Rodeo!

We had the Sisters rodeo here on the weekend.  Unfortunately I didn't make it to the actual rodeo, but I did get to the parade.  Mary is a rodeo volunteer so she was dressed in Western style for the whole weekend. Those boots look nice but they are SO uncomfortable.

About 15 years ago Sisters introduced a building code which said that every downtown store had to have a Western front to it.  Sometimes it looks a bit tacky, but overall I think it looks good.

The parade was fun - lots of US flags and the soundtrack consisted of  terrible patriotic country songs about 'lovin' being' American.'  All the cowboys stood with their hats over their heart, and there were a few tears. 

There were lots of cowgirls - who are the 'Miss Rodeos' for all the rodeos in the area.  Their job seems to consist of going to rodeo parades and embarassing their horses by making them wear huge bunches of fake flowers and rubbing glitter into their hair. 

And of course, there were flags, flags...

...and more flags. 

And, one boy who obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed. 

Sisters Photos

We finally had a lovely spring day so I got to take some photos.  This is right down the end of my street and I cycle past this field as I go into town.

After I took these photos, Mary came back from town and wanted to take a drive up into the mountains to find a lake she could fish on.  I took this photo as we drove through town...

Imagine living in that house and having a view like that!

Then we drove up into the mountains.

I think that last photo is my favorite.

Going country

Well, finally I am connected to the internet again!  

Sisters is gorgeous.  There are mountains all around, and the town is right in the middle of the forest.  This is a photo of my house, in the far left of the photo. I am waiting until the weather clears a bit to get some good photos of the mountains - it's been overcast for a few days. 

 

I'm living with a woman named Mary, who has 2 daughters who have just finished college.  She's very artistic and the whole house is filled with original artworks.  Yesterday we went over to Bend, which is the nearest large town, about the size of Ballarat.  Mary's on the rodeo committee and wanted to get herself outfitted for the big occasion (the rodeo is in a few weeks).  So, she took me to a second-hand country clothing store and got herself some very cool boots. 

She tried to convince me to 'go country' but I'm not quite sure I pulled it off...

Then we went for a walk through downtown Bend, which has one of Oregons main rivers running through it.  The houses along the river-side were amazing (this photo doesn't do them justice - it was too overcast to get good photos).

A week in Hawaii

Aloha from Hawaii! I thought I'd hijack my old Indonesian travel blog to write some updates from this trip.

I am loving Hawaii, it's so beautiful. Terri, the woman I'm staying with, is really friendly and took me on a trip around the other side of this island a few days ago. She's starting a small business producing little velcro bags that surfers can wear on them, to carry their car keys etc, so I went to a few business meetings with her and on the way she stopped so I could take photos.

The island is basically these lush, craggy mountains that drop straight down into the ocean.

I didn't realise that Hawaii is the most isolated place in the world (not sure if that includes the Antarctic). It is a 5 hour flight to any other landmass. One of Terri's friends said that the environmental impact of tourists is enormous - Hawaii transports all their rubbish to the US mainland on boats! I can't imagine how much that would cost.

Terri is a hair-dresser and works on movie and TV show sets. She did the hair for 'Lost' and 'Tropic Thunder', which were filmed here. (This means she has run her fingers through Jack Black's hair! I'm not sure if that is cool or creepy.) She said doing hair for Lost was too easy because all she had to do was make the hair look like the person had been lost on a tropical island for a year. (I think even I could have done the hair for Lost).

Off to Oregon on Tuesday.