Him and Her still on the road.

Seattle: Located in the state of Washington, Seattle is only a short hop from the Canadian boarder. As well as being not far from Canada there are many small islands which are all accessible via the efficient ferry services. On our 2nd day here we went across the Puget sound to Whidbey and a social gathering. The views were stunning and more so when the afternoon mists started to roll in making weired shapes on the horizon. Seattle also boasts many great breweries so it would have been bad manners not partake in a tasting of a few of their finest creations.

The main reason for coming to Seattle was to visit Simon and Helen ( Mal's cousin). Having local expertise on the area meant that we didn't have to do too much in the way of research. Seattle has a fantastic Science fiction and music experience centre which can easily take care of a days activities. The entry to the Music experience is enhanced by a massive sculpture made mostly of Guitars ! The music rooms are simply great fun.

The area of Fremont on the edge of downtown Seattle is the host to some of the worlds software giants and a host of off the wall arty shops,street cafes, micro breweries, chocolate emporiums and street sculptures, including a huge Troll under a flyover make the area well worth a visit.

About 3 hours South from Seattle is Mount St Helens. Helen took us there for a day out. What an awesome place the statistics from the eruption 0n May 18th 1980 are just unbelievable. The top 1300ft of the mountain simply got blown away in a mixture of landslides and eruptions, the blast area exceeded the set 5 mile safety zone by a further 12 miles, the devastation to the landscape is mind blowing, whole lakes were lost and new ones created in the resultant mudslides, pyroclastic flows and ash fall. Forests were wiped away leaving rows of matchwood. Tree's that were left standing were roasted and had all foliage stripped leaving just hillside totems. Today in the centre of the mountain a new lava cone has formed, at its peak growth it is growing a "dumper truck" of rock every second, which even at this rate will take 100 years before it reaches the size of the mountain top prior the 1980 eruption.

While we were in Seattle we watched a couple of "Sounders" games, Sounders being the local football ( soccer ) team. Both games were quite good, the only names we knew were Casey Keller ( ex Millwall keeper ) and Freddie Ljumberg who was playing for the Chicago "Fire" ( the got beaten 2-1 by the Sounders )

Seattle also has an old city which is hidden underground. Parts are accessible via a local tour and is well worth a look. It describes how and why the old city is 15ft below the current modern effect. Some great and hilarious history told by local guides who are masters of their craft.

The colourful and vibrant waterfront make Seattle a place well worth a visit.

Whidbey, looking across the Puget Sound.

Mist on the sound.

The view from Simon & Helen's garden.

Statue of Lenin in Fremont.

The Fremont Troll

Fremont harbour with mount Rainier in the background.

Sci fi and Music experience building.

Robot from "The Day the Earth Stood Still "

Terminator.

Lost in Space.

The Music Experience.

Fremont Rocket.

25 miles West of mount St Helen's

Near cold water creek ( Mount St Helen's )

Hillside 8 miles from the 1980 eruption.

Johnson Ridge just 5 miles from the eruption and inside the safety zone

the whole area was wiped away of any vegetagtion and was dramatically re-shaped!

Him and Her with Mount St Helen's in the back ground,

the new lava dome is visible in the crater.

30 years of new growth and a new lava dome.

The devastated landscape of Mount St Helen's

Seattle Waterfront.

The underground Seattle.

Old shop fronts are now in the basements of the buildings above.

Seattle museum of modern art

Chili's

This is the end of our year 1 travels, next stop, 4 weeks in the UK

before we fly out to Argentina in October.
Not sure if we will do another blog as it is very time consuming.

Malaysia: Almost at the end of our Asia travels, our last port of call being Malaysia. We first stayed in KL for a few nights before catching the 10 hour bus to Kota Bharu, where we catch another bus to Kuala Besut and a boat to Kuala Perhentian Besar..

We found a nice beach shack on the beach and didn't move too far away for the next two weeks. Met some great people while we were there and did absolutely sod all except chill out and read.

From The Island we caught the early morning boat back to the mainland and headed for Terranagu, where we stayed overnight before catching the morning bus to Melaka. Great little city with a world heritage status to boot. We stayed there for 5 nights before catching the bus back to KL for our last few nights. In KL we walked to the Orchid Gardens and the Bird Park which was really good. We did a little local sight seeing but kept things low key as we had almost run out of money :-( From Malaysia we took a strange route to Seattle via Taiwan.