A very half-arsed trip report

[motetus]

I would make a boring and terrible travel writer, so my three weeks in the USA are going to summarised in a handful of photos, with minimal droning on. And a couple of sketchbook pages, except those are entirely unrelated to anything I saw on holiday, because I refuse to pretend to be a Proper Artist.

Totally a fresh and original tourist photo of San Francisco.

An adorably froggy at the California Academy of Sciences.

Then we rented a car and drove up highway 1, which was a very pretty drive, despite the heavy rain that started and how the very winding road meant I was demanding PULL OVER OR I PUKE every 15 minutes.

Eventually the rain got so bad that we thought sod it, we're staying indoors and gluing ourselves to the internet all day. Luckily I had bauble to harass keep me company in chat and demand I draw her dodgy pencil things from upcoming chapters of Sex Bucket, so here is Arthur as a hot academic.

Redwoods, sea lions and more rainy beaches from Crescent City (depressing dump of a place, but the surrounding area is gorgeous).

I still couldn't shake off bauble and her incessant demands, so here are more sketchbook pages (so much for my plan of taking it along to draw, um, trees and stuff), this time of a younger student!Eames to match the previous academic!Arthur, and a couple of quick, rather dodgy, photo studies of young Tom Hardy to warm up and get familiar with his stupidly pretty face.

We eventually made it up to Portland, which is a city I like a lot, mostly for the food and how a man can walk down a street with a cat on his shoulder and no-one really gives a shit. I ended up at Powell's, where I bought the only Sutcliff book it had. I already own The Lantern Bearers, but this was the first edition with lots of really lovely ink illustrations, so I couldn't exactly not have it. Here's a copy of Aquila from the first chapter - drawing them out really makes you notice how cleverly the lines flow and curve into each other.

Then it was on to Hawaii, which was... not as bad as I was expecting? The enforced socialising was pretty awkward at first, and I grumbled a bit at staying at a characterless luxury resort which is not my kind of thing at all, but the two mornings we got to escape to go diving were fantastic. I saw green sea turtles, reef sharks, moray eels, octopuses and barracuda. No rays, which was a little disappointing, but there were dozens of humpbacks and their calves around, and it was so cool hearing them sing to each other while underwater. It's going to be hard getting back to Scottish diving after that. :(

Sorry, goblin_dae, I completely failed to get more than one photo of Hawaii for you. If it makes you feel any better, this was the one moment where there was a bit of sunshine and everything looked really pretty. You'll have to go for yourself, but also take me along so I can learn how to surf, yes?

Comments

[asya-ana.livejournal.com]

Amazing art! We all benefited from your trip to the US!

[island-of-reil.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice (photos and drawings alike).

[seascribe.livejournal.com]

Oh man. That sounds like an AWESOME trip. Your photos are excellent! Sea lions! Humpback whales singing underwater! So cool!

Ugh, why did I not drop everything and follow you out there.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

I was pretty amazed to learn people dive in SCOTLAND. I mean, off the coast of Scotland, but still. BRRRR.

I've snorkeled in Hawaii but other than that, all my diving has been in the Caribbean. We are talking about a trip to somewhere in the Pacific one of these days!

It looks like you had a great time!

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

Love the last picture!

Where were you in Hawaii? I'd love to go snorkeling in the area (no diving for me, I'm scared of going down too far).

[sineala.livejournal.com]

Great photos! I am impressed that you managed to get a photo of the bridge that is not completely shrouded in fog.

[augustbird.livejournal.com]

yoooooo these are all gorgeous photos <3333 :DDD

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry my brain shut down at DOZENS OF HUMPBACKS.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Froggy the Hutt!

+Humpback calf envy

[alby-mangroves.livejournal.com]

THAT FROG THOUGH.

Your copy of Aquila is BEAUTIFUL.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Lovely photographs! I particularly like the Hawaii photo and the froggy from the California Academy of Sciences.

[fififolle]

Wonderful pics! Sounds like a great time was had :D
You do super holiday sketches!! Way better than mine, LOL.
First edition Lantern Bearers? So cool <3

[sneaqui.livejournal.com]

"there were dozens of humpbacks and their calves around" I AM AFLAME WITH JEALOUSY. 'Dive with whales' is like #1 on my bucket list.

Oh highway 1. So lovely and so so pukey. Pretty drive though, isn't it?

And I adore your drawings of Tom Hardy's confusingly gorgeous face. And academic!Arthur. DAT HAIR PART.

[honscot.livejournal.com]

Very much enjoyed your trip report, fully arsed or not. Your pics are great. I especially love the one from Hawaii - gorgeous.

Cool, you went to the Academy. We had a lot of fun there when we were in San Francisco. The rainforest dome with the animals and butterflies is awesome. I'd love to go to Powell's in Portland some day too (before books completely disappear from the world!). Portland is a great city. My father lived there for years, so I've been a few times; would love to go back. How was the weather? Constant rain? :)

I love your drawing of hot-academic Arthur!

[bauble]

Lovely photos! That frog makes me laugh every time I see it. Also, it makes me want to poke it.

I've told you this before, but it bears repeating: I love the sketches! Arthur looks so professorial in his adorable glasses and turtleneck and glen-plaid jacket. If I were a student of his, I'd sit all the way at the front of class and leer without subtlety.

And Eames' little pretty face! His adorable outfit! He looks like the kind of student who is constantly up to no good and who succeeds at charming his way out of any consequences that may befall him. I will refer to both sketches constantly as I write dirty roleplay porn deep, meaningful interactions between Arthur & Eames.

It's a good thing you had internet for the trip otherwise you might have died of loneliness without me.

[goblin-dae.livejournal.com]

I suppose if you're only going to take one photo of Hawaii, this one is all right. I guess. Being stunningly beautiful and all. That last of one Crescent City is gorgeous as well. And ugh, your sketches are so good.

That's right, we can go to Hawaii for one of our many holidays together! Psst, apparently there are also surfing holidays in Morocco so there ought to be diving ones as well, I'd imagine...

Right, now you're back, we're going to see Non-Stop at some point. RIGHT?

[arvok.livejournal.com]

What a lovely way of summarizing a trip! Brief but very... vivid. (The word that came to my mind first was, for some reason, tasty, even though you haven't really mentioned food. Anything nice you tried?)

By the way, I will be in Glasgow on Friday, 14th of March, I was wondering if you'd like to grab a coffee with me in the afternoon? I'd love to see one of the cafes you've mentioned, if you have time, of course.