There’s no place like home.

L. Frank Baum – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

What is a Hometown?

I was born and raised in Central Massachusetts. I was raised to love the Red Sox, make my Rs sound like As (Hahvaahd, Cahh) and know that anything that is ‘wicked’ is just the best thing in the world.

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After 30 years of living in Massachusetts, I found myself moving to Washington State for work where got married, bought a house and now I am trying to start my own family. I feel that I can comfortably say that Washington State is my new hometown and Seattle is my home city.

Early Days in Seattle

My first trip to Seattle was during Spring Break of my Second year of college (so maybe 2001). I came up to visit my Aunt who had moved to Northern Washington. My first memory of experiencing Seattle was from the back of my Aunt’s van sitting in an unsecured camp chair for three hours to my aunts home. After about a week of skiing and relaxation I fell in love with the area and Washington quickly became my favorite vacation destination. I discovered the something I called Pacific Northwest Days.

What is a Pacific Northwest Day?

To be more accurate it is a Pacific Northwest (PNW) moment. But what is it? It is a little hard to describe. It is more of a feeling of being comfortable in an environment that appears to be uncomfortable. Example of a PNW moment is being of the beach in winter time or seeing low hanging clouds pass in front of mountains. The Puget Sound area of Washington State is a perfect area for these moments due to its temperate climate and grey winters as discussed in my last post.

Tourist in your Hometown

One of my favorite ways to spend a day is walking thru a city photo-hunting. I did it a lot when living in Massachusetts and got some great shots traveling thru the tourist area of Boston like the Common, Faneuil Hall, and Waterfront. When I moved to Seattle I would frequently do the same thing in Seattle thru Pikes Place, the Space Needle and waterfront.

Seattle is great place to experience PNW moments. Walking thru Pikes and waterfront on grey and rainy days is very comforting.

Losing that tourist feeling

Living in this area for a while I have seen Seattle triumph and fall. Homelessness, drug use and political mismanagement has taken a lot of the grandeur of Seattle away. Tourists have been attacked in the area of the Space Needle and the waterfront and used needles are everywhere.

Seattle has also been undergoing to arguable positive changes. The city is constantly under construction, the most obvious of which is the Viaduct and Tunnel project (similar to the Boston Big Dig). The construction has been delayed a number of times and has lead to traffic headaches, but will ultimately lead to a better waterfront.

These factors and other life events has lead me to spend less and less time in the city and lose that tourist feeling when I do venture into Seattle.

A recent photo hunting and Christmas shopping trip to Seattle lead to a few PNW moments and found myself to be tourist in my hometown again.

The four hour vacation

I got into the city around 2:30 pm and parked down by the waterfront. After bounding up the stairs to Pike’s Place I was dropped into a very busy Pike’s Place Market and Fish started flying at the Fish Market. After buying 1/4 pound of roasted cashews and a 12 oz Apple Cider I began my Christmas shopping and photo hunting trip and as always Pike’s Place delivered. The market always reminds me of the spirit of Seattle and is ground zero for PNW moments.

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After spending an hour at Pikes I then walked to over to the Space Needle for more photo hunting. It easy to feel like a tourist at the Space Needle.

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I then did the ultimate tourist thing. I took the monorail to Westlake Center. Anyone who has lived in this area for a while can tell you the monorail is a pretty big rip off and is only for the tourists. But since I was feeling like a tourist I decided it was appropriate. It was fun.

Westlake Center is the commercial center of the city with the second busiest Starbucks on the planet. That night it was beautifully decorated for Christmas, a carousel, and a few local artisans set up and selling their crafts for Christmas.

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I then headed back to Pikes for dinner at Lowell’s before heading home.

What was learned

I feel getting away is very important to reduce stress. Most people think they can’t possibly get away to a city they have lived in for years. You hear the negative things that happen in your hometown everyday and you feel these bad things because it is so close to home. So how could you possibly enjoy a day in your hometown.

It is all about your frame of mind. If you focus on the positive aspects of your city and can forget all the negative for a few hours, you will find the drive to fight to improve your city and hopefully reduce the negatives. This is also true of life as well I guess.

The bottom line is that I had a four hour vacation and all it cost me was $20 for parking.