A change of plans....

As you are no doubt aware Steve and myself are master planners and even better adminators however Seattle threw a spanner in the works....We arrived after a short 'Hound and after about 3 minutes completely fell in love with the place and the Green Tortoise Hostel. So much so that within an hour we had extended our stay, put another day on the front of San Fran due to rave reviews and cancelled a hostel in Portland, Oregon

Seattle first uber feature was the Pike Place Market which has to be one of the best markets...in the world. We strolled through in awe before buying ingredients to attempt a much overdue roast dinner that very nearly came off. The hostel itself overlooked the market and couldn't have been in a better place, it was even equipt with a 'private lounge'. The owner described its use as 'for weed smoking and chess playing...i don't know anyone from Seattle that doesn't smoke weed', it certainly was an interesting room!

We used the next day for a relaxed city wonder including a coffee at the first ever Starbucks, sculpture park viewing, panoramic views from Columbia Sky View and another market walk it was that good! The hostel had put on a free meal (chili) and a free jazz night and bar crawl that got very messy with loads of new friends from around the world made including the loudest Aussie ever, a Swiss, an Irish, few Americans and a swede. Twas great craic! The Swede mentioned is about to become a third member of the Tour as he is joining us for part of our road trip upon leaving San Fran. It's all turned a bit 'Mamma Mia' Mum?! It only dawned on us in the morning when we saw the Swiss girl again and asked what she was up to, to which she replied 'going on your tour'..... that, um, in a drunken state we had arranged leading a walking tour the next day! After the shock, it all went OK even though we never did find Jimi Hendix grave....

The afternoon consisted of a hostel run tour, thank god, in 'Fremont', a cool, bohemian neighbourhood and some cheap drinks before an English girl trying to make it in the Folk industry played us some tunes on her banjo in the 'Private Lounge', giving it a third use. All that was ahead was a Greyhound to San Fransisco the next morning, the last one of our trip :( , however after 7500 miles, a change of transportation mode is definitely due.

Oofnab.

Video Frenzy

This is NOT the afformentioned next video in the series. This is a by-product of Steve being distracted for half an hour... (and the fact that he thinks this is a genius comic moment).



P.S. Hound reminder... 'Is thhis theat thaken'

Pucking great time in Vancouver

We are getting a little carried away with our night greyhounds. We nipped up to Vancouver in about 26 hours, and promptly felt pants. And hungry. As we wandered toward our hostel we passed McDonald's and subway, but we've been getting annoyed at eating fast food all the time so we tried to hold out for some decent food. I had particular gastric magnetism toward Mcdo and Stu was equally drawn to subway. Little did we know just how much fast food we would end up consuming in Canada.

On arrival at the hostel we were upgraded to a private room with a TV, so we quickly found TSN (No ESPN available) and soaked up some Canadian football, which, for the record, is a disaster zone compared to American football (in particular the unmatchable supremacy of the almighty Denver Bronchos). We then went to bed. Thanks 'Hound.
Fresh the next day we stomped through rainy Vancouver to take a look what was on offer, and very nice it was too. Lots of vancouverism for Matt, but the real town planning genius was found in Granville Market, a converted former industrial area now sporting a multitude of cute shops full of almost everything imaginable.
The hostel were putting on a free club night and we had some beers left from Yellowstone, so this became a no-brainer. More sport and beer was followed by drinks in bars with Swedish, Aussies and Irish before some typical English dancing. Fun was had by all.
Another day in Vancouver saw the return of the sun so we eagerly sped to Capilano Suspension bridge, the world's highest, longest, cable suspension bridge. It was surrounded by some funky temperate rain forest in a gorge and some typical touristy shops, with the particular advantage of free fudge samples which we may or may not have taken advantage of. A walk back through Stanley park and along English bay confirmed suspicions that Vancouver would be a very nice place to live.
In the eve I met up with the Swedish and Aussie Girls again and supped some Cider in an Irish bar. Stu stayed in and watched UFC 104 on TSN - The party channel. Booooo to Stu, but then I really only left the hostel due one Swedish girl in particular. Initially it is safe to say I was quite disappointed to see that my 'date' actually came with two extra girls attached, but we had a spanking eve and thankfully those two conspicusly left after a few hours...
The next day was all about the Ice Hockey match we had booked. Vancouver Giants vs Kelowna Rockets. Giants won 5-4 in a close fought battle, great stuff! It was a local team and there was a great feeling of community at the stadium. A great couple in the seats next to us (row four behind the penalty box, no need to move this time) sorted out rule confusion as pucks and people moved about at the speed of light, getting boshed against the glass very hard. We nearly got a puck when one came speeding over the glass, but unfortunately it was a little too high and instead struck a lady on the head leading to copious amounts of blood and a stretcher... so close... Being behind the penalty box was also genius as the high level of fighting invariably meant a member of the opposition was sat inside. "Gogal, you suck". The little kids in front had more balls than us in this department, it was hilarious.
A budget related food comment. On the first night we went out looking for some food. It was quite expensive. We then found 'FreshSlice'. This pizza outlet had an offer for 8 slices of pizza for 10 bucks. We ate fresh slice pizza for dinner and lunch for all FOUR days. We are not kidding. We are sick of Pizza. But then it was soooo fresh..... and sooo healthy. Low in fat and all natural (see box, left). We love and hate fresh slice pizza in equal measure (in particular the pesto special!).

P.S. Reminder from Boston... "Can anybody spare any Change, Change, Change?..."

Walking on the world's biggest volcano

Still on a high from Denver we headed for Idaho Falls on the 'Hound to pick up our next rental car, with an 8 hour jaunt around Salt Lake City splitting up the journey. Picking up the rental we found we had again got another Nissan Versa (special video coming to show it in its full glory...) and then set off for West Yellowstone via Grand Teton National Park. Pictured left, the park was awesome to drive through (as we didn't have much time before we had to get to our lodge for check-in) with rugged mountains hugging its western perimeter and long rolling glacial plains to the east it was certainly worth the visit! We however couldn't drive straight through due to snow so had to take a 'slight' detour. Once this was overcome, we arrived at our log cabin next to Yellowstone National Park which was incredible. For the normal price we pay for 8 bed dorm in hostels we got a huge log cabin to ourselves with a double bed each, cable TV, washing machine, you name it, it had it and was warm and homely compared to the sterile dorm rooms that have often frequented! Delighted with our find we went and brought some beers and started to plan the next few days.

Due to both rainy weather and Yellowstone being 'out of season' some of the roads were closed so taking this into account we headed straight for 'Old Faithful', the most famous Geyser in a Geyser-filled National Park which 'goes off' every 90 mins, 365 days a year. Although slightly disappointed by its size, it was indeed an impressive spectacle. Equally as impressive but more humorous was our 15min wait at a pedestrian crossing for a heard of Bison to cross! at least they did it at a safe point..With the weather clearing up we drove to a 3mile trail to finish the day with a nice walk in which we saw some off the road geysers, more Bison and some big Bull Elk but unfortunately no Bear or Moose. We tried our best to find some but they remained elusive, probably for the best! We then retired for the evening for more beer and Monday Night Football to watch our team (Denver Broncos) go 6-0 for the season with a win against San Diego! We love the QB Kyle Orton so much we are now try to imitate his dirty tash!

Our last day involved another long walk around a different, more woodland part of Yellowstone and a stroll around West Yellowstone, a Wild West-style town, before driving back to Idaho Falls and going to Tom's Gyros and Burgers for a proper American Burger, was awesome! Now a 28 hour 'Hound awaits to Vancouver, BC so we can start our desent of the West Coast...

Stu and Steve's Rocky Mountain Adventure

The second installment in the acclaimed series. Comments welcomed!

Rocky Mountain High

The 'hound to Denver was the longest yet. 26 hours of interstate cruising. Nice. On arrival our heads were filled with plans of a quiet afternoon, followed by a bike rental and cycle to the mountains before we had to whizz off again to Idaho Falls. To be honest, we only ever saw Denver as a quick rest stop to take in some views and break up the long journey east to west. We didn't think we had time for anything more here. That was until we wandered past a car hire office on the way to our hostel and worked out that a days CAR rental wasn't all that much more than a bike...

After some brief research we decided a walk to Enterprise rent-a-car for a quick Q and A could do us no harm. This is where things once again get silly. On the way we stopped at a corner shop where Stu bought a scratchcard... and proceeded to win ten dollars! We then randomly passed a fundraiser for the Denver Broncos NFL team, complete with cheerleaders, ex players and Superbowl trophies!! We picked up some free souvenirs for ourselves, and we also managed to get something for our respective dads (which may or may not involve two of the fittest cheerleaders - by this afternoon there will be a package in the post boys!!). Part of the stuff we picked up was a booklet of discount vouchers, one of which was $10 off at the Broncos team store at the stadium. This was in walking distance. An hour later we were both kitted out with Denver Broncos woolly hats, which turned out to be very useful indeed. We should also mention that around this juncture the fundraiser must have finished. The cheerleaders I spoke off drove past us beeping horns and waving. We had clearly made an impression! That evening we went to a 'Wine library' Jazz bar and ate sumptuous pizza listening to smooth live jazz. (We also got free Sodas because we had to wait at least 5 minutes listening to the jazz before we got served!) This would normally be a highlight but to top it all off we found out...

we could indeed afford a rental car for a day. So much for a cycle ride. How about we drive into the Rocky Mountains National Park and climb to 11,500ft?! No acclimatization, only the aforementioned woolly hats in addition to our standard kit, and the advice of a friendly park ranger later we nearly summited flat-top mountain. We would have made it to the summit itself if we hadn't got stuck in snow drifts that we fell into our waists in and lost the trail due to the snow fall. We were disappointed, but then a couple came down to us wearing literally all the gear including snow shoes and walking poles saying that they couldn't make it to the top themselves. We prob did well to make it as high as that, they were certainly shocked we were still alive. We motored back into Denver along what must be one of the greatest driving roads in the world, curling its way through the mountains. The only slight problems we faced involved Stu deciding he still wanted to drive on the left hand side at a major intersection, and me nearly creaming a cyclist off the road whilst trying to figure out how the cruise control worked (which we didn't use). America is indeed built for the car and we loved it, I even used a drive through ATM... genius. I can't sum up how awesome the day was, or indeed the majesty of the mountains. A video will follow shortly which we hope will give you some idea, but Denver has been nigh on epic.

Beans, Loops, Deep Dishs, Buckets, Marathons, Sororities, Parades, Lakes, Zoos, and Baseball

After surviving another night 'Hound we arrived fairly fatigued but we soon cheered up with an excellent hostel both in feel and location and the prospect of a free pasta meal for all the Chicago Marathon runners, which we quickly became. This gave us the energy to meet up with some friends we had met in Boston and DC for a few 'buckets of beer' at the local watering hole...This led inevitably to a nice lie in before exploring Chicago Zoo (great free zoo that included a Polar Bear and some penguin friends for Claude), Lake Michigan (free walk around the 3 largest of the Great Lakes, no naked dip this time, sorry ladies...), the John Hancock Tower the 2nd highest point in town (also free if you quickly take photos and don't buy a drink) and finally the world of Deep Pan Pizza. Now most of you will have had some sort of 'Chicago Town Deep Dish Pizza', trust us this is not the same! After waiting a while for a table we were sooo hungry we ordered a 12'' (enough for 3-4 people according to the menu, but we didn't believe), it was however so ridonkulously filling Steve only manage half of his half (also known as a quarter) and I faired little better. It is more like a Pie than a Pizza but delicious all the same, even when taken home and had cold for lunch the next day!
Our last day involved a gentle stroll round the finanicial district, a trip around 'The Loop', the 'Bean', a watch of the Columbus day parade which was little better than the Bognor Illumination Carnival. We then headed to Slugger's Bar and Grill where for $1 you can go in the Baseball batting cages and face anything up to 80 MPH pitches with no protective equipment, great fun! On the way back we were 'dragged' into a sorority (female fraternity) party which was so rubbish we had to stay till the small hours, drink lots of beer and get to know the girls...

Niagara River (and a small waterfall)

In search of a natural wonder of the world, we left Toronto to stay for one night at Niagara Falls at officially 'the best hostel in North America' and it did not disapoint! On arrival we were bombared, interogated, u name it, by the owner Patrick as to why we were only staying one night at one of the world's greatest rivers 'you wouldnt go the Amazon for a night, would you!?' one of his better comments. He would however be proved to be right. On the first eveing we did the 'Maid of the Mist' tour out to the Falls which was incredible, to see the power of the Falls up close and personal is a must (the shirts off decision is optional however) we then met two guys from LA in the hostel, one of which is an up-and-coming musician 'Venice Maki' who played us some of his music and is awesome, coming to London in a few month so keep an ear out. After sneaking up the Hilton for a birds-eye view of the Falls (for freeeee) we met up and had some beers with them into the early hours in Niagara town which has unfortunalty been Americanised with some of the tackiest shops and arcades that even Blackpool would be proud of!

The next morning meant another monumental speach from Patrick about what to do and we followed his directions precisely and saw/did in 8 hours:

A 55km round mountain bike trip along the river up to where it mets Lake Ontario,
Bouldering up and down the shear gauge to see the river up close, including the only class 6 rapids in the world and an emormous whirlpool,
Wine tasting in a Niagara vineyard to pretend we were cultured (interjection from Steve: The best wine I have ever or am likely ever to taste)

It was FANTASTIC! The local advice was amazing and we got so much more out of the Falls area than just a waterfall photo.

Completely whacked, we headed for Chicargo on yet another Night Hound, and back to the US of A.....

Other (probably less amusing) stuff from Toronto

We have come to the conclusion that all Greyhound drivers in the US are uber cool. They are easy going and funny and gun it around all over the place getting you where you need to be. Some of our favourite quotes to date include;

'Please accompany small children to the restroom. If a small person falls down the toilet they are staying there till Tampa (a good 8 hours away)' and 'if you need anything... just come and see me... but don't creep up on me, its night, its dark, you may get hit in your face'. They all rock cool uniforms and have a laugh. Canadian bus drivers are not in the same league.They remind us of... bus drivers. The lad that took us to Toronto was clearly looking for a job with Greyhound USA though. We were meant to get into Toronto at about 6.55 in the morn, a good chance to sleep we thought. Drives had other ideas and sped through the night like a rocket ship and proudly presented Toronto bus terminal at 5 in the morning, a full 9 hours before we could check into our hostel having had no sleep being thrust from one side of the coach to the other around every corner. Fantastic to get in early when the sun is up and you can make the most of your destination, not when you have to sleep rough in Toronto Station as a result!! The hostel we stayed in is great if a) you are looking for a job (as the whole of Ireland seemed to be doing in Toronto) or b) You want to stay the better part of a year and actually call it home. For peeps like us, popping in for a few nights the social side of the hostel was in effect non existent. Travellers be warned. We did meet a nice girl to play cards with but no beers or stories were shared which is our favourite part of any stay. Toronto itself was much better, the CN tower being a highlight (apart, perhaps, from the part where we laid face down on a glass floor at over 300 meters in the air and predominately felt fear! Lake Ontario, as you have seen also provided amusement. Its worth noting just how freaking massive it is (it just looks like the sea) and how awesome it is to swim in its fresh (very fresh!) water. We also liked the general vibe of the city, (Steve's favourite skyscrapers to date.) Well worth a visit.

P.S. 'You can't ask both people in Go Fish!'

Stu and Steve's Lake Ontario Adventure

Please Click Play!! We feel this is better than trying to blog our lake Ontario experience in words. (There should be a video above, we are not sure if this is working in Internet Explorer, but we think its fine in Firefox, please let us know if you are having trouble viewing it!)

Murderous Molston and Beautiful Bixi

Stu and Steve arrived in Montreal after a less than enjoyable jaunt on ye olde Greyhound. The trip was overnight and included no sleep and a cold bleary eyed trip into the Canadian Border crossing. A simple plan was construed which involved aimless wander until 2 in the afternoon when they were able to check into the hostel (after arriving at 7!!), some sleep and then a large night out in Montreal. Unfortunately conditions conspired against our hero's in multiple forms. Firstly, they underestimated how little refreshment had been gained from the nap, secondly they also underestimated the destructive power of 10% beer on a body in this condition, and thirdly, they had not counted on randomly bumping into the Australians they had met in Nashville (the last time the pairing went particularly large and therefore established a reputation with said Australians). What resulted was from Steve's perspective a complete blur. How he had the capacity to reach the road the hostel was on in the morning, after simply walking randomly knowing only the name of this road, then managed to get himself through a key code door, and the dorm door for which only one key existed, on Stuart, who by all accounts was still in the 'Gentleman's club' they had frequented, is a mystery. The next day was a write off. There is no way to describe the immense pain movement inflicted on Steve's body. Stu did manage to make it out for a wander, but this came back to haunt him in 'double pizza', literally the closest place that sold food to the hostel when they stumbled out in the late afternoon to try to keep bodies functioning. After epic amounts of sleep the pair then had a fantastic day on the BIXI bikes around Montreal, conquering the large hill behind Ma Gill, taking in the uni itself, the port, the old town (where lovely Parisian style coffee houses provided a rest stop) and the Olympic stadium. Our pair was very impressed with BIXI, which may be coming to London, keep ears to the ground. Basically, for five dollars they hired bikes all day, by keeping journeys to less than 30 mins (which is free) and whizzing between 'stations' where you can pick up or drop off bikes (you don't have to return to the station you got a bike from, you can return it anywhere... Genius!)

The next adventure is another overnight Greyhound to Toronto. The boys are less keen about this prospect now, but are going for it!!

Back in (New) England...

We're still ******! but this time due to our cunning ability to plan free brewery tours and tasting back to back and thus consume copius amounts of priceless boston ales (in more ways than one!) from 11oc onwards.. In our 2 more sober days previously we have successfully navigated Boston on foot incl 'The Freedom Trail', a ferry trip, MIT and Harvard, Downtown, the Italian Quarter and consumed $3 chicken burgers (pic left) whislt watching the Red Sox lose 12 -0! Happy! All whilst minimising cost due to excessive Florida spending. Back on the 'Hound in 2 hours for a night bus to Montreal, Canada. Bon Soir!

P.S See slideshow for Boston pics...

P.P.S Quote of the trip so far, as Stu turns on a tap to fill his water bottle, Steve asks after a four year Engineering degree that included advanced fluid dynamics..'Is that water wet?'