Generation X

Hitting the road today fellow jacks and non jacks






Backpacking, Grunge, Coffee Houses all elements of that Generation X vibe that appears to be emerging on this part of our journey.  A bit more digging on the archetype Douglas Coupeland  shows how this British Columbian is all over this part of the world, digital architect as well as author.  That said, I am a little more Alex Garland myself, but all part of that early '90's feel.

Today, the backpacker bit was done after I woke at stupid o clock, and was on the phone to Amtrak at 6am We were due to be departing Vancouver at 11.30 am but I realised today that the second stop was our hotel in Richmond. So much money and time saved by changing our departure point.  This gave us time to have a bit of a mooch, go to the gym (briefly) and grab a bit to eat in our new favourite coffee shop.  And visit dollarama.... you can take the boy out of Swansea ....

Gym

breaky

B&M in Canada

Squeaky bum time waiting for the bus, but arrive it did and we were on the way down south, a very relaxing form of transport with a genial driver keeping us well informed.  A bit of a slow crossing of the US border but nothing unexpected.

all aboard

new transport

crossing the border

U.S.A

immigrants

The air becoming more and more hazy the further south we drove, a bit of smoke on the water by the time we hit the outskirts of Seattle.

The inner city homeless issue raised it's head again, it really is quite sad to see the extent of the issue out here.  Clusters of people on many corners as you get to the city centre just something we aren't used to and maybe our welfare system something we need to be more proud of in the UK. Sense Seattle might have quite a lot of this going on.

Our accommodation tonight is our first go at an AirBnB and has taken us into the quirky West Mercer neighbourhood, which we will probably explore a bit more tomorrow. Fabulous appartment, and great host has left us with all the info we need to make the most of our stay.  Tonight, a rooftop view of the Space Needle and a sniff of the grunge scene enough to evoke 1990s moods and moments.  Met an interesting Arizonite up there who gave a defence of Trump (unsolicited) and ate at a fab Mexican restaurant where Chrissi won the family jalapeno challenge.

selfie

mixed mexican

Sleep still needed, Good night Seattle.

sights you live for

Carys -


Today was quite a normal, quiet day. We started it off by waking early - once again - and heading off for another Tim Hortons for breakfast. I had the maple 'oatmeal' (porridge) which was way to sugary, and a cream cheese bagel. Again, a lovely meal. We also had a couple of cheeky mini donuts called Timbits. I didn't enjoy those as much, oddly.

After a lot of suitcase sorting and sitting around we went downstairs to wait for our bus. It soon came and wee took our seats right at the back. Then we hit the road, our four hour journey begun. It was a smooth ride of snacks, TV shows and looking out the window, with a brief stop at the border between the US and Canada.

We arrived at thew bus station and caught a taxi through the city to our air b&b. It's such a lovely room, very modern with beautiful roof views. After settling in a little, mum and I popped down to the pharmacy beneath us for a few 'essentials'.

Later on, we headed out for a tasty mexican. We ordered lots of little plates to share, all of which were delicious. Dad, Bryn and I were almost crying after trying the jalepenos though. They were tooooooo hot.

Now I'm very tired and about to go to bed. Sorry the blog is a bit shorter today - there was less to write about.