It was good to be back home for nearly a full week for a change. I always love to see what Theo builds with his magna tiles. That's a good skittle. I'm not sure why he looks so serious. When we all dressed up as M&M's a few years back we got tons of M&M's. Theo's hoping if he's a Skittle he'll get lots of Skittles.  Again a serious Skittle.  Meadow dressed as Kanao.

I flew into Philly for a shoot out in the Main Line suburbs. With my shoot and hotel way outside the city I skipped exploring Philadelphia proper. After my shoot I had to drive down to Baltimore where I would not repeat that mistake. I guess I was a little burnt out from all this travel. Sorry Philadelphia. I knew exactly where to go once I made it from southeast Pennsylvania to the edges of Baltimore, Maryland. Chaps Pit Beef was a must and it didn't disappoint. Think of it as a lightly smoked and bespoke Arby's sandwich. 10/10 I'd eat it again. I drove in through city streets down to my hotel on the edge of Inner Harbor and Fells Point. Of course I went for a little walk into Fells Point as soon as I was settled in. Fells Point at night felt like a melding of Boston and Cincinnati.

Theo's requested breakfast. Smiley breakfast. I bet you can guess what day it is. It's library day, for all who celebrate. FWIW I was still in Baltimore waiting on my flight home. When we were packing for Washington I couldn't find Meadow's raincoat anywhere. Assuming we lost it in the Boundary Waters I searched for a new one that we could get before we left for Washington State. Rain coats aren't really available this time of year so I ordered one through REI. Of course right before we left Meadow found her coat in her school backpack. I figured she could just use the one we ordered when she grew out of her current jacket. So today we picked it up. Theo insisted on trying it on too. Theo also convinced me to buy him a Timberwolves shirt.  How can you say no to that face? Later in the afternoon the kids carved their pumpkins along with Meadow's friend. Meadow's minimalist pumpkin is actually pretty good. Theo decided for Halloween he wanted to be a skittle. ...

After many failed attempts, we finally made plans for Brooke and the kids to meet me after a job. I couldn't wait to see killer bee and my little runts out in Washington State. I'd been on the road working for over a week at this point. My parents stayed an extra day just to take us to the airport.  Ready to go.  Meanwhile I made it back up to Spokane after a day of shooting 360s down in Pullman. Guess we'll never forget which car is ours.  I laughed when I first saw it. Couldn't wait for Brooke and the kiddos reaction. We stayed the night at the Steam Plant Hotel. I'd stayed here when I shot 360s at Gonzaga University back in the spring. Seemed like a good, cheap option. The rooms are simple and do the job. I liked that this place provided ear plugs but only because the walls are paper thin. I could hear everything our neighbors were saying. I wanted to stay on Minnesota time and made us get up at 6am. I'm sure our neighbors loved that.  I'm sure we loved t...

My next shoot for CampusReel took me back to Washington state for a shoot at, well, Washington State University down in Pullman. After a cross-continental day of flying from Boston to Spokane (via Minneapolis) I drove down to the southeast corner of the Evergreen State. The area between Spokane and Pullman was mostly rolling hills. It didn't look too different than parts of North Dakota. Eventually I made it to Colfax where I stopped and took some pictures. Apparently Colfax is the county seat. The courthouse featured some great deco architecture. 20 minutes later and I was at the Hotel McCoy in Pullman. There seem to be a lot of rad updated motels in Washington.

  While Scott was on yet another work trip, the kids and I took advantage of the last days of Bread and Pickle being open.  Biking with Theo can sometimes be very frustrating. He likes to yell and give up easily. Pecan has recently discovered that we store her food in the back staircase. When we're not looking she sneaks out when you open the door and gets into her food. The rare times Meadow and Theo play together.

So it was our 15th Anniversary this year. I tried talking Brooke into coming with me on my longest work trip of the year, but we decided that the whole family would travel to Washington state instead.  So I was on my own for a week or so starting in Burlington, Vermont. My actual first destination was Potsdam, New York, but it was either a flight into Syracuse or Burlington and my schedule worked better to fly in via Vermont.  After getting some ramen at Burlington's Ichiban I made my way up north around Lake Champlain to New York state. My route took me through Rouses Point, New York. I had crossed that invisible line that separates New England from New York. I'm not sure I'd ever quite seen architecture quite like this. It felt like a yankee take on New Orleans architecture.