I’m back from my travels over the holidays. Get ready for Arty pictures of the Pacific Northwest. We gave ourselves a do-it-most zoom lens for Christmas, and we had some serious fun using it! I didn’t take all of them. D— took some so credit is given on those pictures.

The driftwood is all on the beach in a lovely little park in Mukilteo. If you haven’t grasped it by now, I’m a texture girl. 

If I were outfitting a room to look like an antique boat, this is where I would come. D— sampled the bells and I just drooled over all the portholes, maps, figureheads, clocks, you name it!

Next time I go back, I’m going to take an architectural tour. I just love the details in these lights.

This bar has a story all its own. While we were there, Seattle was having its annual holiday pub crawl. We didn’t know that when we went in, and as we ate lunch, we watched the bar fill up with Santas of every stripe. Before we left, we stood on the benches to get a better view of the room. You should Google this bar. There’s a very famous painting of the bottle wall by Leroy Neiman. And we just stumbled on it! Bonus for our day.

We were whipping by in the car, and I aimed up. See what I mean about this great lens?

We would have gone in this interesting little shop (I mean, where else are you going to find a specialty shop that lets you craft your own umbrella), but it was closed. Too late at night for shoppers to want an umbrella, I guess.

Post Alley, near Pike Place Market, has some little gems of its own. The tile on the step got my attention too.

The crabs were not our dinner, unfortunately. We were just shopping in a Central Market for vegetables. Guess I’m not the only one in our family who is drawn to textures and colors.

Make sure you open these up to view. The window pic is soooo much better full size.

Don’t worry about looking like a tourist if you look up. Look up! You never know what you will see there.

Happy New Year!