Hey Yo. So its been a while since I updated the blog- i've been getting a bit lazy!! Probably lots to tell you, not sure where I left it last (as usual!!)
Well we are now in Seattle, been here 5 days.
I really want to like Seattle. I really do. Kinda cool bars, lots of coffee shops and some cool tourist things to do. But there is just an underlying bad atmosphere here or something, and as much as I want to like it, I just cant. There are too many homeless people and weird people everywhere, which seems to put everyone else here on edge, and it makes Seattle just not a great place to be. Its a shame, cos I really wanted to like it here, it was me that wanted to see Seattle, and it was one of the places I have been looking forward too. Anyway, to update you on everything before that- we left Rapid City, and flew to Denver,changed planes and flew to Bozeman, Montana. Its near to Yellowstone, so thats why we were going there. However, to continue the running theme of our trip, as we were coming into Bozeman, the pilot gave an annoucement saying that there is a blizzard, and its too bad to land!! typical!! now the snow is even stopping us from landing somewhere!!!! We had to circle for about an hour, (Which ended up making a lot of people, including me, feel rather quesy!!) we then finally got an annoucement saying we were clear to land!! thank god!! That circling was not fun at all!!
So we landed about an hour later than expected, and had to call a cab to get into town. We ended up sharing with a woman who was also going into town, so that saved us some money. It was snowing heavily, and it was settling on the ground, crazy!! Snow has been the theme of our trip so far!!- we did feel slightly relived when we saw on the news a few days ago that there is now a blizzard in Rapid City- glad we missed that one, for once!! woohoo!!!
So anyway- Bozeman, we had a room booked in a hostel there, and it is seriously the best hostel ever in the world!!!
Its a old Victorian house, converted into a hostel, so is really small and intimate, and feels like a home, not a hostel. The guy who runs it/owns it is an australian, called Wayne, who has done lots of travelling, and is really friendly and helpful. The strangest thing about it, is that since it is so small, and friendly, its run on like a trust basis- the front door never locks, so you can come and go at anytime of night, and as Wayne has other jobs and is involved in various non-profit organisations, there is a big sign at the table in the lounge, saying if the manager isnt there, just pick a bed, sign yourself into the guest book, and leave the money for the bed in an envelope under the managers door! cool eh!!
We were in a private room, and Wayne was in when we arrived, so we had a bit of a chat with him, then he let us choose a room-- there is 2 private rooms. They have no locks on either, but you dont worry, as it feels so safe. There is only room for about 20 or so people max, 2 private rooms, and 3 dorm rooms that hold about 6 each. So its small and intimate. There is a front room (like being in your front room at home) where people sit and chill and chat. We met some cool people there, and picked up some useful info for the rest of our travels- so all good.
One day, we were chatting to Wayne, and he said if we had no plans for dinner, he has some deer in the freezer if we fancied trying it!! We said of course, so we agreed that we would go and buy some veggies and potatos etc, and he would provide the meat, and we would have a nice sit down meal. It was really nice- probably the first proper home cooked meal we had had in 2 months. We bought potatos, and Sweet potatos, and had mased potatos ( I can never spell potatos!!) mashed sweet tatties, carrots, brocoli and corn on the cob, with Deer steaks. It was delicous. Deer was nice. A bit chewy, and a bit game-y. Tasted like a bit of a cross between chicken and beef. Nice to try it though.
Anyhow, enough of the cool hostel- our reason for being in Bozeman was to see yellowstone. So our first day in Bozeman, we went into the tourist information, and asked about how we can see it etc. The bad news was, Yellowstone closed for snow vehicles and tours (snowcoach, snowmobile etc) on the 15th March, and it was closed until April.... The date we were there.............. 16th March!!! One freakin day late!!!dammit!!!
Luckily, there is one road from the north entrance through to the north west entrance, that is open year round, so that is the only bit we could see. We were really gutted, but have made a pact that we will return one day in the summer, to see it all.
So we now had to work out how to get to, and see, yellowstone, as there were no tours going. Since Lisa enjoyed driving so much, we decided to hire a car. We also decided that we were a bit sick of flights, having to get 2 seperate flights to rapid city, annd then 2 more to bozeman. So we decided we would hire a car and drive to Seattle!!!
So we hired a car from a company called Budget- cant be arsed to go into details on that for now- other than to say NEVER, NEVER use budget car hire!! They are con artists who rip you off.
So anyway, we had 3 days to get to Seattle, so we headed off to Yellowstone first, with the car all loaded up.
Yellowstone is amazing. We saw the mammoth hot springs, where all the hot lava is coming out of the earth, that was cool. Then we drove through Yellowstone, and saw lots of amazing scenery, and loads of wildlife- we saw deer,elk, buffalo and some others we didnt recognise!! I really wanted to see bears and wolves, but sadly we didnt, But the animals, especially the buffalo, just wander across the road, so you have to go really slow!! We nearly killed a comple of deer- stupid bambis!!
The helpful people at our hostel had told us of a place called "the boiling river" which is where the hot springs flow into a natural river, and you can go and sit and swim in the boiling water as it mixes- so we had our swimwear ready, and went and did that!! It was so cool!! we were in there at about 7 at night, and it was so hot!!! So nice to sit in this boiling water, on a cool snowy night! lovely!! So glad we knew about that!!!
After that, we got back on the road, which was really scary, as it was getting dark, and there were animals jumping out everywhere!! we drove until Lisa had gotten tired, and then stopped and found a hotel. We stopped in a placecalled Missoula, still in Montana, and it was about 10.30 at night, so we literally found a cheap motel, went to sleep, then got up and got back on the road. We then drove up to Glacier national park, which again, only one road was open, so we didnt see too much. Seemed another cool park tho. Again no bears, unfortuantely. oh well. Then we headed up towards Seattle. ande it as far as Spokane, about 4 hours from Seattle, and found another motel for the night. We even got real lazy, and just got fast food that night- Arbys roast beef burgers- they were good!! lol!!
Then we finally made it to Seattle!! We returned the car (and got conned by budget) and then checked in to our hotel, and slept! we were both tired!! lol!! 3 days on the road was quite tiring, as we were doing long days. it was some good driving tho., and was really good to have our own freedom to go where we want, and do what we want.
So, that brings us back to where we started- Seattle!
Ok, so the good things: the Seattle centre-has the space needle which is really interesting, the Experience Music Project- which is worth going to Seattle for alone- Its a kinda music museum, but is interactive- so one of the first rooms you go into is full of MP3 players,. and computers etc, where you can listen to all different music, and hear the artists and people who worked on it talking about it, and how it all came about and stuff like that. That was really interesting, especially if you like your music. Then its a bit museumy- but you can see stuff like Jimi Hendrix's old guitars that he smashed up, or Dave Grohls old drum kit, Eric Claptons guitar, and things like hand written song lyrics and notebooks from various people and bands, including Kurt Cobain and Nirvana- its a lot of rock/grunge bands, as apparently grunge started in Seattle?!
The last thing you can do, is the "recording studio" which was wicked-- we spent about 2 or 3 hours just in that room!! they have all different instruments that you can learn to play- the computer teaches you, its really cool- such as drums, guitar, bass guitar, and even vocals. Then you can practice mixing it all together and can even pay tp burn a CD if you want,. It was like, totally awesome, dudes!!
There is also a sci-fi museum which was interesting, and a science centre that we never made it too! We got a monorail make into town which was cool too.
Other plus points of Seattle: some cool bohemian shops, charity shops, and vintage shops, loads of coffee shops- Seattle is built on coffee- starbucks started here! We saw the first ever starbucks today, a few cool breweries and bars; we found a great bar called Vons, that does half price appetizers until 6, so we have eaten (and drunk!) there the last 2 nights- plus instead of a happy hour, they have a wheel, that is spun every 30mins, and has all different deals on, cheap beer, or cheap shots- and things like Lemon drop martinis (They were really nice!!- its my new drink!! lol!!) and manhattans, and cosmos etc, so you know Lisa has been loving that!!
oh, and we did an underground tour- which was also cool- you can go under the streets and see all the old streets- its kinda a confusing story, but apparently Seattle had a big fire, and rather than rebuilding, they built the buildings, then built up the streets after- so they ended up with what was the ground floor, becoming the basement- so you can walk round on all the old streets, which are actually now underground!! weird!!
And then there is Pike Place Market- the most amazing market ever- sells everything!! fresh fish of course, as its by the harbour, fresh veg, fresh fruit, flowers, loads of jewlery, loads of bakeries and honeys, jams, preserves etc. Its just a huge constant market! It was cool!
Oh, and those of you from PINS, who have done the management course an saw the flying fish video- Pikes Place market is where that was made- so I saw the fish stall where that was!! kinda cool!- And those of you who dont work for the planning inspectorate- yes, the management there are taught how to manage by being shown a video of people selling fish (and throwing it around) in Seattle. God Bless the Civil Service..............!!
Ok, so the biggest down sides of Seattle: The bad atmosphere/vibe, all the homeless people everywhere, all the strange freeky shouting people everywhere, its a bit dirty and seedy, everyone is generally in a rush. And if you dont like starbucks, its where starbucks originated!!!
We moved hotels today- we are now in a days inn, as its cheaper, and are off to stay at a cheap airport hotel on Sunday, before flying to San Francisco on Monday!!
We have also booked some really cheap flights to Vegas- Vegas is even cheaper than ever at the moment, as they are apaprently desperate to get people there cos of the economy. So we have got flights for $39 (about 27quid!) we havent booked an hotel yet- looking now, but there are currently rooms availavle for 8 pounds a night!!- dont beleive me?- look it up for yourself!!! So we are really looking forward to vegas!!
Rob arrives to join us in San Fran on Thursday- so that will be cool too.

- A few things I have just remebered after looking at my pics- we also wandered round Chinatown/international district whcih was interesting, and we went to the sports stadiums- saw the Seattle Sounders stadium- The newest soccer team in the US, and they have Freddie Ljungberg playing for them- we tried to get tickets for a game for tomo, buts its sold out.