Halloween

While in Seattle during Halloween we go out for breakfast. After parking we start to walk out of the parking lot and come upon a little boy dressed up as a garbage can holding his trick or treating pumpkin basket in hand.

As we round the corner we are amazed at the site of a huge line of kids in costumes going trick or treating at ten in the morning. The shops in West Seattle are letting kids come in and trick or treat for candy. It's something I have never seen in Spokane. I have only seen kids trick or treating at daytime carnivals or sometimes at the mall.

We sat down at Easy Street Records which is a record store and a small cafe. Not too soon after kids started coming in there too.

Waiting to place my order I looked out the window at the many costumed characters passing by the window. One mom was holding her baby that was dressed in a yellow bird or duck costume.

There was a dad inside the cafe wearing a wizard hat and holding his daughter. She must not have wanted to dress up that day, but still looked like she was having a lot of fun.

I decided to go look around the store at the records and CD's. I looked up for a moment and saw Homer Simpson passing by me. Halloween is definitly a holiday for the young and the young at heart.

Finally our waitress comes around and takes our orders. She looks like she is dressed up by wearing a bear hat, but I am not exactly sure. Almost all of the staff is dressed up too. I order hashbrowns and eggs and a mocha latte.

I noticed the scary costume of the guy that's going to make my coffee and he had fake blood all over him. Luckily none of it got in my coffee. It looks like a really fun place to work and has a great atmosphere, even when it's not Halloween.

I get my coffee before the food comes and it looks delicious. I took a drink and it tasted as good as it looked. We enjoyed our breakfast a lot and I tried not to anoy my company by taking anymore photographs.

But as we were leaving I couldn't help myself. I saw a man wearing a scary looking mask and had to photograph him. I adjusted the shutterspeed to see if I could add to the creepy atmoshpere.

Road Trips

I love road trips. The very first thing you do before you go on a road trip is to fill up your gas tank and I make sure I have lots of music to listen to along the way. I spent a lot of time when I was younger traveling all over Washington in the car traveling to my different sporting events. Mostly soccer and when I was in the premier league we would have to travel to Seattle every other weekend. My favorite thing to do on road trips is take in the scenery. I get lost staring out the window for hours.

Passing by the beautiful clouds and pounds and trees that seem to change shapes from one moment to the next. I get lost following the lines in the road as they whiz past me.

I enjoy looking at powerlines for some reason. Perhaps it's the shapes they make or all of the energy they hold in them. They seem so important but so out of place when all you have seen for hours is the simple landscapes of fields, trees, and clouds.

It is always fun on any road trip to stop at the cute shops and gas stations that one would never see in the city. I usually grab a snack and a drink and look around at all of their original nick nacks they have for sale.

I always hold my breathe when I see police around. It seems so easy to speed on the open roads during a road trip. I've found myself a few times not paying attention to how fast I was traveling and all of sudden I am pulled over and ticketed like that red truck. I have even resorted to using a radar detector in my car a couple of times. But I try not to speed too fast most of the time.

I love driving around curves and not knowing what the landscape will look like around the other side. Most of the time it is the same thing you've been staring at for the last hour, but once in awhile you do get a suprise. Sometime your further along in your road trip than you thought you were.

After miles of flat land it's nice to see the shapes of trees again, and little houses off in the background. I imagine living in one of those houses and my mind wonders off into a day dream.

I've passed this bridge many times before but always enjoy the site. This day the clouds look amazing and the mountains frame the bridge perfectly at this angle. I enjoy this site significantly and know in moments I will be on the bridge.

Driving throught the bridge I enjoy the architecture and design of it. I tend to daydream again about what it took the builders to build it and wonder if the top of the bridge serves a purpose or if it is just used for aesthetics.

My favorite site to take in on every road trip is when the sun starts to come down. Sunsets are a spectacular site on road trips. While driving in the car, every moment changes and at the same time the sun is coming down. You get to experience a sunset at different places with different looks and that is the one thing I think is the most amazing about road trips.

The Garland Village...By Brynne Boltjes

I take a walk down the Garland District and it feels like I am walking back in time. The little privately owned shops, 64 of them line the street of 500 W. Garland and ending at Monroe. Each shop has it's own identity that adds an artistic flare to the district. I can spend all day here and not even make it into every shop. It has a comfortable feeling that you can't get walking through any mall or shopping center. I stop first at The Rocket Bakery where I go almost weekly for my favorite coffee and bakery items, which include the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies, no bake cookies, and raspberry bars.

Today I am low on cash and simply order a delicious warm Chai Tea. I take my Chai Tea with me as I head out to window shop.

Next to the Rocket is a printing store right next to a framing store. Next time I need a photograph printed and framed I will know right where to go.

Down the street is a shoe store called The Ruby Slipper. It has the most beautiful shoes in the window and is known for it's one of a kind shoes. If I wasn't just window shopping I would definitely go in and try a pair on, but then that would lead to me buying a pair or two, so I just keep walking.

I decide I am ready for lunch and look across the street. There is the Milk Bottle, but I decide to go to Ferguson's Cafe, which makes every meal homemade. I order my favorite vegetarian omelet.

Ferguson's Cafe is famous for being filmed in several movies made in Spokane. The most famous one would be Benny and June, which starred Johnny Depp.

After lunch I walk further west down the street to my favorite guitar store, Mark's Guitar Shop. They sell new and used electric guitars, acoustic guitars, basses, and amplification. My parents bought me my first acoustic guitar from Mark's for Christmas in 2004.

While I decide what next to do I see The Garland Theatre next to Mark's. Since it's not Wednesday I decide not to catch a movie, because they sell movie tickets for a dollar on Wednesdays until summer starts again.

Instead I head across the street to The Blue Door Theatre. The Blue Door Theatre is Spokane's Improv Company. It is a nonprofit organization that puts on improv shows by volunteers Friday and Saturday nights. It made me laugh so hard you will have to go and check it out.

After the show I am in a great mood and want to meet up with some friends for some drinks, so I head across the street to The Brown Derby, which is one of Spokane's oldest bars.

It has a mural hung on the wall of the original customers in the original bar.

After laughing at the funny characters on the mural a man comes over and pulls out a photograph of the original Brown Derby building in 1932. This bar has a lot of history.

Before I call it a night I have to stop by Price-Rite Foods. No not for the late night munchies, but to admire the mural someone has painted on the building walls. It includes most of the Garland District painted on the walls. My favorite painting is the green trolley that seems to be bringing people to and from the Garland Village, to visit back in time.