Gig Harbor is a little cutesy village on the Kitsap Peninsula that is known for some pretty spectacular views of Mt. Rainier. Unfortunately, the weather was not favorable this weekend. Still a pretty place though, with some impressive seafood, as only a fishing village should have.

Last week I won tickets to a Mariners game as part of a door prize drawing at a beer tasting event. I win door prizes a lot, particularly those prizes that are tickets to things. So winning wasn't entirely a surprise, but the quality of the seats, were. My seats were $70 each and were padded and came with food service. The food wasn't free, but it could be brought to you so you wouldn't have to leave the game to feed yourself. Padded seats at a stadium are quite nice. So is not getting incredibly wet when it is raining. I had never seen the retractable roof, so this was also a treat.

How do you know that you are the lone former East Coaster among a line of girls running on treadmills in a Seattle gym?

When all the treadmill TVs are set to reruns of Star Trek (Next Generation), with the exception of yours, which is playing the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The end of my class is coming up in a few weeks, so I've been frantically working on my final project. I will most probably not be posting those photos here, they really are extremely artsy fartsy (even more than my usual level) and not that my loyal readers won't "get" them... it is just that they have to be displayed in a way that they make sense.. to get the full effect, so to speak... that that won't be possible on this blog. But I do have a story about my adventures in getting this project off the ground.

In a nutshell, I've been running around town looking for windows. They don't have to be "cool," just big. I have been eyeing the windows at my gym since I came up with this idea and had asked the front desk if they had any policy about taking photos in the gym. The feeling was, it was best to ask the management. I chose not to.

On Sunday, while scoping out other windows in the area of my gym, I noticed that there were some tree janitors trimming trees outside the window of my gym I was particularly interested in. I thought that this was a perfect juxtaposition. People trimming trees outside a place where people trim themselves. I ran inside the gym to take the picture i wanted from inside the window.

Between me taking the picture in the gym and walking outside, the trimmers had apparently contacted the gym manager. I was approached by them upon exiting the building with a trimmer's finger pointed at me and a, "That's her."

That statement is almost always a bad thing.

"I'm a member, I swear."

"I'm the general manager of the gym. What is your name?"

"Larissa Wilson. Look, I'm just an art student working on a project involving windows. I thought the tree trimmers were a fun twist."

"I was wondering if you would be willing and able to take photos of the outside of the building, I've been wanting just the right shot, with just the right lighting in this window you like so much. Do you think you could do that? I will compensate you with gym membership."

Pause. Jaw Drop.

"You scared the living bejeezes out of me!! I thought I was going to get in trouble with the authorities!"

"Well, the trimmers called me because they were worried that you were a tree hugger upset that they were 'hurting' trees and taking pictures for a newspaper or something."

At this point, I really wanted to say, "Dude, I'm wearing a LEATHER COAT. How much of a tree hugger could I POSSIBLY BE?"

Again, this the kind of thing that can ONLY happen in the PNW. Within one week, I was mistaken for a goat dealer and a tree hugging environmentalist.

SERIOUSLY.

Some artsy fartsy photos for an assignment for my class. In case you were wondering, I rocked this assignment. My instructor called this "very strong work." Nobody's work the whole class has ever been called that. It made my week.

While traveling around the vineyards, I stumbled across an owl rescue group, who were raising awareness for the issues surrounding barn owls. They had two chicks with them. One 10 weeks old, one 10 days old. Both were just too sweet. The younger one had just been fed, so he was in a total food coma. The older one was so loving he did just about everything for a head massage, even pose for me like a total star.

Another main draw to Lake Chelan are the vineyards. They dot the shores of the lake on both sides and allow for some of the best views of the mountains that are on the south end of the lake (accessible by car). It was also "spring barrel tasting" weekend.. I had never tasted wine directly from a cask. It was nifty. I have done wine tastings before, but this was the first time I actually bought any wine to take back with me. I guess it is easy to get caught up in the whole scene. Plus, since some of these shots are pretty darned good, I felt kind of obligated to "give back" a little.

In the interest of saving some time, I took the seaplane back down the lake. It was my first ever seaplane ride. The take off is soft and hardly noticeable, but the ride itself is pretty bumpy, so please excuse any camera shake.

There are many hikes around the lake that start from Stehekin. I didn't have a lot of time, so i just wandered up the nearest trail a bit and visited a waterfall. The best part of this experience were the wildflowers. I broke my color "fast" to shoot these in living color.

At the end of the lake, the ferry lets you off at the town of Stehekin. If there was ever a place that was completely "off the grid" in the US, this would be it. Population of 90, and everything is brought in by boat or barge. Only satellite phones. They have a one room school house for grades 3-8. One teacher, who has been there for 30 years. They sure do live in a pretty place.

The boat ride to the end of Lake Chelan takes 2 hours on a fast boat and 4 hours on a slow boat. Even though the scenery is gorgeous (and there is the possibility of seeing mountain goats) I would suggest taking the fast boat - at least in one direction. Even on the fast boat you have plenty of time to soak up the sun and landscape.

The drive itself to Lake Chelan is pretty gorgeous. A small disclaimer about the photos i'm posting from this trip.. almost all will be in black and white because that was my assignment for the week for class.