Seattle Love

One morning, a few weeks ago, my sister and I were feeling down about recent events in our lives. My sister started talking about taking a trip, and I remembered seeing an email from Alaska Airlines for a 24 hour airline sale that morning...and before you know it we booked our tickets for a weekend trip to Seattle. Later that night I told my brother, and he joined too - sibling trip to Seattle! I was in Portland, Oregon a few months ago in May and I loved it, so I was ecstatic to have the chance to visit the Pacific Northwest again. 

Our first day was spent doing typical tourist things. We took a ferry to Bainbridge Island to grab a late brunch. We took a walk around the famous Pike Place Market, visited the Central Library, and went to the top of the Space Needle to see the sunset. While waiting for our time to get up to the Space Needle we stumbled upon a free concert (with free snacks!). Not bad, Seattle.

Feeling Tiny

The other night I decided to drive up to the Angeles National Forest with my best friend (and his dog) to watch the Perseid Meteor Shower. We tried to watch it a few years ago, but it was cloudy. This night was perfect. I am so intrigued by astrophotography, so I decided to try my hand at it - especially since I had enough time to prepare.

I failed at photographing any meteors, but I did see a good amount in the sky. Fun fact, that streak in my photo is a satellite. 

Behind the mountains is the lovely, bright city of Los Angeles.

I also decided it was the perfect time to try out photographing star trails! I set up my camera and let it take multiple long exposures over a span of 1.5 hours. I wish I had been a little more patient and had taken more photos. But it's not too bad for my first attempt, I definitely want to try taking more. 

Laying down (on a very uncomfortable log) and staring at the stars felt surreal. I love places that make me feel tiny. They remind me how small my problems are. Life hasn't been easy for me lately. I'm in my twenties and I'm confused.

Staring up at the sky that night and staring at the vast amount of stars with my best friend - I couldn't help but feel so incredibly lucky for the life I have and for the people in it. The universe is so vast -- my little piece of the world is so small. My "problems" felt so tiny in comparison. I'm surrounded by love from my amazing friends and family, who have helped keep me grounded through everything going on in my life. I hate that I haven't been able to completely let go of my feelings of hurt and inadequacy, but that's why I'm writing this down. This is my catharsis. All I can do is keep growing and learning from these experiences, because "someday all this mess will make me laugh."