I took a handful of photos on a recent trip to Washington, DC so I thought I’d post a few. DC is a really fascinating place and I think it would benefit anyone to go and visit at least once. The museums are really amazing (and free!) and there’s nothing quite like standing in front of the actual Declaration of Independence. It will give you chills.

I didn’t expect the monuments to be as powerful as they were. It’s a well spent afternoon to stand in the same spot as Martin Luther King did in 1963. Just standing in front of the White House was quite the experience, too, when you start thinking of all the people who have lived there.

Other highlights of the trip were the Holocaust Museum, Museum of Modern Art, the Allen Ginsberg photography exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, the National Archives, Ford’s Theater, the Museum of Natural History, and lots and lots of great food!

I also did a little post-trip reflection over at our work blog about finding storytelling inspiration in museum design.

I recently took a trip to Holland, MI to do some art direction for a short video documentary. I stayed in a cool hotel while I was there, so I thought I’d share a couple of shots I took. The hotel is City Flats and it’s the first hotel in the Midwest to achieve LEED Gold Certification. It’s an eco-minded hotel with really nice interior design including bold colors, clean lines and high ceilings.


Here’s the hallway by the elevator.

A view of the bed which was REALLY comfortable!

I loved the sliding door that covered the bathroom and closet.

It was nice to see some non-typical hotel artwork on the walls!

View of the bathroom…

… and walk-in shower.

I had a great stay there and the environment was really classy!

The city of Holland is a couple of hours outside of Chicago and about 35 minutes from Grand Rapids, MI. Lake Michigan is about a 5 minute drive to the west. The population is about 35,000 people and it was recently named the 2nd happiest city in the U.S.!

Every year, they have the Tulip Time festival which is the largest tulip festival in the U.S.

There are tulips EVERYWHERE and it’s really beautiful.

Last week, I was working out in Oakland, CA and, outside of a couple of trips to Seattle when I was younger, it was my first time to the west coast. The majority of my time was spent on an island city called Alameda which is right next to Oakland and across the bay from San Francisco. The weather was absolutely perfect while I was there and I met some amazing people during my trip.

One of the neatest things about Alameda is the architecture. There is a really interesting mix of old Victorian homes and California Bungalow style houses. The housing market is crazy, of course, and I gathered that the average home there is around $800k-$1.2m! With hardly any yard . . . And earthquakes.

However, when you see the homes up close, they all have such character and detail that it’s really a sight to see. Coupled with the perfect weather year-round, it might almost be worth the price . . .

This is a shot of the courtyard at one of the middle schools on the island and it completely blew my mind. The area at the top is open to the sky and the lockers are lined up around the edge of the courtyard. Must be nice to have such beautiful weather! I was told that even when it rains, it’s usually light and isn’t a problem at all. I think we could pull that off in Kansas for about 9 days out of the year.

The rest of the city has a lot of charm to it. It is a little weathered, like most coastal towns are, but has a great multi-cultural influence and the vibe is very relaxed and almost like a small town.

After seeing the bay in person, I realized how critical it is to keep it as clean as possible!

There is also a beautiful beach area in Alameda. Actually, some of the schools back up to the bay and so that is what they see out the window every day! I wouldn’t get anything done with a view like that!

I was a little surprised to see palm trees that far north in California, but then again, I really didn’t know what to expect.

One of the days I was there, it was really windy and so the kiteboarders were out in full force. Each of those moon-shaped slivers was a huge kite that pulled the surfers around the bay. I saw a few of them up close and the sail is really large. I think the wind was around 45mph that day, so they were flying high!

The last day I was there, I had the chance to take the ferry over to San Francisco for dinner. Oakland has a lot of shipping ports, so there were a bunch of giant ships coming in and out. Those boxes on the boat are the size of the cars on a train which gives you an idea of how huge the ships are!

On our way to eat, we stopped off at the ferry building (with the clock tower) which has a ton of food vendors, flowers and mushrooms, apparently.

We ate dinner at a wonderful Greek restaurant called Kokkari and spent about 2 hours eating, drinking and talking and eating, drinking and talking. It was a lot of fun!

It was just dusk when we headed back on the last ferry to Alameda. We passed right underneath the bay bridge and you could see the golden gate bridge in the distance as well as Alcatraz! It was a beautiful scene.

In mid-March we took a trip to New York City to visit some of our best friends that live there. It was an amazing trip, not only in the fact that I hung out with awesome people, ate awesome food and saw awesome art, but I also got some new scenery for a week which was much needed!

The first night we were there, we took the Chinatown bus to Boston. It is 1) very popular and 2) very cheap. The ride takes about 3.5-4 hours and really isn’t too bad at all.

We were only in Boston for about 36 hours to visit some people, but we did see some neat places in the city. This is the Old North Church from your 4th grade history class. Remember?

The church is in a historic district of Boston where the streets are narrow and the buildings are OLD.

We were in Boston the day before St. Patrick’s day and the town was already celebrating.

We also saw the New England Holocaust Memorial which was really something to see in person. There are six million numbers like these etched in 6 pillars of glass and are reminiscent of the tattoos that the Nazi’s gave their victims. It was powerful to see them up close…

But even MORE powerful to look up. Definitely a somber moment of the trip.

On a lighter note . . . returning back to New York the next day, we were able to catch the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade! Made me want to listen to some Dropkick Murphys.

Everyone was decked out in their finest green.

We took the Staten Island Ferry which gave us a great view of the NY skyline. Last time I took the ferry in 1998, there was a very different view.

Saw this old bird who looks great for 122 years old! A French tourist I met later on mentioned how tight the security is to get onto the island. I’d recommend the Staten Island Ferry; it’s free and low stress.

We did a ton of stuff on this trip that I didn’t get photos of. Remember, I was trying to get AWAY from work!! Some of those things included trip to Central Park, the Guggenheim, The MoMA, and Brooklyn. If you have the chance, check out Cai Guo-Qiang’s exhibition “I Want to Believe” at the Guggenheim. It is absolutely amazing.

We took a nice walk around SOHO and Chinatown one afternoon and saw the sights, sounds and smells.

They also had a TON of food for sale on the streets all over Manhattan. While I’m here, let me talk about food for just one minute . . . one of the highlights of the trip was the amazing food that we ate. For reference for my future self as well as others going to NYC soon, here’s a partial list:

1. Veggie Planet (Boston)
2. Curry Leaf – Indian
3. Quintessence – all vegan and raw food
4. Ozu – this place is AMAZING
5. Mama Mexico
6. Hampton Chutney – quick Indian
7. Kanoyama (sushi)
8. Yum Yum Bangkok – Thai
9. Failte Irish Whiskey Bar – beer
10. Verlaine – drink specials

Our good friend Allen took us to Ozu for lunch and then we went over with him and his son to the American Natural History Museum. Lots of dinos . . .

. . . and smiley turtles . . .

. . . and scary fish . . .

. . . and pretty rocks . . .

. . . and, of course, small pigs made out of coral, because in New York City, they have EVERYTHING. Thanks to Jane, John, Jason, Ryan, Jamie, Amir, Ann, Allen, Heather and Jenna for showing us the BEST time!!!