Californication

We arrived in San Francisco safely and the following morning said farewell to our trusty companion, the silver Chrysler which had driven us over 4000 miles. I knew San Francisco was hilly but I didn't expect the ridiculous slopes that awaited and if my legs were tired after the hiking in Yosemite, this really wasn't the right city to relax in. It really is a nice city though and it has a good vibe about it. We walked up and down the hills and visited some of the famous sights by day, like Fisherman's Wharf and the former prison island of Alcatraz which was really interesting and then sampled the excellent nightlife on offer in the evenings. Ideally I would have loved spending a few more days here but when a group of fellow hostellers were renting a car and driving down the Pacific Coast Highway it was an offer too good to refuse. Anna was going in the opposite direction so I said goodbye to my fantastic driver who I am very grateful to have met, without her I wouldn't have been able to see anywhere close to as many amazing sights, and somehow she coped with me for over a month.

My new group of travelbuddies consisted of two Germans, Maryam and Simon, and two Aussies, Leah and Grant. We set off in the morning and drove south on the famous highway number 1. The scenic route passed through quaint small towns like Carmel and all the way had the rocky coastline and sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean by our side. After watching the sunset we decided to stop at a motel in San Luis Obispo which is allegedly the happiest place in the United States, and continued our drive the following morning. This had more of the same gorgeous scenery as the previous day and we stopped for lunch in Santa Barbara before reaching Los Angeles that night.

We stayed at a hostel just off the Hollywood Boulevard, the famous strip with all the Hollywood stars, 90 percent of the names I've never heard of and the whole area feels quite run down and tacky, not at all as glitzy as the name implies. Los Angeles really is an enormous city and very difficult to see without driving. We took advantage of having a car the first day and drove down to Venice Beach where all the crazy people, potheads and bodybuilders seem to congregate and then to the Grove in the evening. We couldn't believe our luck when we saw that none other than legendary Anchorman Ron Burgundy (played by Will Ferrell) was here to sign his new Autobiography, and didn't miss the opportunity to see him up close and personal. This was the highlight of my time in L.A. and later that night I managed to avoid getting a fine for jaywalking playing the innocent tourist card, as the police pulled me over and pushed me up against a wall. After walking around the Hollywood Hills (stopping for every redlight) Grant and I decided we had had enough and that it was time to get out of the this giant metropolis and took the greyhound to the fictional home of Ron Burgundy, San Diego.

Parks And Recreation

After leaving Austin we have been on an almost two week long roadtrip, I have been too tired to update, but here come's a summary as brief as I can make it, fasten your seatbelts! It's been a lot of driving for Anna, I don't know how many miles, but five States, three different timezones plus daylight savings made things even harder to keep track of especially seeing as Arizona doesn't observe such comformities. Our first day we drove through middle of nowhere Texas with tiny empty towns where almost every business seems to have closed down. We found a motel which hadn't been shut in one of these towns called Post and set off again next morning. When we got into New Mexico the landscape changed into a more rocky desert which looks perfect for cooking crystal meth in an RV or settling a drug deal gone bad, at least that's all that I could think of. That night we slept in Walter White's (Surely everyone has heard of Breaking Bad by now?) hometown of Albuquerque, which seems to have flourished due to being on the historic route 66 with motels, diners and fastfood joints lining the main strip now called Central Avenue. We continued getting our kicks the following morning taking some detours into painted deserts and petrified forests before entering Arizona and getting some sleep in Flagstaff. Flagstaff is also on the route but it's main claim to fame is it's proximity to one of the seven natural wonders of the world, The Grand Canyon.

I visited the Grand Canyon as a child almost 15 years ago, but I was still gobsmacked once we reached the edge of the gorge. We spent the whole day walking around the rim, staring in awe at each new angle, view and shade of red the canyon could offer. We slept in a small town consisting of one motel, a petrol station and Bedrock City: the life project of a Flintstones fan who has now passed away. His wife continues to run the campground and theme park, unfortunately we couldn't sleep here but the morning after we had breakfast and paid the five dollar entrance to see the park. It is always sad to see dreams that have gone downhill, but nowhere epitomises this sadness as much as a desolate themepark I think.

The cartoon village complete with dinosaur slides and replicas of Fred and Barney's houses which may at one time have been the dream of every child to visit was now completely empty and run down, the location in the middle of the desert made the sadness if possible even more obvious. So much time and money must have gone into building this and I hope it can stay open forever, I urge everyone visiting Grand Canyon to pay it a visit as it is a special place!
After this crushed dream we drove to an example of the exact opposite which proves you can make something out of nothing, the capital of insane dreams, Las Vegas. I wish I could tell you all what happened here, but you know the saying right?

We stayed three nights in Sin City and then drove into California through the lowest point and one of the warmest places in the U.S, Death Valley. We made our resting point at a motel in Bakersfield before heading up to Sequoia National Park the following morning. This is where the mighty Sequoia Trees grow and it was incredible to drive through the giant forests. These are the largest trees on the planet, not the highest but in volume they are massive with bark as thick as three feet, the oldest ones are over 3000 years old and the largest specimen, General Sherman is believed to gain the weight of a 60 foot tall tree every year! The park offered some great views with one of the countries highest mountains, Mount Whitney as it's backdrop. We drove out of the park in pitchblack darkness due to perhaps staying a bit longer than planned and got to a very dodgy motel in Fresno late at night. Things didn't get better as Anna was getting eaten alive by bedbugs so we had to find a new accommodation at midnight. The second motel was better and we got a couple of hours sleep before once again setting off, this time for Yosemite National Park. We had two full days here, driving around the beautiful scenery the first and then spending the second hiking some gorgeous forest trails past waterfalls with amazing vistas of the slick mountain domes and jagged peaks all around you.
Today my legs are killing me and it is also the last leg of our roadtrip as we will soon set off on the final stretch taking us to the Pacific Coast and San Francisco!

Austin Powers

Our streak of free accommodations ended once we reached Austin and checked into our hostel. Our first night was relatively quiet due to the previous nights lack of sleep and the fact that a giant storm swept in over us. When we awoke the storm had gone and also we had to check out because the hostel was fully booked, this turned out to be lucky as our second hostel (Yes an American city with more than one hostel) Drifter Jacks, had a great crowd staying there and a very chilled out atmosphere. I went out in search of "Franklin's", who allegedly have some of the best barbecue in the world, when I got to the restaurant just after midday, they had big signs out saying "Sold Out" but having walked all that way I decided to go in anyway. They still had quite a bit of meat left for me and their reputation really didn't let them down, whoever I would tell the story couldn't believe how lucky I was.

Halloween night happened to fall during our visit to the Texan capital so we had a big night out with people from the hostel, as I wrote before people here take this very seriously and even with months of planning I wouldn't have had a chance competing with them. With items I could find in my backpack I decided to go as "David Hasselhof if he had auditioned for Braveheart" (Nobody on the night got it either) and we had a great night. The next day the hostel was slightly more subdued, but we decided to go see one of Austin's top attractions, the nightly flight of the bats. From March to November as many as 1.5 million bats call the Congress Bridge their home, and at dusk they all come out at the same to hunt for food, in one night the group can consume up to 15 tons of insects!!! This benefits Austin in two ways as number one they have no problems with insects and secondly they have a tourists attraction as people flock here to see the spectacle.

Next morning we all got up early to witness and participate in a completely different American show as we were invited to a tailgating event. For those of you who don't what tailgating is, it pretty much means you get up early in the morning and drink as much alcohol you can possibly handle before the football starts. Hundreds of thousands gather in the parkinglots and other areas surrounding the stadium, barbecuing, playing games and did I mention drinking alcohol? I turned out to be a natural at beer-pong and walked/stumbled away as undefeated champion. I then left the group in search of tickets for the game and managed to get a great deal as I payed ten dollars for a ticket worth a hundred. Arriving at the stadium, I had missed the first quarter but I somehow managed to swindle my way in to the wrong section and before I knew it I was literally on the field, just feet away from the home team. At half time I got kicked out but again managed to walk straight to the best seats in the house, front row, on the halfway-line. This was a college football game, but don't be mistaken, this is the real deal and the enormous 111,000 stadium was almost at full capacity. The University of Texas team, "The Longhorns" comfortably beat The Kansas Jayhawks 35-12, so the local fans and I could all walk home happy in an ocean of orange clad people. I passed out early that night and the following morning we started driving further west in Texas.

The Big Easy Living

Upon arriving in Natchez we drove to the Mark Twain Guesthouse, but just as we were about to check in, Bob, a local resident started talking to us and before we knew it our plans had changed from sharing a small expensive room to each getting a private bedroom with a kingsize bed in Bob's beautifully restored mansion for free. Natchez is the oldest city on the Mississippi river, and was where plantation decided to build their huge antebellum homes more than two hundred years ago. We drove around looking at the beautiful architecture the next day then said farewell to Lisa and our group once again got smaller as our trio went down to a duo. The two of us then chose the detouric (not a word, I know) but very scenic road along the river to New Orleans where we got to stay at a friend of Anna's. New Orleans also boasts some very beautiful architecture, but in contrast to Natchez has a chaotic and boozy atmosphere in the old French Quarters.

We happened to be here on the night of the Halloween parade and Americans don't play around when it comes to this holiday. For the past month all bars have been covered in cobwebs (I hope because of Halloween) and I don't want to know how much time and money some people have spent decorating their houses. In some parts of town, particularly the Tremé neighbourhood where most houses are wooden, the effects of the devastating Hurricane Katrina are still visible but it seems as if things are getting back to normal slowly but surely. After four nights enjoying the delicious Cajun and Creole cuisine we set off again and headed for the wetlands in western Louisiana.

We went on a boat tour seeing alligators and birdlife on a spooky but very pretty swamp lake and then drove to the small town of La Fayette. The only hostel was once again fully booked, but the bartender at the adjacent bar overheard this and kindly offered us to stay on his couch. Only "problem" was we had to wait for his shift to end at 2 AM and drink all the free beer and shots he gave us. Early the morning after, after a couple hours sleep we got our heavy heads up and Anna somehow managed to drive for 9 hours finally taking us to Austin, Texas which is where we are now.