A heavy does of the Goonies to kick off my summer in Seattle...

Summer is more than just a season.  It is more than just the time of year when the temperature lends itself to wearing shorts, flip flops, and sitting in the sun... Let us not forget that for the first 22 years of life, summer also meant VACATION and after 22 years it is a tough habit to break.

[this is lee, one of my best friends from DC, who came to seattle for the day on his way to china... we all went bowling together and it was a blast]

Now, I realize that life simply cannot be one big vacation, and that all good things in life must come to an end, but why can't a person take a solid length of time off from work to regroup and reconnect or even connect for the first time with those things most important to them?  Anyway, I am chalking up my travels and my time here in Seattle to just that- regrouping and figuring some things out and I've got to say- thus far things have been going quite well. 

Seattle has been grey, and a bit rainy, but I maintain my previous perspective of optimism and still feel a strong connection with the landscape and people all around me.  As of this past Tuesday, Jesse, Andrea, and Charlie have all moved on- back to Australia, Hawaii, and NY, leaving me on my own for the first time since arriving to get set up in the apartment and deal with the less fun, more necessary things, like car registration, renewing my passport, and other administrative tasks.  I am proud to say that as of today, most everything has been dealt with and I am starting to feel like I have a real home here in Seattle... A feeling I haven't had for a while now.

The sun is out, and is scheduled to be out for the next 10 days.  Lots of fun ideas are flooding my mind, so who knows what Ill be up to, but ill be sure to take pics.  On June 22nd Joe arrives from Chicago to spend two weeks here AND I have my first photography course!!  Until then, it's time to get out and enjoy the city.

here are some pictures from the past 10 days...

When Lee was in town, we all went out bowling.  Look what was playing on TV... (if you dont know what this is, it's a scene from The Goonies... only the best movie ever made...)

Me getting my bowl on...

Lee, Jesse, and Andrea.... it felt awesome to have two of my worlds mixed... and they mixed very well!! Jesse, Logan, and Andrea loved Lee and he loved them too...

I think they were talking about dorky science stuff here... all three of them are scientists (though, Andrea has the coolest title... she is a volcanologist... that's right... she is a Dr. of Volcanos.

I had nothing to contribute, so i set up the self timer and attacked their dorky science study session for a fun photo.

The next day I left bright and early en route to Astoria Oregon, the location where the Goonies was filmed in 1985.  The 25th anniversary celebration took place, and I bought tickets to go.  That is Mt. Rainier in the background, by the way... not a bad view when heading south from Seattle.

THE GOONIES 25th ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND  Astoria, Oregon.

Some of you know this about me, some don't, so I will briefly explain why I would attend just a random event.  Germain, my brother, was always the movie guy.  I was always the adventurer.  Outside most days playing in my treehouse or in the woods and using my imagination to pretend I was something bigger, like Indiana Jones, or Mikey from the Goonies... I grew up with this movie as a staple in my cinematic diet. and it was about time I celebrated that fact with a bunch of other crazy, like minded individuals.

I met the artist behind this AMAZING original commemorative piece.  His name is Jesse Horst (http://www.jdhorst.com/) and his work is out of this world.  He, his wife, and his brother, dressed up as Sloth, Cyndi Lauper, and Chunk and were actually featured in the astoria newspaper AND mentioned in the washington post.  I waited with them in the meet and greet line and got to know them- super awesome people.  Check out Jesse's website.  He hand made all their costumes and is an incredible artist.

This is them below (photo borrowed from a facebook post and is not my own)

Nikki, Jesse, and Jeremy Horst, from Buffalo NY (drove all the way across the country for this event)

The day started out at the Goondocks, check in location and store.

Then we headed out on a bus tour... I had no idea how many movies have been filmed here in Astoria, Free Willy, Kindergarten Cop, The ring 2...  this is the school from Kindergarten Cop... "Im detective John Kimball, Im a cop you idiot"

This is a picture of Astoria taken from the attic of the real goonies house!!! (All shots in the house from the movie were shot on location, not typical in the movie world because finding room for the cameras is tough when you are not on a set, but the kids almost felt like this was their home while they were here- though all attic shots were actually shot in the studio, so being up in the attic wasnt quite as special, but look at this view!!)

Data's house, across the driveway

Me at the very same window where the movie starts out with Mikey looking out into the rain... this was a big highlight for me.

now this picture is weird... the owners of the house TOTALLY renovated it... so the inside doesnt look anything like the movie (bummer) but the outside still does!!

awesome porch shot... if you know the movie well, this will be familiar.

the house from outside.

Inside Mouths kitchen (which has not been updated!) and was super authentic, aside from that new microwave back there.

The bridge in Astoria

me at the windows in the bowling alley where chunk spills his strawberry milkshake while watching the cop chase.

me outside the bowling alleythe Jail from the opening scene.  Now a film museum

an authentic replica jeep from the film (some bigger fans than me put the pieces together, including the bullet holes in the back!!)

"O.R.V.... Bullet holes.... Bullet holes the size of MATZOH BALLS!!!!"  

The line waiting for the meet and greet

jeremy and Jesse Horst, in costume!  So awesome.

Francis! 

jeremy, me, jesse, and nikki

Scary.

Mouth!  (aka Corey Feldman)

Jesse Horst ALSO hand sculpted the sculpture of David from the film, complete with the appropriate upside down parts... his goal was to get it signed by all the Goonies... what a great idea. 

Chunk!!  aka Jeff Cohen (not so chunky anymore though... sadly)

Me and Chunk.  Not a great pic (we werent allowed to ask them to take pics with us because there were so many people waiting for autographs)

More new friends!  I met Joshua and Jessica on the bus tour.  We wound up spending the whole day together and since they had such a sweet room with lots of extra space they offered me their pull out couch so I cancelled my motel and spend the night with them.  Such amazing people, and another group of new friends- they live in Arizona, near phoenix.

The three of us went to dinner at the Rogue Brewery and I "grabbed crab" a tradition in astoria.  Their dinner special was Crab caught on one of the "Deadliest Catch" ships!

One of the many 80's parties going on that night in Astoria

One of the random things for sale in a random shop in Astoria...

The view from Josh and Jessica's room.

Chunks GTI!

Before heading out of town, I checked out the maritime museum.  Considering Astoria, OR was the first settlement west of the Mississippi, outside of the Goonies, there is a lot of history here.  The maritime museum was very cool.  This is an example of the waves that ships have to go over to get out of the columbia river.  It is the location with the most ship wrecks on the west coast- those red dots below are all the shipwrecks that happen there.

Ever wonder what the inside of a tugboat looks like?  I have!  And here was a full control room from a tug boat... I felt 10 years old again here.  It was great fun.

The outside of the museum

Me at Canon beach- where the end of the film was shot...

All Misc shots from the beach.

heading back out of town- on the left is the motel i would have stayed at... not so nice.

a view of the house from afar... located right in the middle of this picture.

BACK IN SEATTLE... BACK TO THE BOAT.

Jesse cleaning up some of the wooden trim

Charlie and I cutting some new shelving.

Gotta thank Jesse for shooting these pics of me- I so rarely get good pics of me, but i really like these few!  Thanks jess.

a glimpse out my back door during some seattle rain... 

and last but not least- my room!!  It's getting there.  I just hung some wire and clips and printed out some of my favorite images along with some family and friends photos to make the space a bit more personal.  A fun and affordable method of displaying your photos!

Well, if you made it this far, thanks for taking 20 minutes out of your day to read my blog.  I love sharing my life with those of you who care enough to read it... but if you just check out the pics, that's ok too... that's probably what I would do anyway.

More to come in another week or so!  Thanks for reading.