Washington (state) Archives - Mittens and Sunglasses

The great American adventure: Day 14

17 June 201316 March 2022 Mittens and Sunglasses

Yesterday was my last day in the state Washington, and my friend Meg took me to a really nice little forest called Bresemann Forest. It was a warm, sunny and lovely day, and perfect for a walk in green surroundings.

So, we went walking, and we were chatting, and I had a wonderful time. We also found a small creek.

In the afternoon it was time to leave for the airport, and then to fly south to Las Vegas. The flight was delayed, but we were finally heading south, and a couple of hours after takeoff, we arrived at the airport in Las Vegas.

Now, the airport in Las Vegas is nothing like any other airport I’ve ever been to! It felt surreal – just have a look at the footage in the video below!

I went to take the shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel. After standing in the line to buy a ticket, I went up to the bus, and was told that sorry, the bus was full, and I had to wait for the next bus. So the next bus arrived, and then I had to wait for it to fill up, before it finally took me to my goal.

Checking in to the hotel went smoothly, and even though the view from my room’s window isn’t as fantastic as from my room in New York City, it’s still good. The room is good though! And it was nice to finally be able to getting to bed.

The great American adventure: Day 11, 12 and 13

15 June 201314 March 2022 Mittens and Sunglasses

Thursday morning we headed north, to give Canada a visit. On our way up we had a stop at a café north in Seattle called the Jewel Box, where we met up with a friend of mine, whom I hadn’t seen since she was living in Norway over ten years ago. It was very good to see her again!

After that we continued towards our goal. The passing of the boarder up to Canada went smoothly, I even got a “Welcome to Canada!” from the guy who had a look at our IDs (and so my passport).

We woke up to rain Friday morning, but that didn’t stop us. Right after breakfast we headed to the centre of Vancouver, and I got to visit the central library there. It was a huge building, and quite lovely. From above it actually looks a bit like spiral, from what I’ve seen on photos.

After walking around at the library for a while, we set out to Granville Island. This is an artificial island, and has a lot of places to eat and small, fun shops. We spent quite a bit of time there, though most of it went to lunch, as we had to wait for our food for ages.

After our visit to Granville Island, it was time to leave the city centre, and we traveled by something they call the sea bus, a sort of ferry that takes you from downtown Vancouver to the northern part of the city.

Today we got early to visit the Lynn Canyon before heading back to Washington. The Lynn Canion was beautiful, and it’s woods and waterfall and just in general good smelling nature. Something different from most of what I’ve seen since I came over to Northern America.

Driving back to Washington (state) took some hours, including a detour (due to a collapsed bridge) and having both lunch and a leg stretch or two. When we got back, I went for a walk, and it was a very sunny and warm day.

The great American adventure: Day 10

12 June 201314 March 2022 Mittens and Sunglasses

Today I went to Seattle. I got in touch with a bookcrosser there yesterday, and after mailing back and forth, we ended up with her picking me up here in Spanaway. It was fun to meet a new, and very friendly, person!

Our first stop was the Seattle Central Public Library. It was a huge library, with 10 floors! OK, so not all were open for the public, but it was a huge library. Lots of open space too, and it was just wonderful. Some floors were quite colourful, and it felt a bit like as we were in some sort of book ourselves!

After the library, we headed to the Nordic Heritage Museum in Ballard. This was a very good museum, and I found it to be fun and interesting. It has three floors, and the first told about the Nordic immigrants and how they arrived in the US. It was called “The American Dream”. The gift shop and a bit more could be found on the second floor, while there were rooms dedicated to the Nordic countries on the third floor: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland had all their own rooms.

When we had explored the museum, my new friend had to pick up her daughter at school. So we did that, and then headed back to my friend’s house. Her daughter was eager to show me their scrapbooks, which was fun. As the family is Jewish, the scrapbook, of course, holds photos from Jewish holidays and shows Jewish tradition. This is something I don’t know a whole lot about, so I certainly learned a few new things.

My new friend also made sure to take me to one of the Little Free Libraries in Seattle, which was very cute! It’s very much in the bookcrossing spirit, and it was fun to see.

Then it was time for me to back to Spanaway, and I managed to find the right bus, and arrive safely in Tacoma. I made us some dinner when I got back, and it was nice to have a home cooked dinner.

The great American adventure: Day 8 and 9

11 June 201314 March 2022 Mittens and Sunglasses

Yesterday I left New York and the east coast. I headed for the airport after breakfast, as I didn’t see the point in dragging my suitcase around New York. In other words, I had plenty of time at the airport, where I spent most of my time reading my book and relaxing.

I’m doing my domestic US traveling with Delta, and I have to say I’m disappointed. On a 6 hour flight you could buy expensive snacks. No serving of meals. Not even water! If you wanted to watch any of their films or use the wifi, you had to pay. I even had to pay US$ 25 to check in my suitcase! Now, I can understand the rest, but the suitcase? Very annoying. I’m not likely to ever fly Delta again after this trip.

Here in Washington I’m visiting my friend, whom I’ve known online around 15 years. I was very excited to finally meet her, and she’s pretty much how I thought she would be like!

Today she took me to Tacoma, and the first stop was Freighthouse Square. It was obvious that there once were more shops here, but there’s still a few small independent shops, as well as a food court, there. It was quite nice.

Nest stop was the water side, which was bliss! Quiet, sunny and in general very nice. We walked ou on the pier where we could look down into the water, which was very clear. There were pretty flowers to look at, and benches for sitting down and relax. There was a small park there, where you could see a big sun dial. I loved it!

I found just driving around for a bit interesting too. In some ways, like plants and such, it looks a bit like Norway, but the houses and shops and things like that, are typical American. We even stopped by Wallmart, which surprisingly looked pretty much like a big Obs! shop.

The great American adventure: Plans

28 April 2013 Mittens and Sunglasses

In June I will be visiting the USA for the very first time in my life. I’m very excited, and will be staying there for three weeks. A three week stay in a country far away takes quite a bit of planning, and needless to say, I have spent a whole lot of time finding the right flights and hotels.

The hotels I will be staying at are:
3 – 10 June: The New Yorker Hotel
16 – 20 June: Aria Resort & Casino
20 – 23 June: The Library Hotel

Itinerary

Monday 3 June 2013

FROM	DEPARTURE	TO	ARRIVAL
Stavanger	09:00	Gardermoen	09:50
Gardermoen	11:10	Newark Liberty International	13:10

Monday 10 June 2013

FROM	DEPARTURE	TO	ARRIVAL
John F Kennedy Intl	17:35	SeaTac Airport	21:06

Sunday 16 June 2013

FROM	DEPARTURE	TO	ARRIVAL
SeaTac Airport	20:35	Las Vegas McCarran Intl Airport	22:55

Thursday 20 June 2013

FROM	DEPARTURE	TO	ARRIVAL
Las Vegas McCarran Intl Airport	10:43	John F Kennedy Intl	18:44

Sunday 23 June 2013

FROM	DEPARTURE	TO	ARRIVAL
New York, Newark Liberty International	19:00	Gardermoen	08:20
Gardermoen	09:40	Sola	10:30