Seattle was a brilliant little place - somewhere that I could definantly live for a couple of years.  Did the touristy crap, went up the Space needle (absolute shite - only went up there because a couple of American guys that I met said it was cool, however the thing that makes the Seattle skyline unique is the space needle, so to look at the Seattle skyline FROM the Space needle is really a fruitless excercise), toured Safeco field (kinda cool), visited and paid my respects to Jimi Hendrix and Brandon and Bruce Lee (I always thought that Bruce Lee was buried in Hong Kong, however that shows how much I know).  Jimi is a little bit out of Seattle, about 45 minutes by public transport in a place called Renton - Jimi is a whole lot easier to find that Bruce and Brandon s as he has a monument, whereas the Lee`s have standard graves.  Stood by Jimi`s grave and listened to Voodoo Chil (It just happened to be the next song from the album I was listening too), and really noticed a lyric that I`d never really played much attention to before - something like "If I meet you no more on this world, I’ll see you on the next one and don’t be late… Don’t be laaaate", thanks Jimi.

Also saw Mike Patton’s new creation play in a venue that was right next to the Green Tortise (the hostel I was staying in) with an Aussie bloke from Perth.  It was such a random show, the band is called Peeping Tom and all either of us knew about it was that Patton was in it.  So there we are, in the "Showbox" a venue which looks like a nudey parlor from the outside (I swear the only reason I went in there was because the band was playing).  So we’re in the front row, off to the side and the energy for the show is building - it’s a near capacity if not sold out venue, and there’s all these metal guys everywhere - you know, black shirt, black jeans, long hair - plus hundreds of token Faith No More t-shirts.  So we’re expecting a hardcore show - and are getting ready to jump around and possibly have my hippy Australian, green-shoe wearing head kicked in.  First the drummer, bass player and lead guitarist come out, then a keyboardist, then a dj, then two female back-up singers, and we’re thinking that’s a bit random.  Patton bursts on to stage and starts, wait for it… Rapping.  We’re seeing Mike Patton perform a hip-hop shoe.  Think of it as Rage Against The Machine and Kellis - only it’s Patton and he’s wearing a suit, bullet proof vest and a stocking beanie thing.  Bizzare.

And I think that pretty much sums up Seattle.  Things haven’t exactly gone to "plan" at the moment I’m on a train to Denver - and I think I’m pushing about the half way point having had been on this train for the past 25 hours.  It should only be another full day to get to Colorado.  Whilst in Seattle, I was looking up my options to head east in the Internet and talking to - Cassie over the internet- and decided that there wasn’t really much between Seattle and Chicago, however I’d stop over in Minneapolis to break up the trip and hopefully see the Twins play.  Didn’t end up quite working out that way - as I was reading about how the youth hostels in Minneapolis rent out their rooms to bums during the off-peak seasons.  Didn’t really want to go to Minnesota that much anyway.  Was thinking about options and decided that I would go to either Minneapolis or Denver, and basically Cassie said that it should be an obvious choice as Colorado is fair nicer.  So here I am, on the way to Denver - the estimated travel time is 50 hours with a 5 hour lay-over in Sacramento.  Sacramento is Ok, got too see Arnies office (Sacramento is the capital of California).  I’ve also bumped into random people that I had previously met in other equally as random places - Daniel and Chris, two kiwis from Yosemite, Hannah and Johanna, two Swedish girls that were on the train to Seattle (and also on the train from Seattle to Sacramento - and yes, it is most seriously Hannah and Johanna from Sweden - Johanna’s last name is also Johannsen - how cool is that?), and Tim - the Australian guy that came to see Peeping Tom play.  Having a few hours to walk around Sacramento was cool also - there doesn’t seem to be a world of things to do there, however it is the capital of Sacramento so I walked up to Arnie’s office - which is a really impressive looking building.

As yet I’m not regretting this decision, because as I’m typing this, out to my left are some of the most beautiful mountains I have ever seen, the ones in close to the track are lush green with massive pine trees and the ones out in the distance are snow-capped.

After a whirlwind tour of Portland - I only really had one full day here which was a bit disappointing.  it would have been really cool to spend some more time here, however both hostels were fully booked for tonight so I took it as a sign and am now catching another train north to Seattle.  Really looking forward to getting there, although I really have no idea what is there.  I hear that Jimi Hendrix is buried somewhere downtown so I will definantly go and pay my respects.  I also hope to find some work in Seattle, most hostels that I’ve been to/through offer free accommodation and food in return for odd jobs so that would be pretty cool.

One really cool thing about Portland that is barely worth a mention is the way that the streets are organised - there’s the classic 1st, 2nd, 3rd streets, however running the opposite way are street names like Flanders, Gilbert, etc - all running in alphabetical order, so if you’re looking for a certain street you know which direction to go and how many more blocks you have to go.

Met up with Alvin, a guy that I met on the train in Portland and walked around some of the breweries and a friend of his.  Since I’d never had a 40 before (malt liquor) - we went 40 hunting through Portland however had no success.  I did buy a Fosters Special though which was completely nasty.  Had my first encounter with overzealous patriotism too, we were all at a pub making jokes about the Governator, with Alvin doing a real good job of putting on a thick Irish accent when a girl at another table yelled at us "If you don’t like America, then leave".  If I wasn’t in a foreign country then I would have reacted in a completely different way, however tried to make amends by explaining that I saved a long time to come her, and why would I spend it all here if I didn’t like the place.  She just wrote it off and told me "Whatever man, I love America"

Well have arrived into Portland, after a nightmare train trip - which arrived something like 7 and a half hours late.  Saw some beautiful scenary though, and met some really cool people.  The delays were understandable, well most of them were.  Initially a freight train broke down on the line, which meant I got onto the train two hours later than what I should have - then another freight train hit a car, which meant I was on  the train however it didn’t leave the station for another two and a half hours, these two delays meant that we had missed our window and had to give way to most other train traffic.  These are understandable.  We then waited for about an hour in the middle of no-where for a new train crew to come and take over - apparently there’s a (fair) law which states that a train crew cannot work more than 12 hours in a shift - why they couldn’t change crew after say 11 and a half hours is beyond me.

Portland is a nice, quiet place and would really like to stay here longer, however cannot get accomodation in either of the cities hostels. So am catching the train (still prefer it over Greyhound, it’s only $36 for a five hour trip and it’s a lot more pleasant) up to Seattle and have just sorted out accomodation.

 In the past couple of days, I’ve been out to Yosemite park (went hiking, mountain biking and swimming - incredibly beautiful place), and Alcatraz - Alcatraz is a little bit of a tourist trap however is a really brilliant place to visit.  The tour thing is really well set up and it’s interesting to hear all of the stories of attempted escapes and see where Clint Eastwood dug a tunnel.

 I think I have finally got this figured out - here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks:

 Yosemite Park,

 And the fake golden gate bridge,

It’s been a quiet couple of days out here in San Francisco, which has been good.  I did a walking tour of the city yesterday, in the rain, which was kinda cool.  It was a whole bunch of people from the Hostel and we just wondered around the city - the guide that we had was really nice, however didn’t really seem to know where or what things were.

Tomorrow I’m off to Yosemite park for two days, two nights which should be really good.  Get back in San Francisco on Wednesday and I’m booked onto the ferry to go over to Alcatraz.  There’s only one company that can go over to Alcatraz and tickets sell out really quickly, so as yet I’ve been unable to go.  I thought I’d out be clever and hire a kayak and paddle across (it really doesn’t look that far) - I was told however that I couldn’t do this as I’d die (the currents would more than likely drag me out into the Pacific).

Also yesterday I was wondering around town with a Swedish girl name Eilen and a Kiwi bloke named Daniel.  This guy walked up to me and asked me if I had some change - but not to worry, he wasn’t begging for money (which happens a lot here) he had some quarters and just needed a dollar bill.  Being the naive fool that I am, I said sure and gave him a dollar.  He asked me where I was from, if I was English or Australian - I of course replied that I am from Australia.  He started telling me that he’s girlfriend is Australian and she’s from Wodonga (which he referred to as the outback).  I started having a bit of a chat saying that I grew up in Albury (which as you know is just five minutes over the border).  He then said that he needed a second dollar.  Being the kind fool that I am, I gave him a second dollar and stuck out my hand for the quarters.  With a flash the money disappeared and he started hauling arse up the street.  Not wanting to chase someone over two bucks I left feeling like the nerds from the Simpsons

Snake - "Wallet inspector"

Nerds - "Here you are, I hope everything is in order"

Snake (leaving) - "Whoa, I can’t believe that worked"

Homer - "Hey, that’s not the wallet inspector"

Well a lot has happened before I arrived into San Francisco - Santa Monica, Hollywood, Six Flags, Disneyland, Tijuana, San Diego, a Dodgers game - plus heaps more that I’m sure I’m just neglecting to mention.

Arrived into SF at an ugly hour of the morning - something like 5.30 or 6.  Sat next to a bloke on the bus who was coming up from San Diego so he and I wondered around looking for this hostel (which worked out well because I hadn’t booked anything nor knew where anything was).

Felt bad waking up the French guys in the dorm so didn’t really want to dig through my stuff to have a shower and get all sorted out so rather headed out into town.  Caught the trolley ($5usd on the way back, nothing on the way there because I did a pretty good job of avoiding the ticket guy) down to the bay and had a wonder around there.  Was taking heaps of photos of what I though was the golden gate bridge until I realised that I was actually taking photos of the Bay Bridge (the different colour and length should have been a give away, but hey I was tired).  Went for a massive walk and found the real Golden Gate bridge and rented a bike and went for a ride over it.  It was a really nice day and I have heaps of pictures, however just can’t upload them right now.  Will do a photo update with southern and northern California when possible.

Random things have happened over the past couple of weeks which have been brilliant.  Here’s what I’ve learnt: Don’t drive the wrong way down a one way street in Mexico, especially in front of traffic cops.  Order kids meals because I sure as shit won’t be able to finish an adults meal.  Dodger stadium is a lot nicer when you’re there compared to on TV - it takes 45 minutes to get out of your car spot (not the car park, the carspot) though - consider public transport in the future. Wal-Mart, despite crapping all over it’s employees is a cool place to shop - where else can you buy firearms, goon, and McDonalds at the same place?