State-By-State: My 5 Favorite

I've managed to hit all 50 states in my travels - some more than others, but all nonetheless.  As I was walking today, I started thinking about my favorites - not the 5 you MUST see before you die, but just the 5 that I have I enjoyed the most.  All 50 have their pluses; these have had the most, IMHO.

I'll start with Maine.   Lobster piers, rugged shoreline, lots of islands.  Real summers and real winters.  Forests, off the beaten path.  And a great accent. 

Then we'll cross the country to my home state - Washington.  Lots of water, lots of islands (a theme, OK), big contrasts between Western and Eastern Washington - forests and deserts, water and crops, democrats and republicans.  And, at least in the western part of the state - real Springs and real Autumns.  And Dungeness crab.

Since we're westward-bound, let's keep on going to Hawaii.  Water, islands (the theme continues), international and indigenous cultures, warmth.  Nearly year-round summers, great beaches, snorkeling, big waves.  And plate lunches.

OK, now for a diversion - inland to a state not known for water or islands - New Mexico.  My favorite inland state - pueblos and sand dunes, and the arts and red rocks.  Multi-cultural (another theme), great southwest cuisine.  Shiprock and Acoma.  Santa Fe and Albuquerque and Alamagordo.  And chiles - when I used to be able to eat them.

Narrowing the final 46 down to 1 was a challenge - the 1st four, if truth me told - which it is - came into my mind just like that.  Snap.  The 5th was much more challening - do I go with another coastal state - Oregon, California, Florida; or with another cultural mix - Louisiana (OK, coastal as well), or with a heartland state like Missouri (lived there for 5 years), or with the wild west - Montana or Wyoming.  Well, I finally went with diversity - diversity of landscapes, cultures, cities, beaches, national parks, commerce.  California.  The Bay Area, Yosemite, Mt Lasson, the Redwoods, Death Valley, Santa Barbara, Lake Tahoe.  All in one state, albeit large.  And the Pacific Ocean is always a tie-breaker for me.

So, there.  My 5 favorite states and a quick summary as to why.  In the coming weeks, I'll look at the other 45 as well - all with sights and sounds and experiences worth checking out - whether in this lifetime or next or next or ...
 

Music and Travel

Music is an integral element of many of my travels, whether its a music festival in Butte, or a concertina workshop in County Clare, or listening to a gamelon concert in the hotel's gazebo on Lombok Island.  Listening to folk, concertina, or gamelon music to this day transports me back to those wonderful moments.  Travel is not just about seeing or tasting (though a good meal can make a day!), but about all of the senses. 

As I write this, I'm listening to streaming "Bollywood" movie music from India.  I've never been to the subcontinent, but a journey there is hopefully not too far away and one experience that I'm really looking forward to is to attend a Bollywood movie while in India - experiencing the crowds and sounds and vision and smells - and probably feels.  As well as attending music and dance festivals, of course.  It certainly won't be a Sounds of Silence trip.

A Different Type of Travel Magazine

I've been reading AFAR magazine faithfully and cover-to-cover since its first appearance a year or so ago.  And it has not disappointed me even once.  The bi-monthly magazine is about the journey - not just the destination.  Its about culture and festivals and food. Its about the people who travel and the people you might meet once there.  Its about traveling with a purpose - consistent with my travel philosophy that you have to know WHY you are traveling in order to really enjoy your travels.  Check it out.

http://www.afar.com/

Mount Hood and Portland

We just returned from a 5 night trip to northern Oregon - focusing on the Mount Hood area and the City of Portland.  I wanted to share our hotel booking (and staying) experiences.  When looking to stay in the Portland area, I first check out http://travelportland.com/.  Operated by the City's tourist bureau, the site often offers some amazing deals on stays in area hotels.  It was hear that I found out about the Resort at the Mountain.  Not exactly in Portland - actually 50+ miles to the east - it was nonetheless covered by the site which offered a far lower price than did the hotel's own site.  The rate also included continental breakfast at the hotel and a discount coupon book for Portland area restaurants, shopping and attractions. 

The Resort at the Mountain was really quite a find - nicely designed two-story buildings built around a central garden area with outdoor pool and hot tub.  Breakfast is served in the resort's main restaurant - Altidude.  Apparently few people book this particular package, since the restaurant's waitstaff had a hard time determining exactly what was included in the continental breakfast!  The first morning we received a fruit plate and two muffins, plus juice.  And they charged $7.50 for our daughter since the "special" only included meals for 2 people.  The next morning, we order two of the fruit plate - muffin - juice plates and then an egg-toast-bacon breakfast.  And we weren't charged anything!  Go figure. 

The rooms themselves were great - comfortable bed, nice patio with chairs, flat screen TV and a very nice shower with rainfall showerhead.  Very quiet room as well.  The Resort complex also had a putt-putt golf course, lawn bowling and/or croquet - all at no additonal charge.  There's also a golf course and spa (at, of course, an additional charge).  The Mallard cafe serves lunch and dinner - we loved our dinner there - reasonable prices, though the setting is a bit like a large conference room rather than an intimate cafe. 

As a side note - we had lunch at the Ram's Horn bar at Timberline Lodge - 20 or so miles from the Resort. WONDERFUL food in a great setting with views of the ski slopes. 

Now, when it came to actually staying in Portland, the best deal was NOT through travelportland.com but directly with the Marriott Courtyard-Convention Center website.  They had a bed-and-breakfast deal (not continental but full buffet) that was lower priced even with the $12 per night parking fee.  The hotel is a 5 minute walk from the Max rail line to downtown Portland (and within the free ride zone), making the journey to downtown restaurants and sites a breeze.  Rooms were fine, quiet, though with softer-than-I-prefer mattresses.  And the breakfast buffet was simply great, with made to order waffles, egg dishes, etc. 

Whenever booking hotels, always check out several websites - you never know where the best deal will be found on any given occasion.

Its All About the Light

When taking photographs, the difference between ordinary and special is usually in the light.  This applies whether its a portrait, architectural or landscape.  This is especially true in gardens.  I recently spent several hours at the Bloedel Reserve here on Bainbridge Island.  Most of my photographs from that morning were "OK."  But just as I was getting ready to leave, about 10 am, a full 4 hours after sunrise, I came across "the" shot of the morning.  The light was intense on this single tree, while the background was dark.  The limbs almost float in the air, since the tree trunk was also in the shade.  The resulting photograph is a study of light, and that's what an arresting photograph is all about.  So, be on the lookout for light and contrast, whether at sunrise, sunset or even midday. 

The Alternative Grand Tour of Europe

I recently received an e-mail newsletter from Lonely Planet with their "10 Essential Stops in Europe." The list included London, Paris, Rome and the like. You can find the list at http://tiny.cc/2hptk. It got me thinking about my "Favorite 10 Stops in Europe." None of their 10 made my list - but that's neither here nor there. Your list may be similar to theirs or mine, or totally different. I'm not much for lists of "Bests" or "Musts." But lists of personal favorites can trigger ideas for others. And make be long to return to some as well!

Anyway, here are my recommendations for an Alternative Grand Tour of Europe. Enjoy - and send postcards!

Brugge, Belgium - a Monet landscape around every corner
Dingle, Ireland - great small town, wonderful pubs, amazing scenery nearby.
Glasgow, Scotland - my favorite city in the UK - vibrant and gateway to the highlands and islands
Krakow, Poland - monumental town square, great castle, and well positioned for day trips to Auschwitz and Częstochowa
Mont Ste. Michael, France - spectacular setting, especially at high tide
Portofino, Italy - picturesque; and strolling through the surrounding vineyards and groves makes it all the more worthwhile
Rhodes, Greece - the good parts of Greece in a small package
Santiago de Compostela, Spain - the Cathedral is probably my favorite in all of Europe
Venice, Italy - an Adult Disneyland - if you like boats and canals and walking, its gets no better than this
Vianden, Luxembourg - small town Europe gets no better than this - medieval feel

Editing Your Photos

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Northwest Folklife Festival, primarily eating, hanging out with a friend, and taking photos at the Tango event in Center House - one of my favorite photo opps of the year.  This morning was spent editing the 380 photosraphs.  I picked up a great editing system from fellow photographers at a recent workshop in Cusco, Peru.  Using Adobe Lightroom's (which is my software of choice in editing and post-processing) starring system, I did an initial edit of shots that showed "some promise."  In this case, I ended up with 146 "**" photos. 

The next round was a more critical examination of the shots and weeding through some near duplicates, ending up with 85 "***" photos.  Still way too many for most purposes, but I was clearly getting down to the better shots.  Now I paid a lot of attention to the edges of the photos and other "extraneous" elements that detract from the subject of the photo.  This edit brought the working total down to 29 "****" images.  These are likely the ones that, over time, I will make color, saturation, and other minor adjustments (even some cropping as needed). 

But there's still one more edit to go - those "best of the best" shots.  Here I did side-by-side comparisons in Lightroom's "Library" mode to narrow the field.  I finally settled on 7 photos, or about 2% of the original photos, for the "*****" rating.  These are the shots I'll start with and will likely print several of these for upcoming exhibitions.  All of this took about an hour and was relatively easy and painless - probably equally divided time-wise since its clearly harder as it goes. Photoshop and other software programs offer similar ways of quickly going through and editing photos in a series of iterations.  Highly recommended! 

By the way, the above photo is one of the "7."  I selected it because its shows both motion and emotion.  (And it's hard to go too wrong with a touch or two of red!)