Random musings of a child progeny
He who slings mud generally loses ground.
- Adlai stevenson
Well that’s it. Nobody landed a knockout blow to dramatically alter the polls in the final pre-election debate last night. Race over I reckon. The USA has a new leader. Welcome to the White House President David Palmer. Sorry, I obviously meant Barack Obama. I can’t be the only one to have noticed the similarities with the character played by Dennis Haysbert in 24 – there was even an assassination plot!
I checked out of the hotel and arrived at the airport in plenty of time to reserve an exit window seat. Passed through security and went looking for a beer. Stocks were seriously diminished for some reason so I sat down to finish my book and wrote a letter to my brother. Leaving the land of rollerblades and mobile phone hands free sets behind me.
This flight actually has a reliable trip distance thanks to the seatback screen information instead of having to rely on the web. I also got plied with lots of booze and sat next to a like-minded girl called Carly who was on her way back to Adelaide after her round-the-world trip.
I liked New Zealand immediately when I noticed the red line painted around the baggage reclaim carousel. It was quiet so things may be different at other times but in this case the protocol was impeccably observed. To pass some time while I waited for the Airbus Express service to start I spoke to the Air New Zealand desk about flights to Queenstown. It turns out that I could amend my existing itinery for £40. This tool my mileage up to 28,896 (or 99.6%) of the maximum 29,000 allowed on the Escapade ticket I hold.
I made my way into the city as the rain dried up and the sun rose. Checked into a hotel, had a quick shower to freshen up, skipped breakfast to offset the jetlag and went exploring. I gave myself an adrenalin shot by doing the SkyJump – twice. Jumping off the highest tower in the Southern hemisphere on a fan descender controlled free fall for 192 metres sure wakes you up quickly.
I went for a walk today to assure my legs that they are not redundant after yesterday’s Segway tour. I wandered through Soma and Mission, stopped for an ice cream at Mitchell’s and then climbed Twin Peaks before descending to stroll through Golden Gate Park. The walk up is pretty tiring but you can drive (or be driven) most of the way up.
I got all the way down to the beach and the Dutch Windwill but was exposed to the wind that almost blew me from the summit of Twin Peaks earlier. It felt like my legs were being sandblasted so I hightailed it back along Fulton to the Civic Center. All told I clocked up over 17 miles today.
I really like San Francisco but I don’t think that I could ever live here. Building a city on a major fault line just seems to be fundamentally flawed to me.
I planned on going up Coit Tower yesterday but I simply ran out of time. Accordingly, it was item number one on today’s agenda before going to look at San Francisco’s crookedest street: Lombard street. It reminded me of the start of Nacimiento road but in daylight and maybe only a couple of hundred yards long. I ended up in the Ghiradelli area and the Franklin Bowles galleries looking at Dali’s Alice in Wonderland suite, some Rembrandt etchings and a large collection of amazing work from LeRoy Neiman.
As I was in San Francisco I couldn’t just hire a bike for a quick whizz round. I simply had to try out a Segway tour. They are the weirdest thing at first but you soon get used to them (that is unless you are the woman who ran herself over with hers during the orientation and decided she didn’t want to go anymore). The tour lasted for a couple of hours, was good fun and quite informative but once I dismounted it was like I’d forgotten how to walk normally. I went for a sit down in the Boudin Bakery to recover and have something to eat before heading back to the hotel for the night.
“As a general rule, you will work eight hours a day, five days a week, with Saturdays, Sundays and holidays devoted to recreation.”
- Alcatraz regulation #20
To celebrate being free of the car I headed down to Fisherman’s Wharf and ended up in a bar called Jack’s at The Cannery. 68 beers on draft awaited me and it was Happy Hour. It turns out that most of the people in there were British. There were people from the Lake District, Manchester and Leeds. With the exchange rates as they are I think that this is going to be a common occurrence this Summer as tourists shun Europe.
I soon got talking to a family from Michigan. The son was interested in traveling after he’d finished his studies but was apprehensive at the same time. I told him that he should just go for it, it would be one of the best things that he could ever do and that I felt exactly the same way until days before I left.
After they left the bar my next conversation was with a big, bald, bearded biker from Alabama who was a really nice guy. We went on to drink a lot and I don’t have a clue what time I left. I’m fairly sure that I was way under the strictly enforced 40 drink limit though but I felt like I’d smashed clean through it this morning.
Once I was feeling vaguely human again I set off down Market Street to the wonderful shops in the Ferry building and then on to book myself on a boat for a tour of Alcatraz. It turns out that I’d picked a special day for a visit. Darwin Coon was incarcerated here and today was back for a signing of his book. It smacked a little of profiteering to me – akin to the recent glut of autobiographical books from reformed football hooligans of the 1980s. It really is quite an eerie place but outside the cells – thanks to the lack of predators – it has returned to be home to the birds that gave the island it’s modern-day name (derived from La Isla de los Alcatraces). I also learned the somewhat startling fact that 1% of the US population is in prison and of those, 40% are functionally illiterate.
Once back on the mainland I continued walking along the shoreline until I stumbled across the Sea Lions on K dock of Pier 39. There are hundreds of them, they’re noisy and they stink but they’ve been drawing a big crowd since 1990. I would say that they’re the best thing about Pier 39 which is mainly devoted to selling trinkets to tourists.
The day was pushing on so I queued for a ride over San Francisco’s hilly streets on one of the famous cable cars. I wasn’t expecting to have to wait in line for quite so long though. A good 30 minutes is apparently the norm for the Powell and Hyde route but it’s a damn sight easier than walking!
I left Oregon behind me yesterday afternoon and with it the Speed Zones which were unfortunately not carte blanche to drop the hammer but actually implemented to make you go slower. The weather definitely improved – the closer I got to California, the sunnier it became.
Having left the stern Washington laws behind me and after randomly thinking about hitchhikers earlier I happened upon a couple of Hoopa Indians – mother and daughter – just outside of Brookings when I stopped at a viewpoint. Maybe it was reading Kerouac’s On The Road or maybe I remembered the frustrations of hitching around Indiana a decade ago. They were also heading to Eureka so I thought that I’d give them a ride. It turned out that they’d been waiting for a large part of two days and wanted to stop in a town just outside Eureka first. I was happy to accommodate seeing as though I wasn’t in any rush.
After getting directions to the motel I dropped my passengers off and had a little tour of Eureka before checking in at the Bayview Motel. I then had a little nap, read a little, found the a problem with the wireless connection, diagnosed and attempted to fix but had to give up and head to the Lost Coast Brewery for some food, beer and free wifi access.
I found last nights hotel on Lake Union by using The Force and decided to treat myself to a king size bed and then, once checked in, headed down to the Pike Place Markets2 for some food and libations. I sampled a couple of local ales in the Virginia Inn before having wild Alaskan salmon with saffron risotto and blueberry mojitos in Amber (the choice of which was nothing at all to do with my crush on Amber MacArthur). I rounded off the night with a Springbank in the Whisky Bar before turning in for the night.
After breakfast and a spell in the hot tub, I toyed with the idea of staying for another night but then thought better off it and decided to try and get a haircut before leaving. I was planning to have my now golden locks shorn completely but could only find a salon where the lovely Kelly decided to do her own thing. She was hot so I didn’t argue and ended up with a shampoo and nice trim for less than £10 (without tip) which I found surprising.
Before I left however, I did make use of the Wifi to plan my route to Mount Saint Helens and onward to Astoria being devoid of any form of Washington State map as I was. I have since fallen out with Google Maps and their driving directions. Mount Saint Helens is not very well signposted from the freeway so after exiting at junction 21 and asking at the local tourist information hut I was slightly miffed to be told that I needed to head back northwards to junction 49 (especially after noting heavy traffic in that direction – damn you karma) but at the same time I was very grateful to the delightful Virginia for the pointers to Astoria and the Oregon State map that she furnished me with.
Thankfully the traffic had eased and I made a mockery of Virginia’s estimated two and a half hour time to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, partly thanks to the roads being strangely quiet off the Interstate. I expected a route to National Monument park to be busier but I soon found out what everybody else obviously already knew: anything above 3000 feet was shrouded in cloud and mist – all I could think of was John Carpenter’sThe Fog and I locked my door accordingly. Below this elevation the scenery was jaw droppingly spectacular and I enjoyed having the road to myself. I may not have had this higher up but I just couldn’t tell as the visibility was down to 20 feet in places.
Once at the summit my view was obviously severely hindered by the weather conditions. Mount Saint Helens is only five miles away from the observatory but I was merely staring into a void. The visitor’s center was mildly interesting but I still left feeling highly disappointed. I’ve been traveling for just over a month now and to wait this long for something to not go to plan was unexpected.
I headed cautiously back down the road and onto the Interstate pausing for gas before pointing crossing tthe Lewis and Clark bridge into Oregon and pointing myself west to head to Astoria. The evening sun lit the forest behind me beautifully and I had to keep reminding myself to look away from my mirrors.
1 If you’re wondering why Astoria sounds familiar to you it’s probably because that this is where The Goonies was filmed. All together now: “Hey you guys!”
2 This is the location of the first ever Starbucks.
Well that’s the Canadian leg of my tour over and done with and I’ve got some fantastic memories to take with me. Before leaving Vancouver I managed to resist the lure of a new Apple Store opening and took a trip up Grouse Mountain with a couple of friends for the views, wolves, grizzly bears and the bird and lumberjack shows. We were also graced with a fly pass by a wild bald headed eagle. The next day I went up Cypress mountain to help a friend move equipment into storage now the ski season is over and sneak a peak at the Olympic mogul and aerials slopes.
This afternoon I stopped for some Bulgarian fillos for lunch before picking up a rental car at Vancouver airport. Susan at Budget was a great help and managed to swings so that I didn’t have to switch cars in Seattle and she also upgraded me to a larger car for free. Now, I haven’t driven for several years and I did feel a little nervous before I set off. Call it irresponsible or stupid if you will – at the same time I find it somewhat worrisome that I can legally get behind the wheel without having to sit a refresher course or something.
Once I was underway all my nerves disappeared and I made it down to Seattle with no major incidents barring a little piece of advice from the border official after waiting for an hour. Driving an automatic is undoubtably a help and I’m also in no rush so I can take my time and travel when it’s quieter.
Here are a few more things that I’ve picked up:
Despite the minor hassle of being sent back to security when I tried to board the plane at Newark the flight was fairly uneventful. I couldn’t quite make out Niagara Falls on approach to Toronto but hopefully I’ll get to see them up close next week sometime.
I had a wander around downtown yesterday and today to try and get my bearings. Toronto seems like it will be a nice place once it’s finished. Everywhere I look there seems to be a building site. Maybe this is the start of a push to halt the current decline of tourism and tourist satisfaction with Toronto.
Just as it says on the t-shirt.
I spent lunchtime in Central Park where “passive activities like reading, relaxing, sunbathing and daydreaming are encouraged” and then this afternoon walking around the American Museum of Natural History.
My New York City Pass has finally paid off over the past couple of days with free audio commentary at the Empire State Building and a free pass to the Hayden Planetarium today (with narration by Robert Redford no less). I think I really needed about five hours to walk round the exhibits to give everything the attention it deserved. The last hour was certainly rushed.
Walking around New York with a bag slung over my shoulder sent me back 11 years to my Southwestern Summer but I think the least said about that the better. A large part of my wanderings have been spent in mushin which has really helped to to relax and unwind. As I thought would happen, all my fears and doubts faded away once I was actually on the plane over here.
I didn’t really think that I’d enjoy myself quite this much. Big cities tend to put me on edge somewhat but I haven’t experienced that once while I’ve been here. Admittedly, I’ve not seen much outside Manhattan and Brooklyn but I’ve really liked everything that I have seen.
Standout moments will have to be the “Top of the Rock” observation deck at the Rockerfeller Center, Central Park, the Natural History Museum and randomly talking to a bewildered Jewish grandma over a sandwich on her first visit to a Subway one busy lunchtime.
