That sounds like a good trip. One I plan to do myself one day.

Do you like National Parks?

i'm not a big fan of national parks ... for some reason i'm more impressed by manmade structures than natural ones ... but i would go for a ride in a park, perhaps

Fair enough, I don't think I could go to those areas without checking out the Canadian rockies and places like Yellowstone. But i'm a big fan out mountains and stuff.

There is a cool Science Museum in Seattle where you ride a weighted bike around a 10cm wide track 10 metres up in the air.

That's all I remember about Seattle though.

...and the Space Needle, but really, been up one tall structure, been up them all, right?

olympia

k records related visit?

hmm ... hell's canyon sounds fun!

i'll be sorta near mountainy places for the conference, i think

yeah, i'm sure the space needle will be no different to centerpoint, or that one in auckland, but i bet i'll still go up it

i'm a sucker for high things

yr gonna be totally blind the whole time and only awake from yr drunken stupor just in time to catch a plane in LA so who cares where you go??

High structures are okay, if you're in a nice city, but from memory Seattle is kinda horrible.
Although it was 10 years since I've been there.

Visit Frasier?

oh my i would kill to go to portland. apparently the underground music scene there is totally awesome. portland music scene

bollocks, shunt .. i barely got blind at all last time ... too hard to work out tipping when ordering beers

p.s: i hate you michael_horse ;D

yeah, i reckon i'll wanna be in portland on a weekend, for sure ... so hard to work out, though

anyone know of gig guides, like ohmyrockness, but for this area ?

come along, canadz, you can be my vancouver guide

i don't even wanna know what rad bands you will get to see. I AM SO NOT TALKING TO YOU!!!

hides green-eyed monster

if I go to canada I will never come back

yeah except there's one extra ingredient this time that will ensure a riot of a time

nah, he's going to fugi rock instead, shunt ... ninny

*fuji

i must have been thinking of the fugees

anyway, i'm off to borders to check out some books ... there's a seattle one and a vancouver one, but that's about it :(

gah! http://www.emplive.org

There's a cool bus that runs from Seattle down through San Fran to LA. i think its the Green Tortoise. Stops along the way at springs and stuff. It's an old coverted school bus with beds, so everone gets to sleep. Pack a big bag of green.

despite you not digging nature.. you really -have- to go for a trip down the colombia river just north east of portland.. if you have access to a car its like less than an hour out of downtown.. theres a few cool manmade structures to visit (dams etc) but the river valley is just staggering in its stupidity.. 3 mile wide river with epic cliffs on either side..

downtown portland is fun.. can't really remember any venue names but theres a bit of a scene.. lots of bridges and areas to explore.. chinatown is great, from memory thats on the north western side of town..

the space needle fucking sucks in seattle.. don't waste your time.. if you want to do a cheesy tour out of boredom, the underground tour is surprisingly decent (downtown seattle is actually built one storey above ground level, and the old burnt out 'underground' remains are still accessible for a lot of the downtown).. victoria markets in seattle are neat..

the boeing factory about an hours drive north near redmond (eek) is kinda interesting.. if you like junk there are a couple of boeing surplus outlets around seattle too which are neat to rummage through..

the drive from seattle -> portland is quick and easy.. never stopped in olympia but it looks neat.. you'd better like pine trees though, cause once you get out of the seattle->seatac->tacoma->olympia stretch, thats all you will see until you get to portland :)

jealous i am

Horsey, Are you driving down to LA? If so, you have the drive through the redwood forest and along the coast. There are huge redwood trees that you can drive through - amazing.

Also, stop for a pizza about a days drive from Portland, youll know the place, it says PIZZA in big letters and its the best pizza ever. Also sells soda.

theres some amazing redwood forests on the south side of san francisco.. muir woods is probably the most famous, but theres a bunch on the road from SF down to santa cruz

nah, i reckon i'll bus/train it from vancouver down to portland, stopping along the way, then fly the last 2 hops (portland -> sf, sf->la) ... too long of a stretch to go via road .. so much wasted time

Check out Portlandia. She's big. (Well, technically, the second-biggest female statue in the US, but you get the point.)

Also: go on a Twin Peaks locale-seeking trip in Washington, or a Vertigo locale-seeking trip in San Francisco. Though it probably helps if you like those two things first.

yeah, i'd be up for a twin peaks tour, for sure!

do they take you to the red room ?

SF -> LA won't really be a whole lot quicker if you fly and it will be a hell of a lot more of a pain in the arse.

ORLY?

so what is the best way to get from sf to la then ?
train ?
greyhound ?

i'm all for less flying, if possible, it's just that the bus from portland to sf is like, 24 hours, and only $50 cheaper than flying

go to mount st helens

go to the doug fir lounge in portland, no doubt a quality act will be performing.

avoid san fran (i hated it)

don't underestimate the awesomeness of LA

rilly ?
awesome ?

i dunno about LA .. unless i'm gonna end up scammin' on movie stars or something

Info on visiting Twin Peaks sites Photos and stuff. Another site with info.

Grr, formatting.

nice ... would probably need to rent a car to visit those places though, which would involve *gulp* driving

stuff in LA is really cheap. The food is fantastic, alot of sights to see (if yr big on movies 'n' shit).

san fran was like a dirty sydney to me. i dunno, i wasn't fussed. you'd need a car in LA, tho.

Horse: lotsa rural driving. Just get a big-ass F-250 and you'll be fine.

but yeah. spend heaps of time in portland, it rules.

Mt Shasta's supposed to be cool. I've only ever seen it from the train.
The train that goes from Van down to SF / LA is ace - big panoramic windows in the lounge, awesome views.

If you're going to bother going to places like Olympia, and you can get far enough North, don't forget to drop into Anacortes. Beautiful sleepy town and home of some great artists and musicians - mostly to be found around a hub called Department of Safety. And if you're going that far already, don't neglect to drop by Victoria in British Columbia (Canada) - it's very nearby and also beautiful and full of creative people.

If I was in the PNW this weekend I'd be checking out the SubPop 20th anniversary gig with Mudhoney and the Vaselines!