Seattle & Portland

We finally arrived in Seattle after a pleasant four hour coach journey from Vancouver. When going through customs in America we were asked loads of questions. Apparently our trip resembled a young guy's journey who had just gone through customs before us. Emily decided to go over and talk to him. It turned out he was staying in the same hostel as us with his friend. Therefore the four of us shared a taxi to the hostel.

As we got into Seattle at around 19:30 we went straight out for dinner where Tony got his prize steak. After dinner we met up with the two guys from the coach (Neil and Ross) and went down the pub. As Tony thought the beer tasted like syrup he stuck to Bud Light and he was particularly unimpressed about being asked for ID!!!!

Our first full day in Seattle was a bright sunny day and consisted of lots of walking around the city. We walked to the space needle but it was $20 dollars to go up and as we had already done the CN tower in Toronto we thought we would give it a miss. We ended up going to the Science Fiction Museum. This was more for Tony's benefit because Emily hates it. She also had to subject herself to learning about the history of Grunge music and the rise of Nirvana and Pearl Jam but Tony enjoyed it so that was the main thing. Plus Emily got to go to the Gold Rush museum which told the history of how people travelling through Seattle during the Gold Rush.


That afternoon we met up with Neil and Ross so we could get down the pub for happy hour!! This was where they do snacks for $3 each so we could order three snacks each instead of paying out for dinner (or having to cook it ourselves!!). After we had eaten Tony went to buy beer and we headed back to the hostel. One of the guys in the hostel had made Sangria which was really strong. He was giving it out to everyone so of course Tony took full advantage!!! It was once Tony had necked the majority of the Sangria that he met Tim who was also heading to Portland next. However Tony didn't remember him the next day!!!!

We met up with Neil and Ross for breakfast this morning and went to the greyhound bus station together. However we were not going to the same places. Neil and Ross were going back to Vancouver as they are both PT teachers and crazy about sport. They didn't want to miss the skiing season. Tony and Emily were off to Portland. However the sodding bus was an hour and 45 minutes late!!!!

When we arrived in Portland we saw Tim again. After a slightly embarrassing moment where Tony openly admitted that he didn't remember talking to him in Seattle we invited him out to dinner with us. Tim went straight back to the hostel after dinner whereas we wanted to head to a typical American bar so we ended up in Tony's Tavern!!!

Portland is an amazing city. One of the best places we have visited so far. I can imagine it would be a perfect place to live. The people are friendly and the city is beautiful. We went down to the market on our first day and walked along the riverbank learning about the history of Portland. We walked into China town and visited a Chinese garden which was smaller than expected. After dinner that evening we sat up and chatted to Tim and our room mate Deano. Deano is a fascinating man. He is in his forties and he used to live in Portland before deciding to move to Israel as he is Jewish. He is staying in the hostel as he has decided to move back to Portland and is currently looking for a job and an apartment. He is such a funny guy he talks forever!!! even more than Emily. He was forever making jokes that Tony was obviously responsible for Emily's black eye and that Tony must be a wife beater!

It was another bright sunny day in Portland so we went to Washington park to explore the rose gardens. It was beautiful particularly the yellow roses which smelt really fresh. We moved onto the Japanese Garden after and got there in time for a free tour. The tour described the characteristics of a Japanese garden which consisted of rock,water and plant. It was about the contrasts between man made and natural, colour and what is hidden and what is revealed. It was a brilliant tour. After this we then walked about two miles to the zoo only to find out that it had closed for the day!!! After admitting defeat we went to the supermarket to buy dinner. We found out that we couldn't buy our Malaria tablets without prescription when you can get them over the counter anywhere else in the world. Plus they want $50 dollars each just to see a doctor to write the prescription. Therefore we are going to try in South America.

After dinner we met Jenny who is another room mate. We sat with her and Deano again and then had the privilege to met Jonathon who has just come back from living in Australia. He is in his forties and in the same position as Deano - looking to move to Portland. Jonathan is also full of stories and he is such a nice person. When we left Portland he told us that we could come back and stay with him at any time. He said that we were two special people and he is fussy when it comes to people!!!


Guess what - another sunny day in Portland!!! We went to the Zoo which had pretty much every single animal in there apart from lions and tigers!! It was massive, we especially liked the penguins. We were there for 4 hours!!! We also managed to squeeze in enough time to visit the Vietnam memorial garden.


We spent our last night with our usual crowd plus Megan and another American guy whose name I can't remember. Megan is a make up artist from LA. The drinking got started and Megan made Tony's day by bringing out a gallon of Sangria!!!! As it was our last night we made the most of it and got told off by the lady that works in the hostel 5 times. We are not allowed to drink after 10pm but telling Tony not to drink is like telling him not to breath so he hid the alcohol under the table. She knew full well what he was up too!

Obviously Tony woke up with a sore head the next day and we had a long journey ahead of us. San Francisco!!!! We were getting a train that would take 18 hours!!!! Tim was also getting the same train so we had some dinner and went to get the train together. Emily got talking to two girls from Essex in the queue for the train and they were making the same journey and staying at the same hostel as us. Unfortunately Tim wasn't staying at our hostel.


The train journey was awful after boarding at 14:30 we arrived in San Francisco at 8:30am the next day!! We had no sleep and we were wreaked. Too make things worse we got to our hostel at 09:00 and they said we couldn't check in until 2pm!!! Therefore we went to look for Halloween outfits with Lauren and Kara (the girls from Essex).