing aspects of Spokane's Riverfront Park during Expo '74.