Stanley, Idaho

After heading down to the grocery store to get some milk (forgot to actually turn ON my fridge the night before) and having some breakfast I went and talked to the Stanley Info guy. Because I didn't bring a fishing rod or a boat, I had limited options. However, mountain biking sounded pretty fun.

So I hired a bike and headed up the hills of Stanley for about 4 hours. Holy shit I'm not as fit as I was when I was riding 4 days a week. Mountain biking is a whole other thing as well (I did road cycling), if you get up on your pedals too much you just spin the back wheel. I guess this is all pretty obvious to the montain bikers out there. But the downhill bits were pretty good, and the views were pretty spectacular.

Mountain biking, ain't nothing but a thing.

OMG! More mountains!

Did you know there are fences in America?

The town itself was pretty dead, apparently I missed some sort of festival a week earlier. That night the bar was really dead, it was only me, the bar owner and the bartender. Oh well, here's hoping that Ketchum will have a bit more going on!

Oh and I finally managed to get a shot of this little fucker

Americans (for the make good of the glorious nation of 'stralya):
Because this post is a little short I thought I'd talk a bit about my experiences with the locals here as an outside Australian. As the US is large and diverse, this all may change later on. The one thing I know for sure about all Americans is:

1. Each one has an uncle/cousin/step-sister/workmate that is currently residing in Australia.
2. All of them seem to want and come see Australia some time. I usually then talk about our poisonous animals right after they mention that.
3. They all think we drink Fosters. It's really funny to hear them pronounce it, it kind of comes out a bit British.
4. If you say "g'day" to them randomly, they sort of smile politely - they have no idea what you're saying.
5. Tell them you're on a motorcycle and they'll barrage you with directions and routes for awesome rides - if only they would tell me when I had a capacity to write that shit down.
6. They are some of the most fucking nicest people I've ever met.

One thing that surprised me a bit is that there seems to be confusion on how closely tied we are to the UK. On about 3 different occasions I was asked if we use the Euro, where I say "no, we have our own economy over there, Australian dollar and all", which seems to surprise them a little.

They also really love their beer over here. Way more than in Australia. The microbrews over here are prolific, and they are actually independently owned rather than being owned by the big breweries like back home. The fact that Americans drink shit beer is completely incorrect, sure there are the bud lights, coors, PBRs (yay hipster beer) and the millers; but almost every bar I've been to has had one or two local beers on tap. Usually they'll even let you taste it before you buy it.

Oh another random thing, we can pay on credit cards at the pump in Australia right? I never did when back there, but I remember it being an option. Well since that's how you do it over here (swipe card then fill up), I never realized the advantage - you don't have to take off your helmet at all. Not like anyone uses a fucking helmet in Idaho ("scared of brain damage at low speed crashes, what are you gay?"). It is a little awkward in Oregon where all pumps are full service by law. For motorbikes they just swipe your card for you and hand you the pump.

More wildly obvious, probably inaccurate and maybe slightly offensive observations to come!