I’ve heard enough compliments about
how beautiful the west coast is, and finally I got a chance to take the Coast
Starlight Train from Los Angeles, along the west coast, all the way to Seattle.
Taking some quiet time and reflecting
by myself is always enjoyable for me. This is a good opportunity to know myself
better and clear my mind from everyday conversations, so I decided to take this
trip alone.
LA, surprisingly, was raining upon
my arrival. This was a bit disappointing at the beginning since everyone comes
to LA with the expectation of enjoying sunshine. But the climate there and the experiences of Hollywood
still brought me enough joy. I enjoyed
the time I spent at Universal Studios, the Walk of Fame and Pasadena Old Town.
My favorite part of the trip at LA was the VIP Tour at Warner Brother Studios.
The VIP tour groups 12 people in a group, and the tour guide leads people
through the studio to see filming places in well-known movies. The guide explains
details about how moviemakers changed the decorations of these places to make
them look differently in various movies. The most exciting part of the tour was
to visit the site used for filming the most successful past TV show, FRIENDS,
and the most popular current one, The Big Bang Theory. Another reason I enjoyed LA is that cultural
diverse brings various cuisines to LA. Walking around Little Tokyo and Little
Thai Town added a tasty memory to my journey.
The long train trip from LA to Seattle
was relaxing and beautiful. The Coast Starlight Train goes through areas with ocean,
river, mountain, cropland and jungle. Diverse scenery along the west coast makes
it enjoyable enough even just staring at the window and let your mind wondering
freely. Reading books and keeping
journal was a great relaxing for me.
After 34 hours journey on the railway, the train arrived King Cross
Station at Seattle.
Rain was patting Seattle gently when
the train approached the station. Seattle is always rainy at early March. Hot coffee at rainy windy winter is perfect to
satisfy your body and soul; inspired by this idea, at the year 1971, the first
Starbucks started at Seattle. The first Starbucks shop is still opening there.
That is a small store, without any seat, located at Pike Place Market. Everyday
there are many people from all around the world to find the original taste of
Starbucks there. Pike Place is the most historic farmer market in the US, and
attracts many venders and artists gathering there. Every morning, fish venders through fresh
fishes from one to another while yelling loudly to attract customers. Different kinds of music keep hovering around
the market; people can buy CDs from these artists as a way to support their
music. All kind of free samples are available to customers, fruit, nuts,
cheese, jam, you name it, and they have it. My favorite shop is a French bakery called Le
Panier. I still miss the mornings I
spend there with warm coffee and authentic French bread. Although Seattle is
famous for keep raining during early March, my second day there turned out to
be a super sunny day! The view from Space Needle was spectacular in such sunny
weather. Besides Union Lake, downtown Seattle you can also clearly see the
Olympic and Cascade Mountains. The campus of University of Washington was more
than beautiful under sunshine. The grad library there has similar style as the
reading room at Hogwarts. Many other buildings also have the medieval-castle
style, which is my favorite. Seeing students playing Frisbee, talking to each
other and playing music on the lawn make me started missing my campus at Ann
Arbor. It was also near the time I should head back. After a vacation full of
enjoyable memory and ambrosial foods, I was ready to back to classes. - Prepared by Cecily Wu
