Family, Friends and Firs

I arrived in Seattle the evening of the 25th, and the fun just began from there. While in Seattle I was staying with my Aunt Katy, Uncle Carl, and two cousins Bailey and Greta. It was such a nice stay. I was immediately thrust into the amazing hospitality, scintillating conversation and warmth that I have always experienced at the hands of the Lloyd/Guess household. I stayed up far too late talking and went to bed in great spirits, clean, warm, and dry.

 On Saturday, after an extremely lazy morning, I decided to take the ferry with my cousin Greta, across the water to the Olympic peninsula to visit Pilgrim Firs, the summer camp I attended from middle through high school. There were supposed to be some people at the camp working on it before camp season.

When I arrived I was greeted with the sights, sounds and smells that I came to love growing up. The big field where I played countless ultimate frisbee games, the main lodge, with all the crafts, mail calls, rambunctious grace songs at meal times, and the week end dances. All the cabins where so many funny stories were made. It was pretty incredible to be back in that place. Then it got even better, as one of the people there working on the camp was none other than a great friend of mine from my days as a camper, Boone. We exchanged stories, laughed about all the antics, the people and the place that I loved so much. The experience of being back at Pilgrim Firs made me realize that I missed the place more than I knew I had. I hadn't been there for 8 years, yet everything was the same. The place is timeless, and the feelings surrounding it are just as timeless. I ended my stay at Pilgrim Firs with great people, sitting around the fire, down by lake Flora, making smores and skipping rocks. The feeling was indescribably amazing. I left with the promise of considering counseling next summer, and went back to Seattle.

On Sunday, after an even lazier morning (I woke up at noon, something I haven't done in probably years) I went with Carl to a neighbor's house who was helping him make a trellis for their backyard out of iron, welding was involved. Sean, the neighbor, is big into cycling and has made some really neat bikes.

I got to ride a couple of his bikes, including this really neat and really long cruiser bike. It has a flamethrower, but I didn't get to play with that. I then got to do some welding, which was a first for me. I think I took to it pretty well.

Katy then whisked me away from the heat, sparks and danger of the neighborhood metal working pseudo-factory, and took me to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant on Alki beach. I had fish tacos, which were huge, and incredible and had great conversation with Katy about relationships, philosophy, and life in general. After a great dinner, and back at the house, I had more great conversation with Carl, and as per the usual, stayed up past a reasonable hour talking.

I took my time getting ready to leave Monday morning, as I was really not wanting to leave Seattle. It is such a great place, made even better by the people. I am resolved to get back there sooner rather than later. Packing to an incredibly short time, thought it was made slightly longer by the fact that my cousin Bailey had slipped sticky notes reading, "I love Taylor Swift" into just about every space, pocket, shoe, and glove that could hold such mischief. But before I knew it I was packed and ready to go, and after saying my farewells I hit the road.