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13th October - Ralph was feeling a little worse for wear today due to the combination of pitchers of beer and altitude, so we booked another night's stay at the same hotel to allow him to recover.This meant I was able to update the blog (I know it was a day late again!), apply for some jobs that took my fancy, reply to e-mails and contact my mum, sister and friend Jenny via instant messenger.A really quiet day where lots of "admin" type stuff got done but we hardly stepped outside the hotel room!
14th - We started out on our journey to Seattle, which is only actually a couple of hours drive from Leavenworth, via another apple store (yes Ralph is still having problems with that blasted i-pod he bought in New York City!).The drive takes you through snow capped mountain ranges and was really beautiful with the leaves on the trees just starting to change colour. Once Ralph had finally had some success with apple and finally been given a new i-pod we carried on our journey and arrived at the hotel early afternoon.Our hotel is really close to the infamous Seattle Space Needle so we have a really easy landmark to find our way back to the hotel!We settled in and then took a walk up to the Space Needle which is located in a small area called Seattle Center, an open air area made for the 1962 World Fair.Over 45 years on the area looks rather sad and, rather than retro, it all looks a little pathetic and in need of some tender loving care.It's really a concrete overload (the same could be said for the rest of Seattle actually) and is not the prettiest place to be.We tried to go up the Space Needle only to be told that we could go up (it costs $15.00 each) but one third of it was closed for a private party so we would only be able to see the remainder.Deciding that we would rather see it later when it was all open, we bought a ticket and were told to return after 6 p.m. when the party would be cleared up.There is a monorail a few steps from the Space Needle that we were told takes you from Seattle Center to downtown Seattle.We therefore bought our tickets and took the monorail towards downtown.Well, by the time we had found a seat and sat down we pulled into a station and noticed everyone was getting off.We couldn't understand it until the driver told us we needed to get off as this was the only stop, the monorail only goes between Seattle Center and the beginning of the downtown area, a ride of less than 1.5 minutes for a cost of £4.00 each!We honestly could not believe it and could still see the place where we had got on the monorail as we got off.We had a return ticket so we knew we might as well use it to get back, but that would be the last time and we would walking into downtown from here on it - we worked out it would only take about 15 minutes to walk!The monorail, apart from being utterly pointless, also drops you off at a really strange place high up in a shopping centre stairwell so you have to walk down loads of stairs before being kicked out onto the street.We walked past numerous shops (the only real reason for Seattle that we have found so far is shopping) and then found a British style pub and decided to enjoy a bit of home cooking for tea, which was also a big mistake as we are unsure as to whether the owners have even heard of Britain, never mind visited there.The food was just tinned stuff heated and could not even be recognised as anything we would eat in Britain - yuk!!Slightly disheartened we headed on to Pike Place Market, America's oldest continuously running outdoor market, where they sell a mixture of fresh fish, home baked goods and arts and craft items.It was also slightly underwhelming but I did find a copy of my favourite British magazine, Heat, so as the market was starting to pack away, we agreed to come back tomorrow when it's in full throng and see if that makes a difference.Part of Pike Place hosts the very first Starbucks, so of course we have to have a coffee.For fans of Starbucks, the inside was very different to the Starbucks as they are now, as this original store has been left as it was when it very first opened, so no sales of sandwiches, muffins and buns, just coffee and coffee beans.We took the coffees and walked down to the waterfront area to see the sun coming down.Seattle has one of the largest populations of homeless people we have seen in the United States.There are homeless people everywhere and it honestly seems that they outnumber Seattle's housed occupants.It's a really sad thing to see, especially as many of them seem to have either been beaten up or have mental health problems.We took the monorail back to Seattle Center (it took 1 minute 37 - I counted!) and then went up the Space Needle.We chose just the right time (thanks to the birthday party!) and so the sun was just coming down, meaning we could see the city by day and night.You can either look at the views through the windows or go outside and feel the heavy winds at the top.The views over the city, water and mountains were pretty and the Needle had some good interactive exhibits at the top but nothing entirely special and we therefore finished our first day in Seattle hoping that it impressed us more tomorrow.
15th - We got up early and walked into downtown from the hotel (yes it did only take about 15 minutes!) to Pike Place Market again.To us, the market has something missing, it just doesn't seem to have any atmosphere, and so although there were many more stalls open this morning it wasn't any better an experience than yesterday.We carried on south to Pioneer Square and took a look at Yesler Way, known as the original 'skid road' as in Seattle's early days loggers in a camp above town would send logs skidding down the road to Henry Yesler's waterside mill.When the timber industry declined the area did also and the street became a haven for the homeless (much like the whole of Seattle now!).The nickname Skid Road (or 'Skid Row') eventually came to mean a destitute area in cities all over the United States.Unfortunately now it's just a street like any other in Seattle, although you can see the steepness which allowed the loggers to roll the logs down to the old mill.We then met up with about another 150 people for the Bill Speidel's Underground Tour.This large group was split into three and our guide Adam took us through a network of underground chambers that exist from before the Great Fire.Basically Seattle was originally built on tide flats which caused numerous problems as the area flooded with every incoming tide not only with water but with the sewage that also flooded back into the area.After the Great Fire which burnt down the majority of Seattle's buildings, streets were built above the original city with ladders down to the sidewalks and shops which remained on the original level.Eventually (perhaps because people died falling into the lower level sidewalk from the street, mainly whilst drunk) the rest of the city was brought up to the new street level and these underground areas, where the city used to reside, all still exist and actually, as you walk around the streets of Seattle, you are actually walking over hollow areas as there is nothing below most of the sidewalks now, just walls every now and then supporting the streets above.The tour was really good as it takes you in to this old underground city and is done with humour.After that we went to a Creole restaurant for gumbo and jambalaya and then to Starbucks to warm up (as you can imagine there is a Starbucks on virtually ever corner here - we think the company was started here as Seattle is so cold!It's nowhere near as cold as Britain but we only put our shorts away a week ago so it was a bit of a shock to the system!)We took a look at Occidental Park which our guide book told us was worth a look for its carved totem poles. Well we have to beg to differ as it's not really a park but just a small pedestrianised area between shops where there are two carved totem poles being used as a hangout for the homeless and quite unimpressive.Next to that is a road called Jackson Street which was once home to a lively jazz scene in the 1940s and 50s.Now it's just a road like any other with no mention of it's history, so again we were slightly underwhelmed.Finally we went to a museum (although it's classed as an indoor National Historic Park!) about the Klondike Gold Rush, as although the Klondike area in Canada was thousand's of miles away, Seattle managed to call themselves the "Gateway to the Klondike" so prospectors looking for gold would go to Seattle to get all their provisions for the long trip north (although many were scammed out of their lifesavings and never got to leave Seattle).The museum was pretty good and definitely worth a visit.We then walked back to our hotel and Ralph went to have his hair cut (see the big difference in the pictures of him after the haircut in the blog photos!) before settling down to watch the final presidential debate.As we are 3 hours behind the east coast of America, where the debate was being held at 9 p.m., it was being shown at 6 p.m. here and we still had time to do something else afterwards so we went to an art theatre (which we would call an independent cinema!) and watched a film called Religulous.
16th - We had a lie in and after Ralph had checked on his mum's progress we set out in the car to explore the further reaches and suburbs of Seattle.We first went to a couple of shoe shops to spend the birthday money my mum sent me (I eventually disappeared into a mall and came out with three pairs of shoes and a pair of trousers - thanks mum, although Ralph wasn't as pleased as he had chosen to stay in the car while I "went to have a look at some shoes" and I returned 1.5 hours later!!).The first area we headed for was Capitol Hill which is classed as a stylish neighbourhood, mainly due to the large gay and lesbian community there.We however only saw a small part of it and although it did have some nice shops and boutiques, it looked like any neighbourhood situated on a hill.We had gone there to look at Volunteer Park, north of the neighbourhood, which is next to the cemetery and was actually once part of the cemetery, but although it looked okay it still had a strong Seattle concrete look to it and was not inviting enough for us to get out of the car and walk round it in the drizzle.Instead we pulled in at a scenic viewpoint for a look over the Puget Sound and, there not being much to see, we were also let down with that!We carried on to a neighbourhood called Fremont which is known for its wacky public sculptures.There are sculptures all over this neighbourhood, even the streetlights have been made into huge drooping glass baubles that dangle in the wind.We took a look at three sculptures altogether. The first was called Waiting for the Interurban which is located at a bus stop in the centre of the neighbourhood and consists of a cast aluminium statue of around 5 people waiting for a train that never comes (the Interurban was a train that linked Seattle with Everett that stopped running through here in the 1930s).The second is called the Fremont Troll which is a huge cement troll located underneath one of the bridges and is known to scare the local children (I thought it was pretty cool).The third was a full size statue of Lenin brought over by a resident of Fremont at huge cost to himself because he liked it so much.The last neighbourhood was called Belmont where we visited the Hiram M Chittenden Locks, which 100,000 boats pass through every year.At the other side of the locks, across a bridge, are the fabulous fish ladders where you can watch from above or underwater via glass tanks as salmon struggle up the fish ladders on their way to their spawning grounds.It was great to see the salmon through the underground glass tanks as you could see them get up one ladder (there are 14 in all, each getting gradually steeper) and then resting before psyching themselves up for the next one, all this against the flow of tide too.We saw one swim up one of the outside ones as well and a guy that was working there told us that they have had to put a net high above the ladders as in the summer the salmon jump up to 14 feet and they were jumping out of the water and dying on the sidewalk.We managed to find an Indian restaurant for tea so we headed there and then had a relatively early night as Ralph and I have been feeling a little under the weather for the last day or so (Ralph blames it on being in the state of Washington!!).
17th - We left Seattle and drove north to the Boeing plant where you can take a tour of the plant and a look around the exhibit hall.Unfortunately there is a big strike going on at the plant at the moment (it's been going on for over a month and a half) so the tour now consists of driving you around in a bus without actually getting off anywhere so Ralph decided not to bother with that option as its really just like being driven around an airport if you don't actually get to get off and go inside any of the buildings.He instead chose the cheaper option of a ticket just to look around the exhibit hall.Well, we were totally disappointed because rather than tell you anything of interest in relation to Boeing the whole thing was just a big advertisement for the company and the hall was really small and only had about 10 things in it.After a brief look around there we drove south to the capital of Washington state, Olympia.On arrival we realised that we had just missed the start of the state capitol tour but the women in the visitor's center told us that if we rushed we could catch up with the group.We rushed into the building and couldn't see anyone but we took a look in the House of Representatives and the Senate Chamber and saw a group of people on a tour in the Chamber. We therefore went up and joined them and stood at the back until we were invited by the tour guide to join them if we wanted and take a seat, which we did.It was only after about 10 minutes of the tour that I realised that there was something funny about this group, they were all, apart from one woman, over the age of 80.I started whispering to Ralph that this was odd and really unusual as most tour groups consist of middle aged couples.When we were being moved to the next part of the tour I informed the guide that they had informed us in the visitors center that we should catch up and tag along with the tour group, as we were a little late, and she said this was fine.It was only later that we discovered that this was not the tour we should have joined, they were in a different part of the building completely, but we had actually joined a specially organised tour for a local old people's home!!Still, finding out we were from England seemed to please the group and we got a round of applause for that.At the end we apologised profusely for gate crashing their tour but they didn't seem to mind at all (it was so sweet to see them all dressed up in their finery for their tour of the capitol!).A little embarrassed we then took a look at the Temple of Justice, which unfortunately wasn't sitting, and then drove north again to a town called Tacoma.Tacoma was one of the biggest wastes of time and disappointments of the trip.We had gone there because the place is known for its glass and there is meant to be a colourful and ornate Bridge of Glass walkway which leads from the Museum of Glass to Union Station, which was designed and built by the same people who did Grand Central Station in New York City.Well first of all the Bridge of Glass was a complete let down.It was terribly ugly and really just like a horrible concrete walkway over a busy dual carriageway interspersed with a few small glass blown sculptures.We didn't like them at all.Next Union Station has been converted from a train station to federal courts, so its now completely lifeless and devoid of anything of interest - don't go!!Utterly fed up we booked a hotel for the night I the area and then went to a hog pit barbeque for tea, I am really going to miss cornbread when I get back to England!Ralph has decided that he doesn't like Washington state at all, and I am inclined to agree with him, but we will be in the state of Oregon tomorrow night, so hopefully that will be an improvement.
18th - A nice sunny day as we drove 2 hours to Mount St Helens, one of the Cascade Peaks.On 18th May 1980 Mount St Helens erupted with the force of a 24-megatron blast, levelling hundreds of square miles of forest and blowing 1300ft off its peak.When it erupted it blew rock, ash, steam and gas 15 miles into the air.The entire north face of Mount St Helens disintegrated and collapsed in what is thought to be the largest landslide in recorded history.59 people were killed as a result of the eruption.Although it has calmed down since then the danger hasn't entirely passed and in September 2004 the mountain started to rumble again causing hundreds of tiny earthquakes in the surrounding areas. The journey to the observation area for the mountain takes you through the valley where you can still see the rivulets marks where the molten lava flowed.It's just over a 50 mile drive to the observation area for the mountain from the main highway and after a lot of driving we pulled into a small parking area for a view of Mount St Helens.Although you only get to view it from afar it is impressive to see where one of the sides of the mountain has been blown out by the force of the eruption and the lava has flowed down into the valley, along with part of the mountain itself.After this quick photo opportunity we got in the car and drove around the corner and realised that the official viewing platform was there, but they were charging $8.00 each to look at the mountain, when we had just seen exactly the same view for free around the corner!Obviously we refused to pay and then discovered that the only way back from Mount St Helens is exactly the way we came, as the roads around each side of the mountain do not meet.We therefore drove for three hours to Hammond over the border in the state of Oregon.Oregon is instantly more beautiful than Washington state.It is really green and full of fir trees, mountains and, as Hammond is on the west coast, the sea.At Hammond we briefly went on the beach (briefly because it was so cold!) to see the remains of a British sailing ship wreak, which was quite eerie.Finally we booked a hotel just a few miles out of Portland, drove for 1.5 hours to get there and then settled in for the night.
19th - We drove into Portland and realised how lucky we were that this is a Sunday and therefore we could park in the city for free.Portland in the main is like any British shopping town.It's quite concreaty (again) and really just somewhere that is good for window shopping and little else.The only thing that's surprising is that they have some really upmarket shops, such as Macy's, Guess, Sak's Fifth Avenue and Tiffneys.The bonus of the city is that it is small and extremely easy to walk around and the people seem really friendly.The first place we took a look at was Pioneer Courthouse Square.This is a small town square which today was taken up with the remnants of what seemed to be a marathon this morning.There is little in the square, although one side is taken up with the Pioneer Courthouse which was built in 1890.We couldn't take a tour because they only take tours Monday to Friday.In summer this square is used for concerts, festivals and rallies, but today it was empty and, other than a cool statue of a guy flagging down a taxi, there was nothing to see.We then took a look at the Portland Building which was built in 1980 and has been controversial ever since.People who work in it complain about the gloominess inside because it only has small windows but others like the exterior which has a large copper statue called Portlandia crouching over the entrance, 1/3rd the size of the Statue of Liberty, representing the Goddess of Commerce.We then walked a short distance to Old Town which, in the 1890s, used to be a seedy place and the home of assorted unsavoury characters lurking around the streets.Now that has all changed and the district hosts a tiny Chinatown area.After a quick look around there (it had to be quick as the area only consists of a handful of streets!) we were lucky enough to drop on the Saturday Market (actually held on a Saturday and Sunday) in the Old Town district.The market was the best thing about Portland and we would suggest that if you ever visit Portland you try to do so on a weekend so you can catch this market.It is full of stalls selling all sorts of arts and crafts, some of which are quite unique, and we spent an hour wandering around, taking in the sometimes brilliant merchandise, wonderful music and various types of food.We ended up buying pizza, a gyros, ginger-rhubarb jam and two Obama badges (I have lost the ones I bought previously in Los Angeles and Harlem).There was a fantastic group of young guys there playing glockenspiels and they were definitely one of the highlights of the market (although there was a guy dressed as Jimmy Hendrix for you to have a picture with and a girl giving away free hugs!). We finally left the market and walked across one of the bridges across the water and then back across another bridge to get a view of the Portland skyline, which wasn't very impressive, and then went back to the car to drive a short distance out of the centre of Portland to Pittock Mansion.Here you can take a tour of the Mansion or simply wander around the wonderful and beautiful grounds with lovely views over the valley.Finally we went to a shopping mall near the centre of Portland and spent about three hours looking around the shops (Oregon has no sales tax so if you are going to buy anything then this is the place to do it!).I did better than Ralph in that I bought a new jacket and two scarves, and he only managed to get a shirt.
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