In 2003 I was the Director of
Research and Education for the Northwest Animal Rights Network, the most active
grassroots AR group in the Pacific North-West and, indeed, one of the most
active in the US. I got to live in Seattle, one of the most beautiful cities in
the world. Surrounded on nearly all sides by mountains, water and islands,
Seattle is about two hours south of the Canadian border on the north-west coast.
The wilderness, mountains, forest and islands all around Seattle are beautiful.
I even got to live on an
‘island,’ well, not quite, but to get to West Seattle, which stuck out into
Puget Sound (the ocean) I had to cross a massive bridge that rose about 50 m
into the air. It was my daily commute :) I lived about 1.5 km from the water and
in the evenings would sometimes go down to watch the sun set behind the Olympic
Mountains, silhouetted across the water to the west. Or go running along Alki
Beach, the coolest beach in Seattle. Once I even saw a dolphin briefly stick
it’s head out of water turning darkly red in the setting sun. All just 5 mins
from my door!
Seattle.
City steps.
Artwork on city steps.
Puget Sound island.
Windswept 1.
Windswept 2.
Vegan Mercantile.
Farewell party.
Many people lived on the islands and commuted daily on massive ocean-going car ferries.
My lovely Jasmijn braves the freezing wind for a photo :)
The NARN office where I worked was in the basement of what must have been the biggest vegan warehouse outside of England. It was very nice! See www.veganmercantile.com to mail-order vegan goodies, from anywhere in the world.
My many friends staged this incredibly nice vegan goodbye party (feast!) for me when I left. I was very lucky to have such great friends, and luckier still that they were such great cooks!
