Janet recently moved from Utah to Seattle and given the fact I had never been to Seattle (and wanted to see her, duh) I scheduled my flight.

I took on a few sessions while I was there, which turned out fantastic despite my mode of operation to practically drive myself into a panic attack beforehand. Both families were sweet as could be, a delight to photograph, and the images turned out great. I hope to open myself up to more travel sessions in the future… I gotta give my nerves some practice.

I spent the first day there entirely on my own, with intentions to explore the city, meet Janet for lunch, and pick her up at the end of her work day. I barely made it out of the shower before wanting to climb back in bed for a nap. I could blame it on first trimester or I could blame it on standing in line for an hour and a half waiting to pick up a rental car from Hertz the night prior. Seriously, don’t use Hertz. In any event, I didn’t make it further than Whole Foods – where I stopped to pick up some things to make for dinner – before taking a nap in the car; the windows down, the sun shining through the window. By all accounts, perfect car nap ingredients if you were to ask my dad (who himself is well versed in both car naps and face-down-on-the-hallway-carpet naps). I didn’t see much of the city and I nearly convinced myself that traveling, at all, while in the first trimester is a complete sham.

I felt better the next day. We packed a few things and hit the road for Portland, where both of my sessions were. The traffic reminded me of LA but we made due with good music and good conversation and a relatively good toddler that sat relatively quietly in the backseat.

We learned quickly that gone are the days that you can roll into a city, pull up at the first hotel you see, and get a room. Times sure have changed since the summer we spent on the road, driving all the way to Louisiana and back without a single reservation or even a hint of a plan. Needless to say, we opted for the Travelodge, which appeared to be the only option in town with only one room left and a front desk employee who had never even heard of a pack-n-play and proceeded to scratch his head when we described it as a “travel crib”.

We spent much of our time exploring the city and surrounding areas, stopping in at the occasional Denny’s which seems to fulfill whatever pregnancy cravings I’ve had thus far (hello magnificent butter-melted-belgium-waffles and french fries with those little salt canals engraved into their salty potato goodness). We met up with a few friends in the area as well, which makes this big world we live in feel just a bit friendlier. I shot my sessions and we headed back to Seattle, albeit sitting in traffic for much of the way, and I flew home the following morning, before the sun was even up.

I always longed for the day Janet moved from Utah; always assumed it’d be back to California. And yet visiting the path her life has taken her on has proven almost as fun. Almost. Still longing for the day…