Seattle part 2 - Day of the double header

OK. We arrived yesterday in Portland, which means it's time to recapture the last two days in Seattle. Our hosts in Seattle, Timm & Jenny are probably the biggest sports fans I've ever met. The team in their heart? The Seattle sounders! So when we were still planning our trip they contacted us to ask if we could try to be in Seattle for this sunday. The reason was that they wanted to get us tickets for a double header. A double header means two games in a day, Seattle Mariners baseball game & Seattle sounders soccer game. Game day in Timms & Jennys house is serious business! Again we warmed up with mimosas before it was time for the first event, the baseball game. We met up with some of Jennys friends at Pyramid's alehouse. It's located next to the stadium so it was a great place to start. After a few refreshing drinks we hit the game. Just walking there was an orgy in the american cliches we've come to love. The air was thick with the smell of pop corn, hot dogs and cotton candy. Baseball is a family friendly sport and everywhere you'd see a lot of parents with their kids dressed up in Mariners apparel.

To be honest baseball is a pretty boring game and most people we met agree on it. A game can go on for hours and there's not a lot of action. However it is a quite pleasant experience. You meet up with friends, have a few drinks and chat. Occasionally someone hits a ball and you cheer for awhile. The big game for the day was however the Sounders game. We met up with some of Timms friends in a bar full of Sounders fans. The atmosphere was amazing. A derby with their worst rival Portland is the biggest event for them and it was equal parts tension and anticipation.

After a few steady pints we met up for the "march to the match". The march starts in Occidental park and ends at CenturyLink field where they play their home games. Pretty soon you are caught up in the chanting. Smoke sticks and flares color the skye blue and green, and as you approach the arena the singing escalate into a frenzy. We took place on the stands and the next 90 minutes we were singing, jumping & cheering as if our lives depended on it. It was one of the best experiences in my life! 

How the game ended? 1 - 0 to the Sounders! High on euphoria and with the pride reserved for the victors, we walked heads held high out into the warm Seattle night...

A long-awaited return to the west coast...

We are back! Those of you who have followed this blog know that I haven't had the time or energy to update it for a long while, but now it's time again! We arrived two days ago in our beloved Seattle! Back in 2010 we met some really good friends and we have since then planned on returning. So first stop was Seattle and we landed after a 24 hour marathon trip on Seattle Tacoma airport. A short taxi ride later we found ourselves in Ballard in north Seattle. Last trip we stayed in Fremont, but since our friends moved house, Ballard will be our home for the next few days! For those of you travelling to Seattle I highly recommend leaving downtown and go for areas such as Fremont, Ballard or Crown hill. These areas are everything I love with Seattle. Charming town houses, friendly neighbourhood bars and so full of life. After catching up with some old friends from portland we took another taxi to Timm & Jenny, our hosts for the stay. The last years I have developed a passion for craft beer and what could be better than one of the greatest bottle shops I've ever encountered sitting next door to their house. Chuck's 85th has over a thousand different bottles in their selection, and what a selection!

The two days we've been here so far has been a lot of catching up, old memories and bar hopping. Ballard and nearby Fremont offers a great variety of bars, restaurants & thrift stores. The beer selection has exploded since last time and in some bars you cant even find a lager. Timm started us of with his signature manmosas(mimosas, but dont you dare say it!!!) and then we randomly hit bars and restaurants. We stopped for food at Blue C Sushi, they have a revolving sushi belt with some of the best sushi dishes I've ever tried. When they pass your table you grab one of the belt. They are all color coded and priced accordingly. A bit pricey since it's hard to stop eating, but a sensational food experience. 

The day and folloving evening turned out to be a big blur of events, people, bars & beers. What i learned about the people from these parts of Seattle is that they are friendly, social, laid back people. As long as you dont give any attitude they'll embrace you with open arms. The night ended at a local favorite, the mexican restaurant El Chupacabra. Dishing out mission style burritos, generous margaritas and with a cheerful crowd of local customers, this is another must if in Seattle. We somehow managed to get back to the house sometime that night and as a nightcap we shared one of my findings from Chuck's, an amazing american sour beer!

I'll try to update soon but today is game day and we're in a hurry. Go Sounders!!!!

Mobile - U.S.S Alabama

Since my childhood years I've been slightly obsessed with WWII. You'll have to forgive a young boys childish impression of a war as a great adventure. The evil nazis, the battered allied forces that barely manage to turn the tides of war. It's one of those moments in time where fact is greater than fiction. Growing up witnessing the wars of our time I realize of course wars are terrible, terrible things, however I have kept my fascination with anything WWII-related. On with the story.

Between the coast of Florida and the coast of Mississipi, the state of Alabama claims a small piece of the coast of the mexican gulf. Located here is the city of Mobile. And in this city there is something I had been dying to see. An actual WWII battle ship, the U.S.S Alabama, which served in the pacific campaign.

It was a good stop anyways for us travelling from the panhandle to New Orleans. We arrived noon-ish and the drive there was pretty neat following the coast. Even from a distance you could make out the gigantic landmark that the ship has now become. Compared to a modern time aircraft carrier I guess it's not as impressive but I was in awe for sure. The ship is now a museum and besides the ship there is an old WWII submarine, a bunch of airplanes and some tanks, all from that era. Admission is damn cheap if you ask me. 2 dollar parking and 12 dollar admission to the park for each adult. And for that you get a lot. We started out touring the ship and as we boarded I was awe struck once more. What a beast of a war machine. There is guns in any direction and caliber you could think of. And that brought a certain reality check to what life must have been like on a ship like this during wartime. The feeling intensified as you toured the crews living quarters. This was their home and only life support out on the great ocean. With nowhere else to go their only chance of survival was to fight of their attackers or perish. All the sudden the guns made a lot of sense.

It's pretty weird standing on the deck of a warship in the hot july sun, staring down the barrel of a machine gun, while kids are running around laughing and tourists are taking photographs. But you get a small sense of what it must have felt like back in the days. Staring at the sky, waiting for what's to come. The ship is a labyrinth of stairs and ladders, and it does take a lot of climbing and squeezing through narrow passages to get around. Funny enough my two greatest fears are heights and narrow spaces, but I guess the pure excitement made me forget all about it. I made it all the way to the top while M decided to wait a few storeys down.

On the way to the submarine you pass trough a hangar with some really neat fighter aircrafts. Best part of the hangar though is that it is air-conditioned. The submarine, the U.S.S Drum also served during WWII. Sinking cargo ships and laying out mines were some of her tasks. This is the most claustrophobic part of the tour. I had to push myself to go in there. The ship is in really great condition and most def worth it if you have it in you. It blows my mind that people lived here for weeks during missions. After just twenty minutes I was dying to get out. It's small, dark and extremely hot in there.

To end the tour we went and checked out some WWII-tanks on display out by the parking lot. By then we felt like we'd seen more war memorabilia then you can take in, in a day so we gave em a quick look and huddled back to the car. If you ever pass this way I do recommend a stop. It's fairly cheap and I doubt you'll ever find such a collection in one place somewhere else. Stay tuned for more. Next up is the big easy!

Panama City Beach - Exploring the panhandle

An explanation is at place. Some of you will have noticed that the blog hasn't been updated for a long time and that there is quite much left to write about. As we arrived in Sweden we were met by some really bad news that occupied our thoughts for quite some time. Now everything is OK again and I will do my best to finish writing about our road trip, even though school has started again. Here goes...

Life is a beach. At least it should be. Just an image of a beach - be it a picture or a painting sets off a firework of emotions in me, and I find myself longing to be there. The sound of waves, soothing like a lullaby. Each wave with the promise that after it's hasty return a new one will take it's place. Again, and again, and again. It's infinity in the making, and in it's presence I feel part of that infinity in a way that every moment seems like it will last forever. And what better place to spend infinity than with the warm sun in your face, your feet buried in the soft white sand, tuning yourself in with the universe. Needless to say we love the beach and we are always in search of that perfect one. That search led us to Florida's panhandle, famous for it's stunning beaches.

The panhandle - named so since Florida looks like a giant pan(debatable I guess) and the westmost part as it's handle, has a great number of beaches to choose from. After thoughtful consideration we chose two spend our two available nights at Panama City Beach. It seemed a perfect combination of a great beach and good nightlife. More then any people I know americans like to enjoy themselves while on vacation. That's probably why there are so many places spread out through the country, that seem to exist for the sole purpose of providing entertainment for the whole family. Panama City Beach is one of those places. Motels and hotels facing the water were priced in the upper scale, but not wanting to waste valuable beach time we soon settled for one that looked at it would give good value for those dollars. The Chateau motel had really luxurious rooms facing the ocean, and after checking in we had but to walk out our doors to grab a sun chair on the sun deck. A few cold ones later we decided to check out the nightlife along Front Beach rd. The road that runs parallel with the length of the beach, is packed with surf shops, bars and restaurants. Youngsters rented scooters from the many vendors located here and tried to race up and down this main road, only to be caught in the ever growing weekend traffic. Cars packed with hopeful vacationers like us trying to get the last available rooms. Seing this chaos we grew confident our choice to pick a place no matter the price was the right one. 

We only had to walk to the neighboring restaurant for our first Margarita on a patio by the sea. The house band were playing super cheesy covers which fit perfect with the tacky theme. The atmosphere was family friendly and it suited us just fine after our crazy week in New York. The rest of the night was spent strolling up and down Front beach Rd just enjoying the laid back bars and night clubs.

Next day we hit the sun deck as soon as we woke up. When ever you got to hot from laying in the sun you would just run down to the ocean to cool off. It was magical. After a few hours we started getting hungry and decided to grab lunch at Hooters. Hooters is a tacky chain of restaurants with the only requirements for their staff, to be female and have the "right" size bra. However it is nothing like a strip club, it's pretty much your everyday budget restaurant. We've been somewhat reluctant to try it out in the past but since it was right next to our hotel and had a patio facing the beach we gave it a go. Try everything once right?  Not many vegetarian options but the deepfried jalapenos made it all worthwile. They also served some mean margaritas that improved the rating for us. The rest of the day was pretty much a copy of the night before so I'm not gonna go in to details on that. Especially since there is so much more interesting stuff coming up that I wanna share. So stay tuned....

Madeira Beach - a Deja vu

America - the land of contradictions. So many layers I feel it sometimes is impossible to say what is America, and what is an American?

And so it was time for us to leave New York and all our friends behind. A feeling of mixed emotions, sadness and excitement. The knowledge that we had barely scratched the surface and yet that urge to go explore something completely new. A passion we have shared together since that very first trip to the states, to seek and find the real America. So we said our goodbyes to Mikael with that strange feeling, that even if we are seing each other back in Sweden, we will never be able to re-create what we shared anywhere but here.

A rooftop brunch in Brooklyn seemed a fitting end to the N.Y-adventure. A couple of blueberry sangrias and a perfectly executed Eggs Benedicte later, we soon enough were flying into a setting sun against the Manhattan skyline. We arrived in Tampa, Florida, close to midnight and we had just about time to pick up our rental and take off. We picked the closest motel, a La Quinta Inn since we were knackered and just wanted to get some sleep. Before bed we ventured cross the street to a night open IHOP. An old time favorite that I should stay clear off since I'm trying to quit carbs, but hey it's vacation.

So as the subtitle hints you about, we were in for a deja vu. Two of them as a matter of fact. Last year we met this great couple in Key West on a sunset cruise, Rob & Maureen. We spent one night chatting away in a bar and immediately hit it off like we'd known each others for year. They live in Tampa so we made plans to meet up with them before we had to go north. When looking at places to meet up we suddenly realized we were right by the coast and the same beach we stayed on last year, Madeira Beach. We gave Rob and Maureen a call and they were game for meeting up for dinner by the beach. Last summer we found a great little motel sitting right at the beach front so we crossed our fingers and drove out there. Much to our luck we found that the Surfs Inn Motel was vacant.

The Surfs Inn is a fantastic spot. The beach is beautiful and right outside your door. You wake up and you get right into the ocean. The inn itself is a rather rundown place and the staff have their ups and downs as far as service goes. That's not why you stay there though. Its strength is the people who stay there. People that have walked the walk of life and always have a story they are willing to share. At night by the pool they gather, they drink and they talk. Since it's on the west coast you can watch the sun set into the ocean and then talk the night away before the sunrise chases away the last diehards, for a few hours of rest. Last year we met awesome friends there and I was hoping by some chance they might also be there still. Never gone. Before dinner we walked down to John's pass, a gathering of surf shops, bars and other beach related shops. Crossing one of the bridges we caught a glimpse of our first ever free living dolphins. Super cool! While shopping around for useless knick knacks we got the call that Rob and Maureen was on the way so we hurdled back home.

We met up with them at the hotel and right away we were catching up. We shared some drinks by the pool before getting dinner at nearby Screwi Louie's. A typical beach shack with an outdoor patio and cocktails served in plastic mugs. Right up my alley. It was a great dinner with great conversations. Such a fantastic way for us to learn about the american culture from the people living in it. The night continued pool side as is custom at the Surfs Inn until they eventually had to make the drive back. A warm welcome to the south with good food, good stories and great friends. Hope to see y'all soon,