Hi Steemians! I hope you are all well! Today I think was due a travel post and what better than to start with our incredible trip to America, we loved exploring Portland, Seattle and Oregon and can't wait to share what we got up to! - Verity x
I had been to America only once before this trip, but to Miami, somewhere completely different to the Pacific Coast. We had been planning and researching our trip for months and couldn't wait to get there! Chris hadn't been to America before and knowing his love for American TV and food I wanted to make sure we had the BEST time! We were going there initially to a photography conference so spent most of the time in Portland, but as the flight was over 9 hours we decided to make the trip 3 weeks long so that we had enough time to explore the surrounding areas. We started our journey in Seattle. Some of you might remember my post on Pike Place Market, it was a few months ago ! But I thought I would start our journey after that. We spent a wonderful day exploring the Market and it got us excited about what else this amazing city had to offer!
Everywhere we looked around the center of the city there was something amazing to see or another detail. The streets at night looked so beautiful, all the lights lit up and the hustle and bustle of city life still going on deep into the night.
Even the pavements had amazing details on them. I have always admired how American cities are laid out all neatly with their rows and streets so that just with a number you can work out how many blocks you need to walk or exactly where you are. Now go to London and it's a whole new story!! Even if you got lost in Seattle and couldn't see the signs from where you were just look down at the pavements!
Pike Place Market looked just as good at night time as it did in day! I loved getting new angles on this iconic tourist attraction! The light up sign was so amazing and visible for quite far! We headed inside once more to do a bit of street photography before we called it a night!
The market was still so busy even at this time, there were people walking around and carrying boxes, maybe stocking up for the next day of sales, either way it was great to get an action shot of all this action! I always tend to put my street photography in black and white, and I have noticed a lot of other people do the same, I would really love to know why we are drawn to black and white street photographs more, but maybe it's because it turns them more into a piece of art and makes you observe the lines, patterns and shapes instead of getting distracted by colours. Whatever the reason I don't think I will change mine to colour that often!
In the distance from the back of the market you could see out to the sea and also this amazing ferris wheel! I am pretty sure Seattle is known for being rainy, like the UK!, so the ferris wheel all lit up definitely stood out from the gloomy weather!
Day, 2 - Capital Hill and meeting Bill Clinton !!
I don't think we quite knew what we were in for this day! But it started out by getting an UBER, we asked to go somewhere cool with lots to see and maybe a museum, lots of shops and restaurants, so the UBER driver took us to Capital Hill. The amazing center of Seattle's LGBT community. Known for it's vibrant boardwalks and nightlife we were excited to go explore the area! The driver stopped off down a little side road and out we get.... first thing we saw were lots of police on bikes. We didn't think much of it to begin with, but then we saw a film crew... and then we heard people whisper something about a US President! Wanting to know a little more we went inside the bookstore where most of the activity was going on and who was stood there ??! Non other than BILL CLINTON! YUP! We were a bit in awe! Just as we went inside he was walking out shaking everyone's hands as he went by, he came by us and offered to shake our hand... so we did ! Saying what a pleasure it was to meet him! We couldn't quite believe that the second day we were in America we ended up meeting and speaking to a past president !! That is not normal!! It happened so quickly we didn't really have time to process it! Luckily we had our cameras so that although we weren't quite taking it in, our cameras where! Although his guards weren't too keen on the look of our pro camera's and quickly stopped us getting any more! These are the shots we go, and it will always be an amazing story to tell, the day we met Bill Clinton!
I am not entirely sure how to follow on from that, and neither were we at the time! The first thing to did was ring our parents back in the UK, I am not quite sure they believed us but it was a fun story to tell them! We thought heading to a diner for a good American burger and milkshake was what we needed, luckily there was one on the same street so we headed inside for our first proper taste of American food since arriving!
I loved the look of this diner, it was really authentic, or at least made to look it! I loved the menu options, so many to choose from! Chris of course went for a burger, he had been waiting for this moment for quite a while I think! It definitely lived up to his expectations and even better as it had a brioche bun, whenever we have burgers back here if they are in a normal bun it just isn't acceptable anymore!
After some food we wanted to explore more of Capital Hill on foot. We loved how all the crossings on the road were painted with rainbows. It was such a vibrant place, walking around we got a real sense of community and it had a really lovely atmosphere. There were loads of coffee shops to go in and lots of shops to browse. It was so great for street photography too!
Probably an odd thing to take photographs of, but I loved all the street signs, I think whenever you are in a different country you are bound to find the things that most people would see as boring, as interesting as they are different to your own country! I like all the stickers that had been stuck to these signs!
As we walked along Broadway we came across these amazing bronze dancing steps in the pavement. Designed by Jack Mackie and Charles Greening these are art installations that are interactive! You can learn how to briefly do dances from the Tango to the Waltz but walking on the bronze steps! It felt a little odd giving it a go with people around but no one seemed to mind and it was worth having fun!
All the signage around on the shops and billboards was all very inspiring. It was so nice to see somewhere be so open and genuine with these beliefs and ways of life, I mean why shouldn't it all be accepted everywhere already?!
Chris hadn't quite had his milkshake fix so we stopped in at "Dick's" to get another!! It was more like a kiosk than a drive in but so cool and so very cheap!!
The light walking around the streets was beautiful, it was casting lovely shadows and light on everything, even the fire hydron's looked pretty in this light! We don't have them in our country so maybe it was again my fascination with the new that made me take this photo!
Volunteer Park
After an amazing morning - to say the least! - we thought we would go for a bit of a walk and see what we found so we headed for Volunteer Park. Whilst we had some of this lovely sun, which was actually really warm even though it was January! I guess we have got too used to winters over here in the UK! We sat and enjoyed this amazing view of the Seattle Skyline with the Space Needle visible in the distance. There was a doughnut shaped sculpture too! The light was so pretty.
The park was huge, I think it's just below 50 acres, which is rather large. There were amazing rows of high trees with beautifully laid paths. I can imagine this would be an amazing park to go running in!! Again the light walking around was so nice and warm!
There was this amazing building near the park that we noticed. It had such a prominent point to where the two walls joined, I have never seen something like that before, really interesting, I wonder what it looked like inside!!
Asian Art Museum
We came across this amazing museum by fluke really, but as keen art admirers and everything Asian we knew we had to go and take a look! We were instantly blown away by how much art there was and the quality of it, really amazing pieces. We managed to get a few photos as we walked around so I hope you enjoy seeing it through our lenses!
We loved this sculpture below, made out of china, it had a real ethereal quality to it, behind the sculpture was a table on which laid lots of broken china, it was all so decorative and really interesting.
One of my favourite displays we saw were all these Chinese medicine bottles, it was so amazing to see how decorated they were considering how small and intricate the bottles were. It was amazing to see how well preserved a lot of them still where even with the lids still intact!
After the tour of the museum we took a quick UBER back to our accommodation but first took a little detour to University Village, and wow was that a good decision!! It's Seattle's only outdoor shopping area and it was just amazing. The selection of shops was unlike anywhere we have been before and it was just decorated so nicely. We went at just the right time as it was nearing sunset so all the lights on the trees an shops were all lit up. It was honestly the best shopping mall/area we have ever been too, I really really wish we had somewhere like this here! There were restaurants and amazing food shops as well so it wasn't just retail! If you haven't been or have the chance to go I highly recommend it!
It even had a huge Amazon Bookstore, something we have never seen anywhere! In an era where books are becoming less and less popular it was so amazing to see a huge store dedicated to books. We must have spent at least an hour looking around at all the books, the selection was amazing.
So far, only Day 2 into our American adventure and we can safely say that Seattle had won us over. It was easy to navigate, everyone was friendly. It had an amazing mixture of art and culture with beautiful shops to browse and places to visit. The food was so far amazing and well.. meeting a president is a hard one to top! I look forward to sharing the next installment of our trip! Have any of you guys been to Seattle?? or any of the places we went to too?
- Verity x
Photography by me and copyrighted to me.
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