With the boon of a new year, a return to Seattle and a newly rejuvenated back, I want to return my focus to music, travel, food and writing. In tribute, I bring you, I Ate the State 2.0: The Reboot.

For a while now, my dream has been to bring together my love of music, travel, food and writing into one project. When I used to tour musically, I often wrote of my adventures along the way, but never really put them together in any organized fashion.  I thought about music quite a bit during my journeys and many of my escapades definitely inspired songs, but I never really combined those into any semblance of order either. I think it’s high time to finally remedy this oversight and put everything together in one, conveniently located place.

I Ate the State is a travelmusicfoodwriting project that will take me all around the great state of Washington – All 39 counties!  As I’m a native Washingtonian and have always enjoyed telling people all about my favorite local spots, I figure there is no better place for me to start. The plan is to visit each county in Washington State and have an adventure inspired by music and food. I’ll initially write of my adventures, but plan to write music to go along with these adventures as well. I’m going to create a road trip soundtrack out of my road trips!

I did embark upon this project a little while ago, but a few things got in the way. Since those items are no longer a factor, it’s time to get things moving again and put the band back together. Washington State, let’s go on an adventure!

To begin, I think I’ll start with counties that don’t require a large amount of winter travel.  I don’t really mind driving in snow if a ski hill is ultimately involved, but I generally prefer to avoid dodgy winter weather. That said, how ‘bout I start with… Kitsap County! Home to the lovely Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island and Port Gamble, it’s always a good time of the year to visit. And I always love a good ferry ride! Stay tuned and see how it all unfolds. I have a pretty good feeling about this project.  And if you happen to be local, I’m always looking for tips and suggestions – please hit me up!

Cheers – And happy travels!