So... What next?

23/02/2010

Yesterday, monday, is was a bright, sunny day. I was walking slowly through the streets, observing the houses around me, squinting all the day due to the sun's powerful rays.

This is how Austin decided to smile at us this morning:



Someone earlier told me:

"we get snow from time to time but it doesn't stick"

Right.......

M.

07/01/2010

Upon leaving Seattle, our first stop was Mt. Rainier national park. I knew nothing about it, but J. suggested we should go and go is what we did. :)



Mt. Rainier is located in the state of Washington, south of Seattle and it’s exactly what the name gives away: a mountain!

A very snowy mountain I might add...



Seriously snowy!!



Entering the park involved driving through winding, icy roads, surrounded by gorgeous, white sceneries. When I got to Seattle, I knew I had gotten out of the winter areas. Being in Mt. Rainier brought me back to that atmosphere.

We drove all the way up to a small location called “Paradise”, where people park their cars, wear their snowshoes and start hiking through the snow-covered paths. The views all around were truly spectacular.




They don’t call it Paradise for nothing!

Did I mention there were SERIOUSLY large amounts of snow?



After leaving the park, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had caught our attention on our way up.



It was an old train wagon, converted into a fully functioning restaurant. The decoration felt very traditional, the people were very friendly and my elk burger was juicy and delicious! Just what we needed to continue our journey.

M.

23/12/2009

I left Madison, Wisconsin on Monday early morning and arrived in Seattle on Wednesday afternoon. I don't know if it seems like a long time to you or not, but I can tell you, I did that whole drive in much less time than I was expecting, even though the biggest part of it was as tough as I thought it would be.

The whole drive was 1928 miles (3103 kilometers). Although initially I thought I'd arrive in Seattle on Christmas eve (i.e. 3 days later), when I set off I set it as a goal to drive 650 miles a day and be at my final destination a day early. I drove through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington and the diversity of scenery, traffic, driving conditions and weather was truly remarkable.

The first day was just exhausting. Lots of snow and ice everywhere and the winds and snow would not stop attacking Charlie. Not only was half the highway covered in snow, making two of threes lanes very dangerous, but also the wind was maintaining a constant layer of snow floating over the remaining lane, like a big group of road ghosts, scaring all the drivers and laughing at their worried faces. And if you survived this, there was always the icy patch under every single overpass, attempting to send you skidding towards a deadly christmas road twist. Still well on your way? The bridges should finish the job, which, for some reason, many times had ice on their surface.




Try driving through this...

On a couple of occasions Charlie's wheels tried giving up on me and decided to go one way, while I wanted to go the other way. Luckily I had my hands tight around the wheel during the whole drive, and being the top class driver that I am (You better be nodding at this point!!), I kept it in line. That, however, does not mean that those split second were not accompanied by the perfectly understandable "oh, shiiiiiit!".

A stopped at a rest area as soon as daylight was fully gone. Funny enough, it was also the very same moment I had exceeded 650 miles and a snow storm had begun. Sleeping in Charlie was my only choice, but it was not going to be as pleasant as usual.It was 8pm and it was already -15 degrees Celcius. I am guessing realisation has not come, until I opened a can of corn that I had to eat, only to find its contents frozen solid. I knew that it was gonna be a chilly night. And chilly it was. (I ate the can of corn anyway. Hunger before comfort.)

The second day was much easier than the first. The second half of the whole distance to Seattle proved to be much quicker than I thought. I was expecting crazy mountain turns and endless mountains of snow, but instead, I found zero traffic and perfectly clean roads. I was still very careful for ice, but it was all fine. There were some random snowy moments and scary parts up in the mountains, but I felt confident enough to continue. I even decided to drive during the night, which got me to drive 950 miles before I parked Charlie outside a hotel at the state line of Idaho and Washington, to spend the night. Even the temperatures were much milder over there. Heck, I could even sleep naked (but still with 5 covers on top)!

The third and last day was a doddle. I was well ahead of schedule and it looked like I would be in Seattle for lunchtime. Even the skies were smiling at me and the weather was beautiful. Sunny day, blue skies and beautiful, varying scenery throughout the whole drive. There wasn't much snow around, but everything was crystalised and looked bleached!









I was in Seattle indeed by 1pm, where I met up with my friend E., whom I'll be staying with for a few days. I'm already getting a good vibe by this city. :)

M.

12/20/2009

We got to Wisconsin, where we stayed with my friend T. for about four days. Lots of snow, sledding, cold and stalactites. We are talking SERIOUS amounts of snow! You have no idea! I have never seen so much snow in one city!
And although we had lots of fun... I can't really think of anything else to talk about other than the snow and the cold.










Nowadays, instead of a purple heart, the US army gives a purple toilet.

And then we went to Madison. Hillary decided to return to California, so on friday she flew back. I stayed a few more days, walking around, exploring the city, hanging out at the lakes, meeting people, etc... On sunday, in fact, I went to a couchsurfer's graduation ceremony. It was quite funny to be back in that environment once again after so many years.





But again, after all that happened during my stay in Madison, all that is glued on my mind is images of snow and low temperatures!






Obviously, they don't cycle much here during winter.



Seriously, I think my brain froze! :S

It's about time I leave the intense cold. But not before I put Charlie (and myself) through one last test.

Tomorrow, I am setting off early morning towards Seattle. A 2000 mile drive straight through all states between here and Washington state. It's not going to be an easy one, but hey, neither me nor Charlie is a beginner at this kind of thing. ;)

Next time you hear from me, it'll be from the west coast.

M.

13/12/2009

The days in Chicago were going by filled with aural, visual, amusing and flavourful experiences, all nicely wrapped up in a thick layer of snow!






Yes, I know this image portrays death more than fuzzy, amusing experiences, but humor me.

The first three days it felt cold, but nothing extravagant. No, actually, scrap that. It was fudging freezing!!!


Ready to hit the streets. Don't let the clear skies fool you!

It was rather stupid to leave the house without 654123 layers of clothes on. We are talking temperatures that even reached -25 degrees Celcius one day! I really cannot understand what the hell those geese were doing, picking crap through the snowed-on grass.


Look at my baby in the background! (No, not the goose! Charlie!!)

And then, we woke up on monday morning to find everyone covered in snow. Within one night, there was a good 4 inches (10cm) of snow in the streets. Absolutely beautiful, but as you can understand, tricky to walk on nevertheless. Which also made my need for new shoes much more imminent... Luckily, I was already covered when it comes to clothing (thanks to the former USSR, in a sort of twisted way...).




"Breezy and chilly" doesn't quite do it justice...

Despite the cold and the winds of course (did I mention that chicago is also called "The city of winds"? Well, it is!), we roamed around the city as much as possible. Chicago has soooo much to show and the week that we were planning to spend here was already seeming too little.


Chicago: View from the John Hancock tower.


Yes, Santa was there too!

The city is big and the size of the map is small. It kinda reminded me of Beijing, where due to the size of the city, it is impossible to fit every single street on the map. Hence, they only portray one every five streets. I would look at the city map, deciding where I wanted to go and I thought "yeah, this should take me about half an hour". Two hours later, I'd still be walking! Getting to Millenium Park, one of Chicago's most well-known attractions, was one of those cases. We only barely made it during daytime and had to go again another day. The so-called "bean" on Millenium Park is the biggest and most impressive landmark.


Hey, is that someone arsing out over there? :p





It is a huge piece of art, shaped as a bean onto which all its surroundings are reflected and you can't even begin to imagine the ideas for poses people come up with to do in front of it.

We also tried the shopping thing, and to be honest, it is no different than anywhere else in the world; lots of shops, lots of floors, lots of clothes, lots of people running frantically all around to find that special pair of shoestrings that their beloved one has been wanting for so long.



For some of the Chicago days my friend C. from Greece joined us and it was a delight to see her and spend some time with her. But the biggest advantage of all: SHE IS NOT A VEGETARIAN!!! So we could go and enjoy the delicacies of Wiener Circle, the city's best hot dog stand! And daaaaamn it was good.


And C. obviously agrees!

Out of everything we got up to in Chicago though, I'd say the highlight for me by far was the theatrical play "Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind (T.M.L.M.T.B.G.B. as it goes by - easy to say, no?). It is a 60 minute play, during which they perform 30 different skits, every single one of them extremely interactive with the audience. No wonder it has been running for 21 years! It was one of the most creative, entertaining, inspiring, touching theatrical plays I have ever seen. Hands down, THE one thing everyone should go and see in Chicago!

We ended up staying a few days extra in Chicago, but the day to move on arrived. Wisconsin was Charlie's next destination and to be more specific Stevens Point. As if it was not already cold and snowy enough, we were looking for more.....

M.