I’m not sure why I feel the need for every blog post to either be a pun, or some witty comment. Forgive me.
Having enjoyed Canada much more than in my previous outing, I headed across the border to Seattle, home to Sleepless in Seattle and… I’m not sure what else. I had heard the West Coast was known as the Wet Coast, and so it proved for a few of the days I was there; that said, it was no worse than may be found on a normal English winter day, and my only grievance was at the distinct lack of waterproofing my shoes were providing. The small rat eyes looking out at the world and showing my socks beneath had grown into veritable gaping holes, and it was with a sad realisation that I prepared to part ways with them.
Soggy socks aside, I had checked into my now preferred hostel choice in America – Hostel International (HI). This group have hostels all across America, and I had stayed in them in New York, Chicago and Vancouver previously, always being impressed by their clean and well facilitated rooms, as well as their friendly and knowledgeable staff. For my time in Seattle I did however flip-flop between the HI and the City Hostel purely because the HI seemed pretty quiet, although HI did once again have some good activities put on throughout the week, along with their ever-knowledgeable staff.
A visit to Pike Place Market has to be near the top of any tour of Seattle, although quite how it made it to be the worlds 33rd most visited tourist attraction I’m not exactly sure. One mildly exciting event I did have whilst waiting for the walking tour outside the market was being mere feet away from something I can only assume was a drug deal – two shady looking people hurriedly exchanging cash for something in a small plastic bag. Considering the fact that everywhere I went in North America seemed to stink of marijuana, I’m not sure what it was they were actually exchanging, but I did shift myself a few feet to the side to avoid any accusations of complicity.
Seattle’s most famous landmark is most surely the Space Needle, a futuristic observation tower built for the World Fair in 1962. This pierces the skyline of north Seattle, and supposedly partially inspired The Jetsons and their airy floating house. However, I felt no compelling need to spend the not inconsiderate dollar to get to the top and view the city from above – already on this trip I had gone up the CN Tower in Toronto and the Hancock Tower in Chicago, and this was lower than both of those. Also, a sneaky hint provided on a walking tour was that you could zip up to the 40th floor of the Columbia Centre, visit the Starbucks and actually be higher than the Needle, all for free (minus $2 for a Chai Tea). Bargain.
Later on the day a few of us from the walking tour took another suggestion of the guide and rode the ferry across from Seattle downtown to Bainbridge Island, a pretty little hunk of rock just the other side of the Puget Sound. A Sound, in case you were wondering like I was for several days, is a
large sea or ocean inlet larger than a bay, deeper than a bight, and wider than a fjord; or a narrow sea or ocean channel between two bodies of land (see also strait).
So there we go.
Whilst Bainbridge is normally described as pretty, in fact when we went it was dark, rainy and a bit miserable. There was a cute little row of alternative shops, but I feel the beauty of the island would be better appreciated with the benefits of a blazing sun and some stirring air. Our woes could not even be fixed by retiring to a bar as one of our party was 20 years old – highlighting another aspect of American culture which I still find utterly perplexing. This argument is old and has been stated many times but still rings true – you can get married, enlist and die for your country, even buy a gun years before you can buy an alcoholic drink. Madness.
One of my favourite museums of the tour came in the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI). With fascinating displays about the history of Seattle, how it’s developed and the ways it continues to move forward, I spent the majority of a day in here. One particular highlight was actually looking out of a periscope they had installed on the top floor and finding myself ogling a bald eagle perched atop of ships sails – I could see then why it is the emblem of America, sitting majestically with its huge body brimming with strength and intensity. One aspect of this trip that I have missed out on is being able to view and enjoy some of the natural wonders that America has to offer – but at least it gives me a great reason to return to this vast continent.
A particularly cool neighbourhood in Seattle is Fremont, just over the river to the north of the city. Home to an eclectic mix of urban art, some of which has been around for the past 21 years, one of the most famous pieces is the Fremont Troll, a colossal 5.5m high 6 ton concrete beast. You can spend a fun afternoon wandering around this area, following the free trails and visiting the cute little niche shops around. A bar crawl that night even saw us return to the area, with one stop being at an arcade/games bar with old school Pacman, Mario and Space Invaders machines lining the walls, greedily eating quarters as quickly as I could feed them into the glowing deposit holes.
The final day in Seattle was well spent at the Museum of Flight, a sprawling multi-hangar aircraft extragravanza at least partially inspired by the Boeing company whose founder set up his first factory in the city. Although a bus journey out of the city, it is well worth a visit, with two highlights being the Concorde and Air Force One planes being sat outside begging for a walk around. I can remember my Granny going on short Concorde ride for something like her 85th birthday, and the pure engineering genius of the machine still make the nerdy engineering side of me all giddy and excited. I love the concept of beating natural barriers and being able to do things that many thought impossible – the short but glorious reign of Concorde over our skies is a triumph to French-Anglo partnership and shows what we can do when we work together.
As the city deigned me to move on, I managed to persuade a friend I’d made during my stay at the hostel come down to Portland with me for a few days. Once again showing the truth in the statement “if you don’t try you’ll never know”, Daniela was a Chilean who’d come up to Seattle to further study English and enjoy the sights of the northern half of her continent. Whilst I decided to hitchhike my way down to Portland (something which took me 3 minutes of standing outside before being picked up and dropped off outside the door of my accomodation), she took the more sensible route and, eventually, decided to get the bus down.
Immediately the vibe of Portland was much more to my liking – the smaller city feel of the place and the intimacy provided by it gave to me a friendly reaction than that I’d received in Seattle. Our time here was spent wandering its streets, touring happy hour bar to happy hour bar, and me getting overly excited by the large number of different bridges the city centre had. <p>
Proudly known as a hipster paradise, it seemed you couldn’t go past a bar or coffee shop which didn’t have a bearded, tattoo covered guy busily scribing his life away (before any smart-arses comment here, I don’t have any tattoos). Even the restaurants weren’t immune from them, with the concern of cross contamination being so high in the famous Voodoo Donut shop that several of the cooks had taken to wearing full on beard nets, leading one to wonder how long it was that they attempted to wear normal hair nets before some adventurous net manufacturer stepped into the niche and fulfilled their H&S requirements? We’ll never know.
Having started without any books on this trip due space limitations, I had since forsaken any thoughts about keeping my bag light and had purchased several that I was busily engorging myself upon. Upon spending several hours in the ginormous Powells bookstore, I was tempted to set up camp down one of their innumerable aisles and batten down the hatches, safe in the knowledge that the answer to any question I might encounter in the next couple of centuries would be held in the pages of one of their 4 million books held in stock. 1.6 acres of book shelves is enough for anyone, and I heartily recommend taking several hours to visit the place to attempt to scratch its surface.
As ever whilst travelling, I soon had to say bye to another friend made in the intensity of hostels and adventuring. Having spent a pretty awesome week together exploring the West Coast together, it was sad to say bye to Daniela – but given that I’ve somehow seen a solid number of Americans and Canadians I met whilst travelling in Europe back in their home land, I have no doubt that when my travels get back down to South America I’ll have a friendly face and willing travel buddy ready to restart the adventures in a new country. Until then, chao chica!
PS I saw this pretty cool quote when at the MOHAI which I think sums up learning, sport, and just about anything else important in the world
No matter how difficult it may have been, when the prize is obtained, we find the end is not yet. So, also the student finds that the more she has learned, the more there is to learn
Clara McCarthy, first graduate of Seattle University
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