7/11/2017 - FLAGSTAFF / AZ
Gooooood morning Flagstaff/Arizona! Last night I boarded the Amtrak ‘Southwest Chief’ in Victorville. After hiking the PCT I am up to cruise the US a bit. First stop: Flagstaff, the gateway to the Grand Canyon.
8/11/2017 - GRAND CANYON
Definitely one of the highlights of my journey – this good ol’ canyon is quite impressive. It is huge, it looks unreal and I felt very small on the rim of it.
I took the Arizona Shuttle this morning out of Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon. We weren’t a lot pf people in the van. The bus driver and me were chatting a bit and when we arrived he walked me to the first look out. Before I could get the first glimpse of the canyon he grabbed my arm and told me to close my eyes. So he lead me right to the rim and then ask me to open my eyes. Wow! So unreal, so massive! He smiled and wished me a good day.
09/11/2017 - With the Amtrak through the SOUTH WEST
Travelling by train is one of my favourite ways to see places. This morning I boarded the ‘Southwest Chief’ in Flagstaff/Arizona, that is making its way from Los Angeles to Chicago. I am on my way to Kansas City which gives me a bit more then 24 hours on train. I cannot describe how much I enjoy the trip … we pass Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas. The scenery is awesome: desert, grasland, forests, … vast horizons, big skies, amazing colours in shades of mostly yellow, orange, red, green and brown. I am spending most of my time sitting in the observation car, not being able to stop just to watch the scenery … for hours. It calms me, clears my mind, allows emotions, allows sheding tears of happiness. Thoughts come and go, what stays is gratitude for what I already experienced and for the special people I just met. Like-minded humans on their own journey, inspiring, motivating. Don’t want to miss them in my life anymore.
11/11/2017 - KANSAS CITY
Kansas City/Missouri. City in the middle of nowhere, in one of these flyover-states. Kansas City in November: grey, cold, rainy. Why the hell do I board an Amtrak train to go on an epic ride through the US? Why the hell do I stand 8,5-hour-delays on the border of New Mexico and Colorado? Because I wanted to catch up with a friend of mine after almost 10 years and because I love to go to places that are not the typical tourist destinations. ….. well, then, 1,5 days in KC. …..and I loved it! Super awesome to catch up again. And dive into the city – I got an individual tour of one of the big breweries of the city (that is the advantage of having a friend working there), got the chance to sip some awesome beers right from the tab and tried ‘whiskey barrel stout ‘, which is delicious. When in Kansas City you also have to have a BBQ. So went to Bryant’s, which is a little, almost pretty rocked down BBQ-place where I had the best beef sandwich ever. Also Obama knew that the beef there is good.
Also roamed through the American Jazz museum, seen a tattoo parlour from the inside and went to an evening charity event at the occasion of Veteran’s Day. Just an ordinary day in KC. Especially getting the chance to take part in an veteran’s day event was unique. I reckon me as being European having had quite a bunch of prejudices when it comes to the US army. My perspective changes the more I get to know and the more I meet veterans. Once more – the US are so much more then I had in mind before coming here and during my various travels to places on this planet before I never had the chance to get to know a country, culture and mentality so intensively. The journey continues and I am thankful.
12/11/2017 - ST. LOUIS / MISSOURI
I am on my way escaping the cold weather to Austin/Texas. Left Kansas City this morning and had a 6 hour layover in St. Louis. To short to really dive into the city but too long, to just sit and kill time at the train station. Well, St. Louis – home of blues and jazz music. The Mississippi is running through the city and the main sight, the Gateway Arch, is close enough to the train station to go and have a look. I went up to the lookout and had amazing views all over the place. Even though it is cold, very cold here, I walked along the Mississippi. That was special for me … it is one of these places which are somehow legendary, I honestly would not really travel to … but once you are there it is f* awesome to see and experience it!
15/11/2017 - AUSTIN / TEXAS
Warm enough to just wear shorts… in November, hip, bustling and full of music! The city kind of lacks ‘real’ sights. Well, there is the Texas State Capitol (with charming elderly lady-tourguide Georgia 😍), the university campus, a lot of bats under a bridge. But Austin has this special vibe … live-music in every second bar, good local craft beers, people actually walk and ride a bike around the place and good tex-mex food. I really like the city, especially when been shown around restaurants and bars by a local (dzięki for the contact, K.!). It is one of those places, like Portland, that feel very different to other places in the US.
I am happy to hang out here! …. even though I will definitely not spending time at the shooting range.
7/11/2017 - SAN ANTONIO / TEXAS
Next stop: San Antonio! After a couple of awesome days in Austin with an incredible alt j-concert and even going to their after show-party, I took a bus further south to San Antonio. Unfortunately I did not have a lot of time there, but still enough to get a glimpse of the historic site of The Alamo and the popular Riverwalk. After that I ended up having the most expensive, but most delicious steak I ever had. San Antonio is different to Austin and very different to what I expected. It has a very relaxed, outgoing and artsy atmosphere. Found some Christmas decoration in Downtown…. next to palm trees. Very weird for me to see.
And, even though it is the middle of November I was enjoying my dinner sitting outside, 28 degree celcius. Definitely a place to go back to.
