Swinging the States

After grabbing a few hours sleep I wake to get ready and pack my stuff so I can catch the train north to Seattle, Alana gives me a ride to the station and I head North on a 4 hour trip. Whilst sitting in the lounge car I meet Kate Brown who is heading back home. I convince her it would be a great idea to take her first swing dance class at the century ballroom 9:30pm that evening. Since we arrive in Seattle early we take a tour around down town, enjoy some beers, then Kate grabs a dress in Gap just before they close. Century ballroom is rammed, mostly with teenagers doing East coast, but as usual the Lindy lot are hidden near the stage or DJ booth, Peter Loggins turned up so it was nice watching some great Balboa dancers do there stuff. Kate’s brother is kind enough to put me up for the night at his apartment.

Monday morning I book a hire car until the end of my stay in Seattle, I developed a little dependence on the car through California, so decided to treat myself. Kate and I went to the Pike place market and went up the Space needle, usual touristy type things, then I said farewell and made my way to ‘Swinging Mondays’ at Sonny Newman’s for some great dancing with Seattle’s Hoppers, I had some fun dances and get to shuffle with a lovely Bal follow Joann Coker who’s DJ’ing the night. Towards the end of the evening I dance with Rebecca Hine who’s an Aussie spending 3 months in Seattle mostly for dancing. She offers me a floor to rest on (and a big bean bag). The house she lives in is full of dancers mostly swing/blues. It has an amazing wood floor which is often used for practicing in the day.

Tuesday I relax most of the day and head out for the evening with Rebecca and another housemate Alex for some blues at Waid’s Place, It’s my last taste of blues before I leave America, and I also manage to squeeze in some west coast with Rebecca who I’ve turned to the ‘dark side’

Wednesday I drop the car off and catch my flight home. I’ve met such an incredible number of warm generous people on my travels. I will be continuing my swing tour in Europe for as long as my savings can last. I’ll return to America some day soon as I haven’t even come close to absorbing some of talent that swings the night away on these shores.

I’ll close this swing chapter with some of my favourite dance quotes :

Any problem in the world can be solved by dancing.
- James Brown

While I dance I cannot judge, I cannot hate, I cannot separate myself from life. I can only be joyful and whole. That is why I dance.
- Hans Bos

Dance is a little insanity that does us all a lot of good.
- Edward Demby

Dancing, is, for the most part, attended with many amorous smiles, wanton compliments, unchaste kisses, scurrilous songs and sonnets, effeminate music, lust provoking attire, ridiculous love pranks, all which savor only of sensuality, of raging fleshly lusts. Therefore, it is wholly to be abandoned of all good Christians.
- Puritan William Prynne

My flight gets into Portland airport at 5:00pm, I jump straight on the Max light rail service heading down town which only takes 15 minutes. Portland is a fairly small city with a great transportation network. I settle in a coffee shop to check my email and find a place to sleep. I pick a motel close by as both youth hostels are full. There is a blue’s night on but it’s in a smoky bar so I decide to watch ‘Get Smart’ at a local cinema.

Tuesday I relax for most of the afternoon in a great Pizza restaurant which serves delicious slices and salads. I catch up on some emails and wait for my next motel to let me check in so I could dump my bags. I made it to Washington Park and walk around the Japanese gardens which had a beautiful vantage point to view the City with snow capped mountains looming high in the background. For the evening I headed to Lenora’s room for some Blues. I take both lessons as it gives me a chance to meet some of the locals. Lenora’s is a fairly new venue for the organisers and is apparently a lot roomier than the last.

Wednesday I drag my bags into a nearby Starbucks and just mellow watching Portland life pass me by. I have a lot of time to waste and not a lot of options with both my bags shackling me to the local area. As evening falls I take a cab over the river to the East side of town to split the evening between 2 venues, Lenora’s is doing Lindy and ‘Paradise’ on Belmont St is having a west coast swing night. The westie night is fun and I meet someone who’s spending all 4 weeks at Herrang this summer. I hadn’t organised a motel so just jumped in a cab and told the guy to take me anywhere cheap, that turned out to be motel with a police car in the parking lot booking someone for driving a stolen car. The bed was fine even though I couldn’t tell if the door was locked, and building work started across the street at the crack of dawn.

Thursday I returned to down town so I could chill in my favourite coffee house. I contact Alana who I met on Tuesday at Lenora’s and take her up on an offer to host me for a few days, as my original host came down with food poisoning. I head over to Portland Lindy Society PPAA for a Lindy social with a live band, I get some great Balboa dances. Alana drives us back to her house in Vancouver crossing the state line from Oregon into Washington.

Friday I get a chance to sleep in late without the hassle of a Motel check out deadline ! I go for a walk on Main street in Vancouver and find some cool shops, and a great cafe selling nutella crepes. Alana and I drive back into Portland to dance at Lenora’s room, which is playing lot’s of fast music. We return home and I get chatting to Alana’s flatmate Hugo who is a fellow biker, he offers me his Honda motocross to see the beautiful sights East of Vancouver.

Saturday I grab the gear Hugo has left out for me including gloves & jacket, then head off on I14 following a stunning gorge as it traces along the state line heading East. I adore exploring by motorbike, there is something so refreshing about not having anything obscuring your views and feeling part of the scenery rather than everything being trapped in the frame of a car window. Along the route I met an American riding with his Japanese girlfriend, I help him take some photo’s and we decide to ride the rest of the route together. We take a small detour to visit a gorgeous waterfall which is apparently 2nd or 3rd highest in America. On my return I find Alana’s house party for her birthday is in full swing, after some fireworks in the street we all head to a late night blues party around someone’s pad, which runs till 6am. The sun is rising fast as we return home for sleep. I have a train to Seattle booked for 12:30 on Sunday.