Pics from my Trip to Beautiful

I went to visit my family out West. (I'm from there, though I've lived in NYC longer than anywhere else.) My first stop was Snoqualmie, Washington, where my folks live, in the foothills of the North Cascades. My brother flew up from Los Angeles and the two of us went on a hike to Wallace Falls. He took the above pic of me, under the evergreen canopy, sheltered from both rain and light.

I'll leave the family out of the pictures, since I haven't asked their permission. I keep forgetting to do that. But I did see a few things other than family. Like a whole lot of coffee kiosks. This is a phenomenon we don't have out East. We don't have windmills that serve cappuccino in the middle of nowhere.



In Brooklyn, we don't have mountain mist:



Or its cool byproducts, like moss-covered trees:



We got to sit and watch a herd of about 60 Roosevelt Elk, outside North Bend, Washington, where they used to film Twin Peaks. (Obviously, I didn't get too close to the big guys.)



And I got some gardening tips from my talented stepmom. Check out her chard!



I had a blast from the past, driving past this "Wayside Chapel," about the size of a big doghouse, which I used to love when I was little. It shrank a LOT.



Then my bro and I flew down to LA for the weekend. We went to the Museum of Jurassic Technology, where they had a beautiful exhibition of portraits of Soviet space dogs. Highly recommended! Plus, the tea is free!

I had a day alone in LA, so I bought tee shirts at my favorite thrift store in Culver City, strolled the beach a little, and went to LACMA for the very-cool Breaking the Mode show. 1980's fashion was so wild! Issey Miyake is such a brain! He's is the one who inspired me to go to fashion school, where I got jaded fast and transferred to the sculpture department. But this show made me remember what I used to love so much about sewing. Maybe I'll dig out the old machine.

And I got to hike Runyon Canyon with my bro, his excellent wife, and many cute dogs I don't know.



The dogs were grabbing slivers of shade, gulping water, and panting like crazy. Me, I wish I brought my sunglasses. Here I am with the Hollywood sign sticking out of my forehead.