Titans USA Tour 2023

“Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness simply didn’t know where to go shopping.” Gertrude Stein

Welcome to our first morning in Portland, Oregon’s largest city, which sits on the Columbia and Willamette rivers, in the shadow of snow-capped Mount Hood. It’s known for its parks, bridges and bicycle paths, as well as for its eco-friendliness and its microbreweries and coffeehouses.

Our accommodation at the Embassy Suites is grand – we fit in well.

Once the sleepiness had worn off this morning, you could feel the excitement in the air, in fact you could almost taste it – yes sir, shopping day had arrived.

We had a full breakfast to give us the energy we needed, this was going to be a day that requires our optimum fitness. We stretched and prepped, had a game talk and hopped on the bus off to the Adidas Outlet. You could almost feel the air of anticipation as we pulled up outside, Bucks went inside to ensure they were prepped for our arrival (we think he was just doing some early casing of the joint). He gave the word that we were right to head in, but Sharon and myself thought maybe we should go in ahead of the troop as well, just to be safe. However, karma hit and the bus doors wouldn’t open. Emergency, emergency, this is not a drill. While myself and Sharon prepared to break the windows, the bus driver calmly pressed another button, alright, that will work as well. We streamed out of the bus and headed to the shopping mecca that is Adidas. With 50% off, we were quick to do our calculations (remember this is an educational trip as well) and gravitate to the bargains. After an hour of scouring, we’d all grabbed our fill and headed to the checkouts.

But there was no time to rest, from there, we were off to our next shopping encounter, Woodburn Premium Outlet. “Honey, I’m home”. This is an outlet mall in Woodburn, Oregon, with over 350,000 square feet of premium retail space – it’s a shopping mecca. Ciaran’s budget discussions from yesterday were still ringing in our ears, it was a case of pace, pace, pace…well, for some. Unfortunately some of our charges may have gone with the alternate meaning of pace, and they set off at break neck speed. Take no prisoners. Shopper of the day, even hampered by a late start, was Anthony – he’s going to have to halve his body weight to get all this stuff home!

You might remember yesterday that our reserved little poppet, Ellie was the recipient of the flag. Well, winning the flag comes with rules – number one, you must never be without the flag on your day of election; number two, please refer to rule number one. Well, mid morning yesterday, Ellie hopped off the bus without her patriotic symbol. As a result, today, our tour participants were able to vote on her punishment, number one, she could carry the flag for another day (booooring), number two, she could carry Cosmos the Koala around as a baby for the entire day, burping, nursing and cradling as required (yes this one, much better). And so it was by student decree (thank you) that number two would be her punishment. Excellent. To her word, Ellie cradled and nurtured dear Cosmos to such a degree that there was a moment I thought she was going to purchase a $325 Coach teddy bear for her beloved Cosmos (seems her motherly instinct kicked in). She did think there was going to be a few percs with the parenting gig however, and couldn’t work out why it didn’t entitle her to get off the bus first as a mother and child package? There’s certainly been a bond formed and I’m not sure how the parting is going to go tomorrow when she has to give back the flag and her little poppet, Cosmos. I’m expecting tears from one of them……

On our return from our shopping expedition, we had an hour’s break before we headed to the all American, you beaut traditional, Buffalo Wild Wings for a team dinner. We even managed to get in on the night that the University of Oregon Ducks played Washington Huskies in the top of the table NCAA football – it was on every screen in the house. Even better when we know we’re off to visit the University of Oregon on Monday, it’s like we know them!

Dinner was a mix of wings, burgers and nachos, with some braving the spiciest of spicy wings and then being surprised when they were spicy. Strange about that 😊 After we’d finished our dinner and had our fill of the free soft drink refills (to try and lesson the impact of the spicy wings no doubt) we headed back to the hotel. Tonight is a night to kick back, relax, do some washing and catch up on some sleep.

Tomorrow we prepare for day three of our tour games against Gladstone High School. Go Titans!

Portland…..you don’t say!

• Portland was named on a coin toss (if the coin had landed on the other side we’d be in Boston)
• Portland holds an annual World Naked Bike Ride
• Portland boasts the world’s smallest park – Mile End Park is 2.5 feet in diameter
• The city has more microbreweries than anywhere else in the world.
• One of the city’s slogans is ‘Keep Portland Weird”
• Portland is home to the largest independently owned bookstore in the world

The Flag!

It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for! We’re initiating one of our younger brigade into flagdom today (and it’s a corker), welcome to the flag, Johnny Gosse.

Our Year 10 boys are exceptionally organised with their morning routine, putting all others to shame. The young lads even organised a roster for their showers this morning: Johnny was 8.00am, Charles 8.15am and Vaughn at 8.30am. It was seamless, every detail had been covered. Like clockwork, Johnny hopped up and proceeded into the shower. At 8.15am, Charles hopped up, ready, clothes in arm. He went to the bathroom door, he could hear the water running but Johnny was yet to emerge so Charles gave a little knock, just to get him moving, after all there was a schedule to keep. No response. He gave it a couple of minutes and gave a tap, tap. Still nothing. By this stage Charles and Vaughn were starting to get a tad worried so they decided to open the door, warily, cautiously, what would they find? As they eased open the door and peered around, what do they see but Johnny, lying on the bottom of the shower, with his feet in the air receiving the gentle, soothing, stream from the shower as he took a nap. That’s right he was asleep. Seems Johnny felt a little weary while in the shower, so decided to have a little sit down and rest his legs, like his own personal day spa. He could be onto something here.