Los Angeles

hi all

this will be my last post from the us. i am going to the airport tomorrow night and then will be on my way home. my flight number is QF94 from lax to melb.

i am staying in hostel on the beach. it reminds me alot of st kilda beach. the weather is nice and warm here, it must be somewhere between 20 and 25 degrees c. almost warm enough to take of my jumper but not quite. i quite like it here in la. most of the people are nice and it has a good atmosphere.

i was in san fransisco the other day for a couple of days. i DID NOT LIKE san fransisco. it was intimidating. the people at the hostel were nice but not just the regualr people. i went to visit fishermans warf but wasn't impressed. i was going to go on tour of alcatraz but there were none more until the next day - so i didn't get to tour alcatraz.

i returned the car to the rental place in la - i didnt have any problems. the papers that i was given by the travel agents said that i had to have the car there by 4pm. i was a little bit worried that i would not get there on time as the drive was supposed to be 5 + hrs (no traffic) and 7 + hrs (with traffic). i left at 9am but got lost trying to get out of the city. the freeways can be very confusing. anyway, because i thought i was going to be late i didnt stop for lunch. i made it by 3pm - yay. i got a taxi to the hostel ($25). i haved booked the bus to the airport tomorrow ($10).

anyway i am about to run out of time

see you all on friday

sarah

pistures taken on hwy 101 on the way to eureka. it was very scenic but alot slower than the freeway. the road went through every town along the way.

the bridge looked really pretty. it was made of concrete.

pictures from the underground in seattle. will explain when i get home

more pictures of the mansion in butte

1) picture of montana country side
2) shower at butte. this shower was original to the house. the bars on the side spray water horizontally and the shower head sprays water down. i tried to get it to work but the head at the top only sprayed cold water so i turned that off but then the jets on the side where too powerful. it hurt lots!! it might have been better if i had more time to play with it.
3)this is the room that i stayed in in butte

these are pictures of the garden of the gods in colorado that i visited it was really nice. the lady at the hostel recommended it. it was 1 hr south of denver.

eureka

i am currently in eureka. last night i was staying in eugene. when i got there after being lost for quite a while the guy on the desk said that i didn't have a reservation so instead of getting a private room i had to share which was ok i suppose except that i was looking forward to being by myself.

seattle was really good. i went to the top of the space needle in seattle. it was foggy when i got to the top but after half an hour the fog lifted and the view was fantastic. candice recommended an underground tour that is run in seattle so went on the tour. it was really good.

the original seattle was built on mud flats and the town kept getting flooded with every high tide. when they got toilets in the early 1900s the toilets would reverse flow at high tide. apparently there were '4 foot' geysers. when the city burnt down the told everyone that they had to build all the shops with a ground floor entry and a first floor entry. the city built stone walls on all the 'curbs' and filled in the street with dirt, raising the street level 3ish meters. so to cross the street ppl had to climb ladders to get onto the street and then climb down ladders to get on to the foot path. eventually they build foot paths the join the street with the first floor entries. for a while both the first and ground floors where being used unitl there was a rat plague in the underground part. the ground floor of some of the shops are stilll accessable. this is what the tour is of.


tomorrow i am going to san fransisco.

sarah

eugene

i am at a hostel in eugene tonight i am in a dorm room.

i went to the top of the space needle in seattle this morning - it was foggy and i couldn't see much but the fog raised after about 1/2 hr. candice recommended a tour in seattle that was fantastic.

i got lost trying to get to the hostel i am in a really bad mood

going to eureka tomorrow it is a 7 hr drive. atleast i have a hotel waiting at the other end

later

sarah

seattle

hi all

i wanna come home!!! i am getting really homesick and tired and lonely - its a week from today until i get on the plane but i wont be home til friday cant wait

seattle is very nice i would recommend seattle as well.

i met up with candice last night for dinner in vancouver - thanx for the directions mum. it took me a lot longer to get there than i thought but only because i left seattle at peak hour and was trying to get out of the city with everyone else and i had to wait in line at the usa-canada border for atleast half an hour. i ended up being an hour late. dinner was nice and it was good to meet up with someone i know. i didn't end up leaving vancouver until midnight and i got lost on the way back so i didn't make it back to the hostel until 330am. vancouver is a bit scary - there are lots of homeless ppl on the streets could have been the part of town we were in though.

today i went for a drive around seattle it is a nice place then i went to see a movie. tomorrow i am going to see the space needle on the way out of the city.

the hostel here is nice it is the best hostel yet and would probably be nicer than some of the hotels. except that there is no parking - there is metered parking on the street but it starts being metered at 8am.

later

sarah

Spokane

I didn't have access to a computer last night so i will write about butte now

I was staying in a period b&b. it was fantastic. it had some great chandeliers. i have some photos but this computer wont let my upload anything. the lady at the b&b suggested a walking tour of the town but as it was really cold i drove it instead. I also drove up to the look out. it was kinda scary. it was on a dirt road that was covered in ice and snow - but it was fun. i had my first encounter with ice on the road yesterday. i was driving up a side street and started slipping on the ice it was very scary but after the first time i was able to do it easily. the lady at the b&b gave me a personal tour of the b&b which was a 1890s mansion. it was really good.

The drive today was not at all boring. the road was all wet and it started to snow. its not hard to drive in the snow just annoying - it blows horizonatally into the windscreen but doesn't have enough water in it to require the windscreen wipers. it just cuts the visablity. today i drove out of the mountains. it was very steeply downhill. i didn't realise just how high up i was as i have been climbing very slowly through vallies. today i descended the whole lot in an hour. it was fun driving fast down the windy mountain. the road was really good so everyone was still doing 80 miles/hr (approx 130-140kph) the wet road and the snow just made it more interesting.

i am supposed to be meeting with candice tomorrow but i havent heard from her since last week and i dont know how to contact her - grrrrrrrrrr.

also i forgot to complain about the hotel in billings - some idiot pulled the fire alarm at 3am in the morning - everyone had to get up and wait outside while the fire brigade checked the place out. it was very cold outside at 3 in the morning.

any way i dont have anything else to write

sarah

Billings

I am now in montana. montana is much more picturesque than wyoming. i had a short drive today through what i thought would be mountains but it is just paddocks with the occaisional hill. i drove next and around the mountains but not through them. it is colder here. i think that it is quite elevated here which is why it is so cold. i am staying in another hotel tonight. none of the lights work in the room but that is the same as all the hotels. only one lamp works.

I hope that mark is enjoying my nice comfy bed!!

I sent a postcard from NY - have you recieved it yet?

there is nothing else interesting to say today

sarah