Travelling Post 57 - The day I went to Seaside

The US West Coast is split between three states, with California being the most southerly, Oregon in the middle and Washington bordering Canada. After California I made the natural progression and headed to Oregon, specifically Portland.

Portland was a breath of fresh air, in comparison to California and I mean that quite literally. No where in California was ever really cold, but Portland... well by gosh I could see my breath, it was that cold. I haven't been in that cold for a long time. Mornings on Margaret River's vineyards was cold, and once or twice there was a morning frost on the vines but during the day if it weren't raining it was pretty warm. Portland never warmed up, and it was most refreshing. I'd never thought I'd miss the winter so much, but Portland was so refreshing, what was best it was a crisp cold, no wind and only the odd dash of rain. However having been in Seattle for the past couple of days, I've changed my mind, I want the sun back. Winter is nice for a couple of days but when it starts raining and the wind starts blowing I really don't like it.

Portland itself is a pretty great city, it is surrounded by great park lands and woods which I spent much of my time strolling around. I also did a bit of shopping in this sales-tax free state and spent a bit of time looking into the local history. I also liked it because I felt safe. In Californian cities I didn't feel all that safe walking around after the sun went down but Portland, despite having a 1million plus population felt like a large town not a city.

My whole West Coast experience has been city after city so I thought, for a bit of a change, I'd go to a small town by the sea and so off I went to Seaside. Sadly the weather was terrible all rain and wind and no sun. The town was nice enough and the Oregon coast was impressively rugged but the weather was just lame. I also visited their neighbouring town of Astoria, where parts of The Goonies was filmed. I tried to go for a walk in Astoria's woods but Oregon was recently the scene of a particularly bad storm and much flooding, the damage stopped me at every turn by fallen trees and broken pathways. After failed walks and bad weather, but a very relaxed couple of days I left Seaside for my next US destination - Seattle.

Travelling Post 56 - California in Pictures

Los Angeles

Fresh Prince of Bel Air House, outside Universal Studios, on the Walk of Fame

San Diego

Balboa Park and aboard the USS Midway.

San Francisco

On the way to Alcatraz, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge

Travelling Post 55 - California

From New Zealand I flew via Fiji to America's City of Angels, Los Angeles. Why it is named City of Angels I'll never know. The people are friendly enough, more friendly than you'd think from a city of it's size, however a lot of the city has surely been abandoned by Angels or any left aren't doing their work. Full of homeless from all over America come for the sun, the majority of LA is neither clean nor has a safe feel about it. I stayed in Santa Monica, one of the so called nicer areas of the city and on an early morning stroll along the sea front I saw near enough every bench taken over as a bed for the night. This was in direct contrast to the areas where the rich and the famous live, where they don't even have paths so no one can walk around invading their privacy They also had private security who drove around to keep out the paparazzi, which is fair enough but you can't help think they keep all the undesirables as well. That said this situation is world wide, in every city in the world their are rich areas and poor areas but never before have I noticed the difference so sharply.

I took a tour around Hollywood, saw all the rich people's houses and was suitably impressed. I'd wanted a tour that didn't go to the houses of the rich and famous, it is rather tacky isn't it?!? Despite my initial misgivings i was glad I went, I got to see the US class the divide, you know the one they pretend not to have, and these houses were very impressive. Hollywood itself was a bit dingy, full of buildings built in the 60s and 70s, but wandering along the walk of fame, spotting all the celebrity's stars I knew and wondering why there were so many I'd never heard of, was fun.

From LA I went South to San Diego and then North to San Francisco, and in California it seems Saints do better work than Angels.

Both cities were full of homeless but the streets were cleaner and the sites were nicer. Balboa Park in San Diego was particular highlight. Left over from the World's fair of nineteen 0 something, it is a beautiful city park in the city limits, full of wide spaces for sports and games, as well as gardens for ambling along and admiring. In contrast to the more famous Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, Balboa Park is far superior in every way.

The Golden Gate Park was the only disappointment of San Francisco. The icons of the city, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge, on the other hand are suitably worthy of the mantle 'iconic.' Alcatraz was a really interesting place to visit, and rumour has it (though this wasn't on the tour), that the inmates were the only prisoners in the US to get warm showers so they couldn't get used to cold water and swim away to freedom. Life on that island must have been hard, particularly on New Years Eve when they could hear the city celebrating whilst they were stuck doing time on the rock. It certainly isn't a hotel I'd like to visit.

From California I headed on north to Portland.