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A big hello to you all.

I hope you are all okay and happy on this lovely day (Well it is lovely in San Cristobal anyway). I write to you after 3hrs of Spanish tuition and a hearty lunch. It was horrible being back at school again - I've even got homework...sheesh! I now remember why I had trouble learning French at school, I just can't grasp the grammar. Oh well.

So then, what has the boy Bull been up to recently? The answer is lots. When I last wrote I was about two weeks away from leaving Canada. I think I said in that mail that I would be boarding at the Kicking Horse resort near the town of Golden. Well I did that. More scary tree runs (esp. at the speed I was going) and a good last day dump. It was coming down so hard at times that I could barely see. Still, it was a good way to end the boarding.

So after a sad fair well from Lorelli (our lovely host in Calgary), it was time for the states. We found it was cheapest to fly from Calgary to Vancouver and then get the coach down to Seattle, Washington. The most surprising thing about the journey was the border crossing. We zoomed straight through without any problems. Barely any questions. Sweet. Upon
arrival in Seattle we checked into a hostel (The Green Tortoise) and went for a wander. Its quite a cool city really. Quite a lot to see and do. In the couple I was in the city I managed all the touristy things. The aquarium and the Space needle being the main two. The view from the top of the Space Needle, Seattle's 605 foot tower, is awesome. Well worth a go if you are heading out there.

The next destination on the trip was Portland and into the State of Oregon. Portland is another great city. Its a slightly smaller, and nicer, version of Seattle. The couple of days I was there the weather was lovely. The one problem was the place we were staying - it was an absolute dump. On the 1st afternoon we were there we found that the Trailblazers (the city's basketball team) were playing that evening. We turned up and got the last available tickets. I really enjoyed the game. In the past I always thought it to be a bit dull, but it was exciting for the hour. Portland even managed to win, which is rare in itself. The other main highlight of Portland was getting extremely drunk in an Irish Pub. How unusual!

The next five days were spent town-hopping down the Oregon coast.

*A brief pause here to explain the weather on the coast of Oregon at that time of year. WET. I think it rained every day we were traveling down. It was very Englandish*

Our first stop was the town of Seaside. Stayed in a lovely hostel there. Hired bikes and rode around the town for a while. All very nice (until it started raining). Seaside is like any small English beach town. It was then onto Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Tillamook, Pacific City, Lincoln City, Newport, Yachats (said ya hats) Florence and Reedsport. Our plan had been to catch local buses all the way down the coast. The timetables had suggested it was possible. Oh no. That wasn't to be the case. Only about half the towns mentioned have buses in between then. You ask the question "How do I get to the next town". The response is always the same, they hold up their thumb. So there was plenty of hitching going on. Got picked up by some right old characters. When I was hitching on my own once I got picked up by a 21yr old pro-boxer and UFC fighter. He was happy to me he had just got out of prison. He actually turned out to be a really nice guy (and quite funny for an American).

Most of these towns we visited we just had a look around and moved on. Just north of Florence, however, there are the Sea lion caves. Basically it is the largest sea cave in North America. And its inhabited year round by sea lions. It was really noisy, sea lions never shut up, and really quite smelly. It was good fun though. Worth a visit if you are ever on Highway 101 in Oregon.

That was pretty much it for Oregon. I would love to do that trip again. But next time in summer, and with a car! Our next stop was the Redwood Hostel, Redwood National Park, California. You may have seen these trees (the Giant Redwoods and Sequoias) in magazines or on tv, but you have to see them to believe them. These things are absolute monsters. Like nothing i've ever seen before. Although after a five and a half hour hike though them (in the pouring rain!) you can get rather fed up with them, despite their majesty.

After rather embarrassingly missing our greyhound to San Fran (how can you expect a traveler, who barely knows what day it is most of the time, to know that the clocks have changed?) we were lucky enough to catch a lift with another hosteller (thanks a lot Scott - we owe you one) to Point Arena, another seaside town. We were able to take the scenic routes with Scott and would have missed out on some beautiful scenery if we had taken the Greyhound. After a night there we were able to bus into Santa Rosa and then onto San Francisco. I'd forgotten quite how much I love this city, having visited back in 2000. I got to do all the touristy things again. Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz, the aquarium, Lombard St (the 'crookedest' street in the world) and rode the cable car. We were really lucky to have excellent weather all the time (4 nights) we were there. We even managed to get tickets through the hostel to a SF Giants baseball game. They Won! The one sad part of the visit was the lack of my friend Asad 'Moff' Qizilbash, who was on maneuvers on the east coast. Next time though pal.

The next destination was Vegas. Hmmmm, what can I say? Probably not much due to financial reasons - I don't want the debt collectors tracing me! Seriously though its a great town. Where else can you sit at a blackjack table for 6hrs, while scantily clad women bring you free beer? The hotels are amazing, most with there own themes. The Bellagio fountain show is
quite amazing. It, almost, made 3 minutes of Celine Dion tolerable. Basically I spent every day there playing blackjack and checking out the different casinos. On the last night (after Mike had sulked off having lost $200 in about 15 mins) I teamed up with 4 other 'youngsters' and we headed off to the Coyote Ugly bar. If you've seen the film of the same name where there are loads of women up on the bar dancing - its the same. Needless to say we all stayed till closing.

* Note to all the single blokes (and the naughty ones) on this list - American women love the English accent. Obviously I was on my best behaviour, as always! *

I wasn't too upset to leave Vegas as it put a bit of a dent in my wallet. But not that bad - I don't have to rush home just yet.

The final US destination was Phoenix. Another desert city. We stayed in the YHA hostel there. Its run by an absolutely insane woman (English) but was a great place. Met some cool people there. Interestingly (or disgustingly) the week before we arrived the local police had arrested a serial killer on the same street, just a couple of blocks down. It was national news, and we just missed it...probably for the best. We did see a film crew at the guys house interviewing the weirdo's uncle. Apart from that Phoenix is a nice, but strange, city. The 'city centre' itself is just the financial area. You need to get on a bus for about 20mins before you find any shops and malls. Nothing like English cities.

It was from here that we left the US to head into Mexico. We got a coach to Chihuahua. Mexico will the topic of another email. This mail has gone on long enough and i've got to go and do my homework. Sigh.

Well, that's it for now. Take care all - write to me.

Love ya,

Adios,

Rob.

x

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