Seattle

After 4 days on two trains I arrived at the hostel just as the Thanksgiving meal had finished. But I met Caitlin, who was also at the Austin hostel, who made me up a plate of turkey, mash and stuffing, plus a slice each of pumpkin and pecan pie. It was just what I needed after the train journey, proper hot, homemade food.

The Green Tortoise hostel is opposite the famous Pike Place Market, so that was my first stop the next day.

Chicago

After an overnight train from Washington DC, I arrived at the Chicago hostel at 8.30 in the morning, fully expecting to just be able to put my bags in a locker and come back and check-in later. However, I was allowed to check-in there and then, dump my bags in my room and have a shower. The hostel offers a number of activities, one of these happened to be an architectural tour of the city, I decided this was probably a good idea to take, so I could get an idea of the place and what there was to see. 

Ottawa

The first places I seem to be visiting is bars, not sure why, maybe the coaches here are driving me to drink. But I headed to a bar in the Byward Market for something to eat and a Canadian beer. And I got a bargain too, free beer apparently I’d been ignored for so long that they decided to not charge me - result!