West Coast Extravaganza!

Hello readers. These are tough times for America and it seemed that once again, I would need to spend a little time checking up on it. So I embarked on yet another tour, this time drifting my way down the West Coast. Specifically, I will be in Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; and finally Santa Barbara, CA. Why the West, you ask? Because America is on the edge, and where better to feel that edge than at the actual edge of America. Or something like that. If you Easties don't like it, you can take a hike.

My trip actually started with another stop in Cleveland. Here's the highlights of Cleveland.





It was perfectly nice, but we've already seen Cleveland. So let's move on.

Flying into Seattle I immediately noticed a more relaxed feeling in the air. Even at the airport there wasn't much to grab my attention, except for this rather intimidating Boeing jet staring me down on the way out of the terminal.



Even the usual mess at the outskirts of the airport parking lot seemed somehow beautiful and majestic.



For the time being, I'm staying at my friend's apartment in the Wallingford neighborhood in the northern section of the city.





It's one of those neighborhoods that seems at the same time upscale and earthy, where you have houses like the one below.



But where you'll still find an occasional chicken coop in the backyard.



In some neighborhoods you may find an old VW bug, or a Minibus. But to find both, parked right next to one another? Well that's the special thing about this neighborhood.



It's a neighborhood where the playgrounds look like this:



And where the restaurants serve francophiles and krakens alike.



And yes, they do have Starbucks in Seattle. This is the first one I saw, but I'm sure it won't be the last.



Even the tacky gift shops have an anti-establishment character. Or maybe the owners, like me, are just big fans of The Prisoner.



And of course, there are the familiar chain businesses that make you feel at home wherever you're from.



Wallingford is great and I'm excited about visiting even more of my city(-ies). Look forward to more up-to-the-minute (well, more or less up-to-the-minute) postings from my tour of the Pacific!