I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest in a small port town at the mouth of the Puget Sound.
I resided in Port Townsend until my 17th birthday. Each summer, my father and I would sail up through the San Juan Islands and into Canada. In the wintertime, we would ski Mount Baker and its neighboring peaks.
My Travel, Chronologically
In 2005, I moved to Astoria, Oregon, to attend the local Job Corps Center. I completed two vocational certificates in Landscaping and Facilities Maintenance before joining the college program and studying at Clatsop Community College for four semesters.
During one summer, while I was still enrolled at the Job Corps Center, I traveled by Greyhound bus to North Carolina and from there carpooled to Ohio for a family reunion. This was my first cross-country trip.
Bus Trip
For one of my summer vacations from the center, I went and visited my Aunt in North Carolina. This was the long bus trip touching 20 other states. I took photos, but I no longer have the old cellphone.
The few images I still have from the center are excellent examples of shaky-hand photography. All of them are either fuzzy, out of focus, pixilated, or discolored.
Photo technology has come a long way. I wish camera phones were good back then, or that I had invested in a proper point-and-shoot camera.
After graduating from the Job Corps Center, I went on a trip to England, France, and Spain. My father’s side of the family hails from Britain, so I got to see my uncle and his family. My Uncle had visited us once previously, but this was my first time going to see him.
Oregon
After graduating from high school, I moved to Astoria, Oregon, where I attended and graduated from the Tongue Point Job Corps Center.
I had intended to enroll in the Computer course, but they were full with a waiting list to boot. I was assigned to Landscaping and stayed there until I completed my Basic TAR and received a certificate. After I got into the Computer course, I had difficulty adjusting to the atmosphere, being inside an office with AC units running nonstop.
I petitioned to change courses, and after some discussion, I moved to the Facility Maintenance program. I was elected vice president of my dorm and later became the president, joining the Student Government as part of my duties.
After receiving my certificate from the Home Builders Institute, I applied to join the college program and enrolled at Clatsop Community College. I started in the Summer and studied for 4 semesters. I particularly enjoyed the 3-semester course for World Religions.
While at the center, I had some trips on an activity bus to Portland for an ice hockey match and a monster truck rally without earplugs. We also explored the Lava River Caves, and I forgot to pack a flashlight.
Washington DC
I was part of a group of students selected to attend a conference in Washington, DC. We did the sightseeing thing and went to the Museum of Flight and the Capitol building.
We saw Hillary Clinton doing an interview, and we got to meet our state representatives (OR).
We had those old point-and-shoot Kodak cameras. I didn’t stay still long enough for any of my photos to come out as anything other than a blurry mess. I also didn’t consider lighting conditions. That trip exists only in my memory.
Washington
Growing up in Washington state, I did have access to Canada for summer trips by sailboat. We often sailed up through the San Juan Islands to Lasqueti, Nanaimo, Vancouver, and many other places.
My father enjoyed skiing, and our winter trips included Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier, and several mountainsides up in and around the Olympic National Park area.
In the spring, we would visit the hot springs on the mountain. I had long car ride, and I would often get carsick along the way.
New York
I visited NY thrice; once after I sustained a workplace injury and needed time to recover, another time to see my uncle, who was visiting from England, and lastly, as an overnight stopover before flying out to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
Notable locations include the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, the Jamaica Bay Bird Sanctuary, Koreatown, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and Macy’s.
European Trip
In late 2007, I completed my schooling and departed on a European trip with my father. We flew from SeaTac in Renton, WA, to JFK in New York and stayed in an apartment in Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue for a week with an old friend of my father, his second wife.
We flew out of JFK to England. After touring London, we took a train to Brighton, where I visited my uncle and his family. I got to see the stony beaches, the chalk-white bluffs, and the township of Brighton and Seaford. I got to visit an English castle, which led to further castle visits later in France and Spain.
We flew to Toulouse, France, and rode the trains down into Barcelona, Spain, before renting a car and driving back up alongside the Mediterranean coastline and up to Mont Saint-Michel. The monastery on an island with great mudflats was a hugely popular tourist spot. The entryway was packed with tour buses, filled mostly with East Asian occupants.
On the return trip to England, we rode a ferry back, crossing the channel. The ferry ride was 8 hours long, during the journey I visited the onboard movie theater and watched The Simpsons Movie. I also met a photographer who worked for NASA.
After a short stay in England, I flew home to America and settled in Youngsville, North Carolina.
North Carolina
After returning to the States, I moved into my relative’s home in North Carolina. My mother had already moved there a year or two earlier.
I have resided in NC since late 2007. Trips have mostly been by car and have included stops in Raleigh, Rocky Mount, Durham, and Cary. I have slowly begun to broaden my horizons and travel to smaller towns around the state.
I worked for maybe 9 months before quitting in the hope of better results, more in line with my training. This didn’t work out, and I was unemployed for a few years. I did have a short stint as a maintenance worker in Wake Forest for a couple of months.
In 2010, my father and I sailed down the Intracoastal Waterway from Virginia to Florida. Later in 2018, I joined my father and his partner on a Caribbean sailing trip to Guadeloupe, Dominica, and their neighboring islands.
More recently, in 2025, I traveled to Washington State to see my father and revisit my hometown.
This latest journey sparked the wanderlust in me and has led to many short road trips in and around North Carolina.
Virginia
On one domestic trip, I rode the Greyhound Bus up to Virginia and boarded my father’s small sailboat. He had sailed down the coast with his partner, and she was now heading back to NY.
The trip involved sailing and motoring down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) or “the ditch.“
South Carolina
Georgia
I got to Georgia sometime in November of 2010 while on the ICW Trip.
Florida
The final leg of my sailing trip down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).
Our trip passed through ports and anchorages in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
We waited in Florida for a window of good weather to make the crossing to the Caribbean, but I eventually got tired and decided to finish my part of the trip in Florida.