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24/11/06 - SANTA BARBARA
So yeah, trying to sleep in los angeles train station wasnt exactly the easiest thing to do, and it doesnt help when your awoken by an amtrak representative saying my train is boarding! So after a quick Dash to the station, i made it onto my train to Santa Barbara. I wasnt quite sure what to expect when i got there, i just figured Californian coastline in a "surf" orientated town...........bang on, well kinda. when i got off the train, it was all palms and blue skys, which was great, considering when i left LA it was grey and overcast. So anyway, i walked to where i thought was the centre, and was greeted by this amazing coastline, and a very quaint beach front. I kinda knew what was coming with the coast, as all the way down on the train, it meandered down it, but Santa Barbara is just cool place. I walked to the end of the pier, saw some crazy birds, one of which posed for the camera....i think it was the vein one, so i tried to pose also....didnt work, but you can see the atempts on Facebook or STA. Also i saw a dog the size of a dining table, think it was the same kind thats at my mums work. anyway, all i did in santa, was walk around really,as there isnt much else to do, unless you wanna hire boats, bikes, and those crazy chuckle brother style things. plus i only had 2 hours here anyway. so i went saw the harbour, the skate park, beach and pier, and thats about it really. Got to the station, and my train for once was on time! This train was to take me up North to a place called eugene, which is in oregon, just outside portland. Should be good as here is the place Nike started (which i think i told you already), but also it has a big Native american museum, which i really wanna see. Dont know what to expect really, but ill let you know. Train up here is a big one though.....26 hours. So im now sat on the train writing this, and next to me is the craziest guy in the world, i actully think he has a problem. He keeps going into spasms, and has these massive twitches. But worst thing is he keeps talking to the person next to him........there is no person next to him!! so i have gotta endure 26 hours sat opposite a loony.....ACE! amusing none the less, but now im sleepy, so im going to try and get some sleep, and hopefully by the time i wake, he will have gone. Ill let you know also!
25/11/06 - ON THE TRAIN TO EUGENE
So i woke at about 5am to the guy over the train leaving, at last i could get some sleep, some sleep that i wouldnt be worried of some maniac killing me in my sleep. the train by this point was running 2 hours late, which was making a few people unhappy. Its funny, i have noticed this whilst i have been here, the americans are far more impatient when they become delayed than us back in the UK, they were kicking up a right fuss, and some of them were even in tears because they were going to be 2 hours late.....ridiculous. so anyway i was stuck on the train till about 3pm, but it wasnt so bad, we were passing through some of the most amazing scenery i have ever seen, unfortunately i was in one of those dazes, the ones where you couldnt be bothered getting your bag from downstairs, and taking some photos, but its ok, im going up that route on my way back up when i go to Seattle at the end of the next week. so i arrived in Eugene about 2 hours late, not having a clue where i was sleeping, what exactly was here, dont get me wrong, i knew a few things that were on offer, but not where they were, and besides that i knew would only take a half day to see, i had 24 hours here. so anyway i walked down a street i thought looked the most inhabitated, as luck would have it i stumbled upon the library, where i used the net to do a little research. i booked a hostel and looked into what to do the next day. The hostel i booked was pretty near to the library, in the middle of some neighbourhood a short walk from here. I didnt realise until i got here that the kitchen here is a vegetarian one, and that before i came i had stopped off at the local sainsburys to get some supplies. Some of them being Meat Based! oh well, ill just use them in the hostel i stay in in San Fran in a few days time. This Hostel is a small one, which when your inside makes you immediately feel like home,only difference is, its not, and that its run by some new age veggie people, who dont get me wrong are really nice and helpful, but are kinda weird, and in a way intimadating. so i just thougt id fill you in on Eugene so far, what am i doing tomorrow? i dont know! but its 7pm now, so im going to take myself on a walk to get firstly some meat based food, and to secondly see whats about this town at night!
26/11/06 - EUGENE, OREGON
As you can probably see from the photo, i was wet, cold and miserable, kinda like Eugen itself
Woke up to a cat sleeping on the end of my bed. Again another attribute from the hostel. Its ok having cats in the hostel, i haven't got a problem with that, ok i dont like cats all that much, but i didnt mind them, but its another thing having one sleeping on the end of the bed, especially when it wakes you up a couple of times in the night jumping up. So i wasnt impressed to be honest. so anyway, i packed up, showered and got some tea, herbal tea i think as it tasted funny. As i was walking through the Hostel i stopped to double check that i had all my stuff with me, and a guy mumbled under his breath, "leave already", then in a mumbled sarcastic tone "with your laptop, and fancy camera". This annoyed me a bit, so i returned a comment to him, "excuse me??", he sorta looked at me and then said, "oh nothing" so i just said to him, " i heard what you just said, and to be honest i dont appreciate the way it was said, and if you are going to almost curse me for the things i have, then please have the decency to say it aloud!" and to that i got my bag and left the hostel.....a*******. Its a shame really as all the other people there were really nice to me, but that and the point of having cats on my bed whilst i was sleeping, earnt it a bad review on Hostelworld!!lol, god im sad. Anyway, today it was raining. Not only that, but cold, grey and raining, so what to do in an equally dull and drab town? i decided to cheer myself up and go see the native american museum i had read up on before coming up here, besides, it was one of the reasons i came here. I took a walk via the amtrak so i could drop my bags off, and then down to the museum. Its weird, the museum is right in the middle of the university campus, god knows why. If i was them i would have put it in the centre of town, but hey. I paid my $3 dollar entrance fee, and was greeted by a woman who gave me a brief overview of the musuem. She like most people i have met over here muttered her first words to me, "so where are you from?". its funny, but i must stick out like a sore thumb, but didnt really notice it all that much really. anyway, supposedly she has been to london once......god if i had a dollar for everytime someone said that to me, but she offered to take me on my own little guided tour, which was cool, and really really nice of her, although i did realise that i was the only person in the museum, and maybe this was a way of killing time for her! She took me down all the exhibits, each one explaining how the natives from oregon did things, and how they developed their skills over time, which was really interesting.
After about 2 hours in this place, i caught my bus back to downtown, well that was what i was expecting to do. Turns out the buses only run every hour on a sunday, so i was left to either wait about 45 mins in the cold, or walk 10 mins back to the centre. only problem it was chucking it down with rain, but i decided to brave it, and walk. after about 20 mins of dashing, and walking back to the centre i got to the library, again, and used to net. Good way of sheltering. so from there, it was time to get the train. So here i am, sat in the train station waiting for my train, which is already an hour late, to take me down to San Francisco.
Ciao
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