Being stuck in a shitty desert for as long as we've been gets pretty suffocating at times, especially when breathing the air in Bakersfield is like smoking a pack of Marlboro Reds everyday. Which is quite ironic considering I've given up smoking since being here.

Luckily I got a chance to give my lungs a break for a week and see a bit of greenery in Oregon. It was pretty much like driving through New Zealand for a while, except for hours on end. If Phill came, I think I'd have to confiscate his camera for the whole trip.

When we got there, I went and checked out Portland for a while. I found some awesome music stores and ended up buying a Les Paul Custom.

It's a friggen sweet guitar, but it was slightly tainted by the chump who sold it to me. When he found out I was from New Zealand he said "Nuuuw Zeee Laaand? - There's an Irish Pub just down the road!?" Hmm... Nice. Then he asked me if I knew a May-oww-rii guy called Tony who is now in Las Vegas. He wasn't sure on his last name though.

They have lots of good beer in Portland too, which is good, because the rest of American beer taste like Farty Soap, except for 'Lite' beer, which tastes like watered down farty soap. Actually, I lie, I'd never drink Farty Soap lite.

I can't remember other stuff I did in Oregon right now, I've just finished working 15 hrs (cue world's tiniest violin) and my brain has vanished, or maybe it's just carbon monoxide poisoning. But luckily I have some photographs I took on my Brownie Box

We went to an aviation museum that had the 'Spruce Goose' in it. I've never watched The Aviator, as I don't watch 3 hour long movies starring Cate Blanchett as a rule. Apparently it's about a crazy guy who spent 70 million on making a big shitty wooden plane that flew for all of 60 seconds. Quite a few Americans seem to get a hard on over blowing a shitload of money on giant fuck ups, which probably explains the giant fuck up that is Irarrrq. Anyway, I was quite fond of the 'Spruce Moose'. This is the ACTUAL model that Mr Burns built in an episode of the simpsons.

This is the worlds biggest American flag. The helicopter next to it is just there for perspective.

They also had the world's largest dildo there. As you can see, there's not a hell of a lot of aviation going on here. I think it's just an excuse for dirty old men to play with some giant toys.

They did have an I-Max theatre though. I tried to keep the glasses, but they grab them off you after each screening for 'SANITISATION!'

Completely unrelated to aviation, Firefighters command a lot of respect in America, especially after 9/11. But not as much as a Firetrucks do...

And definitely not as much as this guy. He can play guitar with a HOOK FOR A HAND!

Well that's about my trip to Oregon, hopefully I can make it out of Bakersfield sometime soon, otherwise it might be a looooong time till I next have something interesting to write about.