Hello dear readers! How are things? Onwards to the next of the wedding blogposts!
Alright, let me preface this by saying that perhaps I didn’t entirely think through the name of this series when I started out. “A wedding in Washington” kind of starts falling apart when you’re then talking about weddings in Utah so yeah, I didn’t entirely think that one through.
In my defence this series was originally drafted as one singular blog post called: “Six weeks, four states, two weddings” which is a much more accurate representation of the trip but really, one blog post? I have a tendency to ramble on a bit and get side-tracked so one post would have been far too long – of course you regular readers know this already.
Anyway, anyone who has been following the wedding series will know that last time out I wrapped up my final week in Washington by not actually leaving Washington. It’s a long old story and it’s easier if you just go back and read the previous post but for reasons, this was kind of supposed to be a four week trip followed by a long weekend trip to Utah a week later with a few days of work sandwiched in-between.
In the end, things didn’t quite go to plan. Circumstances changed which meant I actually ended up staying Stateside and the upshot of that was Idaho!
“Wait, Idaho was the upshot!?”
Alright, so I know that might sound strange to some of you. Who really wants to visit Idaho but it’s definitely on my mind that someday I would like to have visited all fifty states and at the time I hadn’t been to either Idaho or Utah.
We were going to Utah for a family wedding, Haleigh’s cousin (Michelle) was getting married and of course we were going to go but I found myself in a dilemma of how do I travel to Utah? In the end I decided I’d go home for a few days of work and then fly to Utah from London but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered the perks of a roadtrip and the opportunity to visit a new state.
There were other things to consider too of course which is why that ultimately wasn’t the final decision I made but the allure of Idaho was calling me and I guess fate (British Airways..) determined I should stay Stateside and do a roadtrip instead.
It was a roadtrip I’d already missed out on once. Just before Covid shut the world down, myself and Haleigh had planned to go down to Salt Lake City in April 2020 and visit family – via Idaho of course. Alas, that didn’t happen and was the first casualty of the Covid travel era.
Two years on, things were starting to get back to normal and we were ready to hit the road! The plan was for us to leave Washington on Wednesday morning and get to Salt Lake City on Thursday with a night spent in Idaho.
As far as the roadtrip was concerned, there were two clear options for where to stay in Idaho: Boise or Twin Falls. We opted for the latter as it made for a better halfway point between Walla Walla and Salt Lake City and it was also a little bit cheaper to stay there than Boise.
I’ll be honest and say I didn’t really know much about Idaho. It was nice to have the opportunity to spend some time in a new state but it’s not exactly a state that tops many European’s wishlist when planning a trip to the USA. Typically Brits and Europeans are looking at other parts of North America before planning their Idaho trip!
I think my first impressions of Idaho suffered for having spent so much of this trip in Washington, Oregon and then arriving into the absurdly beautiful Utah – honestly, how is Utah a real place!?
Perhaps I’d been a little spoilt on this trip. I went back to Idaho earlier this year and whilst it still isn’t Utah-pretty, it was prettier than I’d given it credit for. Some of it is sparse and in parts of the drive there isn’t much to look at but it’s not all bad either.
Somewhere in Idaho..
My first impressions of Twin Falls were better. It’s probably as “big city” as Idaho gets but it seemed like a nice enough place to base ourselves for the night. Interestingly I discovered that one of the things Twin Falls is most famous for is being the setting of Evel Knievel’s attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon.
I thought it worth mentioning because apparently “Evil Kin-evil”, as I’d assumed the name to be, was actually a real person! I’d heard the name of course but I’d kind of always assumed it was a cleverly named cartoonish villain – like Dick Dastardly!
My limited research suggests ol’ Evel perhaps wasn’t the nicest person so I guess the evil name wasn’t entirely wasted on Mr Knievel but I was a little disappointed to discover he was nothing more than a stunt-jumper opposed to a folklore villain. Apparently he entered the ‘Guinness World Records’ for “surviving the most broken bones in a lifetime” so you might argue he wasn’t that great a stuntman either!
The canyon itself is pretty big and one of the first things you’ll see coming in to Twin Falls – I certainly wouldn’t want to jump it! We didn’t do much more than check in to our accommodation, have dinner (at another Black Bear Diner!) and hang out but Twin Falls seemed like a nice little place. We did check out the nearby Shoshone Falls on the drive home which is gorgeous – definitely worth stopping at if you find yourself in the city!
Shoshone Falls, Idaho
Me and Haleigh at Shoshone Falls
The next day it was finally onwards to Utah! Myself and Haleigh had first talked about visiting during my “big 3-0” trip in 2018 but it just felt a little too out-of-the-way for the time we had and other places we wanted to visit so we scrapped that idea. As alluded to above, we then committed to visiting in 2020 only for Covid to scupper our plans so it was third time lucky in what felt like an overdue visit of the state.
At last, I’d made it to Utah! Having family to visit is a bonus and a wedding was a particularly good reason to be visiting but I figure that Utah was a state, no matter the circumstances, I was always likely to visit someday. You hear so many good things about the State and really, I’ve only seen a fraction of it with a lot of the national parks further South, but Utah is as pretty as everyone says it is.
I was perhaps a bit harsh on Idaho further up, the drive isn’t that bad but sandwiched in-between Oregon and Utah does make a massive difference. I read a book of Bill Bryson’s earlier in the year and he talks about how lovely Idaho is after crossing the Nevada border which, having briefly stepped foot into Nevada this year, sounds much more reasonable but it’s not long after crossing into Utah that the view spectacularly improves.
As you inch closer to Salt Lake City, the view just gets better and better and better. Salt Lake City is surrounded by 360 degree mountain views – it doesn’t matter which way you look, you will see mountains. It’s an absurdly beautiful city.
Utah is pretty
A pretty park in Salt Lake CityRiverton, SLC, Utah
Pretty mountains, highway advertisingPretty mountain views from IHOP
The thing that struck me most about Salt Lake City was how American it felt. Strip away the mountainous views and there’s no mistake that you’re in an American city.
It had everything that you’d expect of the USA – the big highways and cars and highway advertisements everywhere. The fast food-chains and drive-thru-everything’s, the massive malls and all of this in Austria or Switzerland-like surroundings. I don’t know why but I just found it really endearing, there was an inexplicable charm about Salt Lake City, I was smitten.
We didn’t even really do anything of note in Salt Lake City. We were only in town for a few days which was primarily for a wedding and the free time we did have was largely spent with family. There was no legitimate reason for me to hold Salt Lake City in such esteem or have such a fondness for it but I did. Maybe I got carried away with how pretty it is but it felt like a special city and one that more people should be visiting.
We happened to go back to Salt Lake City earlier this year and got a chance to actually spend some proper time there and explore a bit further and I felt a little vindicated. It’s a wonderful city!
I’ve been fortunate to have visited a few of the big cities in the US and I think Salt Lake City is up there with the best of them. When travelling I often find myself asking “could I live here?” and Salt Lake City is one of those places that I don’t think would take much persuasion – and believe me, there’ve been plenty of attempts at that!
Anyway, back to this particular trip. We got ourselves settled in to our AirBnB and then all we really did on Thursday and Friday was visit family. With the exception of the happy couple, Michelle and David, I hadn’t actually spent much time with the Utah side of the family. I’d only properly met most of them at the start of the month in the run up to our own wedding so it was nice to have more time together.
and just like that, it was time for another wedding!
I first met Michelle and David way back in February 2020 when they’d made the trip up to Washington for a few days and along with Haleigh the four of us had a little Valentine’s double date. We walked away from that evening thinking “we should go to Utah for spring break..”
That didn’t happen of course, Covid scuppered our plans but I think it’s testament to the impression both of them make. I adore them both and as soon as there was wedding talk there was no doubt I’d be in attendance (assuming that I was invited!).
I won’t go in to all of the ins and outs of the day but it was exciting to be here to see the two of them get married. We got ourselves ready in the morning and then headed on over to the venue to help with any last minute preparations so we arrived earlier than most guests.
Interestingly the venue itself was a clay shooting venue so it was quite weird to arrive to the sound of people shooting. The venue was reserved for the wedding obviously so they weren’t there much longer after we’d arrived but it was still an odd experience for someone such as myself, not entirely used to the gun-crazy culture of America.
Shooting facility aside, it was a lovely venue. The ceremony itself would take place outdoors and it was a beautiful day – again surrounded by mountain views because Salt Lake City, you know? Did I mention the city has mountains everywhere you look? I feel like I should have mentioned that.
With everything set up, we were ready to go. It was time to watch two of the loveliest people get married. I know it’s cliche and whatever, you always read or hear memorials of how wonderful a person was after their death and maybe it’s in bad taste to talk ill of the dead but just once I’d love to read the death of somebody reported with quotes of them “being an asshole”
“Dexter? Look, I loved my brother but he was partial to a bit of murder now and then – he only murdered people that deserved it though!”
As ever I’m getting side-tracked but cliche or not, these truly are just a joy to be around and it was evident throughout the day just how much love they have for eachother.
I’m a sucker for a wedding so it’s needless to say that this was another lovely day. The ceremony was beautiful and I definitely teared up a little during the vows and speeches. The venue was stunning, there’s just something special about an outdoor wedding and the mountain views help of course! The bride and groom both looked great and it was such an honour to be there to celebrate with them both. If it wasn’t obvious, I adore them both and it was great to see them so happy on their day.
Michelle and David!
Sadly, things eventually have to come to an end. We waved off the happy couple at the end of the night and promised to make future plans with our “April anniversary buddies”. It was the perfect way to round off April.
On Sunday (1st May) we made the long drive back to Washington – all in one day. We did stop off in Twin Falls again for lunch and as I hinted at above, took a little detour via Shoshone Falls which made the day a little more interesting than a full day on the road.
Soon enough we were back in Washington and this time it would genuinely be the final week in Washington. More on that next time!
Hello dear readers! We’re cracking on with another post in the wedding series!
In all honesty this’ll be a pretty boring post as far as the series is concerned but nevertheless, it’s an important part of the story as my time in Washington was theoretically coming to an end.
Before I crack on I’m going to give you a quick reminder on all of the logistics for this trip. I did talk about it in the first post of the series but that was a while ago so let me rejog your memories.
I think any couple getting married have much to think about before a wedding but an international wedding added some further things to think about and in terms of trip lengthy I ideally wanted four weeks in the USA – which my employers were perfectly happy to approve given the circumstances.
I figured having two weeks before the wedding and two weeks after the wedding was a good balance and allowed time for things to potentially go wrong before the wedding (me and my family all had our flights cancelled!) whilst also allowing a bit of time after the wedding to enjoy the first days of married life!
It was a perfect plan but a small spanner in the works was Haleigh’s cousin, Michelle, was getting married in Utah at the end of the month – three weeks after our own wedding.
I wouldn’t have missed their wedding for the world. They’re the cutest couple and I adore them both but it did pose some questions about what I now do about my own trip. Do I push for five weeks off work? Do I want to take five weeks off work for one trip? Do I leave myself less time before the wedding and more time after the wedding to go down to Utah? What do I do?
I’m very mindful of my annual leave each year. Our company offer a scheme that allows you to buy an extra week and with the wedding in mind I took full advantage of this to bump my leave off up to six weeks but for an entire year that is still not enough – give me 26 weeks, please!
I think this influenced my decision making a little so I stuck with the original plan. I was going to Washington for four weeks, flying home for a few days of work and then I’d fly back to Utah for a long weekend to catch the second wedding. It wasn’t ideal but any days annual leave spared this year was a blessing!
Anyway, with all that in mind, this was my final week in Washington. I’d already had three weeks on the West coast by this point so the final week was just about making the best of the time I had left in Washington before we’d separate again. Admittedly I’d be seeing Haleigh and some of the family down in Utah in a couple of weeks but there’d be other family I now probably wouldn’t see until Thanksgiving maybe.
We spent the first half of the week doing the boring post-wedding stuff. The marriage licence, name changes for Haleigh, you get the gist..
The second half of the week was spent enjoying Walla Walla, visiting a few favourite hangout spots and bidding farewell to family I wasn’t going to see any time soon. On Thursday evening myself and Haleigh had ourselves a final date night as I’d be leaving on Saturday and the Friday happened to be Haleigh’s brother’s birthday so we had a meal out planned with a number of people.
It was bittersweet to think that two weeks after getting married it was back to the long distance stuff.
‘Til bureaucracy, immigration laws and visa restrictions do us part” as the famous vows go.
On the Friday I was trying not to think about that and looking forward. Yes, I was leaving tomorrow but when would I be back? What time were my flights to Denver the following Thursday? What time were my onward flights to Salt Lake City? I did the logical thing and had a look!
Now, anyone familiar with the British Airways app will know the first thing it shows you when you open the app are the details of your next flight. I was specifically looking for my London to Denver flight information but up popped my next flight.
“Seattle to London – delayed!”
Wait, what? It’s Friday morning, my flight isn’t until Saturday evening. I can’t even check in yet, how can my flight possibly already be delayed!? I thought it was weird but okay, whatever. Tell me more, how long is the delay – *click*
I was facing a 20 hour delay! Twenty! What the fuck?
Seriously, let’s revisit the plan because what the hell do I do from here? I was flying in to Seattle on Saturday morning and now leaving some time on Sunday afternoon with no accommodation inbetween. I was supposed to be back at work on Monday but wouldn’t be landing in England until Monday lunchtime and for what, a three day turnaround? I’d be back Stateside in just a few days which was arguably illogical to begin with but a huge delay was a real spanner in the works.
Now what do I do? I had six upcoming flights to think about over the next week and a half, I had three days of work to consider and every solution was a form of unnecessary hassle. It’s worth reiterating at this point that BA had cancelled my flight coming here too so they’d inconvenienced me on both ends of the trip.
Of course this nonsense doesn’t happen when it’s one solitary flight does it? Here were my issues:
1) The flight times are what they are. With no changes, I was stranded in Seattle without accommodation for a night. Do I book accommodation in Seattle for a night? 2) If I don’t book accommodation, can I possibly move my domestic flight from Walla Walla to a day later? 3) Either option, means I leave a day late. I miss work on Monday? Is there really any point in going home for just two days of work? 4) Let’s say I don’t go home, how does that affect work? How does that affect the Utah trip? 5) Let’s say I don’t go home, I sort out work, I drive down to Utah with Haleigh and the family. How do I then get home? Do I drive back to Washington with them? Do I try and fly home from Utah? 6) Let’s say I drive down and fly home from Utah? Can I actually fly home from Utah? How do return flights work if you miss the first leg of the journey? I was flying with BA from London to Denver and then with Frontier from Denver to Salt Lake City. It only takes one of those airlines to see I haven’t traveled and not save me a seat for the return flight. That’s conversations with two airlines to make sure I’m not stranded somewhere. 7) Let’s say I drive down to Utah, drive back to Washington after the wedding, when can I actually get home? The wedding was Saturday and my flight home had been Sunday which worked fine with Monday being a public holiday in England. There was no way I could fly home from Washington in the same timeline if I stayed.
The knock-on effect of one flight delay was ridiculous. Also, 20 hours!? Come on!
After much deliberation I settled on a plan. Scrap flying home, I’m staying. I’m not leaving on April 23rd (now 24th), I’m leaving on Saturday the 7th of May. We’ll drive down for the wedding, we’ll come back, we’ll apologetically work remotely and we’ll make it work. Two more weeks in the USA – perfect!
“Computer says no.”
Alaska Airlines couldn’t have made things easier for me. My Walla Walla flight was amendable at no extra cost, infact I actually got a voucher for the difference in flight costs as I guess the flight I changed to was cheaper, and this was all doable online. Bish, bash, bosh!
Go Cougs!
British Airways? Ugh, horrendous! I could change my flight but only for a fee. Hardly my fault that this situation was not of my own making but great, I’m going to have to talk to an actual person.
“Phone says no.” – call back another time, thank you!
I’ll admit, patience was still with me at this point so I waited and called back a little later. I reached the point of being placed on hold at least and persisted with it before eventually getting through to a person.
“BA says no.”
This is a good time to add that this shit-show was discovered entirely out of good fortune. It’s only because I was investigating my next batch of flights that I even spotted this delay. There was no phonecall, no text, no email, no notification of any kind to make me aware that the schedule had suddenly changed so it’s here where things start going sour.
In fairness the phonecall started positively with a “let’s get you home” kind of attitude you want from a customer representative but it was shortlived. I laid out my demands if you will – “my flight has been delayed, can you move it to this date..” and after a first failed attempt, BA were suddenly backtracking.
“Impossible to change the status..”, “you’ll need to speak to Seatac Airport..” and “you should have contacted us sooner..” among a selection of favourite catchphrases. How I was supposed to achieve the latter is still a mystery to me given I hadn’t been informed of the delay to begin with.
I went round and round in circles with the BA rep, insistent that there was nothing she could do beyond cancel my flight with a flight voucher unlikely to cover the cost of booking a new one-way flight.
Now I’m a pretty agreeable person. It’s arguably one of my best and worst traits. I’m a people-pleaser, easy-going. Don’t make too much fuss, you know? So I’ll give myself some credit here for my persistence. This phonecall was not ending without a solution that didn’t leave me out-of-pocket. I was getting increasingly irritated at an attempt to just fob me off but when it comes to travel, I know my rights.
Many “I’ll put you on hold” instances later and my BA rep achieved what had reportedly been impossible an hour earlier. “We can’t change your flight when it’s in this status” seemingly didn’t ring true. They did change my flight, they did so at no extra cost and I got exactly what I’d asked for an hour earlier.
It was honestly infuriating. I’m such an easy-going person but I was so wound up by the end of the phonecall. I’d never want to be the person to take that out on the customer service rep but it’s not easy when you’re being told something can’t be done which seemingly can be done with enough pushback. It shouldn’t take that much pushback and it still leaves a bit of a sour taste.
After an lifetime hour on the phone, it was time to go out and celebrate with the birthday boy. We returned to a Walla Walla favourite, Clarette’s, and had a good time with the family. The next few days were pretty chilled. I had to work remotely for the first few days of the week of course and on UK times but it wasn’t too bad.
Soon enough the out-of-office was back on and we were heading down to Utah! More on that next time!
Hello dear readers! Well, well well, this is the post you’ve been waiting for isn’t it? After teasing you with a few posts building up to the big day, this was finally it! Almost.
Ha! I’ve still got to build you up to it a little bit right? For those of you that haven’t been following this series of posts, go back and read the earlier posts first (linked at the bottom) and then you’ll be all caught up!
Anyway, I’d been in Washington for a week by this point and all that was left were the final bits and pieces before the big day. One such errand to run was paying for the wedding itself.
Ooof, that was not a fun bill to settle!
This was partially in thanks to Covid stopping me doing anything fun (travel, football, events..) but saving for a wedding left my bank looking the healthiest it had looked in a long time. Our wedding wasn’t extortionate, it was reasonable but nonetheless my bank balance looked prettier than it had in quite some time and then suddenly *poof* – all gone!
“That’ll be $$$’s please!”
There was me hoping that there wouldn’t be any problems with the payment going through. You kind of wonder when paying a large transaction such as a wedding bill if those monitoring your account are going to flag it up as suspicious, particularly when it’s a transaction in another country.
Of course, there was absolutely no scrutiny on the transaction on this occasion. My bank make sure to ask me to authorise my £9 taxi booking in Peterborough every fucking time I book a taxi but a massive wedding in another country – “No authorisation needed mate. We trust you!”
So for any fraudsters reading, it’s the big ticket items you want to go and splash my cash on. Go buy yourself a car or a house instead because they’ll probably decline that batch of eggs you want from Walmart (although I appreciate those might be pricey these days too!).
Feeling much poorer, we went and met up with our DJ, David, for a quick drink. It was a chance for us to properly meet in person and also for him to get a better idea of what we expected on the day in terms of music, speeches and so on.
Although I think both of our music tastes are quite varied so we were equally happy to allow requests and were mostly hopeful that people would enjoy themselves. David was free to make his own judgment as to what songs were / weren’t working on the day, with perhaps one exception I’ll expand on later!
The rest of the week was mostly about relaxing and waiting. The biggest drama leading up to the wedding was the bridesmaid dress fiasco. Admittedly had Haleigh not had a hundred odd bridesmaids (“it was nine Jason, 9!”) it might not have been such a dilemma but there were still a few bridesmaids yet to receive their dress which caused a bit of stress. In the end Jenny’s didn’t turn up at all, nor could we find an adequate replacement at the last minute so she unfortunately stepped down – although was still a bridesmaid in spirit!
The waiting was the worst part of the week. Waiting for the big day to arrive, waiting for friends and family to arrive in to town. Haleigh had family and friends dotted all over the Pacific Northwest and Utah, plus a handful of people coming from elsewhere.
Likewise I had a few American friends that were making their way over from the East coast, plus my family coming from England too of course. We’d had some Covid scares and flight cancellations with the family but they were finally on their way and landed in Seattle on the Thursday before the wedding!
The family hadn’t really seen much of the USA. Mum, dad and Natasha (my sister) had only previously been to Florida. Pete (my brother-in-law) had seen a fraction more of the country but only on the East coast so I was excited for them to see and explore the West coast for the first time!
Those of you familiar with Washington will know that it’s stunning! I insisted that the family had to drive at least one way between Seattle and Walla Walla (Haleigh’s hometown) because the views are gorgeous – as it was they decided to drive both ways.
They landed in Seattle on the Thursday afternoon before driving over to Walla Walla on Friday morning. The excitement was building. I don’t know if that was even necessarily about the wedding. The family seemed equally enthusiastic about encountering tumbleweed for the first time and talking pedestrian crossings (“wait..”) as much as anything else!
Anyway.. everyone was keen to meet up before the wedding as neither family had met prior to the trip so after briefly getting themselves settled into their AirBnB for the next few nights, the fun could begin!
First up was the wedding rehearsal! The rehearsal was at the same venue as the wedding itself, Walla Walla’s landmark hotel – the Marcus Whitman. It’s the tallest building in Walla Walla and a quick Google search defines it as a “historic” hotel and apparently it has been listed on America’s “National register of historic places” which makes me chuckle a little because it was “only” built in 1928. Obviously the USA as we know it now is a much younger country but nobody would bat an eyelid at a 100 year old building here in Europe.
Anyway, the rehearsal was fairly casual. Our wedding co-ordinator was great and gave us the run down of how things would go, although I seemingly should have paid more attention as I definitely had a little “whoopsie” moment on the day itself.
After the rehearsal we popped over to a nearby Mexican restaurant which was the first opportunity for the immediate family to mingle and spend some time together. The food was good, the company better and we all had a lovely time before heading our separate ways – with leftovers in hand in the case of my family who were a bit unprepared for the portion sizes for meals even as simple as a salad.
“Welcome to America!”
Mine and Haleigh’s final night as an unmarried couple saw us go our separate ways after dinner. Haleigh was staying in a nearby hotel with a number of the girls so they all had their girly get-together and it was always on my mind to do a thing of my own on the Friday too – particularly as Covid had made it difficult to plan any proper stag do. With so many ever-changing restrictions there was never a good time for such an occasion so in the end I kind of decided to forego having one.
This wasn’t a stag really, more a casual get-together with a few of the wedding guests and a chance for my family to meet a few more faces. My mum and Natasha had joined Haleigh, whilst Dad and Pete had joined myself for an evening at a local favourite – the Red Monkey!
I think around 12 of us got together in the end for an evening spent enjoying a few drinks and good company too. We were the last to leave the Red Monkey staying until closing, if not slightly beyond that. Although it closed around 11pm so not as late as you might expect on a Friday night.
Some of us may have been tempted to head onwards but Walla Walla seemingly isn’t the place for a late night on the town. My brother in law optimistically asked “where are we going?” and I misconstrued that as needing directions back to their AirBnB because the reality was that there was nowhere else to go but home!
It was probably for the best anyway. I certainly didn’t want to wake up feeling rough the next morning and perhaps it was better the evening ended on a high for everyone. It had been a fun evening and a good chance for everyone to get to know eachother a little better.
Everyone dispersed in their own directions whilst I headed back to my own hotel for the night, waking up hangover free the next morning and ready to get married!
The next morning I checked out and popped over to the family’s AirBnB so we could all go and grab a wedding-day breakfast together. This being their first morning in Walla Walla I had a couple of ideas on where to take them and show them a little of downtown too.
We headed to Maple Counter Cafe – an optimistic choice for breakfast on a Saturday morning but it’s one of the best breakfast spots in the city. Unsurprisingly they were busy and the wait was longer than we’d have liked. Unfortunately you can’t book in advance either or I’d have made sure to do that.
They do have a kind of buzzer service when you arrive, where they’ll text you when your table is ready but I don’t know how well that works when you don’t have an American phone number. Rather than confuse them with our strange international phone numbers, we decided to try our luck elsewhere.
The next best option was ‘Bacon & Eggs’ which was another block over and fortunately they were able to get a table for us quite quickly. They’re another good option in Walla Walla and are actually currently in the process of moving in to a bigger building which is exciting!
It was a good choice and whilst the family went for more traditional breakfast options, I did let them try some of my ‘biscuits and gravy’ that I’d personally gone for. Always a good choice!
After breakfast we had a brief wander through the downtown area of Walla Walla. It was a chance for the family to get a small glimpse before we headed back to their AirBnB for a relatively relaxed morning. Naturally we found time to watch the football back home. An Arsenal defeat followed by a Tottenham win – what more could you ask for on such a big day?
Spurs have spoiled many a weekend throughout my life but even Tottenham had got the memo for once – perfect!
After the football we started getting ourselves ready which really didn’t take long, had some “getting ready” photos taken and then there was just tons of time to kill so myself, dad and Pete went back to the Red Monkey for a pre-wedding pint.
We extended the invitation to a couple of Haleigh’s family but perhaps it says it all about English drink culture that they politely declined in search of lunch instead. I guess it’ll just be the three Brits off to the pub then!
There aren’t too many differences between an English wedding and an American wedding, I think for the most part the events of the day are similar but there are maybe some minor differences. Even then, some of these are perhaps just couple specific rather than being about the culture.
We had a bit of a later ceremony which meant we did some of the other things a bit earlier in the day. After a quick pint I popped back to the hotel for the “first look” and some more official wedding photos. This was kind of in contrast to any other wedding I’d been to, where you first see the bride in her dress as she walks down the aisle, but it was really nice and you still have that special first moment – although I’d almost inadvertently walked in to one of the areas of the hotel where Haleigh was having some photos before we were supposed to meet! That was an awkward and immediate 180 to scarper elsewhere!
Personally I think it worked better having done some of these things earlier in the day. It meant later in the day, after the ceremony, we could just enjoy the rest of the wedding celebrations without further interruptions.
I think it’s probably credit to our wedding co-ordinator but despite getting family photos and things, we were still ahead of schedule in our timings so we had time to mingle with guests as they were arriving which was also really nice.
Eventually it was time for the ceremony – the important part I suppose!
I was asked a number of times in the period up to the wedding if I was getting nervous and there’d never been a point I’d felt any nerves. Neither on the day or the weeks / months prior, in my head there was nothing to be nervous about. I was getting married because I wanted to, you know?
However if there was ever a time that the nerves were going to hit it was going to be now, the ceremony and all eyes on the couple. I think I must have just blanked out the room walking in, I don’t remember seeing where anyone was sat when walking down the aisle.
One of the reasons you do a wedding rehearsal is to make sure all of these things run smoothly. One of the fun things about an American wedding is that you can have someone of your choosing marry you – think Joey in Friends!
You still have to go through the process of getting ordained of course but we asked Haleigh’s uncle, Rob, to marry us which he was really honoured to do but that rehearsal theoretically helps alleviate any nerves and makes sure everyone knows what they’re doing! Except the groom..
Alright, so the fault of this is nobody’s but my own. I said earlier in the post that I’d had my “whoopsie” moment and I guess I jumped the gun a little bit. People came in one by one, stood where they were supposed to and then the beautiful bride arrives and as she reaches the end of the aisle I play my part in throwing everything out of sync!
There’s a whole process, a ceremony you might even call it! Part of that ceremony is that the bride is “given away” but I’d seemingly skipped ahead and collected “my” bride too soon. Immediate confusion ensued – “too eager son, what are you doing!?”
I said previously that a lot of the burden of wedding planning had fallen on Haleigh’s shoulders because she was the one in Washington. Really I had one job – turn up and get married and I hadn’t even nailed that part!
In my defence though, this was my first wedding! Maybe when you’re several weddings in you know the process like the back of your hand but I was only planning on doing this once!
If there had been any nerves in the room, I’d instantaneously alleviated them. It was a hilarious moment, even if people were only laughing at me rather than with me, but it made for some great photos on the day! If you want candid photos of guests in hysterics, get the groom to cock up!
The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch, except the part where we got hitched obviously. We were finally married! The only thing left to do was sign the paperwork with the confusing American dates and make it all official!
Let’s invalidate this wedding immediately by accidentally signing it the 4th of September instead of the ninth of April! Luckily neither myself, or my dad, messed things up!
The rest of the day was lovely. Food, fun and games. It was wonderful having so many come together to celebrate with us and seemingly enjoy themselves. We’d had some guests come a long way and it meant a lot to us. I mostly kept it together in my own speech but there were certainly happy tears throughout the day. Weddings are such happy occasions that I often find myself tearing up during them and my own was unsurprisingly no exception.
There were several highlights for me but one definitely worthy of a mention as a fun anecdote for the blog goes back to the DJ. As I’d said, I think our music taste is pretty varied and I didn’t really have any real preference as to what songs were played. Haleigh had put together a playlist but I think there were lots of things that didn’t end up being played in exchange for other songs people had requested, were seemingly enjoying and getting up to dance to. You know, the typical wedding-friendly songs and anthems. I didn’t care too much as I knew I’d dance to whatever. I only had one specific request: Madness!
I don’t know if this is an English thing in general or more exclusive to our own family weddings but I live by the mantra that “it’s not a wedding without a bit of Madness” – I feel like they’ve been played at every wedding I’ve been to and they’re one of those bands you make sure you’re on the dance-floor for!
You HAVE to have Madness played at the wedding! Right, right? No? Well, you’re wrong!
It was a small request and I was sat with a couple of friends who’d come all the way from Maryland and BAM! – “Sorry, I’ve got to go..”
In America however, this seemingly has the reverse effect. BAM – “what the hell is this!?”
Myself, Haleigh (who has been to two English weddings and is properly educated at this point), mum, Natasha and Pete made our way to the dance-floor but it otherwise empties! The only exception was little ol’ Mason attending his first ever wedding, dancing to anything and having the time of his life!
Imagine the DJ’s pain! “There’s lots of people dancing, I guess I’m doing a good job! Wait, where are you all going!?
Now, Wikipedia suggests that Madness went on their first US tour in TWELVE years in 2024 so you might say that the revival started here and they’re now loved by Americans but that certainly wasn’t reflected in this moment. We’d murdered the dance-floor with our strange, strange English music!
It was hilarious to me. We had a room full of confused Americans looking on at a group of Brits that had seemingly lost their mind – “what has Haleigh married in to!?”
Sadly all good things come to an end and as the time passed, things started to unwind – not because of Madness I’ll add! The dancefloor did recover from that debacle and I think people had had a good time but people slowly started saying their goodbyes and heading home. We ended the night with the infamous “We Are Family” as both familes came together on the dancefloor which seemed a fitting song to end the night on.
We’d both had a lovely day and I think we’d have been perfectly happy calling it a night and retreating to our hotel but my family were heading back in to town for another drink, alongside a friend of mine (Alison) from the East coast. Haleigh was keen to join them so suited and booted we walked back over to the Red Monkey – a third visit in the last 24 hours for myself, Dad and Pete!
It’s notable to say at this point that Haleigh isn’t really much of a drinker. She’ll have the occasional drink but it’s not something she particularly enjoys and certainly not on the same scale as us Brits are used to on the pissed up island we call home. Nevertheless Haleigh thought it’d be a really good idea to have a shot with her new Mother-in-Law and on the recommendation of the waitress they both took a “Fireball” shot (I think).
We only had the one drink I think and just enjoyed eachother’s company more than anything but the fireball was not a good choice! It didn’t go down well!
Sadly it was a short and sweet trip for the family. One of the reasons we were keen to join them was because this was one of their few nights in Walla Walla. They obviously weren’t going to miss the wedding but the original September 2021 date had been better around their work commitments, moving to April meant they couldn’t visit Washington for as long as they’d liked so they’d soon be heading back to Seattle to spend a few days there.
We were meeting up for breakfast but said our goodbyes and made our way back to our fancy wedding hotel – the luxurious hotel in the heart of Walla Walla. We’d spent no more than a minute in the room at this point and arrived to find a generous collection of cards and gifts awaiting us in our room.
Unfortunately it was soon after that that the regret had hit Haleigh. “What have I done!?” “I’ve made a mistake..” “I don’t feel good..”
Fear not! The marriage hadn’t crashed and burned this early! Marrying me was the single greatest decision Haleigh has ever made, obviously, but the fireball had sadly started to have its effect!
What can I say? Here we were, in our nice fancy hotel, and Haleigh wanted to be anywhere but. She felt rough. She showered hoping that might help and then we tried to sleep but with no success (ha, let’s be honest. I was probably snoring!). Haleigh just couldn’t get comfortable and wanted to go home and curl up in her own bed.
The vows of “in sickness and in health” were put to the test early on in our marriage! Admittedly, I don’t think it likely that those vows refer to self-inflicted fireball sickness but at silly-o-clock in the morning we were checking out.
“Did you enjoy your stay..?”
We made it back to the house and Haleigh rested up for a few hours before breakfast. By this point I was fairly awake already so as the good husband that I am, I let Haleigh have the bed to herself to rest up and I took the early start as an opportunity to watch some English football back at the house – I guess we all have our sicknesses, don’t we? This was mine!
Fortunately a few hours later, Haleigh was feeling much better. We freshened up and made our way to Clarette’s for breakfast with the family. Clarette’s is a staple of Walla Walla – they’re a diner that have been serving locals for more than 60 years and are an all-day favourite but we wanted to bring my family here on their first visit to Walla Walla.
Fortunately this is one of the restaurants you can make a restaurant because this is a popular breakfast spot at the weekend! We’d booked ahead and were soon enjoying a hearty breakfast, plentiful of tea (probably more than Clarette’s are used to serving!) and good company.
It was then time to say goodbye. Myself and Haleigh were heading out of town later today (more on that in the next post!) and the rest of the family would be heading up to Seattle tomorrow. They had one final day to enjoy in Walla Walla and Haleigh’s brother, Ben, kindly played tour guide and showed them the best of the “sights” of Walla Walla.
It had been a lovely few days and particularly lovely to have had the families come together to celebrate with us. I’d met much of Haleigh’s family prior to this trip and Haleigh had met some of mine but they’d yet to meet eachother so it was nice to see everyone get along. More of Haleigh’s family has since visited England and I’m sure it won’t be too far in the future before mine return to the West coast to explore more than they saw in their limited time on this trip.
Sadly, that was that for the wedding fun. Before the day was over, myself and Haleigh would be heading onwards to Oregon! More on that next time!
Stay tuned!
Jason
P.S – I’m going to include all posts from this series at the bottom of each post so you can go back and read any posts that you’ve missed.
Hello dear readers! I thought I’d quickly throw another post at you because the last one was just a bit of a short introduction so it felt only right to treat you with a proper post and begin the actual story!
For those of you who missed that introduction, you can catch up here but essentially this was the beginning of the unforgettable trip that would theoretically result in my marriage!
I say theoretically because as is the case with any international wedding, the first problem is getting there! I think there’d be a bit of anxiety about an international wedding at the best of times but in early 2022 we weren’t in the best of times. Travel was undoubtedly better off than in 2020 and 2021, and I maintain that 2021 was worse than 2020, but we still had some way to go and hoops to jump through in 2022.
We’d already postponed the wedding once. Our plans to get married in Washington in September 2021 were scuppered by the reality that the US border remained closed to outsiders. Those pesky illegal aliens!
People say the wedding is all about the bride so I suppose Haleigh didn’t have to postpone. She could have had a big party in Washington with her family and friends but I dare say that the groom is actually partially fundamental to the occasion so we rescheduled for April 2022 instead.
I’d rather reluctantly booked my flight to Seattle for the Sunday (27th March). I wanted to be in Washington two weeks before our wedding on April 9th but a Saturday flight was £250 more than the Sunday and I just couldn’t justify such a difference for the sake of a day – particularly when any pennies saved were pennies towards the wedding.
Guess what happened?
British Airways cancelled thousands of flights. Naturally mine was affected, along with my parents, sister and brother-in-law who were flying out to Seattle in April. Of course it would happen on this trip wouldn’t it? That little bit of extra unnecessary faff!
The upshot? BA allowed me to move my flight to Saturday 26th at no extra cost. What a stupidly positive resolution. This was the day I’d wanted to fly to Seattle originally but because of the silly fare I wasn’t and now I could just move my flight like that? Make it make sense!
Nevertheless I was pleased. One extra day in Washington, assuming I got there. The other concern at the time was Covid of course. Several weeks before they were due to travel, my sister and brother-in-law caught Covid for the first time. They’d recovered by the time they were due to travel but come on, let’s not do this now!
I’d avoided it myself for over two years and there was that little niggle that I was going to catch it at the worst possible time and not make it to my own wedding for a second time! Any other trip I’d have sucked it up and suffered the consequences of a cancelled trip but I was desperately hoping it wouldn’t happen now.
One of the daftest things I found in this era of travel was that the only concern was with meeting the criteria at a specific moment in time. I was due to fly on Saturday so went and did a Covid test on Friday morning to satisfy the US restrictions at the time but there’s zero concern for what you do after that test.
Our office cancelled our work Christmas party in December and just so happened to have rescheduled for the Friday afternoon before I was travelling. I had to test myself on Friday morning and then I was free to do whatever I pleased for the next 24 hours.
Do I go to the office party? Don’t I? Does it matter? I was just as likely to pick it up in an airport or on the plane or in America. It seemed such a daft flaw in the system.
I’d paid for the express same-day service which fortunately confirmed I didn’t have Covid at that specific time but still, who would really know if I had Covid by the time I landed Stateside?
Anyway with a negative test, I was on my way to Heathrow! Heathrow was a bit chaotic but I made my way through security and could finally look forward to the trip. I made my way towards my gate, scanned my boarding pass and the machine immediately said “nope”. I tried again and had the same pushback – “please speak to an actual human!”
Be it a random security check or whatever, BA verified everything they had to and then printed me a new boarding pass with words to the effect of “enjoy your upgrade”.
New boarding pass in hand, I distanced myself from the peasants at the back of the plane and made way to.. well, premium economy but still – a little extra legroom felt like a win!
There were no other notable perks but it was a nice way to kick off this trip. Perhaps BA knew? It’s the first time I’ve ever received a flight upgrade and it made up for some of the other cockups on this trip!
Anyway, soon enough myself and Haleigh had been reunited in Washington – two weeks before the wedding!
We had a few pre-wedding errands to run before the big day. One of which was buying wedding rings which you should probably do earlier than we did but I think the intention was we’d buy them together in person!
Important to mention because Haleigh came and met me in Seattle. Normally I’d just fly directly in to Walla Walla but on this trip that didn’t happen. We had a late night shopping outing at a nearby mall, failing to buy any rings, but the upshot to staying in Seattle on that first night was a trip to the Cheesecake Factory.
I gave brief mention to the Cheesecake Factory on a previous San Francisco blog-post but thought it worth giving a mention here too because I don’t think my English or other international readers will quite appreciate its popularity.
You see it mentioned in pop culture, The Big Bang Theory for instance, and it’s one of those names that I’d always been familiar with but visiting it is an experience in itself. I think I appreciated that even more here.
Honestly I’m trying to think of an English or British equivalent and I don’t know that there is such a place.
We visited the Cheesecake Factory in San Francisco a few years earlier and had to wait a while and I was like “well it’s summer and we’re in the heart of the city, it’s dinner time. Of course it’s busy” but no, this wasn’t a San Francisco thing. This is a Cheesecake Factory thing.
America is crazy for the place. It’s worth saying here that they don’t just sell cheesecake, America isn’t that crazy. Their menu is pretty extensive and that’s undoubtedly the cause of its popularity because they have just about everything you can think of on the menu.
We were right out by the airport, not even in downtown Seattle, but it was stupidly busy here too. We had to wait a while for a table with people constantly streaming in and out, it’s predominantly a restaurant but the number of people coming in purely for takeout cheesecake was a bit mind-blowing.
Eventually we were seated and it was good. It usually is, I like the Cheesecake Factory but I think good is sufficient enough praise for what it is. It isn’t Michelin Star fine dining but it’s still equally popular Stateside – if you do visit, expect a wait!
Anyway, it was a nice way to start the trip. The next morning we drove through the beautiful mountains and made our way to lovely Walla Walla. Truthfully it was a pretty relaxing first week. There were a couple of things to take care of, last minute bits and pieces but the majority of stuff had already been dealt with.
We did go and find rings eventually. Honestly, I’ve never been one for wearing jewellery.
Also sidenote but curse the Americanised spellcheck because it really threw me that WordPress thinks that I’ve spelt jewellery incorrectly. I had to double check only to discover its another Americanism or probably Americanizm with your silly Z’s, right?
Anyway as I was saying, I’ve never been one for wearing jewellery so ring-shopping was an interesting experience. I think the idea of it and symbolism behind it incase of a marriage is nice so I was always going to buy one but I don’t think I ever believed I’d wear it beyond the wedding day.
With that in mind I didn’t give a huge amount of consideration to all the different options. Maybe if I’d known how much wear it’d get I’d have gone for something more eye-catching and glamorous but I kept it simplistic – a simple gold band – “that’ll do!”
To emphasise the point, they asked if I knew my ring size (psh, no) and then if I wanted it resized. Haleigh went down that route but I didn’t bother. It’s not a perfect fit but I figured it’ll stay on my hand for the probable one day of my life that I wear it.
It’s funny how quickly you become accustomed to wearing it. I can’t imagine not wearing it now, on the occasions it isn’t on my hand it feels strange and it’s immediately noticeable. So if you see an oversized ring sitting on my finger anytime, that’s the story behind why!
We had a few other minor errands to run, such as arranging to get our marriage licence but really it was a mostly stress-free run up to the wedding. We did our best to relax, enjoy our time together and also enjoy the time in Washington.
That’s worth remembering. This was a wedding trip for me, of course it was the fundamental reason that I was here but it was also a bit of a break. Four weeks without work. Four weeks to just enjoy that sense of being free.
I can’t recall where Haleigh had disappeared to, I think she might have met a friend for coffee, but I found myself with a morning to myself and I vividly remember sitting downtown thinking “I could live here..”.
That was never the plan. The plan was that we’d get married and Haleigh would move over to England but not for the first time, I was reminded that Washington really has become a second home for me. I could see myself living in Walla Walla, I could see myself living in Washington, I could see myself living in the USA.
I understand why people are concerned by some of the things that happen in America and some of their policies, I share many of those concerns. I’m not suggesting it’s perfect by any means but I think it sometimes gets lost in the politics that it is still a phenomenal country.
I’m luckier than most. I’ve visited 15 states which is probably more than most Americans and the more I see of the country, the more I appreciate how diverse it is. It has so much to offer and Washington epitomises that aswell as anywhere else in the states.
So I was happy to be here. Not having to worry about work helped of course but Spring was springing (that’s totally a phrase, right?) and Walla Walla was a lovely place to be in the time up to the wedding.
We didn’t do anything overly exciting with our free-time, we frequented a few favourites around the area such as “The Tux” in nearby Prescott and had a couple of jaunts over to the Tri Cities for various reasons aswell as enjoying our time in Walla Walla.
Soon enough we were going in to another week and family and friends were beginning to arrive in to town for the big day. More on that next time!
Hello dear readers! How are things!? I recently rounded off my 2021 travels with a blog post all about my annual Thanksgiving visit to Washington and so onwards to 2022 we go!
Isn’t it great following such an up-to-date blogger? As our third anniversary approaches, I’m finally writing about that trip! I’ve written about some special trips over the years but this was the BIG one. This was a trip that spanned six weeks, four states and featured two weddings including my own!
I put together a draft post a while back that never saw the light of day but without writing an essay, one post was never going to do this trip justice! So I figured I’d throw a series of shorter posts at you!
“They’re still not going to be short are they Jason?”
Alright, you know me too well! I can’t help it! However if there was any trip worthy of a series of rambles then I suppose this is it!
Long time readers will be fairly familiar with much of the “story” at this point so let me give the rest of you a quick summarised version:
Way back in early 2016 I was invited over to Washington State to watch two friends (Maddie & Cassie) get married in the summer of 2018 – two days before my 30th birthday! Naturally I was going and had a big ol’ birthday trip!
Said friends played matchmakers and introduced me to Haleigh in the summer of 2016. We got chatting online and in 2017 I visited Washington State for the first time – one year earlier than planned!
Cassie, Maddie, Jason, Haleigh
We hit it off so many trips back and forth occurred before I went out to ‘live’ in the USA for 3 months at the start of February 2020!
“Wait.. 2020!?”
Yeah! In hindsight you could say it was bad timing, alternatively you could say it was perfect timing! I’ll let you be the judge of that and I suppose it depends on your perspective but we unexpectedly found ourselves living together in the midst of a pandemic. The intention had been to go over there and spend some proper time together and we certainly achieved that given the circumstances!
Anyway, by the time I’d left Washington I was an engaged man set to get married in September 2021. Alas that didn’t happen because I was stuck in England with the US border seemingly permanently closed and so here we are! Attempt number two!
All being well, this was finally happening! The end (HA!) to long distance was in sight! We’d finally be married and could live our lives (in limbo because of immigration laws) together, happily ever after!
A lot of planning went in to this trip. Of course you had the wedding planning, the burden of which largely fell on Haleigh’s shoulders as she was the one in Washington and she did a great job!
Beyond that we also had the travel planning itself. We not only had our wedding but one of Haleigh’s cousins was getting married down in Utah three weeks later. Additionally we were still living in Covid-cautious travel times, plus the usual travel mishaps that crop up which made for some frustrating scenarios – all of which I’ll mention but I’ll end this post by giving you the rundown of what was to come.
The plan!
On Sunday 27th March I would travel to Walla Walla, via Seattle (2ish weeks before the wedding).
Saturday 9th April – get married
Saturday 23rd April – fly back to England. Arrive in London on Sunday 24th April.
Monday 25th April – back to work for three days
Thursday 28th April – fly to Salt Lake City via Denver – no direct flight to SLC, really!?
Saturday 30th April – attend Utah wedding
Sunday 1st May – fly home via Denver. Arrive in London on Monday (bank holiday!)
Tuesday 3rd May – back to work!
In hindsight it probably didn’t make the most sense but I ideally wanted to be in Washington two weeks before our wedding and I was also a bit conscious about my annual leave for the year. I struggled when I’d taken four weeks off in 2018, I didn’t really want any more than that so if I could save some days by working then I was all for it even if it wasn’t particularly convenient.
Naturally, it’s the big trips where things begin to go wrong. You’ll note that this was actually a six week trip so things went awry along the way. All of that is to come, this was just a quick introduction to an unforgettable trip.
Hello dear readers! How’s it going? I’m really getting in to a bit of a blogging groove again now so hopefully you’ll see the posts continuing to hit your feed or inbox with some regularity!
I used the last blog post on Moses Lake as a bit of a segue in to this one as it kind of ended the Moses Lake chapter of our lives and subsequently affected this trip too.
On my last trip to Moses Lake, myself and Haleigh had got engaged so the next steps of our long-distance relationship were to get married and then we could finally start thinking about beginning our lives living in the same place (England).
With a Septermber (2021) wedding drawing ever closer, there were other decisions to be made in terms of our future. Haleigh was teaching in the US at the time and as the end of the school year was approaching, Haleigh had to decide whether or not she was committing to another year and simultaneously decide if she’d commit to renewing the lease on her apartment.
In a perfect world, it didn’t make sense to go another year. Consequently Haleigh left teaching at the end of the school year and also gave up her apartment that she’d called home for the last four years, with the plan to temporarily move home and stay with family in Walla Walla.
Alas, this was not a perfect world. Covid continued to wreak havoc on any planning and it became clear that with a US border in no rush to re-open, I wasn’t even going to make it to my own wedding. The US border remained closed and we were forced to push our wedding back and postpone until 2022 with the hope that things would be better by then.
It was a difficult period of change, particularly for Haleigh who’d now been left in limbo a little bit. In hindsight she might have done another year of teaching and not moved out of Moses Lake but unfortunately the situation was out of our hands and Covid always found a way to wreak havoc and made making future plans incredibly difficult throughout these strange times.
Sure enough, soon after we’d postponed our wedding it was confirmed that the US border would be re-opening in November. Haleigh had luckily been able to visit me earlier in the summer but we hadn’t seen much of eachother and it had been over 18 months since I’d last stepped foot in the USA and abruptly said goodbye to Moses Lake. I’d set aside some time in the hope that the border might re-open for Thanksgiving and luckily it did!
From a life perspective, that period of limbo was hard and as I said particularly so on Haleigh. However from a travel perspective, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited at the prospect of spending some significant time in Walla Walla. Whilst I mourned the lack of farewell for Moses Lake and how abrupt that departure had been, I’d only ever really spent time in Walla Walla either visiting family or having Haleigh show off her favourite spots in the area. Haleigh had found temporary employment back home and that meant I’d definitely have some time to explore the city on my own!
Welcome to Walla Walla, Washington
First I had to get there. I maintain that 2021 was worse for travel than 2020 was. You kind of at least knew where you stood in 2020. The next year was just a bit of a shit-show with ever-changing restrictions and border openings and closures and it was so much faff trying to do anything. I’d booked the Ireland trip pretty last minute because of the UK’s “travel light” system and as excited as I was to get back to Washington, the anxiety of trip-planning made you question if travel was even worth the effort. For a relationship? Absolutely. For travel enjoyment? Absolutely not.
What are the entry requirements? Do I have to quarantine? What are the restrictions? Are the restrictions likely to change? Who do I book a Covid test with? Will I get the results back in time? Will the US be content with the test results? Will British Airways cancel my flight? How long is it going to take me to get through security?
I ticked off everything I needed to do and made my way to Heathrow which was nothing short of a shambles and truthfully, no better in early 2022 either.
My saving grace was that I hate being late which meant Heathrow being busier and more chaotic than I’ve ever seen it didn’t really matter because when you’re hours early for your flight, you have wiggle room for the nonsense.
Heathrow was a mess and I don’t think it helped that the self-service era of travel means you find a lot of people don’t really know what they’re doing. I sympathise because I always have that trepidation at baggage drop that I have no idea if I’ve done it correctly, I’m always conscious I’m going to arrive in my destination and find that my luggage hasn’t left England or worse that it has but I’ve somehow inadvertently sent my luggage to Timbuktu.
I waved my baggage off, hopeful we’d be reunited later that day and then made my way to security which was also a long experience. I eventually made it through, still with time to kill, because I’m not one of the maniacs turning up four minutes before a flight and blaming the airline / airport for missing it. Honestly, how are you not panicking the entire time before departure?
Things were surprisingly smoother on the other side of the Atlantic. I was anticipating further chaos and the usual border-patrol interrogations I receive Stateside but I recall this being one of the stress-free custom experiences I’ve had on US soil. You had to do a lot of the document / Covid verification before travel and maybe that was why but it was bizarre in a country I’ve often faced hefty interrogation.
At last the stress was over, if nothing else I was in Washington State after a good 18 months away. I still had to get from Seattle to Walla Walla but if anything went wrong there, I could figure out a plan B.
If ever there was further proof needed that car is king in America, this is it. Sometimes Haleigh would pick me up at the airport but given the distance, the need to pass over the mountains and the potential weather disruption and then also work commitments I’ve often made my own way to Moses Lake. I’d usually been able to get to Moses Lake quite easily and could catch a bus directly from Seattle to Moses Lake, sadly there was no such luxury for Walla Walla.
I’m sure there is a way of doing it on public transport with several transfers spanning many hours but it’s much more of a chore getting to what should theoretically be a much more touristy city. There isn’t much to Moses Lake really but it’s conveniently located along one of the major highways in the state, Walla Walla is much more charming and its wine industry is BIG but it’s more of a ball-ache to get to so naturally the transport links are rubbish.
My only option was to fly across the state which meant catching another flight out of Seatac and hanging around in the airport for a little while. I had plenty of time to kill because again, how are any of you comfortable with a short layover? I’m an optimist by day but I prepare for worst case when it comes to travel.
With time to kill I went and found a little bar and grabbed myself a beer. Unfortunately I was robbed soon after.
Alright, let me clear that up. Robbed is perhaps a bit extreme. I ordered a beer and thought little more of it until I was ready to move on and then I asked for the bill. I don’t know if it was the long gap between trips to America, maybe I’d forgotten how expensive it is Stateside and moreso in airports after 18 months away but I looked down at my check and the amount read $12.
“What do you mean!?” – Twelve dollars for a beer! 12!!
Plus tax, naturally. That took my beer up to $13.20 in total and I scoffed how expensive a local beer could be. It’s not even like it was an out-of-state beer that needed shipping over, this was an Elysian beer based out of fucking Seattle!
As if $13.20 wasn’t enough for a solitary beer, I was then in America wasn’t I? Am I supposed to tip here? What’s the tipping etiquette on airport robbery? If you’re not paying your staff a decent wage whilst charging $13 for a beer than you should be in jail.
After tipping (I know, I know..) I barely got change on the $20 and took my grumblings to Twitter. It was time to find somewhere cheaper that might only want a kidney in exchange for a hot meal before my flight.
The flight over to Walla Walla was a late one but short. All in all it takes roughly an hour but you’re only in the air for maybe 45 minutes or so. It’s nice and easy, much nicer in the daytime when you can enjoy some of the views over Washington but soon enough I’d landed with Haleigh waiting for me. I landed around midnight so it was straight to bed from there with Sunday pretty relaxed and spent enjoying some time with the family.
Monday morning rolled around and with Haleigh working I was up and ready to go and explore Walla Walla solo for the first time. I knew my way around Walla Walla a little based on previous visits with Haleigh but there’s something to be said for exploring a place on your own and on foot too!
Walla Walla, Washington
Downtown Walla Walla – Feb 2020
As I said earlier, Walla Walla is charming. Moses Lake holds a lot of good memories for me and I did grow attached to it but from a travel perspective, there is no contest as to which is the better place to spend your time. I adore Walla Walla, how could you not!?
I made my way downtown and downtown Walla Walla is just lovely. It only consists of a few main streets (one unsurprisingly called Main Street) but it has a nice collection of restaurants, shops and 41,782 or so wineries with wineries outnumbering* the locals.
*Probably.
Truly, Walla Walla is famous for its wine. After California, Washington State is the biggest producer of wine in the USA and this is the city to enjoy that wealth of Washington wineries.
Ironically, Haleigh’s hometown is somewhat wasted on her as she isn’t really one for alcohol and although I am partial to the occasional drink, I’m by no means a wine drinker so this wasn’t something we’d ever done on any of my previous visit to Walla Walla.
Nonetheless, I had time to myself and “when in Rome” I figured why not? As tempted as you might be to head straight for the wineries, I grabbed myself a light breakfast at a nearby cafe first and figured I’d then see what all the fuss is about.
The most difficult decision you’re going to face in Walla Walla is where to begin? I joked that the wineries perhaps outnumbered the locals but to offer some actual context, Walla Walla is a fairly small city. Its population is around the 30,000 mark and yet more accurate Google searches will tell you that there are roughly 120 wineries in the Walla Walla area! Why so many!?
The downtown is FULL of wineries and there’s a good number a little further out of town too but without the means to get around, I figured that the 20 or so downtown was probably a good place for me to start. After whittling that down to those open on a Monday I was still left with far too many options or any idea on which to start with! In the end I settled upon visiting Spring Valley.
I’ll start by saying I know nothing about wine. My knowledge extends as far as knowing red and/or white were likely on the menu for the day. Fortunately my host was much more knowledgeable and placed a number of wines in front of me before delving in to the history of the winery, wines and the inspiration behind them.
It was a nice experience. I think it would undoubtedly have been better with company but my friendly host made me feel welcome nonetheless. I’d recommend it for any visitors to Walla Walla and the wines tasted nice to a novice who admittedly knows nothing about wine.
Not content with a “one and done” approach, I figured I should at the very least check out another winery for comparison. Whilst Haleigh isn’t a big wine drinker, the rest of (my) family are much happier wine drinkers and I figured a bit of market research on their behalf wouldn’t go amiss. Unsurprisingly I didn’t have to go very far before stumbling upon winery number two.
I won’t name and shame winery number two because I don’t think the tasting experience is necessarily catered towards solo drinkers but the room itself was a little more intimate, I was the only person tasting and it was all a little more awkward as a result.
My host didn’t quite have the same charm as the previous winery which in addition to my own lack of social skills and lack of wine knowledge just made for an uncomfortable visit all round. I think company would have made all the difference here but it was a quiet Monday in November – hardly tourist season – and so between the two of us we muddled on by until I put us both out of our misery, finished my wine and got out of there!
Reviews online are much kinder for what it’s worth and I think the awkwardness probably wasn’t helped by having to entertain someone with no real care for wine. I’m sure a beer tasting would have been much more enjoyable and less awkward for us both but there was no comparison between the two wineries that I’d been to. The wines at both were nice enough and I now wasn’t opposed to drinking wine – with what had been a red-heavy afternoon – but I settled on that being enough for today.
After a wine-heavy day so far I figured I’d better go and fill myself up with something more substantial – beer lunch! I popped over to what has become a little favourite of mine in recent times – the Red Monkey.
The food in all honesty is nothing exceptional – it’s standard pub fare but I like the atmosphere, the staff have always been friendly, they show some live sport which is nice and the selection of beers is always pretty good. I probably didn’t need the latter – particularly not knowing what my limitations were with wine but c’est la vie.
Due to the time of year, by the time I’d made my way back to the house it was fairly dark and it’s probably safe to say that the wine had caught up with me. As a first-time wine drinker I’d surpassed my limit and was starting to feel the effects. I’m not a bad drunk really, I’m not violent or aggressive nor am I any of the worst traits of drunks you sometimes encounter.
I’m generally a sleepy drunk, sometimes a soppy drunk but Haleigh put this firmly in to the category of “stupid drunk” and I think her sentiments were largely along the lines of “my boyfriend’s an idiot..” – fortunately I crashed soon after so despite the “luxury” and “fortune” of being the one and only ever witness to wine-drunk Jason, I think she was rather pleased to be rid of me for the night!
After sleeping off the effects of Monday’s wine antics, Tuesday was much more relaxed. I don’t think I really did much before me and Haleigh spent the evening together. I didn’t get many photos on Tuesday but my photos suggest that we must have gone out for dinner together on Tuesday evening – wine was not on the menu!
Thursday of course was Thanksgiving so Wednesday to Sunday was largely filled with Thanksgiving and family festivities. This was Thanksgiving number two for myself having attended my first in 2019 and missing 2020 for obvious reasons.
We spent most of these days out at one of the grandparent’s house, eating good food, playing games and mingling with the family. It’s always nice getting together and seeing how Thanksgiving is done Stateside. It’s a big holiday and with a big family, it’s always a fun occasion! 2020 remains the only year I’ve missed it!
We spent most of Friday out at the Grandparents again but on Friday we did escape for a couple of hours and headed downtown for some food at another local favourite – Wingmans!
One of the highlight of this visit was bearing witness to the infamous “Apple Cup” which is contested around Thanksgiving every year. College football is so popular in the States but every* November the two big Washington colleges go head to head. The University of Washington (Huskies) face off against WSU (Cougars) for the Apple Cup and local bragging rights.
Go Cougs!
Much of the family are WSU fans and t seemed so was the large majority of Wingman’s who were showing the game on TV so the place was full of people cheering on the Cougars with a few outliers. It was fun to see a bit of local rivalry in full swing and a really fun atmosphere to boot. The Cougars ended up winning this year which went down a treat both here and back at the house.
* They’ve shamefully moved this fixture so that it no longer falls over Thanksgiving! It’s sad to see that tradition lost! I’m sure for the Washington natives it’s an important clash at any time of year but as an outsider, it was a special part of the Thanksgiving festivities. Who really cares about the “Apple Cup” in September?
Sadly come the end of the weekend the holiday fun was beginning to wind down and people were making their way back out of town and heading home. We had a last breakfast together on Sunday but then people were on their way.
Originally the plan was for me to do likewise but I just wasn’t ready to go and ended up extending my trip a little longer.
Thanksgiving week just always goes so quickly. Particularly with Haleigh working on this occasion too. It felt like we’d barely had more than five minutes together, *cough* not helped by wine-drunk Jason *cough*, and then my trip was over. As fun as the week is, I wanted longer in Washington and fortunately could make it work for a few more days.
So rather then leaving, I stayed. Haleigh still had to work unfortunately but it gave us a bit more time together and myself a bit more time to have some fun in Walla Walla. Another Monday to myself gave me the opportunity to visit another winery.
“Oh no Jason, didn’t you learn your lesson?”
Don’t worry, I did! I grabbed some breakfast and then figured I’d check out one final winery, just the one this time though! See! I did learn my lesson!
This time I opted for the Mark Ryan winery right on Main St which had stood out previously. I’m sure in the summertime this is a lovely winery to visit as it has a little outside seating which would be perfect for people-watching but at the end of November, not so much. It still is a lovely Winery though. This week’s host was friendly and despite again being the only person wine-tasting, I’d still recommend this as one to visit. Although it’s worth reminding you that my wine-knowledge is non-existent so my winery recommendations are on nothing but vibes alone!
Keen to avoid wine-drunk Jason making a reappearance, I did stop at just the one winery. With 120-odd to visit, I hadn’t seen many but I’d seen enough for this trip and done my share of the “market research” – the remaining wineries would be down to the family to visit when they come to Washington!
I spent the rest of my day mooching around town, grabbing some lunch and having a little wander. The perk to staying a little longer was the Christmas decorations were starting to make an appearance and Walla Walla was starting to look quite Christmas-y. Myself and Haleigh rounded off the day by grabbing dinner at ‘Hop Thief’ across town (technically in neighbouring College Place) where you can pour your own beers so that was a fun outing!
The next day was pretty chilled, relaxing around the house before a busier Wednesday. Beyond the wineries, there are probably two main attractions in Walla Walla. The Whitman Mission, which Haleigh had taken us to on my first visit, and then ‘Fort Walla Walla’. which is an old military fort which was my main stop for today.
Walla Walla, Washington
It depends where you’re staying but ideally you’re probably going to want a car to visit both of these attractions – definitely for the Whitman Mission but I figured Fort Walla Walla was probably reachable on foot. One of the nice things about Walla Walla is that it is mostly flat.
I made some stops along the way. One of the busier roads in the city has a few fun little things on the side of the road that I’d passed in the car many times but I figured this was a good opportunity to see some of them up close. I then stopped for lunch at a bar on the outskirts of Walla Walla before venturing over to Fort Walla Walla.
It’s an interesting place with varying exhibits, some temporary and some permanent. I was mostly interested in seeing the permanent exhibits and outbuildings that tell you more about the history of the place.
Given the overwhelming number of wineries in the area I did somewhat chuckle at the jail for the drunks. The irony wasn’t lost on me either that it was donated by a fellow ‘Reid’. A donation for our drunken sins perhaps.
Anyway, it was a fun visit and I’m hopeful I’ll get back there soon as I think they currently have a World War exhibit going on which sounds interesting.
Nothing notable happened with the rest of my day, nor the rest of my time in Walla Walla really. Myself and Haleigh tried to make the most of our time together as this’d likely be the last we’d see eachother before the big ol’ wedding trip in a few months.
One of the fun things we did do with our final couple of days was check out some of the Christmas decorations around town.
Unsurprisingly, American homes go all out in terms of decorations and some even go as far as putting on a full lights show accompanied by music. Christmas rave anyone?
Sadly on Saturday morning we said our goodbyes and I caught the early 5am flight out of Walla Walla. There is a later flight out of Walla Walla so there are pros and cons to catching the early flight. The con is obvious, it’s a bloody 5am flight. Who wants to be up that early in the day? On the flipside, it means a longer layover in Seattle.
I knew I’d arrive in to Seattle a little after 6am and I wasn’t flying out of Seattle until a little after 6pm which meant I had almost half a day to go and have some fun in the city. Alaska Airlines pushed my baggage straight through to London so I didn’t have to worry about it in Seattle which was all the more reason to head in to Seattle and explore for a few hours.
The one thing I really noticed on this flying visit was the difference between “after dark” and “before light”. I’d been to Seattle before and spent time in the city after dark on previous trips and it doesn’t feel like an unsafe city. I appreciate that some of that is circumstantial and my experience is going to be different to others but I have few qualms walking around any big city late at night. I’ve rarely found myself in a situation where I’m uncomfortable.
However before light is another city entirely. The links from the airport in to the city are pretty quick so given it was early December, it was still pretty dark by the time I’d arrived downtown and let’s just say that the city has a little more character at that time of the morning. I think it’s the first and maybe only time I’ve been in Seattle and it’s felt a little sketchy to me and I was sure to be a little more aware of my surroundings.
I went and found myself a place to grab breakfast, I’d heard good things about Seattle’s five point cafe – a nice little diner in a good location downtown. At the time, the Covid restrictions were a little stricter in Seattle than the rest of the state so this was a hangout spot for the vaccinated only and I did see a few grumble in the short time I was there. It’s a cool place to start the day though and I enjoyed my pancakes and tea!
I hadn’t committed to any particular plans but after breakfast I wanted to go and do something fun. Despite its reputation for bad weather, I’ve often said Seattle’s reputation is unjust. Whilst I’ve visited Washington many times, I haven’t spent huge amounts of time in Seattle itself but it is invariably always sunny when I do. I’ve convinced myself that the Seattle weather is a myth!
Alas, this was one of the rare occasions that the weather gods have let me down and it was a bit grey and dreary with a little light rain. I figured today would be a good day to visit one of its indoor attractions. Unbeknownst to me, most of them don’t open until 10am! What’s that about!? Like, wake up Seattle!
Ordinarily it wouldn’t be a problem, I don’t typically make it habit to be out and about at the crack of dawn but it’s a tad inconvenient when you are and nowhere is open. I’d been to Seattle’s MoPop museum before and didn’t really fancy visiting the Space Needle on a cloudy day so opted to visit the famous Chihuly Gardens and Glass museum which also opened at 10am. I loosely wandered a little but mostly spent the time awkwardly loitering and waiting for the doors to open.
View of the Space Needle from the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum
For what it’s worth, it was a good decision. I hadn’t visited before but I think this is another must do in Seattle. Chihuly is a little more famous in this part of the world but has exhibited his work globally and it’s easy to see why. I thought it was a fascinating museum and one I’d probably return to.
I could have probably spent longer there but I was a little conscious of time and wanted to grab some lunch somewhere before making my way to the airport. All in all, it had been another lovely trip to Washington that went far too quickly as it always does. It was time to go home. The next time I’d be visiting Washington, I’d be getting married. More on that soon.
Hello dear readers! I hope all is well! I’m that far behind on my blogging that this post was actually drafted years ago but my blogging disappearance means it never got finished, nor posted.
The inspiration for this post was partially a realisation that I am never going back to Moses Lake! Last time out on the blog I talked about my trip to Ireland in 2021 and it was unfortunately a bit of an underwhelming trip. I just hadn’t loved Ireland and writing about it was a bit of a slog.
One of the things I ended saying in that series is that I couldn’t really see myself returning to Cork. I hadn’t loved Dublin but I think it’s more likely of the two that I will return there someday but Cork? I just can’t see it. I’d need a really good reason to return because I think I’ll be content having only visited once.
You have those destinations. Some places you absolutely see yourself returning to and even if you don’t, you have that feeling that you will at some point. Budapest is a great example, I said 11 years ago that Budapest is a city I’ll definitely go back to and it hasn’t happened yet. My parents have since fallen in love with the city and have talked about going back for a third time and as much as I joke with them about it, I get it. It’s a magical city.
On the flipside you have other destinations you don’t really see yourself returning to, like Cork, where fate might actually decide otherwise. I didn’t really see myself returning to Köln on my first visit either but have actually visited as many as four times now! I’m not opposed to returning either, more time in Köln helped me find a fondness for it.
Moses Lake though? I am not going back and that definiteness just leaves me feeling a little bit sad. It’s one thing to not know but knowing feels different. Why would I ever return? There’s no reasonable or even unreasonable explanation that will see me go back there.
Moses Lake, Washington
Long term readers will know a little of my Moses Lake history but anyone wanting a recap, start here maybe?
To summarise: my wife is from Washington State and spent many years living in little ol’ Moses Lake. For that reason my visits to Moses Lake have been many and also memorable. I have a lot of fond memories of that little town in Washington. It felt like a bit of a second home in many ways.
However, Haleigh is not a Moses Lake native. She grew up living in Walla Walla, which I’ll write about in my next post, and went to college in Ellensburg. She has family and friends dotted all over the Pacific Northwest but Moses Lake is not such a place.
I personally have nothing tying me to the city anymore. Calling it a city is generous even, it’s tiny and has very little there to justify returning. It’s just another small town in America of which there are many. Realistically it’s not on the way to somewhere that would give us a reason to stop off there. Anywhere we’re likely to visit in Washington would mean taking an unnecessary detour to Moses Lake to pass through it and for what?
To add a little more context, my last visit to Moses Lake was my longest yet! In early 2020 I’d made the decision to go and spend some significant time living with Haleigh and I felt myself starting to plant seeds in Moses Lake and then I had the most abrupt of Covid departures which meant I didn’t even really get a proper goodbye to Moses Lake. Not that I knew at that moment in time that it’d be my last visit but the US border remained closed for so long that by the time I was able to return, Haleigh had moved back home to Walla Walla.
I think the lack of a “goodbye” to Moses Lake is bittersweet so this post is my own little way of doing that. That chapter is closed but a little piece of my heart remains in Moses Lake (“dude, you should probably go back for that!”).
So farewell Moses Lake!
Farewell to cute dates at Rock-Top, Michael’s On The Lake and Porterhouse Steakhouse. All three restaurants were favourites for different reasons and I’ve got good memories of them all, including a freezing first date at Rock Top.
Top travel tip: if you’re the only outside diners in peak dinner hours then it’s probably too cold to be dining outside! Curse those deceptively blue September skies!
Mason’s Place, Moses Lake
Farewell to Mason’s Place coffee shop. Many an afternoon were spent here with a book, drinking tea and Heather and the team always made me feel so welcome. On that final trip I’d even unlocked “regular” status and earned myself a loyalty / rewards card to stamp each visit – typical that it happened during Covid and I didn’t get to reap the benefits of such rewards but I’ll always associate Moses Lake with Mason’s Place. In a state famed for Starbucks, this was always my go-to spot.
Midway Pub, Moses Lake
Farewell to Midway Pub – another favourite of mine due to its hospitality. My first and second visits were six months apart but I was remembered nonetheless. A nice perk of being an outsider in a small town. My final visit they wanted to ensure they had a beer on tap that I’d enjoy as they phased out my “usual”. I think the ownership has since changed but this was another place that I unlocked “regular” status and was treated so well on every visit.
Farewell to Moses Lake’s charming museum. Free to visit, I’d often swing by and check out the newest exhibition on display. Being a small-town museum, it was usually quiet which was an added bonus as a visitor but definitely worth a quick visit should you find yourselves in Moses Lake!
Farewell to Moses Lake’s small Japanese gardens! I was bitterly disappointed to discover these only open seasonally. It’d be nice if it was open year round but my sole visit was nice enough and is one of the few “attractions” in the city.
Farewell to the Basalt Collective and Squirrel Fight Artisan Brewing. A literal farewell. These were both discoveries on my last visit to Moses Lake but unfortunately neither appear to have survived and both are now closed. Nonetheless, I have fond memories of both and the people I met along the way.
Ten Pin Brewing, Moses Lake
Farewell to the bowling alley and Ten Pin Brewing Company. Bowling and good beer on site? Sign me up! I loved the pin-shaped pint glasses and we had a few fun games of bowling here too!
Farewell to Brews and Tunes! This was a solo outing but in February 2020, Moses Lake hosted its inaugural Brews and Tunes festival and I was just in awe. This was the absolute best of small-town community coming together and I left Moses Lake truly inspired. I’m still in disbelief that festival worked but it did and it really made me appreciate Peterborough more too.
It wasn’t just me either. I keep tabs on a few Moses Lake bits and pieces and discovered a new brewery has since opened downtown that I would love to have visited but the fascinating thing for me is they mentioned that inaugural Brews and Tunes as the inspiration for setting up shop in Moses Lake. How cool is that!? Anyway..
Farewell to downtown Moses Lake. It’s a small downtown area but it has its charm. With little art sculptures and murals dotted around among its local businesses, it’s a place that I’ve enjoyed many a day exploring.
Farewell to Moses Lake. The lake itself. I recall having a lakeside wander on my first visit on a nice summer’s afternoon contemplaying how lovely it’d be to hop right in. I later discovered the lake is toxic so it’s probably best that I didn’t but it’s pretty nonetheless.
Farewell to Solara Apartments. It was never a permanent home for me but a second home for sure and where myself and Haleigh had our first real taste of living together. I had good times in Moses Lake but many of them were spent here – I even proposed in that little apartment!
Farewell Moses Lake! My London roots will always make me feel at home in big cities but I still think about you a lot. Thank you for the good times!
Anyway, hopefully you found this post fun! I can’t see any scenario in which I return to Moses Lake but I still keep watch from afar. I’ve seen some favourites close but other businesses open which suggest Moses Lake continues to thrive.
Brews and Tunes has become an annual festival, more breweries have opened, Crumbl Cookies have arrived in Moses Lake and the city even has its first Indian restaurant! It’s bittersweet knowing I’m unlikely to ever visit some of these places but I still have a lot of love for Moses Lake.
Hello my dear followers! How are things? I think this is the part where I make my excuses for how little I’ve posted in 2024 and vow that 2025 will be much better but is that actually likely? I suppose we shall see.
It’s strange to think that once upon a time I used to post here on a weekly basis, how did that ever happen!?
but maybe 2025 will be better?
In all honesty, 2024 was quite a strange year. Those of you on other social media platforms (“there are others beyond WordPress Jason!?”) will have seen me talk about this at the beginning of the year but life has kind of stood still for most of the year.
We decided back around March time that things weren’t working in England and that Haleigh would move back to the States permanently, which happened in the summer, and now we get to go through all the fun of the immigration process again to get me over to the US permanently.
I don’t envy the process on anyone and we’ve found ourselves doing it in both directions. It’s frustrating, it’s time-consuming and it’s expensive. To the American’s credit, it seems much cheaper going in that direction but the process seems like it’ll probably take longer to get me over there.
I’ll touch on the epiphany moment of making the decision later in the post but we made the decision much earlier in the year and I think because I’m naturally an optimistic and positive person, mentally I’d kind of placed myself in my new life across the pond. My genuine feelings were those of excitement.
The problem with placing yourself somewhere mentally is that in actuality, nothing has changed almost nine months later. I’m conscious people have it much worse and we have no real cause for complaint but life does feel like it’s a bit on pause at the moment. We’re sitting waiting for a stranger to make a decision on our case – “is this person going to be a good ex-Pat or a bad immigrant?” – fine line, isn’t it?
In the meantime I’m living a day-to-day that feels a bit arbitrary and the knock-on effect is that 2024 has been fine at best. It’s a struggle making longer-term plans when they lay elsewhere but you don’t know when that’ll be.
Anyway, getting back on track with the topic of this post. I figured I’d make my overdue blog return to stick with a yearly tradition of an annual roundup of all things travel. Despite a “doom and gloom” feel to this post so far, looking back at my 2023 travel roundup I’d like to think that we did much of what I’d expected and hoped that we would do this year.
We can always hope for more travel and more adventure but during 2024 we managed to see a little more of the UK, visit somewhere that neither myself or Haleigh had been to and naturally we also returned to Washington – one of us with a one way ticket but I’ll get to that shortly!
Here’s a little glimpse at 2024!
February – York
With both of us working the Monday-Friday life, it felt nice to take a Friday to have a long weekend somewhere. We considered a few different options, some more budget-friendly than others and we eventually agreed upon going up to York for a long weekend.
In theory this was a great idea, York is an incredible city and one that everyone should visit at some point. I was keen to show it off to Haleigh but truthfully our timing wasn’t the greatest!
Firstly it fell around that time of the year that kids had a week’s holiday here in the UK. I’m sure I appreciated it plenty during my educational years but do we really need to let the little rascals have so much time off throughout the year? To further exacerbate our woes, I’d neglected to realise at the time that our little weekend away in York actually overlapped with the annual Vikings festival in good ol’ Jorvik.
You could make a case for that being excellent timing or terrible timing I suppose. On the one hand you could make a case that a Vikings festival is the best time to visit York – the city was inundated with Vikings and entertainment throughout the weekend but simultaneously it was horrendously busy everywhere we went so also a pretty crazy time to be in York.
Despite the crowds and the typical English weather, we made the best of our time in York. It’s still a phenomenal city and the likes of the York Minster and York’s Castle Museum are worth a visit at any time of year. However it’d be lovely to go back and explore more peacefully when the likes of the Shambles aren’t.. well, a shambles!
We also had the misfortune of the weather. One of the things I’d hoped we could do was take a river cruise along the River Ouse but with the torrential downpour, all fucking year, the city was flooded and consequently we had to settle for a city bus tour instead.
However it was still nice to get away and show off one of England’s finest cities to Haleigh on her furthest trip North in the World!
The Algarve – Portugal
“It’s not that bad” is how I’d often find myself describing the weather here in England. I think it’s vastly exaggerated how bad the weather is in England, much in the same way people speak about Seattle and yet every time I go to Washington I arrive to find blue skies and beautiful sunsets. Where’s this mythical Seattle weather people speak of?
I leap to England’s defence, I promise people it’s not that bad and how is my patriotism rewarded? With endless rain. I think we had about 500 days of rain last year!
“erm Jason, I don’t think a year has that many days?”
Well, I stand by it. The weather this past year has been bloody miserable. You hear extreme headlines of there being “too many people in boats” and yet it’s not the pesky immigrants they’re writing about, it’s your every-day commuter that have abandoned their cars and started rowing to work because of how much rain we’ve had in the last couple of years.
“Who’s exaggerating now?”
Look, it’s not just me saying it. Here’s an article suggesting it was the wettest 18 month period since records began or this article suggesting England was preparing for its wettest summer in 100 years or how we suffered the wettest September for a century. The facts back it up! It has rained and rained and rained and rained and.. you get the point.
Rained!
For a multitude of reasons, we went in to 2024 wanting a holiday. A proper holiday at that. A long distance relationship has meant a lot of our annual leave has been taken up by Transatlantic adventures to visit the other or family or whatever. We squeezed some small, local trips in to 2023 but one of my hopes for 2024 was to visit somewhere that wasn’t Washington State. I love it but I was desperate to just go anywhere else.
Haleigh herself was in much need of a break and we decided we’d chase the Winter sunshine and get away for a full week of sunshine (“what’s that!?”) and relaxation.
We pondered a few options. Well, actually, I mostly narrowed down the options as my knowledge of European getaways was naturally a little more extensive than Haleigh’s. There was a temptation to look further flung than Europe but with just a week’s holiday I think Europe made sense.
It’s surprising how many coastal destinations aren’t necessarily good beach destinations. We eventually whittled down our options to a few select destinations but the Algarve looked increasingly more appealing plus friendly to the budget.
Haleigh had never been to Portugal before. I’d been to Lisbon ten years prior and loved my first impressions of Portugal but I was excited to visit a part of the country that I’d never visited either.
I’ll blog about it in more detail at a later date but we picked really well. The Algarve is beautiful, the beaches are out of this world and we had the perfect week of relaxation! I’d thoroughly recommend it and this was sadly, probably one of the happiest weeks Haleigh had living in England.
Yeah, not an encouraging sign given we were in Portugal!
Norwich – Easter weekend
With other plans for later in the year, we decided we’d celebrate an early anniversary by taking a trip over the Easter weekend rather than using up annual leave for a midweek anniversary.
Norwich is another nice English city to spend some time in and weather-permitting we might have even squeezed in a trip to the coast for a day. It might not quite be the Algarve but the Norfolk coast is alright, isn’t it?
Alas, Haleigh got sick in the run up to our weekend away and we sadly ended up staying at home. In some ways this epitomised Haleigh’s time in England and felt much like the beginning of the end as far as English life was concerned.
Cromer beach, Norfolk
London – May
However firstly, Haleigh had family from Utah coming to visit. Well, truthfully they were taking a cruise that mostly toured other places nearby but they set aside a few days to see us in England too.
Trip-planning for this probably wasn’t as smooth as we’d have liked and there were a few different things to consider which kind of left things more last minute than we’d have liked. Haleigh’s family based themselves in London and one such consideration was whether rather than fork out on expensive London accommodation, we actually travel back-and-forth between London and Peterborough each day.
However we didn’t really want all that faff so committed to spending a full week down in good ol’ London!
Again, this might be a trip I blog about in more detail but if you set aside the cost it’s a phenomenal place to spend a week isn’t it? I was born in London, it’ll always be home to me to some degree and I’m completely biased when it comes to judging London objectively but there’s nowhere like it.
I compared New York City to London in an older blog post and whilst NYC rivals it, I joked in that post that the one thing that gives London the edge is that NYC isn’t London – a completely fair ruling!
It was great to be able to show off “my city” but it was also great to just have some significant time there. The one downside to living so close to London still is that it rarely ever needs more than a daytrip to visit. I can go to the football or the theatre or go to see family or whatever and still be tucked up in my own bed the same night so why pay for accommodation usually? I can catch a late train home and be cosy in my own home.
This was a trip that really allowed us the luxury of enjoying London in all its glory – something we hadn’t really done since Haleigh’s first trip to England.
I didn’t see much point in basing ourselves on the outskirts of London, if we were going to spend a week in the capital I didn’t then want to be spending an age commuting in and out of the city. So we plumped for accommodation in central London – the Paddington area to be precise which proved to be a good base for our time in London.
From there the possibilities were endless. You’ll never run out of things to do in London but a week is also a long time to actually really enjoy it. We experienced a few different things over the course of a week that I’ll write about at a later date but the most important thing was my extended family had enjoyed their time in England.
Whitby – June
We had one final adventure left before Haleigh said farewell to England. Myself, Haleigh, my parents, sister and brother-in-law had made plans for a weekend up in Whitby in Yorkshire! It’s not somewhere Haleigh had been before and additionally wasn’t somewhere I’d been before either so we were looking forward to a nice summer weekend up in Whitby.
Naturally, summertime in England doesn’t really count for anything. You’re just aswell booking in December or January and hoping for blue skies. We’d got quite lucky in London for the week but it was mostly grey and overcast skies up in Yorkshire!
Nevertheless we still made the best of it and it wasn’t too bad (“you keep saying that!”) weather wise. Truthfully dreary days by the coast are the best times to visit, for some reason they appear to be much more popular on sunnier and warmer days?
Anyway, Whitby’s lovely. We made time to visit the Abbey whilst we were up there, brushed up on our knowledge of Dracula and Bram Stoker and also took a rather anti-climatic boat ride out to nowhere but it was a nice weekend away with the family and a good opportunity to spend some time together whilst all six of us remain in the country and perhaps it’ll be the last time we’ll do such a trip.
Washington State – August
There was a touch of irony and coincidence in the timing of this trip but we moved “the immigrant” back home on the 1st of August. In the very same week the UK were hosting country-wide anti-immigration demonstrations and just generally losing their damn minds. Riots and lootings and just general destruction spreading across the country from the *checks notes* patriots.. ?
Nothing says “I love my country” more than wreaking havoc on your own doorstep!
It’s such a weird mind-fuck having Haleigh’s family asking her what it was about England she didn’t like and simultaneously sitting there myself thinking I’ve never been more ashamed of my country. England is a lovely country but it’s harder making that argument when the growing number of Reform racists are running riot.
I wrote a satirical blog post over a year ago joking that myself and Haleigh would be crossing the Atlantic on a dinghy and somehow both countries hatred of immigrants and foreigners seems worse now than it was when I wrote that post.
Anyway, I’d done my civic duty and helped remove one immigrant from the country for good. My reward for such patriotism was getting to spend some time in Washington State. You might potentially call it a holiday of sorts.
It was nice to be back in Washington temporarily. We didn’t do anything particularly exciting but 2024 saw the return of the annual family BBQ and it was nice to see so many of Haleigh’s family again. We did some of the more mundane “moving home” kind of things that needed doing now Haleigh was back but overall it was a nice time away and I even got a glimpse of what a summer looks like in places other than rainy, little England.
Unfortunately only one of us were making the trip back to England as Haleigh began to re-settle back in Washington and we began the arduous immigration process all over again.
One day we’ll eventually be in the same place at the same time but alas that chapter isn’t written yet!
Washington – November
Now this was obvious, wasn’t it? Thanksgiving number five! With the exception of 2020 for obvious reasons, I’ve managed to make it to Washington for Thanksgiving every year since my first in 2019!
An extra holiday is an absolute perk to marrying an American. Obviously it shouldn’t be the sole reason you marry someone but it doesn’t hurt to have extra perks. I always love returning to my second home for Thanksgiving each year.
Unfortunately my annual leave seemed to disappear quite quickly this year and looking back it’s hard to see where it went exactly but this was the hand I had been dealt, I could only return to Washington for a week. Nowhere near long enough but it is what it is.
Weirdly, having applied for a spousal visa at this point I’d anticipated a much more interrogative arrival in Seattle for this trip but no.. Naturally I’d given myself plenty of time in the layover I had and it was one of the quickest ever arrivals I’ve had Stateside.
“Why are you here?”
“I’m spending Thanksgiving with my wife and her family.”
“Where’s your wife?”
“She lives here?”
“Where do you live?”
“In England”
“Why…?”
I don’t know mate, for shits and giggles. What do you mean why?
Seriously, there was just something in the tone of his question that was almost comical. “You’re apart? I mean that makes no sense dude. You should just be together!”
If only it were that simple! Who do I speak to to make this guy the head of immigration?
Pleased with a suitable answer less sarcastic than those going on in my brain, he waved me on through and I was back in Washington!
As ever, the week went far, far too quickly but it was nice to be back in Washington and of course good to be reunited with Haleigh even if only temporarily. Hopefully Mr Border Patrol officer receives his fully-deserved promotion but until such a time we continue to wait.
Local stuff
That just about sums up the bigger trips of the year. I’d say Portugal was the highlight, it is a really special part of the world and certainly one of the best trips we’ve taken together.
I feel like my online presence was much less in 2024 across all platforms but beyond the above, I’ve still been trying to make the best of the year and living my life in England. There were bigger plans for the year that perhaps didn’t pan out as planned but this was a year where I squeezed in more volunteering. I rediscovered a love of some hobbies and discovered others that really aren’t for me.
All in all, my year wasn’t bad and I know others in the world have much more to worry about but fingers crossed for better things to come in 2025!
So.. 2025 plans?
Look, some of this is visa-dependent. We submitted our application in mid October so we’re almost three months into the process. We’ve been advised it could take anywhere up to two years so it’s impossible to say when it’ll happen for us, we’ll keep hopeful that it’ll happen in 2025 but it’s out of our hands.
One goal is obviously to save some money. Whenever it does happen, I don’t want to be heading to Washington penniless but there’s that fine balance between saving all of my money and dying of boredom in the process.
I don’t want to be financially irresponsible and reckless but whilst we are waiting, I still need to maintain a life here in England.
As far as travel is concerned, I’ll obviously visit Washington at some point this year. Haleigh is hopeful to visit England later in the summer too so we’ll still see eachother albeit not as much as we’d like.
More ambitious travel plans, I’m craving a bit of Winter sunshine again. I need to figure out if there’s wiggle room in the budget to take a holiday but I’m tempted nonetheless. Haleigh doesn’t have the annual leave / PTO to join me but I want a little bit of sunshine. I’d be tempted to return to the Algarve again but if I return without Haleigh, that’ll likely end in divorce so I’ll have to consider other alternatives!
I’m also really, really tempted to get back to Finland. I want to see more of the country and it’s calling my name.
Truthfully though, I have no plans other than visiting Washington at some point but I’ve been to Washington so many times that it isn’t quite scratching that itch and desire to travel and see the world.
I suppose watch this space!
Anyway, I’ll hopefully blog more this year so watch that space too. Until next time!
Hello dear readers! Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely time over the holidays and hopefully you’re excited for the year ahead?
I didn’t blog a great amount in 2023, I don’t really know why but I just didn’t find motivation to do so regularly. I looked back and it appears that I only posted seven times in 2023!
You’d be forgiven for thinking that’s because I was traveling so frequently but that wasn’t really the case either. Haleigh finally got her visa and moved over to England in February 2023. Consequently I think much of 2023 was spent trying to help Haleigh get adjusted to life in England and the majority of our travels this year were largely spent back-and-forth between Washington.
Nevertheless, let’s have a little look at some of the adventure we did have this year!
Washington State – January 2023
This was a pretty whirlwind trip. As I said, Haleigh was finally moving to England in February so at the end of January I went over for what was little more than a long weekend.
My flight to Washington was on the 28th of January and on the 31st of January we’d be flying back to England (arriving on the 1st of Feb). It’s a long way to go for such a short trip and isn’t something I’d recommend haha. I don’t think I even really suffered from jetlag because it felt like by the time I’d arrived I was going home again.
I flew in to Seattle and Haleigh was based on the East side of the state in Walla Walla. It’s a long drive and not advisable in the Winter months if it can be avoided, the public transport is rubbish so my only option to get to Walla Walla was to fly. Sadly at some point Alaska Airlines dropped one of the two daily flights between the two cities (they’ve since re-introduced them) which meant the only flight out of Seattle on the 28th was before I’d arrived.
It meant I couldn’t get to Walla Walla until the 29th (to then leave on the 31st!) but the upside was I had a night to myself in Seattle. I like Seattle, it’s a fun city and somewhere I always enjoy having a layover. I booked myself a hotel downtown and decided I’d go and watch a NHL game for the first time. The NHL recently introduced a new team based in Seattle and it just so happened the timing would work out nicely for me to watch the Seattle Kraken for the first time!
Alas, my luck with sporting events in the US is pretty rubbish. Something inevitably almost always goes wrong and usually after I’ve already paid extortionate amounts to buy a ticket. Honestly, it is so expensive to go and watch live sport in the USA – not helped by every professional sports team in America seemingly selling tickets exclusively with ticket sites rather than selling them in-house (curse you Ticketmaster!).
It was only three months earlier I’d bought tickets to see the Washington Wizards in DC and my plans changed and similar misfortunes meant I missed this game too. My flight was delayed and meant I was going to arrive in Seattle later than planned.
How much of the game I would have missed is guesswork, maybe a minimal amount. At a push I might have even made kickoff but it was unnecessary stress and with baggage in hand it wasn’t worth all the fuss. In the end I bailed on going to the game and just met up with a friend earlier than planned for food and drinks which was a fun way to spend my night in Seattle.
The next morning it was back to the airport for a quick flight over to Walla Walla and a just-as-quick weekend before returning to England. It was a whirlwind weekend that barely counted as an adventure but still, it was nice to see a few familiar faces in Washington and of course those mountain views.
London – February 2023
Sometimes the “fun gods” are with you and sometimes against. My misfortune at missing the NHL game in Seattle was offset by some fortune here, albeit at my parents expense.
They’d been gifted tickets to do a tour of the Houses of Parliament in London but as the weekend drew near it became clear they wouldn’t be well enough to go. Consequently we went instead!
We’re fortunate to live close enough to London that it only needed to be a daytrip so not the longest of adventures this time around but it was nice to go and spend a few hours in London. The actual tour was also pretty good. It’s the first time I’d seen inside the parliament building and it’s particularly impressive with some incredible displays of artwork throughout.
It’s a good way to learn more about the history of the building and government in the UK. Definitely a tour worth doing and made for a fun afternoon in London.
Lincoln – April 2023
Myself and Haleigh finally got married in April 2022. A lot of the wedding planning, honeymoon included, was made much more difficult because of Covid. We got married in Washington and ended up spending our honeymoon down in Oregon.
One of the places we visited during that trip was Lincoln City, Oregon – a coastal town which we visited on pretty much the only good day of weather we had whilst in Oregon (we arrived to snow and returned to Walla Walla to find more of the white stuff in Washington too!.
So having visited Lincoln City, Oregon in April 2022, it felt a little fitting that our one year anniversary was then spent in the “other Lincoln” – the better known one perhaps!?
I’d personally been to Lincoln before, although given its proximity it’s perhaps a little shameful that I’ve only visited the once and a daytrip at that. However it was Haleigh’s first time visiting Lincoln and therefore an opportunity for some adventure in a new city on this little island.
We were only in Lincoln for a little over 24 hours. Short and sweet but it was nice to get away and enjoy all that Lincoln had to offer. Haleigh’s overall feelings about Lincoln were positive, probably helped by exploring its castle and seeing the Magna Carta – Lincoln housing one of only four copies!
Our anniversary meal was a bit of a bust – visiting a nice rooftop bar. The setting itself was lovely but largely letdown by the food and the slow service. We’d probably have been better off somewhere less fancy but it didn’t take the shine off an otherwise lovely time in Lincoln – definitely a city we’ll return to, although yet to do so.
Washington State – June 2023
You can’t keep us away for too long. One of Haleigh’s cousins, Jessica, was getting married which gave us a good excuse to return to Washington, celebrate and catch up with family and friends.
The wedding itself was up in the Spokane area. I’d been to Spokane once before, solo infact, but it was nice to go back and see more of the area. The highlight of the trip was getting together with everybody for the wedding of course, set in a beautiful location on the outskirts of Spokane.
After a weekend in Spokane, the rest of the trip was much more relaxed. It was nice to get back to Washington for a bit, see some of our favourite people and forget about work and other such responsibilities back in England. Eventually it was time to go home and we said our temporary goodbyes knowing we’d catch up again later in the year.
London & Peterborough – September 2023
Haleigh was now living in England which presents a great opportunity / excuse for many of the American folk to come and visit. We had our first visitors in September as Haleigh’s Aunt Gina and Uncle Rob planned for a short-stop in England at the end of their 3 week Italy adventure.
Having previously visited them in Portland, Oregon it was nice to switch roles and play tour-guide for the pair of them on their first visit to England. We didn’t have a huge amount of time together but we squeezed in an evening in London (for drinks), a day in London and then a day in Peterborough.
I love getting to show off England to people and having seen a little of London with another family member, I was keen to then show off some of the more touristy parts they hadn’t yet seen. After breakfast and a quirky house / museum visit we ticked off Covent Garden, Westminster before rounding off the afternoon with a river cruise from Westminster down to Tower Bridge. I’d seen and done it all before of course, as had Haleigh with the exception of Covent Garden but I truly never tire of exploring London and even revisiting the more touristy parts of London retains its charm.
The next day the four of us caught the train up to Peterborough – just shy of an hour its an easy daytrip and the rest of my family were keen to reunite with Rob and Gina too so eight of us got together for the afternoon.
Peterborough isn’t what I’d call a must visit by any means but having lived here for 25+ years now it’s still nice to show off its best bits. I gave Rob and Gina a brief tour of the small city centre before wandering over to the 900+ year cathedral – the jewel of the city and one with a tremendous amount of history.
You quite often hear of travelers suffering cathedral fatigue when on a long European trip such as theirs but their enthusiasm for Peterborough’s still shone through which was particularly pleasing after visiting the likes of Florence’s Duomo.
Our plans somewhat changed from that point and rather than go explore further we settled for an afternoon sat by the river enjoying the company, beers and food to follow. It was a short and sweet catchup but lovely to have American guests on English soil – hopefully more follow in their footsteps and we can show off even more of the country next time!
Jersey – October 2023
Speaking of cathedral fatigue, I’ve largely reached that same point with the USA. My parents took us on four family holidays to Florida growing up. Spanned over eight weeks between 1997 to 2008, I was certainly luckier than most in my childhood to get the opportunity to visit the USA but over 11 years it wasn’t overkill by any means. One state, largely based in one area of Florida and spread out over 11 years.
It was another eight years before I returned to the USA after that last Florida trip. In February 2016 I made the return to the USA and my first trip doing so solo – beginning my own American adventures and stories.
Since then there’ve been many trips to the USA. I have no regrets, it’s a wonderful country and I’m fortunate to have seen so much of it. The Pacific Northwest in particular is stunning and I’m lucky to have seen so much of it but one of my goals in 2024 is definitely to visit somewhere that’s “not the USA”.
Add it all up and I’ve now spent 45.5 weeks of my life in the USA – roughly, Given eight years ago that figure was only eight weeks it tells you all you need to know about how much time I’ve spent there in recent years. It works out as an average of between four and five weeks every year in the USA which is absurd really – particularly given I only receive five weeks of annual leave most years.
In that same period I’ve still visited Scotland, Ireland, Gibraltar, Spain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland & Greece so with the help of public holidays I’ve absolutely maximised my annual leave to get the best out of my travels but I’d be content with fewer trips to the USA.
There’ll always be a reason to go back and I expect we’ll visit at least once a year but I’m hopeful we’ll have more time to see other places too. Our only overseas trip this year that wasn’t to the USA was to Jersey.
Overseas when talking about a place so close to home and a British territory also feels a little exaggerrated but we did leave our little island so I guess you can call it overseas. We flew from Gatwick and by the time we were up in the air we were pretty much descending to land in the small island of Jersey.
This was a little similar to my plans for the Gibraltar trip in 2020. The reasons for that were largely Covid inspired leaving me little other options, on this occasion it was education. Haleigh started teaching in September which meant we were restricted to school holidays to go anywhere and we also didn’t plan anything particularly far in advance which further limited our options due to cost.
I was a little resigned to going away somewhere within the UK. Haleigh hasn’t actually seen much of it so that wouldn’t have been as negative as it sounds. However having given up hopes on a cheap European getaway I pondered if there were any alternatives to the UK and considered how expensive the Channel Islands might be and luckily found cheap flights and accommodation in Jersey – aided by an Easyjet voucher I’d been holding on to for a while.
Like Gibraltar, I’d never given much consideration to visiting Jersey before but the more we looked in to what it had to offer the more tempting it sounded and so we enjoyed a few days away on the little island of Jersey.
The only downside to an “island getaway” so close to England is that the weather in October isn’t too dissimilar to home. We actually lucked out with the weather being dry for most of our trip but it had been miserable in the days leading up to it so most things closed for the season and some of those earlier than scheduled which scuppered a few of our plans.
We still had fun though. Jersey was a nice place to escape to, we managed to see quite a good chunk of the island and it really is a pretty place – the beaches in particular are gorgeous.
It’s somewhere we enjoyed enough that we’d go back to but I think that’s partially because of some of the seasonal things that we missed out on. I think if we’d done more we’d possibly feel less inclined to go back, if we’d gone a month earlier for example I think it would have been a better trip but we still had a nice time away. Visiting somewhere new was particularly pleasing for me given our other adventures this year were all in places I’d visited previously.
Washington State – November 2023
and of course, we rounded off our year with a third trip to Washington! Before accepting her teaching job, Haleigh ensured we’d get a week away for Thanksgiving. I did joke I’d go with or without her – why should I miss out on Thanskgiving because of those pesky kids?
Fortunately as a one-off it wasn’t a problem and Haleigh was allowed to take unpaid leave to join me in Washington. All that talk about USA-fatigue is kind of disregarded for Thanksgiving. I don’t know that we’d ever do Thanksgiving and Christmas and it may be that some years we’d prefer to do Christmas stateside but I think this is a week I’d always make an effort to get back to Washington for.
This was Thanksgiving number four for me. With the exception of 2020 for obvious reasons, I’ve been to Washington every November since 2019. Good food, great people – what more could you wish for?
It was lovely catching up with everyone and of course returning to Washington itself. I’ve visited a lot in recent years and it is very much a second home for me – why Peterborough doesn’t have any mountains yet I don’t know.
As ever the time in Washington went far too quickly and then it was back to England for the festive period. I took Haleigh to her first panto which was something she had to experience for a first time (“oh no I didn’t” Haleigh cries).
Yeah, it didn’t go down particularly well unfortunately but where else are you going to get tap-dancing pandas performing on stage, right?
Anyway, that just about rounds up our year of travel!
2024 plans?
Honestly, I could probably repeat word for word what I said in last year’s roundup. We have nothing concrete planned yet but we’ll undoubtedly return to Washington at some point in 2024. Whether that’s for Thanksgiving, Christmas or some other reason is yet to be determined but we will return in 2024.
Beyond that I don’t know where we will end up this year but I don’t want Washington to be the only place we visit. We have some family from Utah visiting in May so we’ll definitely make time to see them as much as we can. Ideally we’ll also explore much more of the UK ourselves this year as there’s still plenty that Haleigh hasn’t seen and lots of places on this little island I’d like to visit too.
As far as outside of the UK is concerned, we’ll see what happens. There are plenty of ideas but all of these are budget-dependent of course. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of adventure to come this year.
Lastly, non travel-plans for 2024? First and foremost I’d like to get back to blogging regularly. Seven blog posts last year was a pitiful effort and I imagine most of those were early on in the year. I want to get back to blogging weekly if possible but let’s aim for at least once a month, shall we?
I want to build up my savings a bit this year too. Finding that balance between saving and still doing fun things is always difficult but saving for bigger things is definitely on my mind.
Covid certainly helped but it’s unimaginable to me that I ever had savings for a wedding back in 2022. I know there are many people worse off than myself but I haven’t been comfortable with where my finances have been for the past 18 months – very much living from one paycheck to the next. By no means am I content with where I’m at but I at least ended 2023 in my best financial position in quite some time. I’m hoping to maintain that going forward and start getting back to the pre-wedding level of saving.
The only other hopes for this year are just to enjoy it – make time for family, friends and doing more of the things that make me happy.
Anyway, I’ll wrap this up. Have a great 2024 everyone and hopefully you’ll be reading more from me as the year progresses!
Hey there, dear readers! I’m back in the groove, blogging weekly so here’s another 2019 adventure for you to enjoy!
I kicked off 2019 by mapping out my travel plans and of course at the top of the agenda was booking a trip to see Haleigh in good ol’ Washington State! April’s always a good travel month for that – public holidays to take advantage of and it’s usually not too busy at work. I figured an Easter break would work quite nicely.
Using just five days annual leave I managed to wrangle 11 days in Washington, kicking off the trip on the Wednesday before the Easter weekend.
I’ve done this journey a fair few times now but as we inched closer to the Canada / Washington border I was just in awe of the views below me. I say below me but barely, we felt that close to the mountains that I’m not sure I needed a parachute to hop out and have some fun in the snow – “Excuse me pilot, anywhere here will do..”
It was a breathtaking entrance in to Seattle. After landing I was keen to breeze through and get to my hotel ASAP – football had occupied much of my thoughts on the flight over and I knew Spurs would be playing shortly after my landing. I was hopeful I’d be able to catch the game.
That plan didn’t materialise. There wasn’t really anywhere near my hotel to watch the game and unfortunately I couldn’t find it on TV anywhere in the hotel – I had to settle for repeated “refresh, refresh, refresh” on my phone and hope that a combination of the BBC, Twitter, friends and family would keep me updated on the decisive Champions League clash with City. I’d watched Tottenham beat Manchester City in London a week earlier so we were just one “good” result away from progressing to our first Champions League semi final for 57 years.
I say “good result”. We actually lost 4-3 but that was enough to see us progress to the next stage. It was a dramatic and unforgettable finish to the game but the important thing was that we had progressed – what a way to kick off the trip!
I’d told myself that I wasn’t going to the semi final in Amsterdam in any hypothetical scenario that saw us qualify but I was ecstatic nonetheless!
Haleigh had her last day of teaching before their spring break so had to work on the Wednesday. She was driving over to Seattle later that day and we planned to spend the night in Seattle before returning East the following day.
Between Spurs victory and Haleigh’s arrival I didn’t really do much. I stayed quite close to the airport out of convenience and couldn’t be bothered making the journey in to downtown Seattle for the sake of a couple of hours. I think that ordinarily I might have squeezed in a nap but I was on too big of a high.
“So Amsterdam..?”
“No, no, no, no, no. I’m not going..”
Haleigh arrived a few hours later and we had a pretty relaxed evening. I don’t think we did much, I don’t even think we went back out for food and possibly had a pizza delivered to our room. I really can’t remember.
At the time Haleigh was living in Moses Lake still but we were planning to spend some of the break with Haleigh’s family in Walla Walla, so the next day we were heading back to Walla Walla with a little detour on the way.
It’s a little out of the way but we decided we’d go and visit a famous picturesque little town called Leavenworth. I say famous loosely as I’m sure there’ll be some of you who’ve never heard of it but Leavenworth is well known for having transformed itself in to a Bavarian town. Here in the heart of Washington was a little slice of Germany.
Leavenworth is lovely. As soon as you arrive you’re treated to picturesque mountain views surrounding the town and driving through you instantly appreciate the Bavarian style architecture.
We found ourselves a place to park so that we could have a look around and one of the first things that I spotted was that the street signs were in both English and German – a nice touch I thought.
Leavenworth isn’t particularly big. Like many American towns, it’s apparently a city but in my eyes barely more than a tourist town with a couple of streets to have a wander along. We popped our heads in to a few shops selling bits and pieces.
Whilst a very pretty place, there isn’t a huge amount to discover in Leavenworth. I think they go all out around Oktoberfest and Christmas and give you the “authentic” German experience of both but in April there’s not much going on and it was pretty quiet.
After mooching about for a bit we went and found a restaurant to grab some lunch at – the “BärenHaus” which was a nice pub restaurant selling typical German-style food. Haleigh grabbed one of her favourites (a Reuben which comes with Sauerkraut) and I probably ordered myself a Wiener Schnitzel because “when in Germany” it’d be rude not to!
Following on from lunch we had one last glimpse of Leavenworth before deciding to hit the road, it’d had been a worthwhile detour and I’m sure I’ll return one day. Hopefully coinciding with either Oktoberfest or Christmas-time to see how Leavenworth really sells Germany for those unable or unwilling to leave the USA to experience the real thing.
From Leavenworth we headed straight to Walla Walla – another drive showing off Washington’s scenic mountain views. I never tire of the drive – perhaps helped by the fact I don’t have to worry about doing the driving but it’s so pretty over there. A few hours later we’d arrived in the familiar setting of Walla Walla and settled in at the grandparent’s house who were kindly accommodating us for the weekend.
We mingled for a bit before calling it a night and relaxing in our room for the weekend. Amsterdam was still weighing on my mind as I went to sleep – ever more tempting as time passed. “Do I go..?”
Having slept on it I decided that I had to. A Champions League semi final featuring Spurs? Come on.. when is that ever going to happen again?
My indecision affected my plans. I should have been straight on it and getting those flights or trains booked up but by the time I’d come to my senses prices had sky-rocketed for both. I couldn’t justify the high prices so in the end found an alternative compromise and settled for an overnight coach trip to and from Amsterdam – bonkers but I had to be there!
All booked. I had to ridiculously start my day by emailing work requesting more time off. “I know I’m in Washington but..”
Amsterdam was sorted, I could finally and fully focus on Washington and the company I had with me. Later in the day myself, Haleigh and her brother (Ben) made the short trip over to the Tri Cities. We usually visit at least once whenever I visit as with the three combined cities (Tri-Cities, duh!) it’s a bit bigger than Walla Walla and a good place to hang out for a few hours.
We kicked off our afternoon with a little time at one of the parks in Richland which sits along the Colombia River. We popped our heads in to a small store with a bunch of art and bits and pieces before strolling along the river. I think Ben and Haleigh did a little Pokemon-hunting whilst I settled for grabbing some photos of the pretty views.
Haleigh and Ben Pokemon-hunting off in the distance
From the park we headed in to the Tri Cities to check out the mall. There’s a decent sized mall in the Tri Cities and it’s much better for shopping and picking up a few bits. We visited a few of our usual favourites including the likes of Barnes and Noble, likely grabbed some food at Olive Garden and then made our way back to Walla Walla for the evening.
The rest of the Easter weekend was spent enjoying time with the family and eating good food.
For such a religious country I find it baffling that there’s little love for the Easter holiday. Unlike the UK, it’s business as usual on Easter Monday so we headed home to Moses Lake on the Sunday afternoon.
I entertained myself on Monday whilst Haleigh worked. I wandered in to town and paid a visit to some of my Moses Lake favourites that I have a lot of love for. I grabbed myself some tea at my favourite coffee shop, enjoyed some lunch downtown and then had a wander along the lake before calling it a day.
Monday evening and Tuesday was pretty relaxed. It’s nice to have a home base to enjoy a trip and not have to think about work, just sit back and relax a little. I had such a busy start to 2019 and there was no sign of that letting up in the weeks ahead so it was good to have some proper downtime on this trip.
On the Wednesday I ventured back in to town. Much like Monday I just mooched about a little, grabbed some lunch and then popped in to Moses Lake’s museum for a little while. It’s free to visit and the perk of visiting every so often is that the exhibit had usually changed in-between trips. On this occasion there was an exhibit based on the history of the local school which was pretty cool to learn about.
In the evening our friends, Maddie and Cassie, popped in to town so we went for dinner together at a favourite local restaurant called Rock Top. I hadn’t personally seen Maddie and Cassie since their wedding so it was nice for the four of us to catch up whilst I was in Washington. We had a nice evening before they made the drive back to Ellensburg and we headed home.
On Thursday evening we had another outing. There was some career fayre kind of thing going on at some school in the Tri-Cities which Haleigh wanted to attend so we decided we’d go and spend the evening in the Tri-Cities. One of Haleigh’s teaching friends ended up joining us for the trip so in the end they attended together and I was left to amuse myself.
I didn’t want to be a million miles away from the school and there wasn’t an awful lot in the vicinity but one thing that caught my eye was a nearby brewery which I thought would be perfect spot to wait.
It wasn’t the easiest to find actually, it’s in quite a bizarre location on the suitably named ‘Railroad Ave’. There was actually some cool street art on route that made it an interesting walk but the brewery felt like it was otherwise in the middle of nowhere just on the other side of the tracks. It was a little too quiet for my liking – very little traffic and I’m not sure it’d feel the safest walking there after dark but fortunately it was light out.
Location aside, the brewery was lovely. It felt very off-the-beaten-path but still busy as I walked up with a few cars parked up and a lively atmosphere with a few people enjoying a beer outside. I walked in and first impressions were good. I took seat at the bar and ordered myself a flight. Along one of the corridors was various bits of train-inspired artwork and memorabilia which I guess correlated with the brewery’s location. All in all, it was a good place to hang out for an hour or so.
I think originally myself and Haleigh had talked about doing something together in the Tri-Cities but as Haleigh’s friend had tagged along we ended up just grabbing some food on the road and driving back to Moses Lake.
Unfortunately it didn’t seem like Haleigh had really had the chance to enjoy any time in the Tri-Cities and the school-career-thingy was a bit of a bust too so a wasted trip for Haleigh – although I very much appreciated the brewery visit haha.
Friday was a pretty chilled day. We enjoyed our final evening together and just hung out before calling it a night. The next day Haleigh drove me back to Seattle in time to catch my flight. The mountain views were as pretty as ever on the drive back – lots of snow on the mountains which was cool!
I left Seattle with mixed feelings. Being in a long-distance relationship is always difficult and of course I was going to miss Haleigh, not 100% sure when we’d next see eachother. It was bittersweet to be leaving so soon.
That said, I also knew that I had two imminent trips coming. I had two further trips to look forward to in the next ten days! Just one week of work and I’d be off on my travels again!
I was SO excited to be going to Amsterdam but before that? A first trip to Finland!!!
That story will be next up on the blog. Stay tuned!
Jason likes to travel 