Beach time in north cal

I got to spend the day out at half moon bay on Thursday. It is famous for mavericks, a surfing location where waves regularly hit 8m high and 24m wide. In the winter there is a competition held where surfers get notice of huge waves and have like 24 to get there butts down to the surf. The prize for the competition is US$10,000 (if my sources are correct) 

I didn't catch any narley waves that day but took a nice walk down the coast.

Then my friend took me to an authentic Mexican burrito place. And it was definatly an American sized meal! but don't worry, I finished it.

Happy American Christmas

But happy Boxing Day to the rest of you. Santa found me and he knows me well. Lollies (candy) and warm clothes.

I had a great day and I hope you all did as well. Aunty Sue has keep me full with home made cinnamon rolls, turkey with canberry and Christmas pudding. Now it's time for Christmas movies, after the cricket is finished of course!

Portland

We started out the morning with the Saturday Market. As you probably know Portland is famous for microbrews. So that cuts out alot of the fun being 19 when the drinking age is 21. However there still heaps of cool little craft stalls. The market spans about 3-4 blocks.

And plenty of tie die stalls.

This is Voodoo Doughnuts again. 

Take your pick.

Stumptown Coffee. Full of hipsters. Famous because Portland used to be covered in trees.

And Finally Powell's Books. You all know how much I love books, but this was pretty interesting. Multiple floors 10+ rooms of new and used books.

Portland facts

This is not one of my photos, but its a typical Portland downtown street. Its pretty tricky to navigate downtown, theres heaps of one way and no turn streets.



Also not one of my photos (come on Kathryn). But Portland is known and the city of bridges, and this is by a bridge. Decorated especially for Xmas.



I found some Kumara in the supermarket. But not really...

Fun fact: It is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon. Why? no one knows....

Road trip

First off voodoo doughnuts. A Portland must see. Waiting in line for 1/2 an hour fr these bad boys. Don't worry, I didn't get through these all in a day. My favourite has to be this guy.

Today was road trip day. It took about 10 hours from Portland to SF. There was a ice warning and it suggested we would need chains for the tires.

Nice try Oregon but you ain't seen nothing. Some of the drive reminded me a bit of New Zealand.

Here's is the big mountain (Shasta)  on the Cali/ Oregon border. 

Photos of actual Portland are coming, they're on my camera. So I'll do that when I get on the computer.

Lesson number 1

Americans like to board planes very early. And it is a privilege to get on the plane first. I heard it was so you can secure a spot in the overhead locker. But honestly who wants to sit on the plane a second longer than you need to.

Made to it Portland, pics to come. It kind of reminded me of fairbanks because there was a bit of ice on the ground, but then there was also this green stuff too. Grass you say? What IS that?

There are plenty of 'must see' s in Portland, however most of them include the microbreweries. No luck there buddy.

Sorry Guys

I've had a few complaints from loyal readers about the lack of activity on here, so sorry about that too. It has been finals week and so everything was due and there was studying to be done. Nothing like NCEA though. The longest exam was 2 hours and I got a double sided A4 sheet for notes.

They put up these cool projectors around the place to 'brighten' up the day.

The first one says "you got this" and the quadratic formula on the side of the maths building. The other says "happy holidays" because saying Merry Christmas is politically inncorrect. These were taken at 10am, about one hour before sunrise, and 4 hours before sunset.

You sometimes forget what the sun actually is, and when it's already dark at 4pm you get really tired and it seems much later than it is. The upside is you get used to the cold so when it's negative 10 all you need is a sweatshirt.

I'm off to warmer and sunnier places tonight. I'm flying down to Portland to see my cousin for a few days before we drive down to San Fransico to spend Xmas with my aunt and uncle.

It will be a gradual temperature rise so hopefully I can adjust.