Showing posts with label Seattle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seattle. Show all posts

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Seattle to Vancouver

Seattle is very much a snuggle area! From being in nice hot weather, finally we were in overcast foggy and chilly conditions - which just makes us instantly want to snuggle up and do nothing..

That's practically all we did on our first afternoon! We checked into the AMAZING Hotel Hotel then sat in the common room on our laptops for ages. When it came to dinner time, Colin had to really talk me into going outside for a walk around the streets. We walked around the streets for about an hour and a half before deciding on having pies at Pie - a little cafe pie shop next to our hostel! Amaze-balls pie though! If you get a chance, pop in and grab an English Meat Pie! It actually tastes like a good Aussie one! The staff were über friendly as well, we even cut up and shared our Voodoo Doughnuts with them (partly avoiding eating so many). Afterwards though, we just snuggled up in our very comfortable bed and watched a movie on my lappy. Very chilled night indeed!

Tuesday we had some accomplishments to make. We had a massive sleep in, then went on an adventure to find the Freemont Troll! We made the silly mistake of assuming that the troll was under the Freemont Bridge, we must of been walking up and down and across that bridge for about an hour before we started heading back to our hotel to find a sign pointing to the bridge next to it! We did head over that way and finally found the amazing troll art piece! I have been in love with this troll since I saw it in 10 Things I Hate About You! Unfortunately, someone had spray painted "tags" all over it. ---




That really makes me sick, someone just has to go down to an awesome art piece and defile it because they felt like it. Wow random stupid stranger! You are soooooooooooooo cool for tagging something thats culturally beautiful! Congratulations for being the worlds biggest spoilt stupid moron! I hope someone goes spray paints a giant dick all over your car!!

--- RANT OVER

I am still happy I saw the troll ^-^

Colin and I then headed over to the Gasworks Park, wow this was beautiful! It was almost post apocalyptic. The juxtaposition of nature and machines was just perfect, it gave me goose bumps. Just picture a giant rusted machine of bright oranges and reds mixed against lush nature of bright greens.

Once we had our bit of fun, we had to sink into reality. Re-packing. Not the funnest of things to do, thats for sure. We needed to get the summery stuff out of our "carry on" and put some warmer stuff in there. A bit of a shuffle, especially with all the new stuff we have bought over our little holiday. It was managed though, with a bit of a break even for a nap.

Around 4pm we headed downtown to the markets. WOW! I love markets back at home but here its just amazing! Its huge and with everything you could possibly think of! We did buy a lot of delicious snacks - I couldn't eat dinner I was snacking so much. If you like food, this is the place for you! Wandering the market was probably my favourite part - seeing all the art, food, designs, everything. We bought our first ever christmas decoration as well! It's made by the Glass Eye Studios Seattle Company and is their 10th annual limited edition holiday ornament.


We watched the sunset over the water eating delicious french macaroons. It was a stunning sight. We then had something a little more substantial to eat and headed to the Can-Can for the Tuesday Tease! I love seeing cabarets, I went to one in France, it was so beautiful and elegant - plus - naked woman!! Who doesn't like seeing that? This was a little more down to earth with a rockabilly twist. It was interesting - I do prefer classic though. It was of course fun! The live band and singer were superb, our hostess was very funny and entertaining and the girls were great performers! We started drinking before the performance (wine for me) but I decided to try one of their famous absinthe cocktails mixed with tequila, vodka and other stuffs.. I have never had absinthe before and the last time I had tequila comes with a hilarious story of me. So I have no memory of the night after finishing the drink. I will let Colin tell you what happened..

Jess out..


Seattle is known for its fog, and with that reputation comes jokes that the zombie apocalypse will begin there. It just so happened that when I carried Jess from Can-Can to the car a heavy fog had set in. Once seated in the car Jess started to become heavily animated, she was convinced that zombies were hiding in the fog to get us. This soon became a paranoia and she was afraid of anything that moved outside, it took me nearly 10 minutes to get her out of the car once we got home.

The fun didn't stop once out of the car... Outside Hotel Hotel's front door, the guys from Pie had just knocked off and Jess wanted to hang with her new friends, who were nice people, but we had an early morning and needed sleep. Up stairs we go, and drunk Jess wants ice cream and attempts to climb out the window to get it. After a short wrestling match, a compromise to eat the caramel we had bought in the market we were in bed.


Jess comes to... With a sore head and no memory of the night before, and on that note we say goodbye to the United States of America!

Monday, 21 October 2013

The Road to Seattle

Los Angeles to Las Vegas, desert. Los Angeles to San Francisco, as boring as the desert. 10 hours from San Francisco to Portland, breathtaking!

Jess signed off staring down the barrel of a 10 hour drive to Portland, and neither of us were excited to spend an entire day driving. For those that haven't seen the Californian country side, once you leave the Cities and the Townships it is boring. Our trip was spent on the Interstate 5, so that is what my opinion is based off.

It wasn't until we passed the town of Redding that things started to change. We entered the mountains of Shasta Lake and what was originally barren plains of farmland became lush forests. Americans refer to this time of year as Fall, for us Aussies it is Autumn. It was hard to find the right words to describe how the forest lit up as the sunlight hit it. The reds, oranges and yellows set the forest ablaze with colour in amongst the green pines. It was just beautiful, and this scenery carried on all the way to the border. This was how we met Oregon, a brightly coloured beautiful State.




Before we reached Portland for the night we stopped in a town called Salem for Applebee's. No this wasn't the same Salem as the Witch Trials, however it was the first time we ate at an Applebee's! Our general opinion of the experience was great! Cheap tasty food, friendly service and a fun atmosphere mainly because the Colts beat the Broncos. At this point it is 9:30pm and we still have another hour to drive before we reach our pit stop in Portland.


Portland unfortunately wasn't a big stop on our trip, it was an overnight break at Hostelling International's Portland Guesthouse before heading to Seattle so in total we spent maybe 14 hours there, including sleep. Definitely our biggest mistake of this trip. Portland is the kind of city you want to live in, its a Big City with the Small town feel. So let me wrap up our experience there...














10:30pm we check into the HI Northwest Portland Guesthouse. It is one of three stunning Heritage listed buildings on the block that have been converted into hostel style accommodation. Sleep!




7:30a.m Alarm goes off... Sleep..
8:17a.m Wake up realizing we have no time. Showers are had, teeth are brushed, car is packed, we check out and buy a coffee from World Cup Tea and Coffee across the road. Relax... Walk in Couch Park across the other side of the road.

10:30a.m We arrive at Voodoo Donuts. Now these guys have revolutionized the idea of a donut! It's funky, it's original and best of all inexpensive! As with anything worth having in the States there is a line. Thankfully it wasn't an hour and a half like Mama's (not complaining) but within 20minutes we had a box full of donuts and we were ready to go for a walk in Forest Park.























11a.m Jess and I both love nature, Jess being a photographer likes taking photos, I like making stupid jokes about everything. We went for a lovely walk through Portland's Forest Park. It is huge, we only saw like a shard of ice after the titanic hit the tip of the iceberg kind of huge. Words do no justive so look at the pretty pictures below.







 12:30p.m. Goodbye Portland! We will be back! And we drove.

3:30p.m Three hours later, 43 punch buggies and an empty tank of Gas we reached Seattle. And yes we counted punch buggies, anybody that knows Jess and I knows that we have intense games but neither of us could believe how many we saw.

Stay tuned for Jess's post on what goes on in Seattle.

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

Our Itinerary!

Colin mentioned that I was writing up our little West Coast of America trip Itinerary. Let's just say, I researched all day and got super excited about next week!! So I am going to write our 12 days in America with what we are doing and who we are doing it through. It might give you an idea who to go through when you plan your own trip - but wait up for next weeks posts to see how it all went!

Day One - Monday 14th October

  • Land around 6:45am
  • 2-3 hours to go through customs
  • Call Lax Luggage Storage to collect our excess luggage (snowboarding gear)
  • Pick up our Mustang Convertible from Hertz at the airport
  • Have lunch and head off to Vegas (4 hour drive)
  • Stop at Route 66
  • Arrive in Vegas around 3-4pm
  • Check into the Luxor Hotel
  • Be tourists and chillax
Day Two - Tuesday 15th October
  • Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopter tours - Pick up at 5:45am 
  • Grand Canyon helicopter flight at 7am
  • See the volcanic Black Mountains, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and Grapevine Mesa before crossing the Grand Wash Cliffs and into the Grand Canyon
  • Descend 4,000 feet to the floor of the Canyon, landing alongside Colorado River for a 30 minute champagne picnic
  • Arrive back at the Luxor around midday
  • Head to Discount Firearms USA (shooting Range)
  • Explore and be tourists
  • Criss Angel Believe Performance 7pm 
My parents offered us a trip to the Grand Canyon as our Christmas Presents! I know.. best parents ever! We went with Papillon because we read a lot of great reviews online, I do love researching plenty of different places before deciding on one - hoping I made the right decision. 

Colin was the one who researched Discount Firearms USA. We have both always wanted to shoot a gun at a range and we went with this mob because they have "Shoot for a Cure", where you hire a pink  pistol and assault rifle and $10 will be donated to research for Breast Cancer. I am really excited to do this!

Finally, The Luxor Hotel we chose because, who doesn't want to stay in a pyramid?! Also, they have Criss Angel!! Even better! So we got a deal where we see the Criss Angel Believe Performance with the hotel booking. 

Day Three - Wednesday 16th October
  • Check out of the Luxor at 6am
  • Drive back to LA (4 hours)
  • Return Mustang to airport and pick up Jeep Grand Cherokee
  • Pick up bags from Lax Luggage Storage Warehouse
  • Check into the Pod Share 
  • Sight seeing
  • Flames VS Ducks Hockey Game 7pm
We went through a few places and only just went with the Pod Share yesterday as our LA pad! Basically, you have a square with a double bed, tv, power points, etc. Theres a common room, kitchen and one bathroom but only a maximum of 12 people can stay there at a time. I am excited for this place! It looks so groovy and modern and just awesome!

Colin wanted to see the Calgary Flames play, it is actually cheaper for us to see them in LA than it is in their home area! We are both pretty excited to see our first hockey game, got our jerseys ready and all!

Day Four - Thursday 17th October 
Yeah, day four is our chillax and go on heaps of rides day! We had to decide between Disneyland and Universal Studios. There's a few reasons why I want to go to Universal Studios, first, theres only two! There are plenty of locations for Disneyland. Second, both Colin and I LOVE movies, I actually wanted to be a director when I was younger! So Universal Studios wasn't a very hard decision.

Some of the sight seeing we want to do in LA are seeing the Hollywood sign, Venice Beach, Hollywood walk of fame, Hollywood Boulevard, Santa Monica Pier and just seeing the castle of Disneyland.

Day Five - Friday 18th October
  • Check out of the groovy Pod Share
  • Continue sight seeing around LA
  • Drive to San Francisco (6 hours)
  • Stop along the way to see the sunset over the horizon
  • Check into HI San Francisco 
  • Dinner and chill time
Day Six - Saturday 19th October
  • Wake up at 6am
  • Sunrise at 7:10am
  • Go to Pier 39 to see the sea lions
  • Walk to Mama's for breakfast
  • Sight see
I will have to thank Josh Quittner for his amazing advice - San Francisco: 10 things to do. I definitely recommend reading his article, he has a whole day planned out for you and we wouldn't of known what to do in San Fran if it wasn't for him. Mama's is a little cafe that is highly recommended, both Colin and I LOVE breakfast but it was when I looked on their website when I 100% decided thats where we will go!

Some other things Quittner recommended was Coit Tower, the Stair of Telegraph Hill, Hot Cookie from Castro St, Golden Gate Park and Alcatraz. I hope the US government opens their parks up soon, I would hate to miss Alcatraz.


Day Seven - Sunday 20th October

The Old St Francis School is an old theatre that has dinner, shows movies and performances. We thought if we got into Portland early enough, we would go relax there.

Day Eight - Monday 21st October
  • Have a sleep in!!
  • Head to Voodoo Doughnuts
  • Drive to Forest Park for a walk
  • If time, head to a brewery
  • Drive to Seattle - 3 hours
  • Check into Hotel Hotel 
We, unfortunately won't be in Portland long. So we picked two things we really love to do with some possible extras if we have time. We did some research on the area and thanks to Caryn Brooks and her article Portland: 10 Things to do we found Voodoo and Forest ParkVoodoo Doughnuts was an easy decision!! If anyone knows us, they know Colin and I are dessert eaters (not just after dinner). When Voodoo first opened, they made doughnuts glazed in NyQuil and dusted with Pepto-Bismol. Of course, they aren't allowed to do that anymore, but their avant-garde doughnuts are still something we are very keen on trying! I am also the tree hugger of our duo, so seeing Forest Park is something I really want to do!

Day Nine - Tuesday 22nd October

This isn't exact but gives a rough idea of all the amazing things we want to do in Seattle!! We found these funky things through Laura Ambrey of the Huffington Post - 6 Quirky Things to do in Seattle. I recommend reading her article, it shows a lot of bizarre things Seattle has to offer! I am super excited to see the Fremont Troll, I remember first seeing it in "10 Things I Hate About You" and thinking to myself how I would love to see it in real life!


Day 10 - Wednesday 23rd October

  • Get up early
  • Drop car at Sea Tac Airport
  • Quick shuttle bus pick up from airport at 9:30am
  • Arrive in Vancouver, Canada at 2:20pm
  • Bus drops us off at Holiday Inn
  • Check into Samesun Backpacker
  • Dinner and chill time

Sad but our last day of our 10 day America trip will be spent travelling to our new adventure starting in Canada!


Will definitely let you know how everything goes and try to keep you as updated as possible! We can't believe we leave in FIVE days for America!! So incredibly excited!!!!

If you have any advice on our itinerary please do comment and let us know, this is our first time planning a road trip overseas and we want to get it right!

Jess :)

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