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Published: July 25th 2006
After the ill behaviour of California and Las Vegas, it was nice to escape up to Washington for some R&R (sort of a holiday-within-a-holiday-within-a-holiday). I had expected Seattle to be like a smaller San Francisco, packed with uber-cool bars and bohemian types. What instead I found was a rather dull city filled with panhandlers. The only place I have visited that came close in terms of numbers of vagrants was Delhi, and at least there the beggers were suitably haggard looking to warrant their remuneration. In Seattle they just all seemed like well-fed drunks looking for an easy buck. I spent a couple of days walking around the small city looking for fun with little success. Feeling rather pissed off, I signed up for the well publicised underground tour. Running for more than 40 years, this excurison takes you under the sidewalks and into the cavities created when Seattle was rebuilt after a spectacular fire decades ago. While not exactly white-knuckle, it was interesting enough (indeed much of the spiel has remained unchanged over the years). Despair was avoided after I eventually found the tourist information office, and was overwhelmed by a friendly old lady who helped me to plan out
the rest of my stay in Washington.
I was forced to hire another car (which shall be known simply as 'Or Similar') to get out into the countryside, but was glad to have the flexibility to travel around more freely. I took the car ferry across Puget Sound and ventured into the Olympic Peninsula, the most north-westerly point in the lower 48 and home to a spectacular National Park. Most of Washington State is wilderness, and it is prime camping territory filled with conifers, mountains, pristine lakes and bears. I hiked up to the coast in the punishing heat by day, and stuffed my face with uninspiring fast food by night.
After a couple of days on the Olympic Peninsula, I drove around to Mount Rainier National Park. At 14,400 ft, MR is the tallest mountain in the lower 48, and is surrounded by an alpine landscape marred only by a steady stream of overweight tourists (myself included) laden with unnecessary and expensive climbing equipment and concrete pathways everywhere.
I dashed back to Seattle for my final night, but was thwarted by a lack of hotel rooms. I spent 3 hours swearing increasingly loudly to myself as
I drove south away from the city trying to find a bed for the night. I finally settled in Tacoma and ditched my bags to go and look for food. Burger heaven. Beautifully rare, and served with garlic parmesan fries, I became quite emotional when thanking the gawky waiter as I left. He looked a bit scared as I clutched his wrist tightly while praising his establishment's patty mastery.
New York next and the final 'Hurrah' before heading home.
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Heywood Jablomi
non-member comment
wait a second
there'll be one more "well fed drunk looking for an easy buck" in London come your return on 30 July