Seattle is located between Puget Sound and Lake Washington; the Olympic Mountains on the east and the Cascade Mountain Range on the west surround it. The bodies of water join together in the city center of Seattle and form Lake Union, it is a quiet, calm, and serene lake with small, medium, and large boats for all uses parked along the edges of the lake. Houseboats are congregated together on one side creating a floating neighborhood of character and uniqueness. The houseboats are all unique, the size, structure, design, paint job, and exterior additions like plants and furniture vary by house. Three of the four directions you look you will see boats docked and houses up the hills. If you look to the one remaining direction you will see the Seattle skyline with all its skyscrapers and buildings including the Space Needle, which creates a beautiful scene to look at with the water in front.

           In 1851, when settlers where moving from the east coast towards the west coast, they arrived in Seattle and called it New York. The name was then changed to New York-Alki, which means by-and-by. Seattle got its name from Chief Seattle, which was a local Suquamish Native American tribe in 1853, due to his friendliness to the white settlers. Seattle is also known as the rain city due to its wet climate. Seattle receives its heaviest rain of the year in November. On our first full day in Seattle, we experienced the blowing misty rain as it hit us while walking to our destinations. On the second day, it was comfortable enough to only have to wear a light coat because the sun was peaking through the clouds.

             In the spring of 1889, Seattle had little rain and warm temperatures, which sounds like a nice change of events. This nice change of events turned to devastation on the afternoon of June 6^th when the “Great Fire” occurred. The fire began on First Avenue and Madison Avenue; the fire was not fully extinguished until three in the morning on that following day. The reason for lengthy time period between the start and end of the fire was due to the dry weather and a bad water supply. Twenty-five city blocks were completely demolished as a result of the fire. The rebuilding and reengineering of the city began immediately; the streets and sidewalks were raised up twenty-two feet. Underneath the new level of the city is the “Underground City”, Rowin’ D. Boat our Ride the Ducks driver and tour guide explained to us what the skylights currently in the sidewalks were used for in the past. For the first couple years after the ground level was raised, they had yet to build the sidewalks to be level with the street so every time you wanted to enter a building you would have to climb down steps to go twenty-two feet below ground to enter the building and the same for exiting the building and getting back to street level.

             Lying on the Elliott Bay, Pike Place Market came to be due to onions and a Seattle city councilman, Thomas Revelle. In 1906 the cost of onions went up ten times the actual amount due to the middlemen increasing their charges for the produce. Thomas Revelle came up with the concept of a farmers market, which would allow customers to purchase produce directly from the farmers without the need for middlemen. Pike Place Market opened August 17^th of 1907 with a total of eight farmers selling their produce to a crowd of ten thousand visitors. After the instant sell out due to the big crowds, a building was built for the market, which opened at the end of 1907. Pike place Market is known around the world as “America’s premier farmers’ market” due to the 190 arts and crafts vendors, 100 farmers, 240 street performers and musicians, 200 commercial businesses, and 300 apartments units. This market is one of the highest visited places in Washington; it receives around ten million visitors per year on average. The fourteen of us became a statistic as we visited this market in order to see for ourselves what was so good about this market and all of its offerings. You hear musicians playing in the streets as you pass a street performer while entering the market where you are greeted by the distinct smell of fresh fish while staring a giant catfish in the face. The products being sold at Pike Place Market range in category. There is fresh produce and fish along with many types of crafts from fused glass jewelry to handmade leather notebooks with handmade paper inside. We purchased everything from honey crisp apples, carrots, and oranges to jewelry, engraved rocks, and a musical instrument.

             In 1962, Seattle sponsored a world’s fair, which left the city a legacy includes the space needle, which extends 605 feet in to the air; the theme of this fair was the 21^st century. Edward E. Carlson designed this piece of architecture and was there every step of the way through the good and the bad. The Space Needle is located on a 120 foot by 120-foot piece of land, which was purchased in 1961 for seventy five thousand dollars. The 467 cement trucks used to pour the foundation set the record in the West for the largest uninterrupted cement transfer. The building was completed in December of 1961 but the official opening did not occur until April 21^st of 1962, which was the first day of the fair. The elevators to carry the visitors to the top travels at a rate of ten miles per hour which is the same rate in which a raindrop falls to the surface of the earth. The elevators have windows on the side of them that faces outwards, the view is gorgeous as you ride up because the angle is constantly changing revealing new bits and pieces of the city every step of the way. Some people did not experience the view because they either had their hands over their eyes or kept their eyes shut for the ride up due to their fear of heights. Twenty thousand people traveled to the top of the Space Needle during the World’s Fair of 1962. The iconic image and uniqueness of this building catches your attention as you look up at Seattle’s skyline. The view we all experienced from the observation deck of the Space Needle was like no other, the city and building lights beaming through the darkness of the night showed the intensity and opportunities that Seattle has to offer. The Spaghetti factories neon sign caught out attention due to the fact we had seen it previously from ground level.

             The Experience Music Project (EMP) opened its door in the year 2000 with modern style and innovation. The Experience Music Project is an interactive music museum. The museum is located north of downtown Seattle near the Space Needle. Frank Gehry designed the building; its unusual design was used in order to represent the fluidity and uniqueness of music. The Experience Music Project’s building is made up of aluminum and stainless steel which is painted red and blue with either a purple, silver, or gold finish giving each section of the building its own distinct look. The co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, founded the Experience Music Project. The equipment and technology present in the museum is unlike any other experiences you have come across at other museums, the ground breaking technology to the shrunken down movie studio recording. As you walk from the lobby to the area of the building with the exhibits and digital lab, you cross through the Sky Church. The Sky Church is a giant room with a huge video screen spanning the length of the wall playing music videos from White Flag by Dido to Smells like Teen Spirit by Nirvana. The exhibits we visited at the museum were: Horror Movies, Avatar, Battlestar Galactica, Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, and the digital lab.

           As you walk in to the Avatar exhibit you see a Microsoft Surface, which is a big touch screen computer measuring forty inches across positioned parallel to the floor on a table. In the center of the exhibit there is booth where you have the option to go inside and follow the footsteps on the floor as they light up while following the instructions on the screen about what you should be doing with your arms. It takes your movements and makes it so the avatar is doing your exact movements; the thirty-second video has been uploaded instantly to YouTube by the time you step out of the booth. The technology present in the EMP that the visitor gets to interact with is not the normal technology the average person comes in contact with daily. In the digital lab you can play an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboard, electronic drums, sing in a studio, and use an audio mixer in a studio room. You walk in to a little booth with the instrument where you use the touchscreen in front of you to choose the type of sound you want the instrument to make or if you want the computer to teach you how to play. The steps taken to teach the basics of an instrument were very useful and easy to pick up on. There was even an option to connect your instruments to the other people around with other instruments so you could jam out together.     

            Seattle was our last stop out of the six cities we visited on our Amtrekkin’ trip. Seattle was the perfect city to conclude our trip because it summed all the other cities up in to one. Seattle was very community oriented, open, and interesting. The Space Needle at night allowed us to get a new perspective on city life at night from above.   Ride the Ducks allowed us to see the city from ground level and from the water level. Being on the water and looking out on the city is such a calm and serene feeling because it is you and the water with no other city life encounters to disturb you. The Sculpture Park showed the care the citizens of Seattle have for their city and the government’s involvement in the beautification of their city. The Experience Music Project showed the creativeness allowed in a building with no set shape and the technology currently available that most of us had never experienced first hand. Everyone enjoyed Seattle; we were able to get a lot of walking in before our 52-hour train ride back to Chicago.

http://content.lib.washington.edu/extras/seattle-fire.html

http://www.seattle.gov/CityArchives/Facts/history.htm

http://spaceneedle.com/discover/history.html

http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/visitor_info/market_history

http://gonw.about.com/od/attractionsWA/a/emp.htm

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        A city edged by miles of beaches and home to nearly 20 million people, Los Angeles is one of the US's biggest tourist locations.  Each year, it brings about 24 million tourists to it's five-county district.  Not only is it a huge tourist destination, it is home to one of the busiest ports in the world. It is the largest city in California and the second largest city in the United States, following New York City. Back in the 18th century it was occupied by the Spanish, until Mexico gained control of the area in 1821.  In 1781, Mexican settlers established a town which they called, “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles sobre El Rio Porcluncla,” meaning “The Town of our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the river Porcluncla.” The name was too long of course, and after a while it became shortened to simply Los Angeles. After the Mexican-American war, the US ruled Los Angeles, as well as much of the rest of California.  Since then, things such as the citrus industry, discovery of oil in the area, the transcontinental rail road, the port of LA, and the movie industry have caused huge population growth.                

       Hollywood, home to America's film industry, is just one district of Los Angeles. The first film studio in Hollywood was Nestor Studio, which was founded in 1911. The Hollywood film industry really sprouted in 1913, though, when “The Squaw Man” was filmed there. This was the first feature film to be made in Hollywood. In the 1950's music studios began flocking to Hollywood as well. Los Angeles is home to many of the world’s largest movie studios, including Warner Brothers, Paramount, and Disney. 

        Los Angeles is home to many landmarks and attractions known throughout the entire world. The Hollywood Sign, located on Mt. Lee was built in 1923 and originally read, “Hollywoodland.” It has been seen countless times in movies and pictures. We saw the sign from a distance at the Hollywood and Highland center located on Hollywood Boulevard. The Hollywood Walk of Fame has also gained public attention. In honor of all of the artists working in Hollywood, the the Walk of Fame was built in 1958, (located just a block from the hostel we stayed in) and the first star was placed there in 1960 for Joanne Woodward. Today, there are more than 2000 stars embedded in the walk. We spent a good portion of our time in LA walking on the boulevard, where we saw Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Madam Tussaud's wax museum, Mel's Drive In, and plenty of souvenir shops. On the boulevard you can see a variety of movie and music stars, even fictional characters.  

        California is located on the west coast of the United States and takes up about half of the Pacific coast. Los Angeles is located in the southwest area of California, right on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It is usually sunny, and it was surprisingly warm during our stay, despite the fact that we were there in the middle of November. Los Angeles experiences a lot of rain throughout the entire year, but luckily, we didn’t experience any.

        Food in Los Angeles reflects the mix of cultures that is present in the city. We asked two people that worked in different food establishments what food they thought is associated with Los Angeles. One said Mexican food, and the other said Chinese. Because Los Angeles is on the Pacific Coast, the influence of Asian food is very prominent because Asia is right across the ocean from California. We went to Shintaro, a sushi restaurant, and many of the students on our trip agreed that it was the best sushi that they had ever tasted. Although we didn’t eat any, Mexican food is also very popular, considering that the southern tip of California touches the northern border of Mexico. We also went to Mel’s Drive In, a diner that served All-American food like omelets, milkshakes, and hamburgers.

        Although Los Angeles has a long history, the city has become a commercialized tourist attraction. No less than half of Hollywood Boulevard was taken up by souvenir shops selling the same overpriced trinkets that every other store had. There were billboards blocking the views down the street, and the sidewalks were crowded with tourists.

        While on the boulevard, the crowd of people seemed to take over the place. The street performers with their costumes attracted crowds of people. Tourists stopped every few feet to take pictures of and with the stars on the walk. Others crowded around the chinese theatre. The massive amounts of tourists combined with the locals created a hectic situation to try to walk through and keep track of a group of fourteen people. Crossing the street is interesting as well: as soon as the walking signal lights up, herds of people start trampling across the street. At night though, it starts to calm down, and the crowd thins out. It's also much nicer to walk through the city at night, as there is less traffic, and the streets are much quieter. 

       Overall, our experience in Los Angeles was a good one. We weren’t sure if our plans would work out, but our trip went smoothly and everyone enjoyed their time in Los Angeles.

       
http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/losangeles/a/lafacts.htm
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/usa/los-angeles/history
http://www.lacitytours.com/Story_Los_Angeles_Name.asp
http://www.hollywoodsign.com/history-5.html                     
http://ezinearticles.com/?About-The-Hollywood-Film-Industry&;id=1099434