Vancouver to Seattle

Successfully navigating security in Heathrow (which saw an old lady's crutches taken from her while they were scanned, and my toothpaste declared) and another 10 hour flight, I arrived safely in Vancouver. I was lucky enough to have another great seatmate, Karen, who works as an ecologist in South Africa.

I was met in Vancouver by another friend from Denmark, Kevin, who is showing me around the US for the next 10 days. We just had a brief stop in Vancouver - checking into a hotel which unfortunately seemed to be located in the dead centre of slum town. Millions of homeless guys congregating on the streets in their mini-communities. The city seemed great otherwise, but we were on a mission and headed off the next day on our road trip through Seattle and down the Oregon coast.

With perfect timing, an enormous storm hit the region, with winds over 50 mph, knocking over giant trees and cutting the power to many parts of Seattle for 3 days. There was even a little snow on the way down!

Seattle was a great place to visit. Full of young energetic people looking sporty, if not a little hopped up on caffeine (Seattle is home to the original Starbucks). The famous Pike Markets didn't disappoint, I was just in time to see an enormous fish hurled right past my head! And the Experience Music Project was amazing - a crazy building intended to vaguely resemble Hendrix's smashed guitar, full of rock music memorabilia.