Another Train, Another City, Another Trip Around the Sun

This morning, amidst a steady drizzle, we walked a few blocks from our Portland hotel to Union Station, where we’d wait to board our next train (my fourth so far!) to head to our final destination, Seattle, Washington. The wintry weather that’s causing headaches across the country resulted in a few snowflakes in Seattle and frigid temps. Luckily (I guess?), being New Englanders, we were prepared for the cold.

As has been the case with this entire trip, I’ve tried to capture the day with photos and a few sketches in my travelogue/sketchbook/journal. Once this trip is over, I’ll be looking forward to going back through my photos to see if any are worth turning into sketches or paintings. For now, I’m just trying to capture as much as I can through the photos, text, and art.

For some reason, I just loved the lone stall with the one remaining payphone. Ah, remember the days??

A quick visit to the Public Market had me whipping out my camera moment after moment to capture the variety and colors of the scene. I could have spent hours just taking photos (but I’m sure Gavin wouldn’t have loved that!). We both enjoyed a slice of fantastic pizza and grabbed two giant cookies (snickerdoodle for me, and some amazing “double dose” chocolate chip cookie for Gavin) to enjoy back at the hotel.

Tonight, I tried to capture the day in a few loose sketches. I wasn’t sure if the paper in the Moleskine Japanese album would be able to handle watercolor, but I was pleasantly surprised—what a game-changer going forward!

Even though I’m 3,000 miles from home, I felt so much love today from family and friends who texted or called to wish me a happy birthday—being able to chat with my mom (whom I’m used to talking to every day!) and sisters was a fantastic birthday gift! Here’s to #48, another trip around the sun, and so many dreams for the days ahead.