Welcome to Northwest Muse.

Being a native Washingtonian and never having had a desire to move elsewhere, except perhaps during the dark, dreary, damp days of late fall, winter, and early spring, I tend to muse and murmur like the gentle breezes that lift the big maple tree leaves, or the quiet lapping of the water of the Puget Sound along any of the beaches. I am part of the ecosystem. The Pacific Northwest's Puget Sound region enjoys a marine climate and environment that is given to quiet reflection in forest wandering, beach combing, and garden relaxing.  Travelers come here to rest, to visit, to imagine living in a place frequently shrouded in gray mist and myriad shades of green. Some stay all year long. Some return to visit every summer.

However, many people in my circle of friends travel away from the Northwest, especially in the winter season, to places where the sun shines. Whether the trek is to visit family, friends, or acquaintances overseas, whether transported by train, by plane, or by car, the mobility of society in the 21st century is stunningly normal.

Lately, I have noticed a striking distinction between travelers and travel writers. I never considered the defining characteristics of a travel writer before reading Clifford's Traveling Cultures and Watson's Where the Roads Diverged, but there are some interesting differences both writers point out. Clifford's own investigation of travel writing brought him to a new place of research inquiry and a desire to understand culture as a transitory idea. The travel writer frequently lives on the margins of cultural hubs and enclaves, keenly aware of the cultural nuances and identities of self, places, and spaces. Clifford left his own academic settlement of anthropological methods to travel to the outskirts and margins of academia in search of travel writers. Watson on the other hand, in her short story about the time she spent on Easter Island, illustrates how travelers move freely within a cultural identity, but sometimes the interaction and interference of a traveler in a more stationary culture is acknowledged and other times not. For example, it saddened me to think of the young man holding onto the farewell letter of his American military father, whom he will never meet or know, a traveler passing through Easter Island who kept no ties, and wrote no more to his son.  Watson identifies herself as both a traveler and a travel writer and understands the cultural position where she lives on the margins.

Every place I have traveled shares common themes of acceptable and understood cultural nuances that govern the relationships between individual people and social groups. One interesting cultural response that I encountered multiple times during my travel in Europe was the disdain of the American persona exhibited, with emotional inhibition, by "hosts." Probably, these experiences cooled a desire to travel outside of the U.S.; it is difficult enough to get along with other Americans at home. Maybe a sense of protection and acceptance is why many group traveling opportunities have arisen in the states; Americans can travel in their comfort zone with familiar cultural objects, such as other "Americans" for example, even as they visit other places as tourists. The travel group is noticeable in the traveling culture of Asian residents as well. Frequently, groups of Asian travelers saunter along Seattle's downtown waterfront during the summer months, taking photographs of the group in front of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, or the entrance to the Seattle Aquarium.

The traveler has tremendous freedom to choose the focus of a travel experience, while the travel writer's goal is broader and includes observation, a narrative, or story about the people and the places. An important task for me as a nascent blogger and travel writer is to distinguish the differences between a traveler and a travel writer. There are many people who travel and visit this region regularly, as travelers, but who do not write about it. I have lived here all of my life, and I have not looked at this area as a visitor for a long time. There is great potential for making some short day trips on the Peninsula and approaching them like a travel writer, providing some historical background about the development of the area, which would include the strong Native American presence and the Norwegian immigration to Kitsap Peninsula with the promise of land with the Homestead Act.  Each community has a particular historical significance. Port Blakey loaded and unloaded timber and the row houses were built on wooden sleds; Port Gamble was the mill town; Poulsbo was known for its oysters and ludifisk. There are particular communities that grew economically based upon the timber industry. Each small community or township has its own historical significance. Describing the uniqueness of the small communities and townships would be a worthy act. There are a few specific communities and townships that are unique and carry interesting histories.

Another area of interest I have is the artists' community on the Kitsap Peninsula; these people live to make art and have found a variety of ways to make a living without being dependent on producing. Their goals for living are to live an artist's life, to remain rooted in the community and not travel to display and show their work.

The Northwest resident welcomes tourists and visitors in the summer, but after Labor Day weekend it is time to return to the slower moving life pace.

Northwest Muse,
Teresa