USA Trip 1, March 2010

Thought I might look back at previous trips before looking ahead to Europe. I first went to the US in March of 2010. I had gone to meet a man, very cliched but a good push to travel as I had always dreamed. America had never really been on my travel list, but I had made several friends there with the miracle that is Twitter, so I decided to throw caution to the wind. My daughter was 2 at the time, my son 6 and I left them with their Dad and left for 10 days. Ten days is a fast trip, but was all I was prepared to leave the kids for. The flight over was quite good - the middle seat was vacant and the young guy on the aisle seat was quiet and friendly. I had a window seat and slept a fair part of the way. My first international trip as a solo traveller. I. Loved. It. Truly it was addictive. The queues for passport and security checks, the hanging out waiting for ages in airport lounges - and not the fancy ones - I was a budget basement traveller. Watched a few movies on the flight - no back of seat screens for bargain basement United Airlines... But I didn't care. I was going OVERSEAS!!!! We landed in San Francisco, and then I made a connecting flight to PDX. Portland, Oregon. I had friends there, and this was where the guy I was interested in met me. We had an amazing trip, it was giddy, happy, beautiful love. We met other friends that night in Portland, spent some time at his parents place, then took his 2 children up to friends in Seattle to stay whilst we spent time on our own.

5:30am, a Tuesday morning, barely Spring in Seattle and the weather was still quite cool. We had a long drive ahead as we spent two days driving down the coast to San Francisco. Because we wanted to go via the coast, that was a good 1430 kilometre trip. I wasn't familiar with Seattle, but we needed an early breakfast and bland but reliable IHOP was yet to open. Eventually, Phil, my man friend, remembers a diner he used to frequent when he had lived in Seattle years before. It's called Beth's, and was featured once on Man Vs Food for their 12 egg omelette. I settle for something far smaller and tamer, but the atmosphere and patron drawings that adorn the wall make a lasting impression.

Our coastal drive is fun and uneventful. We drive through the Chandelier tree - a trunk so enormous our car fits through the centre of it!! We eventually cross the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. I love the city. It's pier, it's views of the bay, the City Lights Bookstore, The Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park, Coit Tower, the St Patricks Day Parade that went FOREVER! Alcatraz I did not get time to explore, but saw from a distance... next time. Loved the crooked Lombard Street and the exterior Full House shot at Alamo Square, though apparently now a dodgy area of town. The view of the bay and Bridge from Marin Headlands was breathtaking.

We had dinner with a bunch of twitter friends at Bucca Di Beppo, and explored the strangeness of supermarkets with foreign candy and every flavour of vodka imaginable. Dark cherry mochas at Starbucks became a favourite too. We toured Ghiradelli chocolates and had cob bowl clam chowder at Fishermans wharf. I even had bacon flavoured chocolate! Grace Cathedral was stunning and I spent time there taking photos and enjoying the quiet. We had dinner at an amazing little diner that I think has since closed down on my final night. La Antica Trattoria it was called, and it was beautiful.

Time came to leave and our farewell at the airport was emotional and tear filled, the trip home uneventful. I would return.