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Seattle
Flowers and more flowers. Spring had truly sprungBack on the road after surviving the Yakima mosquito menace, it was time to ponder the journey thus far. A total of 3160 kms chalked up and we had travelled through and seen a tiny fraction of this vast country. But here’s the thing. Many Americans we had chatted to up to this point hadn’t been anywhere near some of our destinations. With the striking,flat open vistas surrounding us as we edged towards Seattle, I had time to reflect and came to a simple conclusion. The best way to truly see and experience a country, it’s beauty and it’s people, is to undertake an RV (Recreational Vehicle) and camping trip. With any journey it is essential to allow enough time so that it is not a mad rush to the finish line. The flexibility which comes with this unique way of travel makes it special as back country roads are where the real heartbeat of a country is to be found and enjoyed. Interacting with fellow RV campers somehow adds to
Seattle
The Pike Public Market had a sense of human desperation looking for something....different? the experience as information is shared freely ensuring sight-seeing and other opportunities are optimized. What are the alternatives? Hire a car and live out of a suitcase moving from one soulless hotel/motel to another? Not being able to sit around a campfire recapping the experiences and moments of the day? Join an organized tour and get herded around like a flock of lost sheep? Told when to get up, where to eat and so on? Nope! Anyone who has read the story of the trip thus far might just have concluded that there is no better way to really explore a country than to embrace the RV experience. Trust me on this one! It is also an affordable option and I will provide an overall cost summary at the end of the journey.
After this bit of introspection, it was time to absorb what was happening around us and in true tradition we pulled into a View Site on HW97 after an hour or so on the road. This was located on a high mountain road looking down on to a huge fertile valley below with the city of Ellensburg in the distance. This is an important valley as
Seattle
Pioneer Market giving an image of serenity but those leafy images hide a tale of human desperation. WA State produces a helluva lot of the hops needed to quench the thirst of the USA’s beer drinkers. Despite the huge numbers of people on the road stopping and using the Rest Area restrooms, they are all spotlessly clean.
Washington State is “The Green State” and this became more and more evident with increasing, endless forests around us and we were soon in the Cascade Range and making our way through the hugely impressive Snoqualmie National Park. Towering mountains, some with snowcapped peaks and wide spread coniferous forests punctuated every now and then with crystal clear rivers rushing to the west coast. Could easily have been the setting for one of Richard Attenborough’s documentaries. It was that spectacular. The traffic was all the while steadily building and one sensed there was a city ahead.
This was Friday 25
th May which happened to coincide with America’s first big summer long week end. Memorial Day on Monday 28
th May would commemorate all those brave souls who died in honor of their country. Logic sort of suggested most of the good folk of Seattle would scuttle out of town for the week end and we would have no trouble finding
Seattle
Our Lake Pleasant RV Park was a calming haven after chasing around the streets of Seattle. somewhere to hitch the Ford Bronco. Not to be. We were very lucky to find and secure three nights at Lake Pleasant RV Resort in Bothell, about 20 miles out of Seattle. This would be our launch pad to taking in as much as we possibly could of this city aided by the fact that there was a great bus service close by.
Seattle. It doesn’t quite roll off the travel tongue like New York City or San Francisco. After all, it is tucked away in the far right hand corner of the USA and a long way from the rest of the country. It also doesn’t make it into the top ten largest cities by size in the USA but still attracts 20 million visitors annually (SA attracts just under 10 million). Like Vancouver in Canada, it has a reputation as a place where it rains a lot. Well, 150 days a year with at least 0.25mm “precipitation”, says it all. But Seattle punches way above it’s weight. After all, the World’s coffee craze kicked off here with an upstart game changer company by name of Starbucks. And then, this is where Boeing churns out jet planes to
Seattle
The view on a clear, sunny day from the Space Needle was awesome. 520 ft up with a 360 degree panoramic view. feed the hungry skies. Throw in Amazon, an IT giant with a market capitalization of $792 billion. And then there was a movie many of us have seen called “ Sleepless in Seattle.” There has to be something going on in Seattle!
I have extolled the virtues of the RV solution to seeing and truly experiencing a country. Think for a second or two about how to truly experience a city. You can hop onto a “ Hop On, Hop Off “ bus which seems to often whizz by the sights to be seen, unless you hop off and get your timing right. Or you can do the organized tour thing but all you will see, fairly quickly, are the truly touristy sights. Or, put on your walking shoes and walk. And walk some more. So we put this theory to the test on Day One in Seattle. After being delivered downtown by a really good bus service, our target was The Space Needle which is Seattle’s equivalent of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or so the claim goes. On arrival the reality of the Memorial Day weekend kicked in with a queue snaking away into the far distance
Bainbridge Island
A captivating small craft harbour blossoming in early summer. and conservative estimates of a two hour wait. Not difficult to pass on this one and line it up for early on Day Two. On foot we then covered multiple blocks of this impressive city which gives the appearance of being less frenetic than others we have visited and if I were to describe it based on being on the streets, I would conjure up “vibrant”, “laid back” and “funky.” With a Starbucks on just about every corner, coffee stops are frequent and allow one the opportunity of soaking up the atmosphere and activity out on the pavement. The Pike Public Market was a seething mass of humanity all trying to see if there was anything of real value in the endless line of market stalls selling just about anything planet Earth has ever produced. Flowers and seafood were the standouts. It was a fascinating and absorbing day ending towards Pioneer Park, the original old town district. This was a disturbing area and could be a future set for a new documentary “Homeless in Seattle” with large numbers of the homeless clan camping out there. America has many challenges, like most countries, but the homeless people phenomenon witnessed across the
Seattle
The city skyline returning from Bainbridge Island. country must be exercising the minds of many politicians. Unless a solution is found soon, this could become a nightmare social scenario. As we maneuvered our way from these relatively non-threatening human beings, Sue looked at her FitBit and proudly announced she would win some special reward as we had walked an impressive 9.2 kms.
Day Two in Seattle started early with a quick shuttle ride to the top of The Space Needle on a perfect, cloudless day. Given the number of cloudy days per annum in this city, we were truly lucky. A 360 deg vista unfolded and the view was breathtaking. A snow clad Mt Rainer reached skywards out west and this in itself was unique as many people visit Seattle and never see this hugely impressively mountain. Across the Puget Sound, on the far end of the massive bay area fronting the city was our destination for the day. Bainbridge Island. A thirty five minute ferry boat trip , with Seattle disappearing behind us, ended when we set off on foot again to explore this island. It is spunky, modern and I would imagine the sought after refuge for those wanting to live away from the city and endure a ferry ride to earn a crust each day. Given the huge forested area which dominates the Washington State landscape, Bainbridge Island was, a century ago, a typical lumber shipping port. But with a tragic difference. It was the epicenter of the creosoted timber industry and huge volumes of logs were infused with the chemicals that were used in this process. The upshot is that currently, more than a hundred years later, the cleanup process to remove chemicals embedded in the soil and beaches continues. Everywhere we walked there were signs warning against consuming any of the local shellfish. Highly toxic. A fascinating island visit on a perfect early summer’s day and by the time we boarded our RV “Homebound bus”, Sue’s FitBit had chalked up 10.2 kms. Another mystery award was promised!
A few American observations:
South Africa We still cling to the "Rainbow Nation" thing believing our transition from near civil war to democracy was a miracle. For us it was, but not so sure about the American people we have interacted with to date. In conversation they quickly pick up that we are from "somewhere else", mostly England or Australia. But when we sort of proudly announce that we are from South Africa, silence ensues. My take is that many American people believe there is nothing outside of America, so why bother asking where the hell South Africa is?! After all, George Bush Snr reputedly never had a passport until he became President.
Donald Trump This is a bit of a conundrum. I recall being told a good few years back that if there was a " feel good factor in the USA", meaning the economy was pumping and jobs were in abundance, then many Americans didn't care too much who was ensconced in the White House. There is no doubt that the US economy is in good shape, but the jury is out on Trump. He is not a topic of conversation akin to the weather or general fireside chit chat, but the overwhelming message we have gleaned is that he is an "embarrassment" to the country with all the tweeting and other zany stuff. Politicians! How do we get rid of them and let normal people run our respective countries?
Our time was up in Seattle but it was worth every fascinating kilometer of the northbound trek to get there.
With week five looming, the mighty Ford Bronco will turn south and like a true work horse, sense this would be the home run.
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