One life and One World

Las Vegas was cool, no scratch that, it was really hot, and it was cool as well.

Arrived around 9pm on sunday 26th and straight away the desert heat hits you like a furnace.

The hostel was located at the northern end of the strip close to downtown and the old Las Vegas strip which is now called the Freemont Experience.

By day we toured the strip and visited all the casino's and hotels, by night we toured the strip and visited all the casino's and hotels.

Lots to see and do, some of the highlights were a magnificant Fountain show in front of the Bellagio, a Pirate show at Treasure Island, and a huge over head LCD screen which covers 3 city blocks (roughly a quarter of a mile) at the freemont experience, all were very cool.

To take a break from the gambling I headed for a day trip out to the Grand Canyon which was breathtaking, we went to the South Rim and took a 3 mile walk along the canyon stopping along the way to take loads of photo's and admire the view.

With Vegas over currently back in Los Angeles, and staying in the Seaside town of Santa Monica, Venice beach is a walk away and is a great place with lots of people and a market, Santa Monica Pier is a popular place about 5 minutes from the hostel.

A few places still to visit and a film studio tour or two should be fun!

I only have about 3 days left before flying to Mexico City to begin the next portion of the journey

I spent the final part of my San Francisco time visiting Alcatraz, the audio tour is considered one of the best in America and being there certainly was thrilling and a wonderful experience.

Moving on and after a brief stop in Los Angeles staying on the famous Hollywood Boulevard, apart from a few select areas in Hollywood which are really expensive and well looked after the rest is unfortunately far more run down than you would expect.

After this I have come to the sunny border town of San Diego, the beaches here are magnificent and with about 360 days of sunshine each year they are one of the main reasons to visit.

It sits almost on the border with Mexico and Tijuana is a bit seedy but a popular place for cheap gifts and the nightlife.

Other things to see here are the USS Midway, a decommissioned aircraft Carrier which is permanently birthed off the waterfront and is now a Naval Museum, and of course the world famous San Diego Zoo is located in Balboa Park, just a short walk from Downtown.

My time here is almost up, the next stop should be really exciting, 24 hour gambling, entertainment, intense desert heat, it can only be Las Vegas!

Here are some photo's of my stay in San Francisco

Me at the Golden Gate Bridge

It was really foggy on the day walking across

A night out in San Francisco

About to dock on Alcatraz Island

Inside Alcatraz Main Cell House - D Block (Isolation)

From Alcatraz looking across the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge

Brief stop on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles

The Hollywood Sign

Hollywood Boulevard

More news later

Finally Arrived in San Francisco and staying in the sister Hostel to the previous one in Seattle.

Been to popular areas of the city such as Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39, both Tourist areas but gave me my first sight of the Golden gate bridge, Alcatraz, and surprisingly a colony of Seals living on the pier.

Alcatraz sells out quickly so it has been necessary to book in advance whilst I am here, but luckily managed to get a ticket for the end of the week.

Next day was a big one for me, a visit to the Golden Gate Bridge, taken lots of photos and learn't about how the bridge was made and when it opened, fascinating!
Whilst walking across the bridge which is just over 1.2 miles long you can really get a feel for all the history, planning and hard work that had gone into building it, numerous plaques and signs display information, and when it's not drenched in fog you have some great views of the bay and the city - it felt really great to visit and see it for myself.

The steepness of the city is crazy, with some roads just seeming to climb sharply for the hell of it, you can walk very far down on one block then have to walk very far back up again on the next, great views but with everything at different heights and levels no wonder they enforce a law requiring residents to park their cars with the front wheels turned and pointing into the curb in order to prevent brakes failing and runaways.

Already making my mark here at the hostel, having fun and improving my culinery skills as I helped to cook several meals for the entire hostel (about 160 people) - Pesto Pasta and yummy Mexican Tostada's so far!

Over the coming days locations still to visit are the Golden Gate Park, the Presidio district of the city where all the cool musuems are, Japan Town district, Mission district where they have awsome painted murials and more opporunities for cooking and nightlife all await.

After a brief journey next stop was for a couple of days in the quiet city of Portland, where surprisingly I met lots of Americans all looking to relocate and move to, compared to Seattle it's a lot quieter here and made for a chance to chill out and not do a lot.

Some highlights from Portland were seeing Americans largest used Bookstore (And entire city block), the monthly Art Festival which is popular with the locals, the Blue Moon Bar with Delights such as "Terminator Stout" and ""Hammerhead IPA", and of course something that I have been wanting to get into over the last couple of months, I had my first guitar lesson, went through lots of basic stuff such as Chords and Notes and how to play them, almost all hostels have guitars sitting around and the lesson gave me the info I need to practice some basic stuff everywhere I go (Some Hostels even have "Open Mike Night" where you can win free beer or a room for the night - I can now woo them with a single Em or F5 Chord!!!)

Next will be an update from a popular location with everyone I have met and spoken to since arriving in Canada, San Francisco

Had a great time in Seattle, very good hostel and spoke to loads of people

On Saturday 28th Seattle held a annual "Pirate Day Parade" with lots of Pirate themed events happening all over the city, the hostel got involved and we all went to a huge Thrift Store to buy clothes for our costumes.

Walking through Seattle there were pirates everywhere on the streets, we eventually got to the party which was at a bar called the "Bottleneck Lounge" and took advantage of the cheap grogg and freebies.

Take a look at some photo's

A rather dodgy picture of me as a pirate

Some Fellow Pirates

Mount Rainier Trail

More Mount Rainier

The top or as high as we could go

Me in Seattle - They love their totem Poles

Seattle from on top of the Space Needle

I have now moved further south into Portland before my next major stop at the weekend, the city of San Francisco!!!

Successfully moved into the US and crossed the border surprisingly easily, I was prepared to give a detailed run down of my itinerary and movements for my time here but a quick form to fill out and a $6.00 charge to cross and I was through.

Seattle is only 3 hours from Vancouver so was a quick journey into the city and its 5 nights at the Green Tortoise Hostel.

The hostel offers so much extra compared to other places I have stayed in and its really making the stay here even better, free breakfast every morning, free dinners 3X a week, free Internet access, great facilities and lots of people has made this one of the better places I have stayed in so far.

Yesterday got right back to nature and together with about 20 others from the hostel hiked about 10K through the Cascade Mountain Range and up Mount Rainier, sure we have walks and hikes in the UK but this was more like an assault course over lakes,through trees, past areas which have been destroyed and devastated by storms and bad weather to reach the top (Graham - you would have really liked it!).

Now the next day and aching all over but got lots of pictures of the views and the obstacles and will post soon.

People have mentioned and I have noticed my english accent is sticking out here a lot more, which is fun!, met a lot of locals and have had discussions on everything from the Confederate flag, politics, to the price of GAS - very interesting! and from what I can tell so far Americans are very concerned with how they are now perceived in the eyes of the rest of the world.