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