fish & chips

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Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:50:26 -0500

The Search for the Secret Spot

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:44:00 -0500

One of my big quests once I get to New Zealand is to go through my mom’s old surf journal (yes, she went to a boys school…there weren’t enough girls for a girls school is the reason she gave, I think) and find all of her secret spots.

Actually, to hear her tell it, she barely went to school at all she was surfing so much! In her journal she mentions a couple of really sweet spots. One of them is near a Hari Krishna farm that has free food all the time, which would be awesome after a big surf!

Another one is on a pitch black beach made of iron ore. Pretty sweet! Guess I’ll have to practice her “Surfer’s Prayer” to ensure I get the goods.

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Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:40:27 -0500

Yum

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:39:00 -0500

Salad time with Tita! My stepmom is from the Philippines, and she is a fantastic chef. Here we are making some salads. Yummm avocados!

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:30:58 -0500

All Packed Up

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:01:00 -0500

Pretty amazing, but after a couple of yard sales, lots of trips to Goodwill, and giving stuff to my best friends, everything I own finally fits into the couple of bags I’m bringing!

Below are a couple of pictures from my last stop in Colorado, my family’s house in Castle Rock. My Dad is lending me a great book to read, and under that is the reading room he and my Stepmom have set up! Totally awesomeee.

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:00:25 -0500

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:48:19 -0500

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:47:35 -0500

First Stop: Family in Castle Rock

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:46:49 -0500

I’ve slept a couple of different places this past month, from my friends Lois and R.W.’s “Bungalow”, a renovated garden shed turned guest house in their beautiful garden, to my amazing boss Suzanne’s house on “The Hill”- with a few random spots in between.

Yesterday I said goodbye to my friends and job in Boulder and headed down South to Castle Rock for a couple of nights with my family in what will be my last stop in Colorado/first stop on my trip…it’s going to be nice to be home for a little while just hanging out not moving around for a bit until The Big Move!

I have to say, it’s pretty amazing to have literally nothing to do for a couple days all snowed in down here! I finally have a little more time to get some reading done while I kill a couple days waiting to get on my flight. My Dad, too, is an avid reader, and he is lending me Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. There happens to be a pretty awesome chapter on the history of Maori culture in New Zealand! Not to mention the amazing reading room my Dad and Stepmom Tita have set up, shown above.

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 01:02:30 -0500

Those aren't chips...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:41:00 -0500

Hello all!

I am moving from Boulder, Colorado to Lake Taupo, New Zealand this week and was encouraged by my pals to start a travel blog documenting my adventures in my other motherland.

I decided to call this blog Fish & Chips because of one of my earliest memories in New Zealand: hanging out at my Grandma’s pub eating fish & chips out of huge greasy newspaper cones.

I remember feeling confused, thinking wait a second guys…those aren’t chips, they’re definitely French fries. Don’t get me wrong, anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love French fries, but they weren’t what I was expecting. I think I was maybe about seven years old at the time.

Someone eventually explained to me that in New Zealand, chips are French fries, and once that got cleared up I thought the whole dish was pretty awesome. I thought it was cool that it was all wrapped up in newspaper, and the newsprint would look really cool when the grease soaked through.

So there you have it, the origin of the title for the Fish & Chips blog. Today is Monday, and on Thursday night I will be boarding a plane to LAX and from there I’ll be on to the other motherland!

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:29:17 -0500

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

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Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:28:27 -0500