Every time one chapter closes and I open a new one, I’m just as excited to revisit the new pages as I was for any previous chapter – and so it is here in my Seattle years. There was more adventure and life experience packed into these two short years as any in my life – including the Air Force. I “grew up” in Seattle, was on my own and charting my own destiny. I always had a camera with me during these years, and really tried for the first time to take “artistic” photos. I had never previously owned a nice camera or a car, until I was living on my own in Seattle.
Bruce and I worked for a while at Tyee Lumber Mill in Seattle, and when he decided to return to Michigan I started a new job at Electricraft Stereo Centers, Inc. At Electricraft, I became Jim’s co-pilot and ground crew manager for the company’s new hot air balloon - reportedly the largest on the west coast at the time. I moved to Billings, MT, for a short time doing “long distance leg work” for Electricraft in Idaho and Montana after they purchased another stereo franchise – Sound World. Later, when I returned to Michigan State University in the fall of 1979, I revisited Seattle to take a boat trip with Jim through Puget Sound to Vancouver Island, BC, and up the coast of British Columbia to Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls (Wikipedia has entries for both).
Later I did some “freelance work” for Jim driving Mercedes-Benz cars from New York City, NY, and Fort Lauderdale, FL, back to Seattle for a Mercedes-Benz dealership where Jim was working. To get to New York City I took a Greyhound bus from Seattle east to NYC and met a guy named Benny on the bus, who invited me to visit him at his mother’s house in Puerto Rico to SCUBA dive. So following the return trip to Seattle in the Mercedes-Benz, I flew to Puerto Rico to visit Benny and his family where I had a great trip - and afterwards picked up a Mercedes-Benz coupe in Fort Lauderdale for the return trip to Seattle.
I lived in about five different locations in the greater Seattle area with various roommates: in the “U District” on Roosevelt Way NE near the University of Washington in an apartment building with Bruce after our bike trip and later on with another roommate after Bruce returned to Michigan; with Dutton in a rental house north of Green Lake, who was a stereo salesman with Electricraft and one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met; with Howie in the northern suburb of Mountlake Terrace, who was another stereo salesman at Electricraft – and one of the most gifted and natural guitarists I’ve ever met; with Jim on Queen Anne Hill, who was the General Manager of Electricraft and the company’s hot air balloon pilot; and lastly, with a woman whose advertisement for a roommate I answered in a condo in the city of Winslow, on Bainbridge Island in Puget Sound across from downtown Seattle. I lived in Winslow for a short period of time after biking through Europe and before returning to MSU, commuting to work at an art store in downtown Seattle by ferry.
I took a driving trip with another Jim, a salesman at Electricraft, around the entire western United States: down US Highway 101 and the Pacific Coast Highway to L.A., Las Vegas, Grand Canyon National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Teton National Park, Glacier National Park, and back to Seattle. On a whim, Jim and I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch on the Colorado River, and back out in the same day – almost 20 miles round trip – and we were lucky to make it out again. I took a driving trip with Dutton to Big Sky, MT, to check out the condo that Electricraft acquired through the purchase of Sound World; and while we were there we climbed Big Sky’s “Lone Mountain,” and visited both Yellowstone National Park and Teton National Park.
After my first romantic encounters while working at the Sea Gun Resort Hotel in Texas, I experienced both romance and heartache in Seattle. My first true “love” was a woman ten years older than I was, and as beautiful as Miss America, named Katherine. I don’t have a picture of her or know where she is today, but I do have a picture that she took with me and her two young daughters – who were both very sweet. If I had been more emotionally mature at the time I would have tried to make it work; but I wasn’t, and we went our separate ways in life. I keep a special place in my heart for her, and for every woman that has been tender to me over the years…and Katherine was very special.
Life came at me fast and furious and I wasn’t always ready or prepared for much of it. At times I had a hard time just keeping my head above water - and my life has remained that way ever since. I begin this chapter of photos with a few self-portraits taken towards the end of my stay in Seattle, which are some of my favorite photos of me through the years…proving that I do clean up well when I want to!
So again, without further adieu – enjoy the show! 
Mark
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- This is a self portrait that I took at Jim’s house, where I lived prior to my bike trip to England and shortly after my return to Seattle in 1979; which was close to the end of my time in Seattle – scanned from the original 4×6 photo.
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- This is my same self portrait at Jim’s house taken in 1979, and is one of my favorite pictures of myself; but this one was scanned from an 8×10 print.
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- This is another self portrait version that I took at Jim’s house in 1979 – I was experimenting to see how they would turn out.
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- Katherine took this picture of me with her daughters in 1978 – who were both as sweet as could be; and l recall thinking at the time that life was coming at me pretty fast.
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- I often took trips to the Pacific coast of the Olympic Peninsula; and this photo of a Pacific sunset was probably taken in late 1977 or 1978.
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- The Pacific coastline of the Olympic Peninsula represented the last frontier for me, because it was such a wild and desolate place, and looked out over the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
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- This was Electricraft Stereo Center’s main store, offices and warehouse on Roosevelt Way NE in Seattle during 1977 – I lived across the street in an apartment building at the time.
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- This was the apartment building that I lived in, first on the second floor with Bruce after our bike trip, and then I later moved up to the third floor.
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- This was Electricraft Stereo Center’s number two store in Bellevue, WA.
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- This was Electricraft Stereo Center’s third store in a strip mall in Renton, WA, near the southern end of Lake Washington on Seattle’s south side.
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- The Space Needle stands all alone back in early 1978 when I took this picture while crossing a bridge in Seattle.
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- I really liked the fact that Seattle was surrounded by so much water, which allowed for great views from any direction.
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- Seattle’s floating bridges across Lake Washington were very unique, and I liked them because of the water views along the way.
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- I had never heard of a “floating bridge” until I moved to Seattle, and I never tired of looking at Lake Washington.
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- This is a picture I took while watching the “unlimited hydroplane boat races” that were held on Lake Washington every summer, and a group of us went out on a boat for a good view of the action.
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- Here I’m winter hiking on a sunny but very cold day at the base of Mt. Rainier with Jeff in 1978, who was my immediate supervisor at Electricraft.
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- Bruce (left), Jeff (front) and I (right rear) relax after our winter hike at the base of Mount Rainier – we were exhausted and happy to be back at the parking lot for the drive home.
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- Electricraft Stereo hired a hot air balloon to set up in the parking lot during one of our warehouse sale events – which convinced the company to buy its own balloon.
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- Jim and I took hot air balloon lessons in 1978 when Electricraft decided to buy their own balloon; and this is a self portrait of me in the gondola of our instructor’s balloon.
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- This is a picture of our instructor’s balloon’s burner cans, envelope and crown; taken from inside the gondola.
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- Jim is aloft with our instructor during a lesson in the instructor’s hot air balloon – I was part of the ground crew.
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- This was Electricraft’s brand new gondola for the new hot air balloon that the company purchased – reported to be the largest balloon on the west coast at the time.
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- Tethering the company’s new hot air balloon in the parking lot turned out to be a challenge, as even a slight breeze made the balloon hard to control on the ground.
