I went to a conference to LA for work in late March, and took a few days off to play in Seattle along the same time. This time I think I'll post the pictures along with a narrative (rather than just the pictures). We'll see how this works out. :-)

After reading all that I've typed, I realize that I went on a bit excessively, so if you would rather not read my blabbing about my trip, and you just want to see the pictures, you can click on the thumbnails for the full-size images.

I've only been to LA once in my life-about 12 or so years ago, when me and my friend Russ road-tripped there in a jeep from Portland. That was a good trip (except for the freezing cold temps going through the mountains) because I got to spend time with Russ and his friends. However, with a couple of exceptions, I was NOT impressed with Southern California. Something that DID impress me was the J. Paul Getty Museum in the hills of Santa Monica. Really impressive-if you're ever in LA, I highly recommend a visit.

Well, LA did nothing to impress me this time, either. I think if I never get to Southern California again in my lifetime, that will be fine with me. Oh, I can understand why people live there: the constant sun, the beautiful people, but how do they put up with the disgusting smog?? I swear I could barely see a mile or two from my hotel because of the thick yellow haze over everything. It gets hazy here in Anchorage sometimes when the wind doesn't blow in the winter, but nothing like that! (plus, it was quite breezy while I was there...what would it have been like if it was still?? yuck).

My trip started off on a crappy note, since our plane (thanks, Alaska Airlines) was delayed for FOUR hours, due to mechanical difficulties. They couldn't put us on another plane, because all the planes were full, thanks to Spring Break. Well, I missed my connecting flight in Seattle, but of course they got me on the next flight going to LA. My luggage however, did NOT get on the next flight. I guess I should consider myself lucky, in that this was the first time my luggage has ever gotten lost. I filed a report, but was too damn tired to worry about it too much. By now it was after midnight, and I was ready to go to bed. I didn't see a shuttle bus outside the airport, so I checked with a cab driver as to how much it would be to get to my hotel. "Oh, about 80 or 85 bucks" he replies. EIGHTY BUCKS?!? As I was walking away (to look harder for a shuttle bus) he called after me, "How much do you WANT it to be?" Ugh! Well, by now I was remembering what I hated about LA.
After risking my life at the hands of the barely-able-to-drive shuttle bus driver, I finally made it to the hotel. The trip took a decided upswing there, as it was a very nice hotel (The Hilton Anaheim). WAY overpriced, but the company was picking up the bill, so I was OK with that.
The conference was at the HUGE Anaheim Convention Center, right next door. Holy crap, is this place enormous! According to its website, it has over 1.2 million square feet of space, and according to a creepy old security guard I talked to, it's almost a mile from one end to another. This little seating area outside (right between the convention center and my hotel) was where everyone went to smoke, so around lunchtime it was crammed with smokers, contributing quite nicely to the lovely grey-poupon-colored haze hanging over LA.

The conference I was attending had about 5000 attendees, but even with all that, we only used ONE of the FIVE halls (but we used most of the top two floors). This picture is of one of the halls, where all the exhibitors were set up, trying to sell us their crap. I entered to win a trip to Hawaii, but failed to win, dammit.

Every year at this conference (it was in Toronto last year, and San Francisco the year before) they include some sort of entertainment for one night, for all of us to attend. Well, we're in Anaheim, so three guesses as to what the entertainment was this year. Yep, Disneyland.
I forgot something very important before I went to Disneyland that evening. I hate kids, and I hate crowds. What is Disneyland? It's a big crowd of kids, of course.
Maybe it was extra-crowded, because it was such a nice, sunny day (it looked sunny through the smog, anyway), or maybe it's just always like that, but I don't think I've ever encountered such a huge mass of people in my life. Here's a scary picture of about a thousand baby carriages, all piled up. Yuck.
Here's a picture of Mickey's Street, or Minnie's Town, or some crap like that. I can't remember the exact name of this mess.
I actually have been to Disneyland once before, but it was far more tolerable, probably because I was drinking during that trip. My main recollection of Disneyland from then was standing in the Star Tours line for an hour and a half, and almost having my head taken off on the Matterhorn ride. Oh sure, they have the little "You must be at least THIS tall to ride!" signs, for the little kids, but they don't bother to take into account those of us that are ABOVE average height. I swear if I was once inch taller, I would have left the top of my head splattered all over that damn mountain.
Of course, no collection of Disneyland pictures would be complete without one of the Source of All Evil-the It's a Small World ride. The only reason this doesn't stand out from my previous trip is the many, many hours of therapy that thankfully buried this painful memory deep, deep in my subconscious, where hopefully it will remain for years to come. God help anyone near me when this memory comes to the surface.
This is a self portrait of me-after spending an hour trying to get out of that stupid place.
Well, After my less-than-positive trip to Anaheim/Disneyland, it was on to Seattle! I was looking forward to this part of the trip, since it was an actual vacation. I didn't have a single plan-just to wander the streets of downtown Seattle and see what came up. The weather wasn't nearly as nice as Anaheim, but then again, the city also wasn't choked in a thick, yellow-brown haze, either.
I took a ferry over to Bremerton on the first day-oh, not to see Bremerton, (trust me, there's nothing there, well, except maybe some Navy ships) but just for the ride. This ferry kind of scared me, because it looked at least twice as old as me (and I know what terrible shape I'm in), but it managed to get us there and back without falling apart and leaving us at the bottom of Puget Sound.
Not much to say about this naval ship in Bremerton.
This boat looked a lot more seaworthy, but they weren't giving rides on it, dammit.
Not sure why I took a picture of these cranes, and I'm even LESS sure of why I'm including it on this page. Probably because I went to the trouble of resizing it in Photoshop, and now I'm determined to use it somewhere!
I made the obligatory trip to the Space Needle, but never actually made it up it, since there was a big-ass line waiting for the elevator, and I've been up there a dozen times, so didn't think I was missing anything new.
I think this really tall building is safe from terrorists carshing into it with a plane. Sure, it's 76 stories tall, and the tallest building west of the Mississippi, but no one knows it's name, so it's safe! (moral: fame=target)
I also of course visited the Pike Street Market, which I love, and would probably go to all the time if I lived in Seattle. Yeah, I say that now, but the smell of fish probably would get old after a while. :-)
Just some steps leading up to the market, from the piers. I can't think of anything witty to say about them.

Probably the most entertaining thing I saw in Seattle was the religious demonstration downtown on the day before Easter. There was this group of kids that were the WORST singers I had ever heard. Oh, some of you that know me may think I don't have any room to talk, since I can't sing at all, but trust me-these kids were so bad I'd gladly rather listen to "It's a Small World" for six more hours. The whole thing was apparently part of a design to get people to sign up for whatever church was putting this on. Right after the nonmusical kids, there was a creepy puppet show, and then an even creepier lady doing mime. I didn't get any pictures of those two events, because I was too shocked to work my camera.

Fortunately, I witnessed this ridiculous event near the end of my trip, so it didn't spoil the rest of it with scary nightmares.
I'm sure you're really dissapointed that there aren't any pictures of ME included on this page, but that's the problem of travelling alone-no one to take you picture! Plus, I sure as hell wasn't going to hand my camera to one of the many homeless people in Seattle to take my picture (Call me paranoid...)