The Westside!

Chicago was great - a very nice city sitting at the side of Lake Michegan. The Waterfront was really nice and it even had a beach! Went for thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant below the Hilton which was delicious! Proper, proper food! The day after thanksgiving was mental in the city centre as its the start of sales day, so everywhere was completely packed!

A smooth flight over to Seattle found us staying at the HI hostel. A great city - really liked this one too. Had a really neat open-air market place which sold everything fresh you could possibly need. Went on a duck tour of the city (a bus that turns into a boat) with a very enthusiastic tour guide who kept trying to get us to quack at passing pedestrians - a tad embarrising! but it took us round the land and onto Union Lake to see all the expensive houseboat condos.

Now in Vancouver checking out the sites. There are spectacular mountain views at the end of every street which is a bit strange seeing them when you're in the middle of a city - but is very pretty. Went halfway up Grouse mountain on a bus yesterday to try walk to the top, but the trail was shut due to icey conditions apparently, so we resorted to a snow fight and got the next bus back down! Off to Stanley Park today for a relaxing walk round. The hostel we're staying at is very noisy! has a pub underneath it so we're having to use our earplugs - doesnt however stop the bed from vibrating with the bass! oh well, only one night more then we're off to hit the ski slopes - wahey!!