Blogs from Washington, United States, North America - page 226

Well we are set to leave town.....we have rented our place out to our friend Kim and a new friend Cara, quit our jobs and packed up our personal belongings. We have more to buy and pack over the next month as we travel to our destinastions in the US and Canada. We plan on driving to Grand Junction, Colorado and staying for a few weeks. Next it is off to Ontario, Canada taking in some sights as we go.... read more

Waking up in our private room was bliss - a quiet room all to ourselves - imagine! A really good start to what would be a great day. Meeting up with Anders and his friend Christina, we got the boat ready and started on the beers. Union lake showed us downtown Seattle, the Space Needle, the house used in 'Sleepless in Seattle', a front row seat for a 'Thunderbird' regatta race and also a glimpse of the Blue Angels flying display (the American equivalent to the Red Arrows). Moving onto Lake Washington, we got a good sail and even a dip in the water, being towed along by the boat (which surprised us both by being fresh water). We even 'ventured' over to Kirkland for some cocktails and Mexican food, not returning until gone 9pm. ... read more

Our time in Seattle was mainly spent sleeping as much as possible to overcome jet lag and eating as much fresh food as we could fit in. One of the greatest things about Seattle is the Pike Place Market and the scores of smaller farmers' markets and strong local food movement. Pike Place Market is chock full of rows and rows of fresh, organic produce direct from the farmers and fishermen in mind boggling quantities. It is the oldest continually operating farmers' market in the world and to top it off we were there on Organic Wednesday! Having lived on Mongolian yak meat and dehydrated food for the past month, we were on a mission to get some fresh veges and this was the place to do it. Apart from the markets, Seattle is famous for ... read more

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 ... read more

6am, yes they have that in America too. We had to get up super early to pick up our rental car and head out to Mt St Helens. The car in question was the stunningly mediocre Dodge Neon. Essentially it astounded us by not being totally useless, although when you put your foot down all that happened was that the engine sounded as if it were about to explode. The trip to St Helens is pretty straight forward, take I-5 north turn right and when the road finishes your pretty much there, that’s the kind of directions I like. Cesco took the first stint as I didn’t fancy my first go at driving a left hand drive car and an automatic round the confusing signed Portland streets at rush hour (cheers man). Mt St Helens dominates ... read more