the good, the bad and the ugly...

hey all

it's been a few days since my last post... have been travelling a long way down through oregon and into california. am now in santa cruz, but leaving here tomorrow for san francisco... last stop before going back to new york and then home - eeek!

well, the train trip from portland to klamath falls was wonderful - took about 7 hours - but it was beautiful - so much better than the bus - lots of room and able to move about and go for a wee when you need to rather than on the bus when you have to wait for a smoke stop...

views from the train:




met a lovely guy called chad on the train - he's studying art in san francisco and he reads a lot, so we had a ton of stuff to talk about - it was really great and we had laughed a lot. we started talking about hunter s thompson and i told him that i'd designed a book cover on him - and the spookiest thing was that he knew the book (with the US cover though) and then he showed me his sketch of the photo of him that's on the cover - so i dragged out my laptop and showed him my cover with the same photo! how weird is that! hoping to meet up with him in san francisco.

i'm currently reading shantaram which is his favourite book too - was nice to talk about art and books - we swapped books for a bit too as he was reading a book of short stories which i read a couple of - and he flipped through shantaram.

i got off the train in the dark at klamath falls and was a bit worried as chad had been telling me that there is still quite a KKK following in klamath falls and there was a full moon so i was a bit spooked - but it was totally fine and i ended up getting a cab to my hotel with some other people who were going there.

up and about the next morning - glorious sunshine and fresh air - was gorgeous! off to the shuttle bus station and an hour and a half on a shuttle bus to medford to meet the greyhound bus to sacramento.

downtown klamath falls:


no greyhound station here, this is the little shuttle station:


mountains:






arrived in sacramento in the evening after a not-so-comfortable journey on the greyhound - although the scenery was beautiful. lots of trees and mountains with snow along the way. stayed at the youth hostel in sacramento which is a gold-rush house built in 1895 - a palace really - my room was very pretty although someone had seen fit to paint it the most lurid shade of orange - bleurgh!

my pretty room:


the sacramento youth hostel:




up the next day and onto another train for 3 hours - i love the trains here. pootled along (they don't go very fast) through industrial california through lots of waterways which were gorgeous in the sunshine. off the train at san jose and onto another bus to santa cruz.

lime flavoured crisps - very salty and limey - probably delicious with some tequila cocktails:


do you know the way to san jose?


checked into my nice hotel with pool - did some much needed laundry - then went off to explore santa cruz on a gorgeous hot sunny afternoon. went to the boardwalk with the funfair that is featured on the lost boys - but it wasn't too spooky - too many people about! felt a bit lonely and didn't go on any rides - no fun on my own...

walked to the end of the pier where there were lots of seafood restaurants but ended up getting fish and chips and sitting at the end of the pier watching the sun go down, with surfers and kayakers in the distance and the call of the seals (who live under the pier) and the sea-gulls - was glorious but got chilly when the sun went down so came back to the hotel and chatted to jo for a bit on facebook!

santa cruz from the pier:


pretty posing seal:


the view from my fish and chips:


moon rising in santa cruz:


twilight fairground:


today has been a bit of a mixed bag really - got up late and wandered downtown (away from the beach) - thought it was all a bit hippyish, but there are some great shops here and ended up buying some really lovely shoes (like i need another pair!) and also visited the farmers market where i got lunch and lots of samples of the lovely fruit and veg on display - fabulous peaches/nectarines here!

then wandered back through town and was just about to buy another dress (like i need another!) and went into my wallet to give her my credit card to realise that i'd lost it - panic stations! i'd only left it in the bloody atm machine. of course it wasn't there when i went back, so i rushed back to my hotel to cancel it... am very very cross with myself... what an absolute eejut!

had wanted to go and do the cliff walk to take some photos but the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the mist had come down, so abandoned my walk as it seemed pointless... went and got some cheap food and went to see a movie in a cutie little cinema... not a great idea as the movie i decided to see was the new todd solondz 'life during wartime', jeez, should have chosen something else - was a bit too weird for me...

the nick - a gorgeous little cinema:


so am back at the hotel and gonna try to get up early tomorrow (a mammoth task for me) and do the cliff walk as i'm leaving on the bus/train tomorrow at 11am... right, time to set the alarm...

nighty night
vx

i am outta here!

hey all

well, sitting in a nice 'dinerant' (cross between diner and restaurant!) here in portland. hanging around waiting for my train to leave at 2.25pm - it's much cooler here today and yesterday. i'm glad to be leaving - don't know what it is about this place, but i haven't really liked it.

things that haven't helped: stinking cold, crappy hotel, strange vibe in the town - it seems quite smug - and the homeless/drug problem is small but obvious. it's very wealthy here and the gap between the haves and have nots is very noticeable. pretty town, very friendly people, but i'm just not getting it... time to move on!

anyway, should probably give you the lowdown on the last couple of days - but i have slowed down a lot due to feeling pretty crappy and full of cold!

the first day i got here i spent wandering around the town, initially looking for a chemist so that i could buy some tylenol (paracetamol!) - jeez, there are no bloody chemists downtown! eventually found one only to discover a rite-aid moments later (rite-aid is cheap!)

stopped at starbucks in town square and watched the world go by until my drugs kicked in then continued wandering - but found nothing of particular interest...

in the evening i found my saviour... the living room theatre... a lovely cinema (reminded me a bit of the curzon soho) with nice restaurant attached, i had dinner there and watched a lovely movie (cairo time) which was most relaxing - this was the high-point of my day! oh, the coolest thing about this cinema was not only did it show interesting films alongside the mainstream, but that you could actually have your dinner in the cinema - i didn't - i had mine in the restaurant, but i took my hot chocolate in to the movie!

the living room theatre:


yesterday i got up a bit earlier, but have been sleeping in to rest and help my cold get better! jumped on the light rail into town and went to the saturday markets which were great, lots of arty stuff and nice food. pootled around there for a few hours - bought some jewellery - chatted to a few stall-holders - had some food. then went off and found a nice bit of town which included a shop called 'fat fancy' which is a second hand clothes shop for the larger lady - beth ditto shops there - they had a pic of her behind the counter. the woman in there was so sweet - we ended up chatting and she gave me a list of places i should go - none of which i went to, but i would have if i'd had more time! they have a cool way of sizing in there - no numbered sizes, but they judge by eye and put similar sizes together under their own system of names: plush, diva, - oh, i can't remember what they were - but i thought it was great!

saturday markets:


cool knitting shop:


then jibbed my fare on the light rail up to washington park which is on the edge of the city and houses the international rose test garden. well i got there and it was a bit late, and no one around and i realised that the rose garden was miles away... then i turned round and there was a bus which just happened to be going through the park to the rose garden! yippee! the rose garden was quite quite beautiful, on a hill overlooking the city, with mount hood in the background.

gorgeous roses, all the hybrids are tested here and the good ones are kept and the others are destroyed (shame!) but there were beds and beds of gorgeous colours and smells and just beautiful beautiful roses. i had an hour there before the last bus took me back down to the light rail station and then back to the city...

at the rose garden:


these beauties may end up being destroyed:






was a nice day really!

next stop klamath falls, where i'm going to break my journey for the night before continuing on to sacramento...

over and out for now
vx

yesterday... all my troubles seemed so far away

hey all

well, here i am stuck in the arse-end of portland - what was i thinking when i booked this hotel??? it was cheap i suppose but i'm miles away from town and the hotel is crap - but clean.

to make matters worse, i seem to have caught a stinking cold...

ok, back to yesterday... got up early and walked down the seattle waterfront to the ferry terminal, grabbed a coffee and got on the 9.35 to bainbridge island. the day was grey and cloudy - seattle is like this in the mornings, and the afteroons are gorgeous and sunny.

the ferry was fairly empty and really windy out on the deck! i love being outside on boats, so i stayed outside all the way there and back - i was freezing cold though!

me on the ferry:




the ferry takes 35 minutes to get to bainbridge and when i got there i got off, turned around and got back on! well, time was short!

back to the city and dashed off to buy matt a coffee - now i should probably explain that matt is the guy who rescued 3 strangers from seattle airport the other night after our continental flight was delayed for 3 hours in new york and we arrived in seattle too late for any kind of public transport. so matt scooped us all up and paid for a cab to his car and then dropped us off in seattle, he actually took me to my hotel! it was a great introduction to seattle - very very nice people!

so, matt took me to his favourite coffee place 'stella' just across the road from the seattle art museum - we had nice coffee - my second of the day - and then matt used his trusty iphone to check when the next bus was coming to drop me back to my hotel! very cool!

checked out, but my call to the bank never came up on the bill - yippeee! and then i wheeled my case about 10 blocks to the greyhound bus station... this is where things took a bit of a turn for the worse...

the station was a nightmare, loads of people - no announcements, no screens with info, the most disgusting toilets i've ever seen in the usa. so i queued up and got my bag checked - then got in the queue for the bus and waited. started to feel sick while in the queue (i thought it was a bit too much coffee and no food) - and the bus was an hour late - feeling pretty grim by the time we got on.

bus was full too - i ended up sitting next to a nice guy who was off to see his girlfriend. he was nice and not too chatty. i really thought i was gonna puke and so decided to have a little sleep - the first stop, i went rushing out to use the bathroom only to find that the bus station was closed...

back on the bus - but not feeling as bad. gorgeous gorgeous scenery, mountains and very green, lots of trees - and sunny as you like!

i thought i was gonna be on the bus until around 11pm cos we'd left so late, so was surprised when the bus pulled in to sunny portland at about 6.30pm... very pretty here, but when i realised where my hotel was, i was less keen. didn't help that the hotel is near the convention centre where lady gaga was playing last night - eeek! loads of girls dressed up, etc. this didn't help me feel better about staying there...

i can't even open the curtains as there are no nets, and i'm on the ground floor... boo - am not gonna hang around - am off into town in a bit, but i'm feeling pretty bad and full of cold - and i have no paracetamol... why did i book here for 3 nights?!

ok, hope to be a bit more full of happy tales later!
vx

busy busy busy!

hey all

it's been a busy one today... again...

got up and out at a reasonable hour for a change - then off down to pike place market for a little bit of shopping - didn't buy anything though! popped into seattle sneaker city and looked at lots and lots of converse... want the electric blue ones - but they're still 50 bucks! then went into left bank books - great little crazy bookshops for all the minorities you could ever dream up: feminists, anarchists, feminist anarchists, etc.

sneaker city:


left bank books:


the original starbucks:


got myself an organic smoothie (trying not to drink too much coffee!) then went to beecher cheese shop for lunch - yummy famous mac and cheese - sat at the counter and watched them making the very cheese i was eating!

my pot of mac and cheese with the cheese being made in the background:


then off to sam (seattle art museum) - there were two special exhibitions on that i wanted to see - one just called 'kurt' and the other an andy warhol photographic exhibit. i stupidly joined the gallery tour for the kurt exhibition but it was painful - some old lady talking about kurt cobain like he was a god or something... was very weird and made me feel slightly uncomfortable so i wandered off on my own. great photos - including 2 taking at reading festival 1992 - nirvana's last gig in the uk - and i was there... made me feel sad and frustrated and depressed...

sam:


some mediocre art on show - the best thing was the photos really. i was looking at a piece when an elderly couple came up and one of them said to the other, 'so, did he overdose then?' and without thinking i turned and said 'no, he shot himself in the head', and the guy said, 'yeah, i suppose that makes sense.' and i wondered what the hell they were doing there.

kurt:


the warhol exhibit was much better and cheered me up a bit. lots of his passport photo strips - which he used to construct the larger screenprints of celebrities that commissioned him - i think that's how he made most of his money as he did them for a lot of very rich and famous people! the coolest thing about it was that in the last room they had a photo booth where you took your own strip of photos and then you cut one out and put it up on the wall! what a great idea! my pic is up there now!









had a mooch around the rest of the museum, the collection there is quite good - quite diverse with a lot of american stuff which i think is good for an american art museum! saw work by jeff koons, mark rothko, diane arbus, georgia o'keefe, warhol, jasper johns, jackson pollock - in a really lovely galleries.

nipped back to my hotel to wait for the bus to pick me up as i decided to go on a 3 hour tour of seattle - sometimes it's gotta be done, especially as i don't have a car! the tour was great - very informative. we went all around the city, and wow, this is a very beautiful city! amazing waterfronts, beautiful houses, pretty tree-lined neighbourhoods, steep hills with fab views, cool quirkiness, friendly people and all clean and litter-free! this just may be the perfect city... i could easily live here...

to top it all off we went up onto queen anne's hill to see the famous seattle skyline and we were very lucky to be able to see mount rainier - not often visible due to clouds and haziness. it was amazing and didn't look real - not sure if it's visible in my pics...

me and seattle skyline:


after the tour finished i decided to jump onto the monorail and go up the space needle - hmmm, full of annoying rude tourists, unfortunately. i ended up sitting down and having a coffee and just trying to pretend the other people weren't there... back on the monorail downtown and walked back to my lovely hotel. unfortunately gotta pack - boo! don't really wanna go, wish i had more time here - but looking forward to portland!

space needle from the bottom:


me up there:


i'm gonna try to take the ferry over to bainbridge island and back tomorrow morning - but gotta be back and at the bus station by 12.15... must go and pack and sleep!

would love some messages if anyone gets the chance - missing having people around for company...

vx

well, i was gonna go to bed...

but if i don't write this now i don't know when i will!

gorgeous day in seattle - think i mentioned that in my mini-post earlier!

woke up late and went for a wander down to pike street market - one of the 'things to do in seattle' and it was lovely - busy with people, gorgeous sunny, fresh day - people are so friendly here - immediately my 'londoness' made me suspicious - i gotta stop doing that!

pootled around the market marvelling at the gorgeous fruit, veg and flowers on show and looking at all the jewellery and other wares... lots of hippyish stuff! bought some nice woodblock printed cards by a local printmaker - people are very creative here! nearly bought a gorgeous necklace too, but quickly took it off when she told me it was 140 bucks!

went for coffee - that's when i blogged - then came back to the hotel to sort out some money stuff... stupid bank! still not sorted which is annoying - hopefully tomorrow! god knows how much that call from my hotel room's gonna cost!

decided not to stress about that and went off for more exploring - wandered off into the downtown area, same old shops i'm afraid, so not much to interest me there as i've done quite a bit of shopping in nyc. came across a square with a lot of people hanging around and a band were setting up but it was just some guy going on and on about stuff so i wandered off again.

when i came upon the square again it was a joy - a proper band playing swing and jazz and people dancing... not shuffling about but proper swing dancing. now some of them were terrible and some of them were great, but the nice thing was that it didn't matter! the band were keeping the songs short and everyone was swapping partners each time - good with bad, good with good, bad with bad, old with young, fat with thin, cool with uncool - it didn't matter - what mattered was that everyone was having a great time. i ended up sitting down and watching them all and smiling until 9pm when they wrapped it up - what a delight! i was asked to dance once by a man and once by a woman but i was just really enjoying watching - and i had flip-flops on - so i got out of that one!

by this time i was pretty hungry - i hadn't actually eaten all day - the money thing was a bit of a problem - but i went and got some money out off one of my english cards (sod it!) and took myself off to a restaurant that had been recommended to me by the wonderful guy who gave me a lift from the airport last night. the restaurant is called 'long' and it's vietnamese food which i love... now, as many of you know i absolutely hate doing some things on my own - gigs is one, eating in restaurants in the evening is another. but i'd had such a lovely day - i didn't care! i went in and they couldn't have been nicer - they gave me a nice table outside and i ordered a pineapple mojito (please god can london have these by the time i get home?!) and veggie spring rolls and then coconut and pork with pepper with plain rice. wow! it was way too much but so delicious!

the maitre'd guy came over and we had a chat - he'd lived in london for a year - worked at the hilton edgware road - so we chatted about london and new york and seattle while the waiter packed up the rest of my dinner for me before i stumbled out of there and had a nice post-dinner cigarette... only - holy sh*t! was it the cig or the pineapple mojito - i was swerving all over the sidewalk... he he he! i had to sit down for a second to compose myself before wandering off down the wrong avenue for about 5 blocks before i realised, walked up to the next avenue and back the way i'd come to find my hotel just where i'd left it!

today was a good day...

nighty night!
vx

view from my hotel room


pike place market










dancing:





mmmmmmojito:


spring rolls don't look like this in london: