The Final Leg, Starting the road trip from West Coast to East Coast.

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I ended up traveling almost 12 hours in total to get from Tofino to Seattle, I was staying in the Freemont area of Seattle which is kind of hipstery and odd, but in a great way. My first morning I went on a walking tour of the bay area which was organised by the hostel. The guide was very good and had plenty of history and local lore to share. The tour ended just by Pike Market, where the first thing I checked out was the fish throwing, followed by gum alley. The fish throwing was cool, as the salmon was really big and first fishmonger tossed it across the stall to the other fishmonger, for weighing before it was tossed back again. Kind of silly but fun as everyone was cheering. Gum alley is just that a small alley way that backed onto a theater, and the theater owner was tired scraping gum off the floor of his theater so he made people spit it out into the alley, so now the walls on both sides are full of different coloured gum that people have stuck on the wall. The government tried to clean it up many times but as it kept coming back have now left it was "ART" gross but kind of cool at the same time. On Thursday I went to see my friends show. It was cabaret show, with classical music, a love story, fairies and even some aerial acrobatics. It was a very enjoyable evenings entertainment. Earlier that day I had visited the aquarium with one of the people in my room. I was so lucky as the huge octopus who is usually just a lump in the corner of any aquarium tank was full of energy dancing and changing colour as he moved all about the tank. The next day the two girls (who I met in my room) and my self went for a nice walk in Discovery Park, before getting the bus back to the centre. In the park with the Space Needle, (which I didn't go up) we found a fountain that played music and had the water spurting in time to the song. I sat there listening to the fountain and watching the children, young and not so young run in between the fountain jets for a while as I had lunch before visiting the EMP, which is a museum that looks at popular culture, science fiction and popular music.
That evening while eating my dinner I met an extraordinary fella, who told me he was off Troll hunting, if I wanted to accompany him. I am not going to turn down an offer like that, so off we went after failing to gather anyone else for our mission. The Troll was very easy to find, firstly it was signposted on a very helpful and informative tourist signpost, and second it was under a huge bridge where you would expected a Troll to live and thirdly the road is called Troll Ave. So after locating the Troll and getting the required photographic evidence, we then went back to the sign post and went looking for the Dinosaurs, which we eventually found (thanks google!). Now you might feel that after a troll and seeing two dinosaurs our nights adventures would be over, but Freemont has many hidden treasures to find. We also saw Rapunzel in her tower, some people who had been waiting at the bus stop so long they had turned to stone and a space ship. I think if I had had more time to explore Freemont I would have found even more treasures, alas it was my last day and I had said I would meet my friend in the park to see her Circus in the Park event. Oliver (my new troll hunting partner) came with me, as the even didn't start until noon, we had time to walk along the waterfront, finding old unused railway tracks, floating houses, a shop (or a house) that seem to collect (and maybe sell) anything and everything, ducks, geese and much more. It was then on to the park I had to get the bus that afternoon so sadly I had to leave before the circus really got going, but I did get to watch some people juggling and some people showing off their skills with the aerial rope apparatus.

It was time for my overnight bus to San Francisco, the trip its self was ok, the bus did contain many interesting colorful people and a small dog, but after 22hrs I arrived in San Francisco. The first day I went to see the Fishermans Warf and of course Pier 39, where the sea lions have made their home. I spent a long time looking at them, listening to them barking, coughing and spitting at each other as well as the bigger sea lions pushing the smaller ones off the pontoons, or worse not letting them on at all. I saw the Golden Gate Bridge (from a distance) and also Alcatraz (again from a distance) I hadn't not been able to get a ticket to Alcatraz as they book up weeks in advance and I hadn't known when I would be in San Francisco until a few days before hand, this just means I have to come back! I also explored the Golden Gate Park, walked around looking at more huge ceder trees. I went see to the Golden Gate Bridge up close, although I didn't have time to cross it. I got to see some colourful neighborhoods as I went by on the local buses. I enjoyed my few days here, although I will have to come back to get to see all the wonderful places this city has to offer. Tomorrow I pick up my rental car and start my road trip, I'm planning on visiting as many states and places as I can until I get back to New York for the end of November.

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