Santa Monica is beautiful. It's a beach town in Los Angeles that has a walkway along the beach for miles and miles. We rented roller blades and after a very shaky start (and a family being knocked down like bowling skittles) we were on our way. We skated down to Venice beach which is a hive of activity with basketball, skate boarders, handball etc going on. We skated back and admired the athleticism of those working out at muscle beach. After watching, sorry drooling at the bodies only craved by gods, we had a stroll around 3rd street promenade for the afternoon. 
 The next day we continued our journey onto San Diego, driving in the sunshine once again. The drive brought us through various beach towns each as pretty as the next. We stopped for lunch in the lively Huntington Beach. The place was buzzing with buskers, bars and beach activities. We drove to Laguna Beach just in time for sunset and the realisation we had nowhere booked to stay yet. We decided to keep driving to San Diego and stay there. We managed to get a last minute motel booking just as the battery died on my phone, and with Sues already dead, we were cut off from the internet with no directions and just a motel name. We eventually spotted the motel name on the opposite side of the road just as we were brought back onto the freeway in the wrong direction. Several U turns later we arrived at our destination. We were greeted to a cute cottage style room with two double beds, a squashed geicko, several bugs and a bathroom with someone else's hair. We decided to sleep in the same bed with our pyjamas tucked into our socks, no skin for our new bug friends. Check out was at 11am, we were gone by 8am!

We stayed the rest of our time in the Pacific Beach area, or PB if you're in with the gang, and in a clean and comfortable apartment. A few days relaxing on the beach, socialising with surfers, meeting local people, tasting fish tacos, all helped us get over the memory of our first night in San Diego. 

A highlight of that week was our trip back up to LA to see the LA Lakers opening game of the season. I've said it before and I'll say it again the Americans know how to put on a show! The game consisted of hours of entertainment, cheerleaders, music, fan games,free t shirts, food, and some basketball of course. 

At the end of the week, with heavy hearts, it was time to return our convertible car and bid farewell to sunny Southern California. The adventure continues on the sunny (hopefully!) east coast of America. 

Driving a convertible through California in the sunshine seems like a dream but one we got to live in the last two weeks. We rented a Mustang convertible and set off from San Francisco with a destination in San Diego in a weeks time.  Route one all the way!

Roof down and sun shining, our first stop was Santa Cruz for a night. We stayed in a hostel with a curfew and no alcohol allowed, the less said about that the better!! We drove onto a fishing village of Monterey. We visited the aquarium here as it had been recommended by everyone!! So we gave it a shot and so glad we did, what an experience, well worth a trip. We had a lovely dinner in the beautiful town of Carmel after watching the sunset on it's gorgeous beach. 

The next day was the Big Sur day. The Big Sur is miles and miles of winding road all along the coastline. The views were spectacular to say the least. Its one of those things that words can't describe, and we looked on in awe (being careful to stay on the right side of the road!) Along the way we came across an elephant seal beach, all laid out enjoying the sunshine. We rambled through San Simeon and checked out it's gorgeous beach and pier. We witnessed a scarecrow competition in the cute Cambria and headed onto Morro Bay.

We arrived in Morro Bay, a small town along the route. The main tourist attraction the town has is Morro Rock, and it's a big rock, that's it, a big ole rock. Lovely. We had planned on going kayaking in this town. We went for something to eat, it was happy hour, we got chatting to people, all of us watching the World Series, cheering on teams we had no affiliation with, a karaoke machine was produced, let's just say kayaking never happened! 

With sore heads the next morning we headed for Santa Monica, LA. A quick look at the map showed us it was four hours away, it was going be a long day! We stocked up on crisps, sweets and drinks. For the next five hours we casually drove through small lazy towns one after the other, with the roof down in the sunshine, singing (badly) along to the radio, beeping to anyone who would wave back at us, laughing our heads off. We arrived just in time for sunset in beautiful Santa Monica beach and a well deserved nap! 

What better way to experience the American lifestyle than attending a college football game with a fraternity (basically a big group of men!). We got the opportunity to attend a game between UCLA and CAL, and do the Americans know how to put on a show! 

The day started with a few drinks out on street out of brown paper bags, legal once the bag stays on! We walked up through fraternity row (yes it really exists!) where each house was having a separate party for the game. The place was buzzing. Once we got into the stadium, the 50,000 full stadium, the show continued. As well as the football, there were cheerleaders, dance troops and marching bands in the stands. Each team was so well supported with their fans all decked out in their colours and chanting for the whole game. At half time there was a show of the marching bands and cheerleaders. Hard to believe we were only at a college game! So everything you seen in a typical American college film, really does go on. 

Keeping in theme with our weekend we attended a pumpkin festival the next day, in a gorgeous little town called Half Moon Bay. They take Halloween serious over here and there has been decorations and events on since October 1st. The pumpkin festival celebrated all things pumpkin, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin coffee, pumpkin smoothies and famously the pumpkin pie. There was a pumpkin patch to pick your own, a pumpkin craving contest, and ironically a pumpkin pie eating contest. We decided to enter an international team, Sue and Mary stepped up. They had 90 seconds to eat as much pie as possible without using their hands. The pictures speak a thousand words! Both girls did us proud and received a prize of a pumpkin pie (another one!) as they came all the way from Ireland to enter! 

A great all American weekend, celebrating in style for whatever reason, in the way only the Americans can. 

Three friends had arrived from Ireland to visit Sue and I in San Francisco,so a camping trip to Yosemite was part of the deal. It was a four hour drive from San Francisco with a car full of jet lagged/hungover ladies. We had booked a camping unit, that was a shack covered in canvas with a shower curtain as a door. Rustic style! 

We had a few drinks beside a beautiful campfire, smores included. Living the dream! For me it quickly became a nightmare. The animals of the great outdoors decided to grace us with their presence, starting with raccoons rummaging through our stuff. An hour into the freezing cold night (we were wearing all our clothes) a mountain lion decided to fight a raccoon right outside our shower curtain! This was followed by several visits from raccoons into our canvas hut during the night. We either cried or laughed so the latter it was! I couldn't wait for daylight! 

The beauty of Yosemite came into it's full with a scenic drive to waterfalls, and to Glacier Point to a view over the whole valley. We posed for photos and returned the favour of picture taking for a young couple. To our surprise (and the girlfriends!) the man dropped to one knee and produced a sparkler. It was a lovely moment that had us five girls in tears, but that maybe due to the lack of  sleep! We hiked up to the next highest point, Sentinel Dome, to witness some spectacular views. 

We returned to our camp all dreading the night falling. We rented 1800 blankets, drank a lot and sat by the campfire as long as we could before hitting the hay. This night was much shorter, even if we could hear a bear roaring in the distance.

We journeyed back to San Francisco the next day, all delighted for some civilisation, found an Irish bar and laughed the night away. I'm taking a break from nature! 

Like two teenage girls screaming and shouting over the latest boyband, Sue and I finally greeted each other in the airport. I, delighted to see a friend from home, Sue delighted to get her adventure started. We checked into the hostel at 8.40pm, the receptionist informed us there was a pub crawl organised for 9pm. Sue and I looked at each other, both of us wrecked from travelling all day, and not for our better judgement we went on it! We got talking to a few people and quickly won them over with our Irish charm ( to be honest most of them had been drinking already!) we met two marines (not in uniforms I'm afraid!), Jackson from Utah who had also just arrived after driving twenty hours straight, Matius from Argentina who wasn't drinking but was more hyper than all of us. A great night of drinking and dancing ensued. The hangover was not as fun! Good start to San Francisco though. 

The luck of the Irish helped us out in the next few days, it's fleet week here, a celebration of the US Navy and a heat wave arrived also. We seen an air show, a parade of ships, bands on the pier and plenty of marines hanging around! We did yoga in the sunshine, relaxed in the park while listening to bands playing and indulged in frozen yogurt with all the trimmings. We booked a ferry to take in the magnificent fire work display on a Saturday night. 

There is a strong Irish connection here in San Francisco( despite the behaviour of some J1ers!!) There are plenty of football and hurling teams, and nearly every construction van has a shamrock on it. We were welcomed into the home of a friends aunt and uncle who moved here 27 years ago for a year and never returned. The moment we walked in it felt like an Irish house. The tea pot was produced, Barry's tea of course! The obligatory oh go on you'll have something to eat, go on go on, sure you will. And we did. More tea and wine followed as we argued about not being able to beat the Irish craic and banter. We all agreed, our heads swelling with pride. We felt most welcome and felt the sincerity when they said we could call anytime. I guess Cead Mile Failte really does exist. 

I enjoyed a mini break while on my year long break! I ventured to Vancouver Island for a few days. I was undecided on whether to rent a car or not, so when I got off the boat I got talking to a man named Tom at the bus stop. Tom didn't look like a serial killer, but he didn't not like one either so I approached. After a friendly chat about public transport I walked away with the decision to rent a car, Toms phone number and an invitation from Tom to stay at his house! I declined but thanks Tom! 

My next challenge was to actually drive the car (well a minibus really! Check out the pic!!) on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car. It was an nerve wracking 30km but I enjoyed the last two kilometres when I got the hang out of it! 

The next three days involved 10 hour sleeps at night, hikes each morning, walks on the beach, and pure relaxation.  I treated myself to a spa afternoon in a place aptly named Tigh Na Mara, founded by an Irish man who no longer owns it. The spa was followed by endless tapas for dinner so I was looking forward to a few different dishes. The chef had other ideas and served me up 15, yes 15, different delicious dishes. There was a mixture of meat, fish and salad dishes followed by a beautiful chocolate dessert. I literally rolled out of there! 

I visited Parksville, Qualicum Beach, French Creek Harbour, Schnooer Harbour and Nanaimo. The central part of Vancouver Island has many hidden treasures which I wouldn't have discovered without my mini bus, so the sweating and talking to myself throughout it was all worth it!

Vancouver has a nickname Raincouver and I got to experience exactly why in the last two weeks!! After coming from good weather I didn't mind a day or two of rain but on day three I was like come on!! In between the rainy days Vancouver is full of adventures to have. The usual for a new place, I walked the legs of myself (and my friend, sorry!) for two days getting to know the town and discovering new things. The city is full of high rise glass buildings (I won't be hanging around here when an earthquake hits!) overlooking an activity filled waterfront. There are plenty of tourist activities in Vancouver but a small bit of research and chat discovers plenty of free activities. Lynn canyon is one of them. A park with a suspension bridge, waterfalls, bridges and hikes. The beauty of nature. To get there you venture on the sea bus (no 51b around here!) and I was lucky to see seals playing in front of it on the way over. 

There is a strong Irish Community in Vancouver and I got thrown into it with a weekend away to Whistler with some of the Vancouver ladies GAA team. The girls reminded me of the good reasons to be apart of a team sport, the banter, the slagging, the sharing of stories and the support. But for these girls it's different. Being so far away from home makes girls family. They are each other's family day in day out out here, for whatever someone might need. The thing that connects them is their Irishness, and it was my pleasure to spend a weekend with them. We stayed in yurts, have bbqs, stayed up drinking and laughing until all hours (even ranger rick told us to keep it down...oops!) and on Saturday we did some adventure sports. We did some ATV bikes, and lucky enough my co driver was just as reckless as me! We FLOORED it in the words of Tommy Tiernan. This was followed by ziplines hundreds of feet in the air. The thought of this would normally scare the life outta me, but I had no fear left after the ATVs. A great weekend in the beautiful whistler, surrounded by unbelievable views (and it didn't rain! Yay!).

When looking for the Irish influence in each city I've been in so far, the first thing I notice is a token Irish bar. There were several in Portland and Seattle. It doesn't mean these bars are necessarily owned by Irish people, but they all play trad music, and embrace the Irish influence. As much as it's a novelty it's impressive to see our music, atmosphere and craic is so popular around the world. 

Seattle has a thriving GAA scene with football and hurling, men and women. I was in contact with a man named John Keane who is so proud of the Irishness in Seattle that he has written a book about it. He is also heavily involved with the Irish Heritage Club in Seattle. Unfortunately I didn't get to meet John as he was headed for Ireland with a group of 80 including the Mayor of Seattle. They are visiting Dublin and Galway so keep an eye out for them! 

Victoria was different however. Victoria is a small town on Vancouver Island, and the moment I arrived there I felt like I was in Galway. It's a tourist harbour town with cute streets. I wasn't surprised to see an Irish pub straight away (owned by a Scottish man). I was surprised to see two shops on the main street, Government Street. 

The first is called the Irish Linen Store. I was as surprised as you, thinking who buys Irish linen in Canada?! I ventured in and was greeted by a lovely woman from Galway. She explained the shop is open since 1917! It was opened by an Irish lady who married a Canadian and never went home. This lady also married a Canadian and moved to Victoria. She loves it there, and travels back to Ireland regularly as she buys for the store. Small world.

The second store is only 10 years old and is called Out of Ireland. When I first stopped it I thought it was a gimmicky store, turns out I was wrong. This store sells high quality items that literally have come out of Ireland (think Newbridge silver, Kilkenny glass, Barry's Teabags!! etc.) it was opened up by Therese, originally from Newry who also married a Canadian and moved to Victoria. They employ two young Irish women in the store.

I haven't had to look far for the Irish influence here in America and Canada. Speaking to Americans they all claim to be Irish, I'd take that with a pinch of salt! However it's heart warming that people want to Irish. They want to be connected to Ireland, to the music, the craic, the sport, the heritage, the products. For a little country like ours, it's humbling and makes me appreciate the beautiful country I was born in. 

Caitriona 

After eating all these "small" portions for the last few weeks, I decided some exercise was needed. Feeling tired already from the early boat journey to Victoria on Vancouver Island I decided I would go for a little jog, return and have an early night. I set off towards the harbour and I felt rain for the first time in nearly three weeks! And I won't lie it felt good, refreshing almost. I jogged along the harbour front and kept going until I stumbled onto a place called Fishermans Wharf. The small harbour has numerous floating houses in a variety of colours (think balamory!) which were either restaurants or peoples homes. The smell of fish and chips reeled me in and I ordered a small portion to go. I walked back along the trail and found a bench under a tree, sheltered from the rain and overlooking the harbour. The sun was setting and the lights of boats, cruisers and sea planes illuminated the waters. I sat there, for nearly an hour, eating my chips from a newspaper contemplating my journey so far, taking in the serenity of the situation, thinking how lucky I am to have this opportunity, and really appreciating it. So I have come to a conclusion, from now on no more exercising, I'll have a large portion please!!

The sun is still shining here in the mighty U S of A. I finished off my week in Portland on a high. We visited Oktoberfest in the nearby Mount Angel town. We sampled different beers, bratwurst and danced along to some weird German song (badly I might add). I had my first deep fried Oreos there too, definitely will be not be my last! Heart attack material but my god they are good! 

The events of 9/11 were remembered this week, and I attended a soccer game between the local policemen and firemen. The firemen won with a last minute goal - go team!! I ventured on to the old style fire truck, and even tried out the fireman coat and axe with it!

With a slight hangover the next morning I dragged my body to Washington Park. I started strolling towards the Japanese and Rose garden only to find myself on a four mile hike in a forest! Hangover gone! The park is beautiful and I did enjoy the hike (in flip flops!).  I've finished up in Portland now and have arrived in sunny (so far) Seattle.

Things I noticed so far about the America experience;
   • There are no small portions
   • They can deep fry anything (Oreos, green beans, butter! Yuck)
   • When it is hot it is HOT (sweating!)
   • Each city really support their sports teams and like to celebrate each good pass/play
   • There is a lot of homelessness
   • So far everyone is friendly and helpful 
   • Americans really like beer and cheese! 
   • There are no small portions!!

So I'm on my own in Seattle and I'm trying out the hostel experience ( I can feel my aunt's and sister's disgust from here!) . Plenty to see and do here so the next two days are full of adventure. I have explored all day, basically I walked the legs off myself. A beer and Monday night football to finish off the day, how American of me! Hopefully I won't be sleepless in Seattle !  (Sorry, I had too!) 

Big thanks to my cousin James who showed me the sights around Portland and put up with me for two weeks! We'll get him home to Ireland yet! 

Caitriona x