Rock Stars

Last week I found these photos I had tucked away from my December LA trip. Shay, Barb (work colleagues) and I had just finished a quick hike when we found this cool tree... and decided to pose for an album cover shot... you'd buy our music, wouldn't you?

A few other scenery photos from our hike:

Shay and Barb:

The Santa Monica hills:

It was a beautiful day.

West Coast Whirlwind

Just before fall semester wrapped up, I made one last quick trip: LA by day, Seattle by night. Each city couldn't have offered a more different experience- but together they offered a sun-filled (with a few runs through those Seattle raindrops), reading for pleasure respite.

I was there for work, but with most recruiting done, was able to be present with my coworkers for some much needed fun.

LA with Barb, Liz and Shay:
We stayed in Marina Del Ray-- and for my first two mornings away, I woke up to this view before we all walked down the street for breakfast.

We held our first event at SONY Studios in Culver City-- it was neat to be on those movie sets.
One afternoon we did some rollarblading on the boardwalk. From left to right:
Liz, Dean of the iSchool; Barb, Director of alumni relations; Shay, Director of West Coast relations
And made it all the way to the Santa Monica Pier.

Just in the knick of time (I can only love being in LA for so long)-- we headed up to uncharted territory in my life: Seattle... and I LOVED it, what an incredible place.

SEATTLE: With Shay, Barb, Anthony and Kelly (and Sean)
I expected Seattle to be environmentally conscientious, a little hipster and obsessed with starbucks... on our first venture out of the hotel we see people petting police horses; the policemen/women wearing raincoats and carrying Starbucks. We had arrived.
We did some exploring of the famous kind:

(It was super fun to see the Public Market at Christmas)

And crossed the bridge to the north to get a better picture of the suburbs with our Seattle-based friend and huge Syracuse fan, Sean Keeley (http://www.nunesmagician.com/).

(Sorry for all the darker photos to come, but Seattle's a little cloudy and made for some cool photography)

Seattle from across the bay (Gas Works Park):

Sean, Julie, Anthony and Kelly-- Gas Works Park, December 2010.

Sean took us around his funky and contemporary town of Fremont known for its quirky attitude and belief to be the Center of the Universe -- as portrayed by the following sign:
We stopped at Sean's coffee shop of choice when blogging and we even found some Syracuse China. I knew I liked this place.

See ya Seattle-- hope to be back soon.