USA-Mexico-Canada Tour 2007 - September 8th - 19th

September 8th, it took me pretty much a day to get through Texas...it's huge. Yeah and they really have these oil pumps along the highway...

September 9th, after 37 hours on the bus from Tucsan, AZ I finally arrived in New Orleans, LA. What a relief to get off the bus, even though it was already very hot and humid at 8am. I went staright to the hostel and had breakfast and a shower. Later I went to downtown and esspecially the French Quarter where I spent pretty much all day enjoying the city. Still there a lots of signs of the Hurricane Kathrina that almost wiped out the city 2 years ago. More than half of the population didn't return after the hurricane and I guess that there are still 70% of the houses not rebuilt yet. I met a couple of people that just returned on the same day when I arrived there and it was interesting to hear their stories and their reasons why they returned to New Orleans. On this picture you can see my Hostel, they rebuilt it after the Hurricane and is now a cool place to hang out with a pool in the back.

September 10th, my second day in New Orleans I used to see some other parts of the city. I checked out some of the famous cemetries with the tombs and other parts of downtown where I saw more buildings that are still in bad condition. I also went to the superdome where after the Hurricane thousands of people waited for help to arrive because most of the city was under water. In the evening I went to the French Quarter to enjoy some of the reasons why New Orleans is so famous - the awesome live music esspecially Blues and Jazz.

September 11th, today all the newspapers and TV shows were full of the rememberance thongs for the 9/11 attacks...and people in the bus stations watched the TV shows about the ceremonies all over the US. I spent another day on the bus, I left New Orleans and went to Panama City, FL. On the way we passed some really nice beaches...but the bus didn't stop there, I arrived in Panama City at around 7:30pm. It was already dark and there was no hostel...so I planed to sleep on the beach, I didn't plan that it would be dark when I arrive there, also I didn't plan the humid heat and a rain shower that lasted all night...haha so I slept under a tarp on a small stretch of beach and I got wet but not from the rain...from the heat.

September 12th, that's where I woke up the next morning, the rain stoped sometimes in the early morning but it was still hot and humid. So I went back to the Greyhound station, refreshed myself a little bit in the cool building and then headed out to explore the city, unfortunately it was too hot to do that all day so I went back to the station and spent there my afternoon waiting for the bus.

September 13th, Miami, FL! But before I got there I had to spent another night on the bus but it seems like I got used to that and I really can get some sleep. On my way from the Bus station to Miami Beach, FL I met some Australians that also stayed in the same hostel as I did and we evend ended up in the same room. After we checked in we went straight to the beach, South Beach...and no doubt Miami deserves to be famous for it! Awesome beach, warm clear water and lots of bars along the streets. In the evening we made a little bit party in our hostel room and later we went clubbing.

September 14th, after sleeping in I went out to the beach again and also walked a little bit around in Miami Beach island which is separated from Miami itself. The evening we spent drinking some drinks on our room and later we went swimming in the dark but still warm ocean...

September 15th, today I took the bus down to Key West, FL. This is the southermost point in the USA, also the point closest to the sun and just 90 miles away from Cuba. I arrived there around 5pm, checked in at the hostel where I had a dorm room all by myself and then I went for a long run along a white beach and through the small city Key West. Later I checked out the nightlife in Key West.

September 16th, all day I walked around in Key West, FL. It is a nice little city sourounded by water and only connected to the mainland over a network of 40 bridges and patches of islands that stretch 150 miles down south from Miami, FL. In the evening I boarded the bus to get to Atlanta, GA.

September 17th, after 23 hours on the bus I arrived in Atlanta, GA. I took the bus to the place where I stayed and then had dinner. After that I got a little tour of Atlanta from the people where I stayed for the night.

September 18th, I spent pretty much all day checking out Atlanta, GA. I visited Martin Luther King Jr.'s birth place, his church and his grave. Then I went to downtown and did some sightseeing there, Olympic Park, CNN headquarters, Coca Cola museum und some other places. And then around 4pm I went to the Greyhound bus station to catch a bus to Washington, DC.

September 19th, after I got here in the morning I went to the "Mall" and checked out some of the famous buildings, Union Station, United States Capitol (picture), Supreme Court, Library of Congress (biggest library in the world), Botanic Garden, National Museum of the American Indians, National Air & Space Museum, Washington Monument and the White House just to name some of them...one thing that is really annoying here is the security...I've never seen so many police, FBI and secret service agents in one city. Well somebody has to protect Mr. Bush, eh?!

More Pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/manueldanner/USAMexicoCanadaTour2007

USA-Mexico-Canada Tour 2007 - August 24th - September 7th

August 24th, our last day in Mexico, we planed to take a bus back to the USA around 11am...well once we arrived at the Chihuahua bus terminal we found out the next available bus would be around 2:30pm...so we had no choice and spent some more time in the bus terminal. The picture is along the highway in Mexico. On our way back to the US we had to stop at a Mexican road patrol and everybody had to get off the bus and then the military searched all our baggage. One hour later the same thing on the US border...and just because that isn't enough security they checked our baggage again in the Greyhound terminal in El Paso, TX. Haha and around 1am while we were on the way to Phoenix, AZ the border patrol stoped our bus again...the dog came on board and we had to identify ourselves again...but after that we had a good night on the bus!

August 25th, 5:30am we arrived in Phoenix, AZ. Jeremy an old friend from back in Vancouver lives in Phoenix and he picked us up from the bus station. After a shower and breakfast at his place we went to Sedona, AZ and checked out the Red Rocks and hiked up a small canyon.

August 26th, after a short night in Phoenix, AZ we took the Greyhound to Flagstaff, AZ and from there a small shuttle bus to the Grand Canyon...and yeah it is really GRAND! We stayed at the Mather Campground on the South Rim...

August 27th, we got up early enough to see the sunrise...early means we got up at 5am...but it was totally worth it the pain! After sunrise then we hiked a little bit into the canyon but the weather wasn't on our side...after a while it started to rain with thunder and lightning pretty close to us. So we had to seek shelter under a rock...so we stood under that rock for about 40 minutes and saw how the flashes went right into a mountain peak that was about 400m away from us. Once it stoped raining we headed back up to the top of the rim, yeah and for sure the sun came out. But we were too tired and headed back to our tent to have a nap.

The afternoon we spent walking along the rim, later we had some beer,watched the sunset and took lots of pictures.

August 28th, after almost all day on the bus we made it to Las Vegas, NV. There we met up with Keri, Kaylene, Lan and Joe. They're friends of mine from back 'home' in Vancouver. Theay also did a road trip and we timed our trips so that we can meet each other in Las Vegas. So we went to the Strip and checked out some of the Hotels and Casinos. We didn't have time to do them all but the most important ones we did.

August 29th, we all had brunch at a all you can eat buffet in one of the casinos. After that we checked out some free shows at the Circus Circus casino, then it was time again for Eunji and me to head back to the Greyhound station. We took the bus to Los Angeles and from there to San Francisco. On our way to Los Angeles the bus had to stop in the middle of a hot hot dessert because the engine overheated, so that meant we stood on the side of the highway with a full busload of people and no air conditioner or fan in the bus....at least we got a little idea of the feeling that people have before they dehydrate in a dessert ;-)
well after about 30 minutes the bus cooled down enough and we could continue our journey. We arrived around 1am in Los Angleles...about 2 hours late...and sure thing we missed our connection to San Francisco...but luckily there was another bus also late and so we could hop on that one.

August 30th, around 10 am we arrived in San Francisco, CA...first we checked in at the hostel and then walked around all over the city. We caught the sunset at a park close to the Golden Gate bridge and later we had the chance to experience some of the famous nigth life of San Francisco, we found a nice bar with live music and good beer.

August 31st, we had another day in San Francisco, we went to the MOAD (The Museum of the African Diaspora) museum, chinatown, nobb hill and later to the Golden Gate bridge. Around 10pm we boarded the bus for Los Angeles.

September 1st, back again in Los Angeles, CA. We went to my friends place in Pasadena and had breakfast with them. The afternoon we used to go to Hollywood, CA and check out the boulevard with the stars on the sidewalk, later we headed down to Redondo Beach. Around 9pm I brought Eunji to the LAX airport where she caught a plane back to South Korea. We had two weeks of adventure and lots of fun together and I'm really glad that she could join we for two weeks. Thanks Eunji!

September 2nd, the perfect day for the beach...well half LA thought the same. On the picture you can see Vencice Beach which is just a 2-3 miles south of Malibu, CA. But the beach is great, fine white sand, warm water and about 2 metres high waves.

September 3rd, most of my day I spent inside at Dave and Rebeka's place and planed the next 2 weeks of my trip. Later in the afternooon I took the metro down to Long Beach, CA where I spent some time walking along on the water.

September 4th, I left LA behind me and headed down to San Diego, CA which is a city at the Mexican border. San Diego has a really nice downtown area with lots of old buildings and nice bars and also the weather isn't that hot like it is in LA. People are laid back and friendly down there.

September 5th, after a all you can eat pancake breakfast at the hostel, Ocean Beach which is famous for it's surfing, Balboa Park (largest urban park in the USA) and Silver Strand State Beach kept me busy for most of the day. Later in the evening I went out to Malony's bar with a guy that I met in the hostel.

September 6th, after "saying good bye" to the pacific I spent all day on the bus to get to Tucson, AZ. Today I saw lots of sand, rocks, dessert bushes and cactus plants. Interesting the ride through the dessert. I arrived in Tucson, AZ at 7 pm and just walked to the Roadrunner Inn Hostel.

September 7th, Tucsan, AZ...it's sooo hot here. I just checked out the downtown area which has some nice buildings to see and also a bunch of dessert plants in the city. I went to 4th Ave for lunch and then took the bus to the State University or Arizona where I used the free Internet in the library...and the free cold air inside the building...
Tonight I will continue my trip further east, I will be in New Orleans on Sept. 9th after a 27 hours bus ride from here. So expect more pictures from me in a few days!

More Pictures of my trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/manueldanner/USAMexicoCanadaTour2007

USA-Mexico-Canada Tour 2007 - August 12th-23rd

Now I finally have some time to update my blog...my fourth week on the road started yesterday and it had been an amazing time for me to live on the beach, youth hostels, buses and at my friends places.
Here is just a little summary of the places that I've been to in the last 3 weeks


I started on August 12th in Vancouver, BC

in Seattle, WA, USA I had to transfer to another bus

the same thing in Portland, OR. I took a small shuttle bus from here to Newport, OR which is a small town right on the Oregon coast

I arrived in Newport, OR at around 1:30...it was cold, everything was closed and the people on the bus didn't know a good beach where I could sleep for a night...so I just walked towards the water in the middle of the night...climbed over huge sand dunes untill I could see the water in the moonlight...yeah and I also found a cool place to sleep as I found out at sunrise the next morning...

August 13th, today I found a nice Hotel that had dormitory rooms for a cheap price. So I checked in, had a shower and then went out to explore Newport, OR and the endless beach

August 14th, my last day in Newport, OR. I went down to the old harbour and had some seafood at the pier and then in the late afternoon I took the bus to Corvallis, OR from where I took the Greyhound bus down to Fresno, CA

August 15th, I arrived in Fresno, CA at 12:15pm and after 20 hours on the bus I was in a surprisingly good mood. Maybe the hot weather and the Palm trees all over the city woke me up... Here I stayed at a family friend's place. Fresno, CA is located in the middle of a dessert and sourounded by mountains...so you can imagine how hot it is...on the day I arrived there we had around 40 degrees, it was quite an experience after maybe 20 degrees on the Oregon coast.

August 16th, my friend Rod took me to the Yosemite National Park which is about 2 hours east from Fresno, CA. There we spent all day exploring the park.

August 17th, in the morning I went to downtown and spent some time in the heat, the afternoon Rod took me on a ride to the Kings Canyon National Park. There I saw the biggest tree in the world, the "General Grant" Tree, by volume it's the biggest known tree in the world.

August 18th, after 4 hours on the bus I arrived in Pasadena, CA (part of Los Angeles). My friend Rebeka picked me up from the Greyhound station and after a short break at her place we drove donw to Huntington beach. There we met some other friends of her and we rented some kayaks and paddled along some canals and huge villas. Later we hung out on Sunset Beach. Here in the picture you can see Rebeka, Corinna and me.

August 19th, today again sunshine and really hot...somehow the heat follows me. I spent my afternoon in Pasadena oldtown and later I took the public transit to get to the LAX airport to pick up my friend Eunji that joined me on my tour for the next 2 weeks. Somehow she was able to squeeze out some money and time to come over here from South Korea...

August 20th, today Downtown LA was on our plan and in the evening we went for a night on the bus to ge to El Paso, TX


August 21st, 11:25am we arrived in El Paso, TX. El Paso is a border town, which means we had to expect a interesting experience...and we did experience some interesting things. After we checked in at our hostel we headed out to cross the boarder into Mexico by foot. Going into Mexico we didn't get checked at all, we only had to pay 35 cents "toll" to cross the border. Once we crossed the border we were in Juarez and in middle of a crazy scene...it seemed like everybody wanted some money from us, people were really poor, old broken houses, crazy traffic on the street, old buses and just really busy all over the streets. Going back into the USA was a bigger deal...but we made it back to El Paso, TX

August 22nd, Eunji and I took at 6am a Mexican bus down to Chihuahua, Mexico. I was the only "caucasion" person on the bus...haha and it helped that I traveled with a Asian girl...so not surprisingly at all peope stared at us. Esspecially in Chihuahua which is about 5 hours south of the border everybody looked at us when we passed them. But people were really friendly down there and didn't beg us for Pesos (mexican money). So we really had the chance to get to know the Mexican way of life in a very authentic city that only sees about 20 tourists per day.

August 23rd, Hiking up a small pilgrim mountain, eating Mexican food and watching a Cowboy parade was on our list for today, ohja and we went out for some mexican beer in the evening.




More Pictures of my trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/manueldanner/USAMexicoCanadaTour2007