different way

I was on the phone with a childhood friend while waiting for a pal to arrive to Seward Park, one of my favorite parks in Seattle. On a clear day, you get a glorious view of Rainier. On rainy, cloudy days, the path circling the park makes for the perfect slow walk. It reminds me of a smaller Stanley Park in Vancouver, another park I fell in love with walking with my mom in 2015 while I was in Canada for the Women’s World Cup. “Hang on real quick”, in between venting on the phone, I snapped the following photo. I was waiting longer than I expected so I wandered further than I expected and was struck by the view:

Something about the branches, the bench, and the rocky beach view sucked me in. I loved the shot and kicked myself for not having my nice camera on me (my X100F). A few days ago, I returned to Seward with my partner to celebrate another sunny day and brought my camera with me. Instead of our normal walking path that would inevitably lead us near the same spot, I had a growing impatience and excitement. Can we go a different way? I showed her the photo I was trying to recreate and we set off trying to find exactly where I had stood in a part of the park we didn’t often walk along. She recognized the trees and soon we were there.

I snapped the second photo on my hurried way to take the first, barely having enough time to pull my camera to my face as the folks in front of us stepped off the path.