Washington State

Onwards with my US road trip, more things I would like to see and do in Washington State.

Here is a very beautiful picture of Mt. Baker in Washington State.

Washington State is another state that I am very excited about because I get to see my good friend, Emily. Who has been living in Seattle (although is or has moved recently but is still in Washington State). That's Emily in the bottom left of this photo. She's great!

Did you know that Washington DC isn't in Washington State? It is actually on the other side of the country. I only learned that a few months ago, I always thought Washington DC was the capital of Washington State but not so.

So a few things I would like to see and do in Washington State:


Seattle

Seattle Space Needle - it's gotta be done.

OK, this one sounds crazy but I wanna go to a Hooters. Jenanscia from cycle 2 of America's Next Top Model worked at a Hooters in Seattle. Do you reckon they'd give me a t-shirt? I wanna sling some wings. :)

At 171 Lake Washington Boulevard is the house where Kurt Cobain lived and commited suicide. It's a little morbid but I just wanna walk past there.

Even though I'm somewhat against them, I have to go to Starbucks in Seattle. It's gotta be done, maybe just to mock them.

Pike Place Market - Emily said that she once saw an old lady get hit in the face with a flying fish. Poor old lady but funny! That's better than a slap in the face with a cold fish. Dumb joke :P

Emily was telling me how she drives across this floating bridge every day on her way to work. What's that all about? Gotta see that!

Does anyone know if that giant window from Grey's Anatomy exists and is it in Seattle? It's probably on a sound stage somewhere in Hollywood I guess.

Aberdeen

Aberdeen, Washington is the hometown of Kurt Cobain. Andrew and I went to see the documentary 'About A Son' last year, it was brilliant. The movie is interviews with Kurt Cobain towards the end of his life, over top of videos and still frames from Aberdeen and Seattle. I just want to spend a day, walking around there, going where Kurt went, seeing what Kurt saw. Specifically, there is a muffler shop in Aberdeen that has a concrete statue of Kurt, the Young Street bridge which was the influence for Nirvana's song, Something In The Way and the sign into Aberdeen says 'Welcome to Aberdeen - Come As You Are'. Very cool!

I'd also like to visit some other towns with funny names - Shittum Gulch and Humptulips. Seriously!

And I would like to see Mt St Helens which is famous for being the US's most catastrophic volcanic eruption.

So that's it. If anyone has any other suggestions, I would be glad to her 'em.

Random - I would like to cross a state line in a Greyhound bus. I may buy a car to travel in so maybe from Washington to Oregon. Can I take a train through Canada to Washington state?

Update

I had a call from Adecco today so it turns out that the interview was supposed to be off for the job on the Gold Coast is back on. The job still starts in May, I still don't know when the interview will be. It's a little frustrating, I was gearing up to go to Australia and now I'd kinda of got used to staying here for a little bit but I guess you've gotta roll with the punches.

Oh Boy!

I was wrong in my temping/Renagade analogy. Being a temp is like being Sam from that great show, Quantum Leap. You leap into someone else's place for awhile as they need you, when they don't need you, you jump into someone else's place. Oh boy!

Courier Post is going well. Remember, if sending something by courier, always put your full name, address and phone number on the package as well as the full name, address and phone number for the person the package is the going to. It makes things easier if your package can't be delivered for whatever reasons. In the industry we call them UNDELS.

The job on the Gold Coast with Adecco has fallen through. Apparently Adecco have been doing this big recruitment but the company in Australia is restructuring and aren't looking for any staff at the moment. So I'm rethinking my options. I'm going to stick with temping for the moment and rethink Korea.

Secret Agent

I am on a new assignment at Courier Post for a week or so. It's fun. My duties include customer service, answering phones, assigning pick ups to the courier jobs but my favourite part is dealing with undeliverables. It is a bit like being a detective, I have to see if I can find an address to send the parcels to. So let this be a lesson, whenever you send something by courier always put your phone number and the number of the person you are sending it to and use your full name. Temping is great!

Alaska - there are Polar Bears there!

It was my last day at Harvey Norman today and I have to admit, it made me quite sad but I guess that is the life of a temp, you grow attached and then you have to leave, just like that show Renegade with Lorenzo Lamas, he drove in on his Harley, saved the girl from the bad guys then rode off into the sunset.


So I'm still waiting to hear when my interview for the job on the Gold Coast is, I had hoped it would be this week, it would have been so much less awkward but what can you do?

I thought I would use this blog to talk a bit more about my plans. It has been a dream of mine to do a road trip of the States since I was about 15 and my best friend, Sally and I wanted to sell our kidneys to fund a trip to LA to see Alanis Morissette in concert. I still want to see Alanis but I know that I need both my kidneys.

So here it goes, my list, State by State, in roughly the order I plan to travel.

ALASKA!!!


Alaska is one of the states I am most excited about because it looks so beautiful and I don't know of anyone who has been there.

Some towns I would like to visit:

Juneau - like the movie only spelt different. State capital of Alaska


Barrow - the US's northern-most city.

Eek - like the cat, apparently there is a place in Alaska called Eek, how could I not go to a place with such a cool name?

Mount McKinley - the highest point in the US.

Wildlife

I recently had a debate with somebody about whether there are polar bears in Alaska, I am sure there are, if so, I want to see one. I also want to see (if I can)a moose and a bowhead whale (the state marine mammal).

I would like to watch dog mushing (the state sport).

Food!!!

Food features a lot on my list. Here are some consumables, specific to Alaska:

Conecuh Ridge Whiskey - the state spirit, in some little bar somewhere (think Men In Trees)

Akutaq (Eskimo ice cream) - made from reindeer fat, seal oil & berries, although I am told they substitute the reindeer fat and seal oil, I don't want to eat endangered species. How gross does that sound?

I would like to take some New Zealand pounamu with me as gifts because jade is the state mineral in Alaska and I think that would be a nice thing to do.

That is my Alaska list so far. Any suggestions.

Random note - The Nalgene

Around Dunedin there are many students, you can always spot an American student by the fact that they carry a Nalgene and it is usually covered in stickers. My flatmate from Colorado lost her Nalgene and it was like she lost her identity as an American. My friend Emily left hers in NZ and I had to post it back to her, she sent me money from the airport before she left specially. I must get a Nalgene and a sticker from every state.

Livin' The Dream

For a long time I have wanted to do a road trip of the United States. At the moment I am working to make that dream a reality. A lot of the things I have been doing in the last year or so have been working towards that, I got my drivers licence (almost, I can go for my full any moment now) and a will and grown up stuff like that.

A trip like this is no mean feat. It takes a lot of money. I had a number of options:

1) Teaching English in Korea
2) Contact 121 Programme in Southport, Gold Coast through Adecco
3) Working full time in New Zealand.

I have been temping at Harvey Norman for the last three weeks. They actually offered me a permanent job. I prayed a lot and in the end I had to say 'God, you've just got to make this really obvious because I don't know which option to choose'. Last week I went to talk to my boss and she had just offered it to someone else so I guess that answered one part of my question then the next day I got a call from Adecco to see whether I was still interested in going to the Gold Coast.

Supposedly I have an interview this week although there are only two days left in this week so I'm not really sure what is happening.

It is my baby step, it is a minimum three month commitment so I may go to Korea later in the year and on the the States from there.

In the meantime, I dream of Route 66, my American friends and Alaska.