|
  | |  |
Sleepy In Seattle
Entry 9 of 42 | show all | print this entry |
|
Well we made it across the 2026 miles from Chicago to Seattle! We started our trip on Friday afternoon from the railway station in Chicago where we got the train to Minneapolis. The train took 8 hours so it was late Friday night when we arrived in Minneapolis. We got chatting to a couple on the train who very kindly offered us a lift to our hotel...which happened to be about 2 minutes around the corner from the station, but we got to check out whether our Garmin was working properly. Unfortunately the Garmin would not last the whole way to Seattle...more about that later.
The hotel in Minneapolis was interesting... when we arrived at 11pm there were lots of people wandering around dressed in swimming togs which was unusual given that there was still snow on the ground outside. We later figured out that there was a pool in the hotel. We ventured down to the bar for a drink and found it was full of extras from the Dukes of Hazzard, all mullets and no teeth! One guy...who went by the name of "Rockin' Ron" had full control of the jukebox. As soon as a song came on that he liked he would throw both hands in the air and roar "Yesssss!" If a song came on that he didnt approve of he would shout across at the poor unfortunate who put it on "Step Away From The Jukebox" or "This song sucked 20 years ago and it still sucks!" We decided not to aggravate him any further and didnt go near the jukebox.
On Saturday, the weather was terrible, snow and rain and cold so we did what most Minneapolis residents seem to do on Saturday..go to the Mall of America, which is apparantly the biggest mall in North America. Hours of fun, except we couldnt really buy much as the rucksacks are nearly bursting at the seams already. Karen did manage to sneak into Abercrombie & Fitch though and Rob, afterlooking in nearly every shop in the place, found the perfect backpack. After all of that we ended up going to the amusement park which is also inside the mall and massive, bigger than Funderland back in Dublin. After all that excitement we went for food at a place called Famous Daves (we'd never heard of it!). Rob sampled the Buffalo Wings (of course!) and met a waiter there called Wally who recommended that we go to a bar near our hotel called The Dubliner. We've been trying to avoid Irish pubs while we're away but this place sounded cool so we gave it a try the next evening before we got the train to Seattle. We spent the next day wandering around Minneapolis which was pretty deserted, so as our train wasnt till 11pm so we headed in to the Dubliner a couple of hours beforehand, rucksacks and all into the middle of table quiz. We ended up getting chatting to a couple of people in there, including Derek and Angie from Minneapolis (hi guys!!). We got the low down on Minneapolis and why it was so deserted ath the weeekend, had a couple of beers, Derek and Rob decided to sample a whiskey or two and Derek got to practise his English accent on us!
After dragging ourselves away from the Dubliner we made it to the train station where we met Bob and Maryanne who were on their honeymoon and taking the train to Seattle as well. We also met Mary who was in charge of the dining car and who became our Irish Mammy for journey! We had no bother sleeping that night on the train and were up bright and early for breakfast and to see the very flat very brown scenery of North Dakota. When we got to Montana, it was afternoon and we eventually got sight of the Rocky Mountains around 6pm. Our Irish Mammy made us root beer floats, which we had never heard of before but will definitely be trying again (thanks Mary!) We also had a wine and cheese tasting, and Mary made sure we got the leftover bottle of red wine which ourselves and Bob and Maryanne managed to polish off. We passed through Glacier National Park that evening which was still covered in snow, but as it started getting dark we couldnt see much of it. We hit the bunks for another night on the train and when we woke up we were in Washington passing through the Cascade mountains. The scenery was fab, really green and still lots of snow. We arrived in Seattle around 10:30 am, tired, a bit smelly and in need of a shower (we fitted right in with the rockers here!)
When we got to the hotel, the girl there took pity on us, obviously overcome by the fumes emanating from us, and let us check into our room early so we could scrub up and head out to check out the exciting sights of Seattle.. oh hang on..first of all we had two big bags of washing to do! Not very rock and roll! Once the domestic duties were out of the way we strolled down to Pike Place Market which is a big fish and vegetable market, with lots of other bits and pieces thrown in (doggy pampering products, the first Starbucks shop). Then we just went for a bite to eat in our next door bar and had an early night to recover after the train.
Yesterday then, we walked all over the city, went down by the harbour and Pioneer Square which is the oldest part of Seattle. We then did the obligatory and went to a rock club called the Comet which had a few local bands playing. We met up with Will who is from South Africa, and studying Chinese in the university here... took us a while to grasp that. Will and Rob then took on the locals in pool, and managed to kick their asses... well ... the locals potted the black and left in disgust so victory was ours! After that we headed to the bar next door which had a ping pong table and got chatting to a few Seattlites and New Zealanders. After a long night we made it home to the hotel and had a very lazy day today, sleeping, taking it easy and getting ready for our next adventure... the ferry to Alaska!
We are heading up to Bellingham in North Washington tomorrow to get the ferry and will be arriving in Juneau, Alaska on Monday evening. You can see photos from the train journey and Minneapolis on the posts for Minneapolis, North Dakota and Montana. Until next time, Slan!! More thumbnails ...
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries from Washington, United States or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
1 vote 
