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Published: March 15th 2010
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So...20 hours on the bus to Seattle was not as bad as I had originally thought! This time I was feeling fine so I think that helped a lot. I must quickly say thank you again to Marcie and the crew in Salt lake City for looking after Dan and I so very well over the week we were there. It was great fun. It is quite wierd now that Dan has gone, it has taken some time to adjust to travelling on my own but its all good. After a pleasant farewell from Utah I tried to get some sleep straight away on the bus. It was extremely crowded but I did find a seat next to a dude who had been on the bus for 50 hours already which made my trip seem rather small in comparison. We travelled through Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Washington (I think it was in that order...) There was some beautiful scenery and on the way into Seattle we passed by a small ski resorts and travelled through the mountains. On arrival I saw the famous Seattle Space Needle tower and all the city lights across the water front. As tempting as exploring was, all I could really handle was getting a $5 subway and then heading to bed. By this point I was painfully tired! I stayed at the Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle (free dinner and breakfast always goes down a treat). So I got a good night sleep and woke up for breakfast, then went straight back to bed. Eventually I made it outside at about 3pm...now that is a good lie in! First impressions of Seattle were good...everything seemed cleaner and friendlier than some other US cities. It struck me as quite an art orientated place and the music scence appeared to be quite important to everyone as well. I saw the Olympic stadium across the bay and the mountains in the background. I took a walk up the main street and then down to the Public Market Centre which was pretty cool. There were loads of little stalls of people selling jewellery, art, furniture and...fish. Fresh fish stands were the main part and the guys working it were throwing these huge fish across the whole floor and counter...quite impressive. There was also a guy selling his art work and all his paintings were of the ocean annd the city blending into one...so there were fish in the street and people walking under water. It looked really good and it suddenly gave me a new found appreciation of art. I also tried some dired apple. Tasted awesome. I then headed back to the hostel for the free dinner, meet a few people and chatted about my trip so far, where I am going next and I even tried out a few card tricks (that I have learn't along the way) and some jokes...some went down better than others...Dan will know what I mean by that! I then opted for another early night, making the most of a bed whilst I could. I headed to the Greyhound station at 12 the next day and once again...I noticed how these bus stations are always in an "interesting" part of town! Luckily the bus form Seattle to Vancover wasn't even half full I think there were only 10 people on it) so I had plenty of room. The drive north was good and we reached the US/Canadian border fairly quickly. Crossing over the border was fine...and we were back on the bus and on our way in no time. I must add the US driver we had through to Vancover was possibly the most enthusiastic bus driver in the world...ever. He was so excited about everything it was quite funny. I asked if we were running late to Vancover and I really thought he was going to offer me his watch just to keep track of the time. Brilliant. I am very grateful to Whitney in Utah for sorting out my ipod with some new msic...listening to the same trcaks for 5 months is hard work! When driving down into Vancover I caught a glimpse of the Olympic Park and the huge stadium. When we hit the freeway into Vancover...the traffic hit and the scheuled 6.15 arrival was not going to happen seeing as though we we standing still behind miles of cars. We eventually made it into Vancover station at 7.02 and my connecting bus to Calgary was leaving at 7.05. The driver literally ran across the bus terminal stopping busses pulling of of the station just to see if it was the one I needed to catch. Luckily, there was also one leaving at 7.20 so I just manged to hop on that. It all went kind of crazy for a few minutes but I did make it out and back on the road. So, thank to the US Greyhound for helping me avoid an 8 hour wait for the next bus. The overnight run to Calgary was again, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. After stopping for food I slept on and off all night. Canadian Greyhound busses are ten time better that the US ones! Built in radio and headrests! The drive through the mountains was beautiful. We passed though Lake Lousie and Banff on the way into Calgary, also passing the Canadian Olympic Park used in the 1988 winter games. I have realised as well that in the last week I have seen four Olympic Parks; Salt lake City, Seattle, Vancover and Calgary. Pretty cool. So arriving in Calgary was quite nevre racking because I was going to stay with a friend I met in Thailand. It was however all good and after being picked up, being fed well and also catching a small nap, before I knew it I was sampling Calgary nightlife! Off to the mountains next for a week of skiing!
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