A week on the West Coast

Seattle, WA 13-15 July 2006
Stayed with a friend I met through couchsurfing called Scott who plays bass in a band called sea.mine (you can listen to my favourite song of their's "Knives" at http://www.myspace.com/seamine ) so got to hang out with the band - awesome guys, hope they make it to NZ some time! Also got a lot of touring of Seattle done even though I only had a couple of days there. Saw the Space Needle at the Seattle Center, the first ever Starbucks and the fish throwers at Pike Place Market, Capitol Hill, had some delicious Thai in the U-dub district and went for a swim in Green Lake

















Spokane, WA 16-20 July
Took at 6 hour train ride east to go and visit Matt in Spokane. Spent 4 days there mainly just chilling at his house which was definately needed to recover a bit from my glandular fever. Got to know his flatmates (thanks for having me!) awesome to know they'res some good people taking care of our Matt!! Managed to get into the city centre and cruise around Riverfront Park for the afternoon which was awesome and got to see some pretty cool sunsets too!



San Jose and San Francisco, CA 21-23 July
After taking 3 buses from Spokane and meeting three new people I finally arrived in San Francisco and took the train out to San Jose to stay a night with Daniel, we went clubbing with is friends and I had my first mojito - yummy!

Stayed two nights in a backpackers in San Fran, did a walking tour around the city the first day and saw Union Square, Chinatown, Little Italy (North Beach), Churches, Washington Square, The Bay Bridge, Coit Tower and finished up the day with a big bowlfull of clam chowder in Sourdough Bread and got a caricature done at Fishermans Wharf.
















The second day I rented a bike from my hostel and covered the Japan Center, Alamo Square (the famous houses from Full House), Golden Gate Park (where I went into the Conservatory of Flowers to see the butterflies), Ocean Beach, cycled across Golden Gate Bridge, Chrissy Field, Palace of Fine Arts, Ghiradelli Square, Lombard "crookedest street" and finished the day with an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe.


12 hours of biking is a lot but it was the best way to see as much of the city as possible. San Fran is probably my favourite place so far so would definately recommend a visit. Remember if you want to see the rest of the photos you can visit http://kiwigirlnextdoor.spaces.msn.com

Love you and miss you
Stay safe and don't do anything I wouldnt do
- Melissa xx