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Published: July 20th 2009
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Leaving San Francisco we took a 2 hour flight North to Portland, Oregon. While Portland still had a large number of homeless people it had a much nicer ‘feel’. Gone were the people swearing at lamp posts and areas in which you wouldn’t want to ever be, replaced by a smaller, cleaner and much friendlier city.
Portland doesn’t have a great deal of tourist attractions so we spent our days there visiting things like ‘the smallest city park in the world’, ‘the largest independent bookshop in the world’ - which you need a map to navigate and walking along the waterfront.
One part of our stay in Portland was particularly good. On the afternoon of our second day we met up with some friends of my dad, Dave and Christine. Dave first took us to the immaculate Japanese gardens, before inviting us back to their house where we were treated to our first home cooked meal for nearly 8 months! Alaskan salmon, potatoes and salad with strawberry shortbread for dessert. A very, very welcome change from the food we’d been eating recently. That evening we discussed our journey, the travels they had been on and I found a fellow
‘tripadvisor.com’ adorer in Christine (seriously, it’s the best website in the world for anything travelling).
We left with armfuls of strawberries, raspberries, drinks and snack bars. If anyone reading this is thinking of doing their own round the world trip then make sure you include one thing - visits to family friends! We had a great evening and were very well looked after.
Next was a 3.5 hour comfortable train ride to Seattle. If there’s one thing I should have learnt by now it’s to not trust what hotels, transport companies and guidebooks tell you. According to the website of the hotel we were staying in it was ‘6 minutes walk from the train station’.
I guess this is true, if you can walk almost 2 miles uphill in 6 minutes. Add the fact that we had all of our luggage and, needless to say, the walk wasn’t very enjoyable. This wasn’t the end of it though, half way through (and whilst carrying my 20kg bag on my back and pulling Helen’s 20kg suitcase) I noticed pulling the suitcase all of a sudden get more difficult. I turned to see a wheel that should have been fixed
to the suitcase now on the pavement and Helen laughing lots.
If anyone has tried pulling a suitcase with wheels, when it is missing wheels, then they’ll know how difficult it is. Initially, it was ok but the more I pulled the more I wore away the plastic in the corner of suitcase, leaving just the material and a horrible scraping noise as it was tugged along. The noise got so bad that the last part of the journey had to be done using the ‘carry it for 2 minutes, stopping for a rest, then carrying it again technique’. All with Helen laughing lots.
With the suitcase safely back at the hotel we went to explore the city, seeing the famous Seattle markets and the first ever Starbucks (which would have been more exiting if I like coffee. Or Starbucks). The next day was the 4th of July, so we decided to head down to where all the celebrations were taking place. I asked at the hotel lobby (still not having learnt my lesson) how far they were, “20 minutes walk” they said. Again, it transpired that this was assuming we could walk over 4 miles in 20
minutes. Clearly Usain Bolt had been giving them estimated walking times.
Not that it mattered, we turned up at the Gas Works (where all the celebrations were happening) to find very little going on. There are more stalls and things to do at the Great Shelford Village Feast than there were at Seattle’s 4th of July celebrations. It was a bit of a shame as we’d arrived at 4pm and the fireworks weren’t until 10pm. The 6 hours were spent sitting on a hill, with thousands of other people, waiting… It wasn’t all bad, we were treated to some music from a local brass band and the real ‘school of rock’ (kids playing rock music) and I had a nice steak sandwich. Still, if an organiser from the 4th of July festivities is reading this then, please, put more things to do! Some people turn up 6 hours before the fireworks!
Were the fireworks worth the wait I hear you cry? The answer is a resounding yes! These were, by some distance, the best fireworks I’ve ever seen. Sure, I’ve never been to London on New Years eve or an Olympic closing ceremony, but I’m pretty sure these
could give them a good battle. The 15 minutes or so of fireworks were all set to music, had a massive variety and incredibly well executed. I could have only enjoyed it more if the fireworks hadn’t been in celebration of becoming independent from my own country…
On the bus on the way back, I had another ‘American experience’. I’d been called ‘dog’ in San Francisco and this was almost as good. Whilst waiting patiently behind a woman in a queue, she turned round and said ‘Hey Boy, you ain’t gonna push in front a’me! No sire-ree, if you do I’m gonna slap your face in!’. It was nice and I really felt like I was getting a chance to mix with the locals.
Our last day was spent at a beer festival, situated underneath the Seattle Space Needle. Despite our total inability to now drink alcohol we managed to not get too drunk due to the small size of the glasses. Going to a beer festival when I don’t like beer and Helen isn’t that keen doesn’t sound like a good idea, but we actually managed to have a pleasant afternoon; sitting in the sun, listening to
the music and trying lots of beers, which on the whole, both of us hated. It was also a good learning experience, Helen learnt that she shouldn’t spend 2 of our tickets (used to buy beer) on something just because it has the word ‘Christmas’ in the title. It was horrible.
At the end of the festival (and as it was the last day) one of the stalls started giving away free soft drinks so we used that as an opportunity to stack up - see picture!
Next, we had a 4 hour bus trip up to Vancouver and to the 10th country we’d be visiting on our trip.
Oh, on a side note, if anyone reading this is thinking of visiting Seattle or Portland and has a T-shirt with a monkey on then please, wear it. You’ll be amazed at how much attention you get:
‘Hey dude, wait a second - Whoa! Cool T-shirt!’
Some bloke: ‘What’s that on your T-shirt’
Me: ‘Erm…A monkey..’
Now excited bloke: ‘Awesome!’
Another bloke to his friend: ‘Hey, look at his shirt!’
Friend: ‘Cool!’
And someone even started singing a song about my top as we
walked past…
It’s amazing really, there’s clearly a big gap in the US market in terms of monkey-related clothing.
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