Seattle, Washington

Seattle is known for a few things. This is what I knew about it prior to making an unexpected trip there on May 25th:

1. It's where Starbucks started (I have a coffee addiction and had to start rationing my trips to Starbies at home when the staff at in the Piccadilly Gardens branch started saying "Oh hi again! Same as usual?")

2. It's where Frasier was set

3. It's where grunge music is from

4. It rains a lot

My knowledge, as you can tell, was a bit limited. I listened to some Pearl Jam and Nirvana on the way in a bid to swot up, but to no avail. As it happened, on my Virgin Atlantic flight the woman next to me started doing the usual American thing of striking up a conversation out of nowhere and being utterly lovely for no apparent reason. Non-British readers - this doesn't happen at home. You either scowl at someone or don't look at them at all. If someone in a shop or public place is overly nice to you, it's usually because they are a) delusional or b) one of those WACKY AND CRAZY people who accost you on your lunch break and ask you to donate AS LITTLE AS £49.95 PER MONTH to charity JUST BY HANDING OVER YOUR BANK DETAILS TO A STRANGER. I always remember when my sister Fi was approached by one who was like "HIIIIII! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!?!?!" and she just said "yeah wouldn't you like to know". Sidenote - I already give to charity so I'm not being snide, they genuinely are very annoying.

I keep digressing. Turns out the woman on the plane was making a documentary on swing dancing (!) and going to Seattle for research. I have no idea what Seattle has to do with swing dancing, so it's possible she was delusional too (I.e. like the mean people in the UK, not me. I don't think I'm delusional. Hang on, that's what crazy people actually say, isn't it? Shit.) The woman sat on the other side was wearing a trilby (because a comedy hat is totally necessary on a plane) and reading a book called Performance Points, while writing motivational, encouraging words such as LIVELY, ENERGETIC, SELF-AWARE and BEAUTIFUL in a tiny notebook. It's possible she'd been in LA too long.

Back to the original subject: Seattle. We took a little walk around and ate in a great yet casual restaurant - the name of which escapes me - and I had possibly the best steak ever, which was described by the waitress as "very thin" but was actually close to a baby cow in size. The city is pretty nice, closer to reality than LA, New York or Miami, in that it has actual people who seem to be doing normal things like going to work and struggling with their shopping bags. There is weather too - it rained the whole day, night and next day, which reminded me of home - and a kind of light fog that gives a bit of energy and atmosphere to the place.

I've put some pictures below of Pike Place Market (a farmers' market dating back over a century) and surrounding area, to give you an idea of how it contrasts in weather, colour and texture to some of the other US cities I've so far visited.













I obviously had to take one of the first ever Starbucks:



And here is an awesome building I later found out was the library!



I didn't even stay in Seattle for 24 hours so I didn't get to see anything else but maybe I will get to do so one day! It seemed like a great place.

Toodles
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The mile-o-meter

Before I crack on with actually writing something meaningful (as if), I thought it would be neat to calculate how far I've travelled so far in miles. Tomorrow (June 14th) I will have been gone five weeks, so let's see how I've done, if anyone's remotely bothered (feel free to skip this entry):

Manchester to London: 200 (all figures are approximate - well, according to Google Maps)
London to New York: 3,400
New York to Baltimore: 185
Baltimore to Miami: 1,200
Miami to Charlotte: 750
Charlotte to Los Angeles: 2,450
Los Angeles to Seattle: 1,140
Seattle to Summerland, Canada: 330
Summerland to Whistler: 300
Whistler to Vancouver: 80
Vancouver to Seattle: 155
Seattle to Los Angeles: 1,140
Los Angeles to San Diego: 120
San Diego to Las Vegas: 320
Las Vegas to Los Angeles: 270
Los Angeles to Santa Barbara: 100
Santa Barbara to San Francisco: 325

Total: 12,465 miles

HOW VERY EXCITING.

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Looks like LA city council is on the same page as me

I came across this just off Hollywood Boulevard...



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Hollywood/LA

My next stop after Miami was LA, where I'd been before and was happy to revisit. My decidedly rubbish (and late) US Airways (advice: never fly with them) flight went via Charlotte, North Carolina, giving me approximately ten minutes to make my connection. I may be small, but I can sure run fast. I liken the dash to the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, minus the stopping-to-introduce-myself-to-a-hot-girl part. Oh, I saw a real life cowboy too. Well I assume he was a cowboy because of his clothes, he wasn't like, riding a bull in the terminal or anything.

I'm digressing. I reached LA, took it easy for a couple of days, met an old friend to hang out, ate at a great place in West Hollywood called Toast, then watch the basketball on TV. I know nothing apart from basketball except for the fact I now inexplicably support Miami Heat, even though they're apparently all dickheads and have a player called Chris Bosh who may or may not look like a lizard.

I'm digressing again. By this point I'd decided to see a friend in Seattle, so I spent my third and final whole day in LA on a little walking trip with some people from my hostel. We went up into the hills to see the Hollywood sign, which you can't really get that close to, but it's interesting all the same. It was originally erected as "Hollywoodland", as an advertisement for a housing development, but then stayed up despite looking completely wrecked. So, various celebs gave money to help it get back to full health. For instance, Alice Cooper donated for an "O" and Hugh Hefner helped to auction off the rest. Today, if you try to go too near it, a very scary man in a Jeep on the top of the hill tells you to get down. I only know this because I saw two girls try to hike up to it. I was fully expecting them to get snipered, but a stern telling off seemed to do the job.





From the hill you can see the delightful smog hanging over LA like a literal and figurative black cloud...



Toodles
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Little Havana, Miami

In Miami there is a neighbourhood called Little Havana, my knowledge of which once again only came from the computer game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Yep, I'm that sad. Anyway, we took a trip there one afternoon (this now feels like years ago, given that I haven't blogged for three weeks) and overall it was really interesting, if not just because it's a complete contrast to Miami Beach's beautiful and vibrant atmosphere.

It's obviously home to a large Cuban immigrant population and is famous for a few things; among them are cigar-making and an allegedly strong coffee. Anyone who knows me will be unsurprised to hear I was more than happy to try both of these things. But it looks like my coffee habit has given me some sort of immunity because the delicious drink didn't affect me at all! Seeing inside a cigar factory was pretty cool, but there wasn't much to it. I once saw a documentary about cigar making and it went inside a huge factory where not only were the workers allowed to smoke as many as they wanted while they rolled them, but in place of a TV or radio the head of the factory would spend all day reading to them from the front of the room. Apparently they ploughed through numerous books and magazines each week, but at the time of the documentary they were wasting their time on The Da Vinci Code. Snooze.







There are loads of interesting murals on buildings, too:



And a lovely old-time, retro feel to some parts:



There is also Maximo Gomez Park, where several people enjoy a hot afternoon playing dominoes and smoking cigars.



I recommend visiting Little Havana but don't expect to spend more than an hour there. Afterwards, we went to a cute neighbourhood called Coral Gables (pics below) and then - guess where - back to the beach.



Bye bye beach...





Toodles
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The Everglades

Another day, we took a trip to the Everglades, which I didn't know masses about other than from a uni project my sister did on it about a zillion years ago. Tour companies offer these trips literally on every street corner so we found one for about $40 and set off on a bumpy ride. Forty minutes later, we arrived and hopped on an airboat. I cannot describe how hot it was. Whether it was sitting on a metal seat or just being away from any kind of breeze, I felt like I was about to melt. Anyway, this airboat just drifts down the water and you can spot various alligators and birds… it was fine and quite interesting, but to be honest most alligators look the same so once you've seen one it's a bit of an anti-climax. There was one part where a mummy alligator was sat with its babies, these tiny six-inch gators that look harmless but reminded me of the bit in Jurassic Park where the raptor things hatch out of the eggs and look friendly but really aren't. (Sidenote - I know dinosaurs aren't real and alligators aren't dinosaurs, but whatever.)

Anyway the mum alligator was just sat there, with her eyes and nose poking out of the murky water – and she looks pretty fierce. Maybe she's a single mum or a feminist, I'm not sure. Maybe her husband is out working all day. I don't know much about alligator politics or the social system. But I didn't want to cross her. The guide said the alligators are pretty used to the sound of the airboats now, so they are fine sitting near to them. But don't piss them off.

After that the airboat driver takes a little tour and it's all fine and mildly interesting, but inside I'm thinking yeah I just want to go and lie on the beach. Shallow? A little.

So we get off the boat and go to this tiny alligator theatre-type thing (now I'm imagining alligators doing stand-up comedy or some kind of one-gator show, but that's not what this was) and an "expert" brings round a medium-size alligator for everyone to see… blah blah blah oh it looks scary but really it's kind of sad as it has its mouth taped shut and there's something about that I just don't like. How unlucky have you got to be if you're an alligator picked for one of these shows. Your mates are chilling in the water and you have to entertain the proles. Gutted. The guide tells us a bit about the animals and then gets in the "ring" with a huge one (certain friends at this point will be thinking "that's what she said" but that's just IMMATURE AND YOU KNOW IT) and does this thing where he puts his hand in its mouth, then teases it to bite and oh the suspense and is it going to bite his hand off who knows nah I'm sure he's done this all before and oh look it chomps down and his hand is still intact and everyone claps then he asks for tips. Show's over. Also because I am only Smurf-size I can't really see all the action but I can tell from the whooping and gasping what is going on.

After that we get an ice lolly because we're basically dying from the heat. A few peacocks walk past and they are gorgeous, so I took a few photos. This little girl walks past and starts teasing the peacocks in the hope they'll fan their feathers, but instead they just fly away.

Sit back and enjoy the pictures below...



Toodles
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More Miami...

I ended up staying in Miami for just over a week and in that time I don't think I looked at a clock or calendar more than five times. It's truly a crazy place, and one I definitely recommend if you really want to forget about real life. (Ex-colleagues please don't judge me for that Oxford comma, I've been gone from Adfero for almost three weeks so cut me some slack.)

I met some great people and we generally just hung out at the beach under a blazing sun and 30F temperatures all day every day - bar one near-tropical thunderstorm - then went to a few places for dinner and drinks in the evening. The great thing about it is that you can easily walk around and get everything you need, which is, from what's experienced, quite unusual for most US cities bar NYC. One thing though - Miami sure is pricey. One place charged us $14 for one cocktail and in another we paid $35 for two tiny drinks. I'm not cheap but it would have to be straight tequila to be good value for money at that price. Not that I drink tequila. Well sometimes I do, if certain ex-workmates show me the order in which a tequila slammer needs to be done.

We found ways around it though, namely buying mini bottles of bizarrely flavoured liquor (in the UK there is two or three flavours of Bacardi, here there are about 20) and pouring them into sodas. Don't judge us!

The pic below is of my cocktail, called a Miami Vice. Because the bar is in Miami. it's called Miami Vice. Right? Everyone with me?



We also went to Gloria Estefan's restaurant for some Cuban food. It was average. And for days I couldn't get the song out of my head which she sang with that cartoon cat in the video, but then I realised that was Paula Abdul (the singer, not the cat).



One day, a friend and I took a boat trip around the small islands between the city of Miami and Miami Beach. It was hilarious - it's the equivalent of taking a bus tour of the stars' homes and you feel like such a tourist. In the middle of the ocean is Star Island, where numerous celebrities have homes. But, I doubt they actually live there, given the frequency of annoying boats such as ours getting up real close to their driveways (by driveway I mean harbour where a bloody massive speedboat is docked). As we passed each house, the boat driver would play a snippet of a relevant song or theme tune, so as you pass Ricky Martin's house you got Livin' La Vida Loca blared in your ears. It's not a song I enjoy at the best of times but I definitely let out a little giggle when his annoying voice hit the airwaves.

Regardless, there are some seriously awesome houses on the island. The most expensive - apparently worth $46 million - is owned by the kingpin of Teva Pharmaceutical. So if you think about the US healthcare system and look at his house, it makes sense he'd be one of the richest guys for miles. If every time I went to the doctor I knew I was paying for this guy to live here, I'd be pretty pissed off.

Anyway - here are some pics of the celebs' homes...

Ricky Martin's - he was clearly a fan of The Crystal Maze as he's tried to replicate the dome on his roof



Shakira, if anyone gives a s*** about her awful music. i've always thought she sounds like a goat when she sings. But then again so does Stevie Nicks and I love her.



Sylvester Stallone (yawn)



And here are a few more of Downtown Miami, a nice neighbourhood called Coral Gables and a few more of Star Island. I'm not in any of them because it's now 100% official - I can't keep my eyes open in any picture ever.