Blogs from Seattle, Washington, United States, North America - page 95

The rest of our time in San Francisco was a ball- lots of cable car and tram rides, lovely day in Carmel and Monterey before crossing the Golden Gate and Richmond bridges and a fast trip via Sacremento to San Andreas (which is not where the famous fault line lies) on the H49. This was the area where gold was first discoveres in 1849 and reminded us all of our own gold field areas. Ken our host is a Head of Department in Agriculture and runs a commercial catering business whilst Linda is Auditor /General Manager of the local county. They were great hosts and we had a fabulous time with them - it reminded us of a certain Putney 2 party with John and Noel in the kitchen as they whipped up some fabulous meals. ... read more

If you stop for a few minutes and think to yourself about how, if you wanted to, you would go about buying a car in the US. All pre-departure research (lonely planet, forums etc) suggested that it was nearly impossible to buy a car and legally drive it unless you had close connections in the States, were a citizen or you were willing to take a few financial risks. I think I lucked into the final category because I decided that I would let a wholesale dealer buy the car for me. Enter John, an overweight Mexican (by heritage) man who had the physical demener of an ox. John provides a service to any foreign individual that wants to buy a car in the US. You hand over a service fee and he will provide the ... read more

09/06/05 - 12/06/05: There is no more striking way to see the difference between the north and south of the US than to fly straight from Texas to Seattle, Washington (Northwest US). If you want a city where trends are created not just observed then Seattle is the place to be. I spent just over a week with my brother-in-laws aunt and uncle who treated me with open hospitality. Hazel and Dave met on the mission field in Ethiopia and came to Seattle where they raised two girls. I admire their love towards one another and the way that they both put in 100% for the benefit of the other. Every workday Hazel drives Dave to the train-station where Dave waves goodbye from the train on his way to the corporate battlefield in Seattle. Hazel and ... read more

Yes, it's the final installment of the "getting ready to travel" series. I'm all packed and chores are pretty much done. In about 7 hours I'll be settling in for an 11.5-hour journey over the pole to Hamburg. Here's hoping internet access will be plentiful, fast, and cheap... but not so cheap as to encourage excessive pontificating on my part. Have a great June, everybody!... read more

Seattle.... (a little delayed in posting...) It is strange that one can be in a new place, a new city, for just a short time andknow that it could be home. Seattle is like that! It has a marketplace, international flavours, coffee shops where people actually sita nd drink coffee (ok...maybe a few too many coffee shops). It has a downtown filled with tall buildings...both business and residential. But above all it has people...peaople everywhere. Out and about, wandering, exploring, shopping, meeting, hustling. It has a stunning ocean, and green spaces too. It has an attitutde...I haven't figured it out yet, but it's there...and seems to fit...the city and me! ha ha My first day was both relaxing and full - should be for one that started at 4 am. For some reason the idea of ... read more