Keep forgetting to update

In Las Vegas at the moment. Just here for a night as it was on the way from Denver to LA.

It's not really my thing here. Just so over the top in it's silliness ridiculous consumerism. From what I can tell people drink, gamble and buy stuff. Maybe also take photos of the lights and themselves with random costumed people walking along "The Strip".

US$40 for a night in a four star hotel though is pretty nice. Suspect though I'll be unimpressed when I find out how much parking overnight cost me.

Also they have a flying fox across the mall thing. Conveniently my hotel is near the end point and so that was an easy way to get back. Got this brilliant picture from it too. Photo is a photo of the photo they took of me. Apparently electronic copies are a bit beyond them.

Best bit of this city.

I'm sure at some point I'll be organised enough to write about Wyoming, Salt Lake City, Colorado, my friends in Denver and southern Utah.

Belated photo post.

As requested some images.  From Portland through to Idaho Falls. I don't have any of Salt Lake City yet. The drive was nice here but all the stops (and what I've seen of the city) have been kinda ugly.

The Rose Test Gardens in Portland were amazing. I couldn't get any landscape shots that did the place justice. I definitely picked the right time of year to visit this place.

I did have fun trying to be all arty taking close-ups of the more interesting flowers though. I loved the two tone roses and the dark purple and black ones were also pretty cool.

The 'authentic' Japanese gardens nearby were amazing as well. This is about the point where my camera ran out of batteries and I started using the ipad though.

You can kind of see one of the huge Coi(sp?) they in this picture on the bottom right hand side. Also in the background the huge fir tree forest the entire garden was set in (which is not very authentic, but was beautiful).

The view from the top of a hill rest-stop in Rural Oregon.

The rest-stops here are amazing. They all have buildings with vending machines, drink fountains, airconditioning and automatically flushing toilets. Since Idaho I think all have had free wifi and most have loads of tourist information (booklets and not just signage) plus payphones. Some have even had free coffee! The wifi has been fantastic. My tomtom is mostly pretty good, but it doesn't always show me the quickest or most interesting way. I also sometimes forget to book accommodation until I get halfway to a destination.

Me at Idaho Falls. Under a bridge. Unfortunately I didn't think to get a photo of myself until I was past the falls. I'll save those for another post though. It was strange being basically in the middle of a desert in the center of a continent and all of a sudden WATER EVERYWHERE though.

I'm currently in Salt Lake City, Utah. I traveled east from Oregon through Idaho and tomorrow I set out further east through Wyoming to Denver in Colorado to meet a friend of a friend who is letting me stay with her a few nights. She assures me she has cats that like strangers patting them! I might be missing Diesel the Cat a little.

Since the last post

Currently in Idaho, some place called Mountain Home? Would be partying but accidentally ate enough to nearly die. Do not try and out eat Americans.  Seriously I spent two hours with all my chest and stomach hurting so bad. Such a bad idea. I am never trying food again unless I know exactly what is in it and how many calories.

Anyway what I have been doing:

I spent a few days in Redmond WA with Jovana. Basically a satellite city of Seattle funded by microsoft for it's employees for the nearby employment centre thing. Still obviously under construction, dunno if I'd like it there in say, 5 years time but otherwise was totally just a bloody fairytale story of urban planning. A five minute walk from her apartment in the town centre and we were picking blackberries! Also the only place I have been and not seen homeless people!

Picked up the rental vehicle from SeaTac and after a few days of practising driving (scaring the crap out of both Jovana and myself several times) I headed south down through Washington to Portland, Oregon.

Portland is not the prettiest city, but it's South (maybe?) side has the prettiest gardens and the rest of it is ugly but very interesting. Stayed a couple of days longer than I originally planned and saw loads of cool stuff. The second hotel I stayed at was too trendy for me. They were cheap but fun and aimed at young people who like fun things.

Also Portland has a lot of second hand book stores. Yeah :/ That's another package home when I hand in the rental.

Headed East on Thursday because I wasn't sure I could handle a night of drinking with backpackers in full party mode. The drive was amazing. I am finally starting to understand the whole rolling hills concept.

Spent last night in some town called Pendleton, it's primary industry seemed to be two large prison factories. Like apparently the two prisons are how all the laundry gets done and jeans get made. Which er, is a little scary! Taking into account America's high rates of incarating the mentally ill and african-americans... plus a habit of avoiding industries moving offshore through allowing privatised prisons to provide cheap labour... I mean it's great that you want to buy locally made guys, but if it's locally made by a prison, trapping people from low socio-economic areas into production lines and low-skill labour with no training... Is that actually better for _anyone_?

I'm not painting a pretty picture here. But that's kind of what most of America is. The most picturesque things surrounded and built up by some pretty horrific layers underneath.  Two speed economy is a phrase that gets bandied around a lot in The West etc... with Australia's mining boom, but I think we hide ours in the suburbs a lot better and maybe aren't as desentised as America seems to be. Also we got nothing on the level of how it happens here. We should probably keep it that way.

Still the people in the town were scarily friendly, just like people all throughout the rest of Oregon. Seriously, Canada has nothing on those people. It was starting to freak me out. I cannot emphasis enough how well everyone, except for the backpackers, treated me.

Mountain Home is nice enough. The speed limits went up by 10 miles and the roads got a lot worse when I got to Idaho (so you know, at least that isn't a problem just in Western Australia) but the rest stops got nicer and the views got prettier. This is the smallest town I've stayed in so far. Only 14k! I still don't really feel like I've hit anything I'd call rural exactly, but I am getting weirder and weirder looks for both the crazy hair and the fact I'm a girl by myself.

I am loving the driving though. Now that I've got the hang of it a bit more. I know when Chris travelled he did a lot more socialising and group stuff. But I guess that's the difference. He is a quiet person that quite likes socialising... whereas I'm quite loud and obnoxious but really prefer doing my own thing. Other travelers I've just found quite tedious. Plus seem to scare away the interesting people that otherwise come up and chat to me for whatever reason. Even if it's in Oregon and they're worried that I look lost and confused.

Heading some more East-ish tomorrow. I want to drive up to and around where-ever is pretty in Yellowstone before heading down to Salt Lake City and then to Denver to see another friend. That is if I get any sleep tonight. Dude next door to me is snoring his arse off with the tv turned RIGHT up.

I might go back to Oregon if I have time after New York in mid-October. I feel like I barely scratched the surface and I am a bit more in love with it than the other places I have been.

Part Two of Vancouver

I should probably write some more about my stay in Vancouver. Before I forget it all.  I had an awesome time, it was lovely hanging out with Alex, Liz and Tearles for a few days. Slightly intimidating though, I forget how much older and smarter so many of my friends are. :P

We all went up to the hills, to a park that had a suspension bridge and on the other side a tree top walk that was like an Ewok village. Also a birds of prey rehabilitation/carers thing. Owls are huge! But I still haven't seen any Bald Eagles. I should get on that. 

We went up to the top of a dam and that was pretty cool. Apparently it's absolutely nuts in winter. We did get to the top of the hill (I've forgotten the name of it) but it was so stupidly foggy we couldn't see anything which was a shame. About halfway up though was a lookout with some fantastic views.

On the Monday, Tearles caught the train home, Alex went to work and Liz and I hung out all day (she had flexi time?). We didn't do much, I had loads of laundry that needed to be done, but we did wander through some nearby parks and got lunch at the local shopping centre and chatted. I maybe found a shop full of all sorts of trashy arm socks, gloves and studded belts and all that teenage stuff I absolutely lurve, but try and pretend I'm too much of a grown-up to enjoy.

We hung out at the park a while afterwards. I swear it was like a sickening disney movie. We spent ages spotting rabbits and squirrels, ducks and canadian geese (which Liz kept trying to convince me aren't as MEAN as farmyard geese but I think it's a trap). The number of rabbits though was amazing. BABY BUNNIES. So cute. Apparently they are mostly abandoned pets which is sad, but at the same time, that the land can support them and naturally has birds that'll help keep the population of them down is just crazy.

I'm told this is what happens when you're in a country that actually has rain.

The final day I spent mostly wandering by myself around central Vancouver, with my gear in Alex's car, so he could drop me off at the train station after work. Usual exploration for me. I found a hairdresser who did a fantastic job of my hair and actually put 'stopper' in through my hair to stop the dye running and fading so quickly. Like Wildilocks really should have been. Also tidied up and fixed a lot of the problems that I'd had with the hair. All for like 2/3 of the price (including the huge-arse tip I left her) that I would have it done for in Perth. With none of the problems. So good. After that I wandered around some more, was snubbed and people were rude at a comic store I found, so I moved on and found a few second hand bookstores that were just amazing. And also a huge fire risk.

 I don't know. I don't think I'm very good at this travelling. Instead of seeing on million things or drinking until passing out in a gutter in Edinborough (Hi Anil!) I seem to just enjoy wandering, listening to the conversations and going through the second hand bookstores.

It's funny what the bookstores say about a place really.

No photos today because I forgot to transfer them again.

Me vs. Seattle Round 2

I'll write about the rest of Vancouver later when I have all of the photos on hand.

So last night I got back into Seattle, but this time I'm in the International District. I'm heading to Redmond (a satellite city and 'home of Microsoft' where a friend lives) later today, but she doesn't get home till like 6pm.

My train got in at 10.10pm last night. I decided it'd be easiest to walk from the train station through to the hostel I was staying the night at. Supposedly it was only 300m.

This was probably not my greatest decision, all weighed down with all my (obviously) touristy luggage, with my tired, slightly drunk confused look on. Had quite a few looks from people that made me go hmmmmm. Didn't help I got my directions confused and didn't want to pull the ipad out.

Then when I was less than a block a way two large gang-looking dudes stopped me and wanted to 'ask me something'. Apparently originally they thought I might be homeless? Pathetically, this made me feel sad that they'd think that, I'd only just gotten my hair cut and redyed that afternoon (and the lady did a really good job).

Anyway, stopped by two dudes looking like they're out for trouble, asking me questions, I figured, well this is probably the end of the holiday, robbed, injury or death here we come. Once they worked out I was lost though, the dudes were like, oh okay, gave me directions, advice and a hug. And I still have all my stuff. I didn't really want the hug, but hey, I was in no position to do anything about it, and the dude was saying welcome my hood, so I guess it was friendly not skeezey intent?

It was a weird encounter. I mean they moved right along after I said thanks to finding their mates, presumably to go cause trouble for someone that wasn't me. I can't figure out if I misjudged them horribly or if this is the magical Australian accent effect people keep telling me about. Or if it was something else entirely.

It makes me sad though, to realise that this encounter has basically proven, I'm safer wandering the streets looking like a tourist in the middle of the night in the dodgey parts of an American city than hanging out mates at home (except for craft day peeps). I mean rationally I already knew that, certainly I've had enough of those experiences, that have forever branded me that crazy angry don't touch lady, but still.

Maybe that was the best bit about GeekGirlCon, I could cheerful nerd out to my hearts content, but not worry about people being sleazy. Or being hated by the resident feminist group when I yell loudly about being grouped and people protecting that person.

Hm. That wasn't meant to get so cynical.

In any case. I cannot be bothered with today. My luggage is all with my hostel until my bus and I have zero patience with anything. My current plan is to surf from free wifi place to free wifi place and drink and eat loads of terrible Starbucks food. And glare at everyone, generally be a grump and maybe catch up on some writing. Because I feel like it.

I'd post pictures of the new hairdo but I left my camera in my luggage. It looks absolutely amazing though dudes.

Vancouver

Is very pretty.

It is awesome seeing Liz and Alex after two weeks of only talking to complete strangers or incredibly new convention friends. I may be ranting and blabbering a bit much at them.

Liz and Alex. In Canada showing me cool places.

Wandering around the Vancouver Convention Centre looking at all the cosplay and anime kids (impressive costumes, even if some girls seemed a little young for what they were wearing*) and accidentally running into Tearles while going across a pedestrian crossing. I believe this is called Perthing.

I am in awe of the Vancouver river foreshore. Makes Perth's "plans" even more embarrassing. My pictures seem to have disappeared though, which is irritating.

We ended up hanging out for the afternoon together (he is staying with Alex and Liz too, I just didn't think I'd see him till this evening) checking out a little interactive 1812 battle museum and also the Vancouver Art Museum.

Liz and Alex have shown me around Stanley park, we've gone to the most amazing book and comic store (a lot of second hand stock and just wow) and then a more boring usual chain store Chapters, whih is basically like a borders and underwhelming in comparison to the overstocked and overflowing and fun of the other store. We had a drive alongside the river so I could geek out at the logging industry here. To get the logs from whereever the forests are to the woodchip mill, they literally tie them up and use tug boats to pull and steer them down the river! It looks amazing! It is also the reason why there are so many old logs just sitting on all the beaches (pulled up in lines to make nice seats not just left half rotting though).

You can see old logs on the edge of the river. The seem to be delibrately left there, maybe to dry?
We weren't sure

We also had lunch in Davis Road Village (I think it's called). Basically a long strip of road that has developed into a queer neighbourhood. Pride flags are everywhere, the bins are painted pink and it seemed a pretty active community. Like community, not just the usual random gathering of people that 'local' city places often are. It was very cool.

The prescription drug ads everywhere in N. America take getting used to.

Tomorrow we are apparently going to an all vegetarian Dim Sum restaurant. I am stupidly exciting about this.


* Yeah. I'm officially old. I wanted to go up and demand to know if their mother knew they were out of the house in that outfit.

Transport

So, I haven't rented a car yet, I'm not planning to until I get back from Vancouver (apparently it's easier and quicker to border cross on a train).

I haven't needed one, I've just been wandering through downtown Seattle, venturing up to the University District and around Pioneer Square. The variety and amount of public transport is pretty amazing.

I particularly like the cable buses? Like normal buses but on strings! The drivers are very friendly and been so cool especially when I've been confused. Today though I saw one have some sort of accident, there was a huge bang, sparks and then "arms" that attach it to the overhead wires kind of deflated down. I don't think any wires actually came down, but the whole network of them overhead was jingling. Fortunately I wasn't planning on catching that one.

There's also trams and the monorail and the light rail "SeaTac" that got me from the airport to my first hotel. Plus like one million buses. The monorail is cool, but only takes you a walkable distance.

Americans have weird ideas about what is and isn't walkable. They're all about 'but it's too hot today'. Don't get me wrong it's hitting just that side of unpleasant here atm, but seriously it's like mid to high 20s.

Also there are taxi's. I'm catching the train tomorrow, and went to talk to my hotel reception about the best way to get to the train station (I couldn't find where it was).  The conversation went like this:

Me:  Oh okay that's quite close, do you reckon bus it or cab it
Him: Depends what time does your train leave?
Me: 7.40am
Him: Definitely taxi. Easier.
Me: What do I do to book a taxi here?
Him: Just come down when you're ready to leave and when you check out we'll ring you one.
Me: ... you don't need to book it tonight?
Him: No, there's a little waiting time, give it 15minutes before you actually have to go.
Me: Seriously????


It is also likely to be incredibly cheap. This is witchcraft there is no other explanation.

Basically the score from what I can tell.
America: Taxi's, public transport, nerds & cheap books. 4
Australia: Cheese, wine, cider, sensible money, functional healthcare, infrastructure and postal services. 7

Wonder how Canada will measure up.