The Good Samaritan Hospital

Awakening on the bus I noticed that my feet hurt, so I looked down at them and noticed that I couldn't see my ankles. My feet, ankles, and lower legs had swollen greatly, so I asked the man sitting in the back row of seats if I could sit there so I could prop my legs up to see if the swelling would go down until our next stop. He obliged my request, so here I sit with my feet up against the window. Concerned about his sudden issue, I called my doctor and the pharmacy that just recently filled a special prescription. As I had been on the new medications before I didn't think they could be causing this, so I was happy to discover that the recently filled prescription for a wart on my foot could be the cause. But to be safe, I stopped all of the medications.

Arriving in Portland, Oregon, I exited the bus and asked the driver for my large backpack under the bus as I wouldn't be continuing on. I informed the lady at the ticket counter of my issue and then proceeded to catch a taxi to the nearest hospital - the Good Samaritan Hospital. Everyone there from the lady at the information desk to the various doctors and nurses were extremely friendly. After some blood tests and conversations with the doctor, nothing was discovered that could be causing the swelling, so I checked out and returned to the Greyhound bus station.

Although there was no Wi-Fi at the Greyhound station, the owner of the small food stand did allow me access to his secure wireless system to check the Internet for a place to stay, as I didn't really want to get back on the bus in this condition. I couldn't find a place close by that had an available room, so I booked the next bus to Seattle in hopes of finding something there. So many hours later I arrived in Seattle to the most disgusting bus station I have ever experienced. The station was filthy, the toilets not working but people used them anyway, the smell almost caused nausua. There is no reason why Greyhound should allow this extremely busy bus station to be in such a state. Hopefully Greyhound will be building a new station soon like the one in Portland.

The Portland station was incredible. The Greyhound bus station, Amtrak station, taxi stands, and even city public transports all converged in this one location. The station was spacious, clean and had plenty of seating, baggage lockers, and food. I would like to see more such station connections as this with all of the Greyhound stations as it allow travelers to get around much easier and transfer from one type of transport to another. In great contrast, this Seattle station was a shock.

After texting my friend Stephanie about any possible hostels in Seattle, I found one that had a dorm room available, but only for that night. Everything was booked, even the cheap hotels. It is high season up here with the tourists filling up everything. I caught a taxi to the hostel, checked in, and immediately went to my dorm room for a shower and rest. I spent the night curled up on my bed hoping that my feet would stop swelling.

The next morning I took another shower, checked out, and walked back to the horrible Greyhound Seattle station to see where the next bus would be going. I was nervous about continuing up into Canada with my current swollen feet and legs. I booked the next bus, which happened to be back to Portland. After booking it, I put my bags in a locker and then went to explore the awesome REI store in Seattle, which was only a few blocks from the station.

As Stephanie put it, I was in outdoor heaven. The store had a huge indoor rock climbing wall, an outdoor mountain bike trail, a waterfall of immense size, and several levels of shopping. During experiences like this I wish I had more of an income, as there were things I would have liked to purchase. I'll be back up this way again and will stop here to buy some of the marked down clothes I saw and some more of my Cliff Bars, which have been a great source of nutrition on this trip thus far.

I hope to be able to revisit Seattle, but this time with booking a bunk at one of the hostels in advance. I also want to explore Portland more, so I suppose that also requires advance booking. For now, I'm on the bus back to Portland to catch a bus to Salt Lake City, Utah. I've never been there, so I figured it would be a nice place to rest.