traveler || the pacific northwest

"Please be a traveler,

and not a tourist.

Try new things,

meet new people,

and look beyond what's right in front of you.

Those are the keys to understanding

this amazing world we live in."

|| Andrew Zimmern

Lately my mind has been wandering again and again to the beauty that is the Pacific Northwest, primarily Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. I'm awed by the rugged glamour and raw beauty of each of these pictures. Simplicity is always on my heart it seems, and the Pacific Northwest just seems to capture that simple, understated, intentional lifestyle that I hope for. Roadtrip, anyone?

Market Day in the City of Bridges

I don't really know why, but I claim four different towns/cities as "my" cities: Titusville, Erie, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. I've spent so much time in most of those cities, that it seems I must surely know them like the back of my hand... But yesterday was the first time that I actually ever explored downtown in the city of Pittsburgh. And I sort of fell into love. I love that city of mine, the city of 446 bridges. With chai lattes and camera in hand, my sister and I played the perfect part of tourists, stumbling upon an open-air market, eating homemade cookies purchased there, and taking mental notes of things we'd like to do and see when we come to the city again...