Of the many times I have visited the Pacific Northwest I had never ventured out into the surrounding countryside. That sort of exploring is not easy to achieve when you’re flown in for a seedy, late-night dance gig and whisked away right afterward. From previous visits to Seattle and Portland I knew both cities have a green attitude and encourage bicycle travel, which I have come to miss lately in my mobile world. This time my visit was focused on experiencing the real Seattle with my tour guide Sam.

As you may have guessed because it’s so damn obvious – I loved Seattle and it could be one of my new favorite all around cities. There was water everywhere you looked and the best part of it was that you could, at any place really, pull over, get the dog and go for a swim, hike or just sit there and wonder why you didn’t live there.

Every single time I’ve been to Seattle or Portland the weather was sun-shiny gorgeous – even in winter. Then someone informed me that non-sunny days far outnumber the sunny ones, that moist is the word du jour and I couldn’t count on my freakish luck to provide fair weather as a resident. Crap.

Here are some lovely photos I took with my phone.

This year I decided to celebrate my birthday in my beloved P’Town. It’s beautiful here and peaceful now, which is something I can really use. Many thanks to the frenzy of FB users wishing me the best. And finally big kisses to Rita and Jim for their beautiful card seen below. Look closely!