Our first blog entry of what will almost certainly be very many comes from Seattle, in the state of Washington. When we arrived yesterday we were indeed sleepless in seattle, if you'll excuse the pun. We had got up in London at 5.30am, which is 9.30pm (the previous night) in Seattle. So by the time we went to sleep at 10pm, having taken 2 flights and forced ourselves to explore a little and have dinner upon arrival, we had been up for more than 24 hours.

Perhaps because of jet lag, we first discovered the beauty of seattle's waterfront on a gentle 8am run through a waterside park. We found a well earned brunch in the fantastic Pike Place Market, filled with wondeful fresh food & flowers, if a little crammed with tourists. In an attempt to fit as many sights as possible into our one day here we also visited the first ever Starbucks (not that different to the hundreds of others in the city centre) and visited the top of the space needle, where the views were out of this world, especially on such a clear & sunny day like today.

Seattle has really charmed me & I think we'd love to have another day to keep exploring but tomorrow we are hiring a car in the morning and leaving the city, heading west to the outskirts of Olympic national park to begin 6 nights of camping whilst making our way down the Washington & Oregon coast.