The USA was not going to be a large part of this trip, on previous trips we had visited a number of States, there was five places we wanted to visit on this trip. Seattle, Detroit, Boston, WDC and Provincetown.
Seattle started out as a logging town, then grew as a stop-off point for gold prospectors at the end of the 19th century. It was called “Jet City”, when plane manufacturer Boeing rose to prominence in the 1950s and 60s. Seattle began to shake off its blue-collar roots and in recent years its cultural credentials have been boosted by the addition of the Olympic Sculpture Park and a showpiece public library.
They say it was Seattle’s free spirit that gave birth to Grunge, therefore I was not sure what to expect on arrival. I was pleasantly surprised, as Seattle has been blessed with a beautiful setting from green wilderness to the west, volcanoes and glaciers to the east, and all around the brisk waters of the Northwest. The viewing deck on the Space Needle is a great way to see this.
We spent a few hours at a wonderful exhibit showcasing the studio glass of Dale Chihuly, it is truly the best I have seen.
Museum of Pop Culture is definitely worth a visit, it has a Sound Lab, where you can jam, sing, pick and drum as loud as you want, Martin tried to bring out his inner pop star, TG the room was sound proof!!!.
It also featured a temporary exhibit of Jim Henson’s work (the maker of the Muppet Show) it brought back lots of childhood memories.
For fresh produce in Seattle the Pike markets is the place to go. Bill Speidel’s Underground tour is a must if you are interested in how the city was built.
Lake Union Seattle
As for grunge seemingly, it was Grunge music that came out of the city in the early 90s, when local bands like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam and Nirvana were around, otherwise no grunge to be seen. Despite its rapid growth, Seattle has kept its trees and parks and many areas maintain an almost suburban feel. The city and its residents are laidback and liberal, and that famous free spirit is as at home in the great outdoors as in Seattle’s bohemian neighbourhoods.
Detroit was full of interesting characters, our main reason for the visit was Martin wanted to visit the Pawn Shop from the TV show Hard Core Pawn he was delighted that Les the owner was in the shop, he is a nice guy, we had a good chat with him and he seemed happy to get into a photo with us.
The City of Detroit was better than I expected, it had the look of a city that had been through hard times but was once again about to take off. It was nice that their baseball and football pitches where in the city centre and the people seemed very passionate about their sports.
Boston City is very compact and full of history.
The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum plus the Old State House Museum, (from the balcony the Declaration of independence was read) is worth a visit. We wondered around Harvard and M.I.T but did not feel any the wiser from doing so.
We had a cold Samuel Adams Beer in the Beantown pub across the road from (The cold Samuel Adams).
We could not be in Boson without a visit to Cheers “Where everybody knows your name”
We stayed just outside Boston City at a place called Salem the location of the infamous Salem witch trials of 1962. Very interesting place, it would be a great place to visit around Halloween.
The main reason for our visit to Boston was to see the Red Sox play a baseball game at the Famous Fenway Park, On Patriot day, the same day as the Boston marathon, but to our disappointment the game was cancelled as the weather was so bad. 😫😫😫. There was not another game on while we were in town. We did a tour of Fenway Park; a game would have been wonderful but not to worry we will just have to come back !!!!
Washington DC
So nice to be back to warmer weather. Washington looks beautiful this time of year with gorgeous Cherry blossoms and nice green lush grass after a long winter.
We did all the touristy things, like visit Capitol Hill, Lincoln Memorial, the Pentagon, the White House (very surprised we were not invited for drinks with Macrone and Trump, but then again did we really want to spend an evening in Trumps presence!!!). The Botanical Gardens, the Smithsonian Air and Space museums was amazing, if you are interested in Flying and Space plus the history of both this is the place for you, to the first attempts of landing on the moon and the first women to fly across the Atlantic Amelia Earhart, it is all here, I would suggest the full day for this museum. I do not think Martin would have made it as an astronaut, while in space one must exercise for 3 hours a day not my man. The Spy Museum was also good fun. Most of the museums and gardens have free entry here which was a pleasant surprise. My sister that lives in Nashville Tennessee came to WDC for the weekend to catch-up with us, it was great to see her and her husband Wally we had 2 lovely days together.
We spent another day walking through Georgetown a really nice part of the city, it reminded me of Paddington in Sydney, very trendy and expensive.
We also had dinner with Meredith a beautiful young girl that was part of our group that did the 4-day trek to Machu Picchu, it was so nice to see her and to hear about her recent travels to India and Sri-lanka. Overall a great week in WDC.
Provincetown
Provincetown is a beautiful costal town at the very point of Cape Cod. It was wonderful to walk across the breakwater out to two Light houses Wood end and Long Point. The break point is over a mile long one-way on giant uneven boulders, With high tide lurking to swamp or strand you it is a lovely walk to do but watch your step.
They have the most beautiful homes clad with wooden shingles. I would love to build a home like this back in Australia. The people are very friendly, and the food was great. There is also some very nice hikes you can do out to the coast.
We did take a ferry across to the island of Martha’s Vineyard, and thought we would spend the day visiting wineries, but although it is a beautiful Island there was not one grape to be seen on the island. Seemingly the founder of Martha’s Vineyard had a daughter called Martha and when he first founded the island wild grapes were growing, but that was it for grape growing. This is what happens when you do not investigate the area you plan to visit. You can be sure we found a pub. The island has 6 towns which offer a one of a kind image to the world, from the Victorian gingerbread homes in Oak Bluff to the Stately mansions of Edgartown to the rambling up island farmhouses. The island is unique in many ways there are no traffic lights, no fast food and no chain stores, Outdoor lighting is kept to a minimum, the better to enjoy the extraordinary night sky.
Provincetown is full of Art Galleries, restaurants and coffee shops. One restaurant we particularly liked was Fanizzi’s it is right on the water and the service and food was very good.
Both Provincetown and Martha’s Vineyard are places in the USA that I would revisit.