Obytheby

I’ve travelled the lenght of California, & the Mojave was the highlight. The top of California has it’s own odd beauty, but we broke down in Needles, so we had more time to appreciate the southern end :)

Every summer when I was a kid the family would pack up at least once and do the whole trip – the skytrain, the seabus, bus up to Grouse Mountain, eat at Lonsdale Quay, etc. Other summer trips we went to Queen Elizabeth Park & Nat Bailey Stadium, gastown, ferried out to the islands… great city to go lose yourself in exploring for a day. Better to live up the valley though out of (some of) the crazy busy-ness!

I lived around the whole Fraser Valley for most of my younger life (from about 6 to 15 years old, on & off). I love the area & go back whenever I can. I may be American, but that part of Canada has always been the closest thing to home for me.

It was amazing that 23 years after the eruption it was still so barren. As you climb to the top you go from young trees to dead trees all laying the same direction to just nothing but dust & dirt. We camped at the base in 2003.

My first pass through B’ham was when I was 11, for a month. When I was 17 & living in NC I decided it was time to get out from under my family & hopped a greyhound to Seattle. Lived in Bellingham for 2 years—Have NO idea why I left. Loved it & go back when I can. Grew up in the Fraser Valley (B.C.) for a good chunk of my young life, so the northwest always calls me back.