Oops! This might be a rant.

Today we drove East towards the Sierra Nevada ranges. The drive took around five hours and was fairly non-eventful. So to entertain you, faithful readers (Mum & Dad!) I will share with you a few tidbits of American life that have been keeping us amused.

Traffic signals- I've never really considered Australia to be a overly sensible country. That was until I started navigating Mike through the nonsensical streets of California. They have these wacky four way stop signed intersections. They have red flashing lights above, for each lane and work on a first come, first to go basis. Umm? Ever heard of a round about?

They call a "give way" a "yield"! I yield to no man!!

Another thing that befuddles me is the contradictory rule they have where you can go through a red light when turning right. Huh?

Sizing of food- Now I've seen Supersize Me and another doco that I can't think of the name of... but I wasn't actually convinced the sizing could be all that much bigger than Australian. I mean we have the same businesses, surely they all have the same packaging? No, they don't. The size of a small coffee here, is that of a large back home. This is across the board, french fries, burgers, beer cans, milk bottles et al. Quite offensive to my refined palate (Ha!).

Cheapness of booze- Not much more to say really. The government here mustn't tax grog like our caring leaders. A cashier exclaimed when we purchased a micro-brew for $2.30 "Wow! That must be some beer. Expensive!" or something along those lines. Spirits are the same, a local Rite Aid (we thought it was a pharmacy) advertised Jim Beam 750ml for $10.99 and Chivas Regal 750ml for $19.99. I wonder what the comparative alcoholism rates are.

Blue Moon Seasonal Honey Moon Summer Ale $1.79- Brewed in Colorado, light and refreshing with the faintest hint of honey and orange peel.

Stupidness of money (Mick's contribution)- They have all these coins right? The sizes don't match the increasing denomination and (!) all of their notes are the same colour, size and shape.

Non-dairy creamer- Available at all coffee retailers. The one from our hotel room contains corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soy bean oil, sodium caseinate (derived from milk), dipotassium phosphate, mono & diglycerides, titanium oxide (for the whiteness I think), Silican dioxide... There are more, but I'm sure you get my point. Just what I want to be adding to my morning cup. Why?! They have plenty of milk so why would anybody use this shite? Vom.

I had planned on threading interesting links throughout this post. However, I think the hotel bandwith is maxed out. Do your own damn research!

Love,

Annie