Message from HEAD

I also want to use my blog for something more useful than just reporting about my travelling, so watch this!

Info: Brian “Head” Welch is former 2nd guitarist of the metal band KoRn and quit the band when he dedicated his life to Jesus Christ.

km 6241

Hi again!
It’s 10 days again since my last blog entry from Cambria! So here’s some news!!!

Well … after the night at HI hostel Cambria I went down the rest of highway 1 towards Los Angeles. On the way I stopped several times, including Santa Barbara (very beautiful city) and Malibu beach (of course!!!). In the evening I arrived in Culver City/L.A. at the house of Christopher whom I got to know in Whistler when I was there. He is german and doing an internship in Los Angeles at the moment. His two roommates, Devin & Brett both work from @ home and doing all kinds of things including making movies ))) (check out www.themexicandream.com)

The first day in the city of angels I went down to Venice Beach and took an extensive walk along the beach up to Santa Monica pier. In the evening I went out with Christopher and his friends (Kathrin, Daniel & Tara) to celebrate Daniel’s birthday – and by the way: Kathrin’s dreads are AWESOME! The next day I made a ride along Sunset Boulevard through Bel Air, Beverly Hills and Hollywood, also to see the Hollywood sign … I ended up “parking” my car in the rear of another guy on an intersection, but the damage is just small – the left headlight is damaged. At least I now can proudly say that I also had a car accident in the States after that little adventure Christopher and I went to Manhatten Beach to watch the sunset. We first wanted to skate along the beach with longboards, but as I’m such a beginner we decided just to walk around. The day ended with dinner @ In&Out-Burger which is probably the best burger of any fastfood chain.

On Sunday I first drove Christopher to another guy in El Segundo where he picked up a wetsuit. We then went up to the Getty center to enjoy the view over L.A. and a nice cup of coffee The afternoon was spent at Venice Beach again. On Monday I left in the morning heading south to San Diego. I went thru Huntington Beach which is really neat, except the greenish smog hanging above the city. I went swimming again @ Solana Beach before I entered San Diego where I met my host there, Kenny.

Kenny is a really cool guy, loving music and his 4 rabbits (Conejo, Conejita, Chiquita & Henry). He works from at home selling mainly CD’s & DVD’s via amazon or on flea markets. Every now and then he also works as a teacher @ a public school working with autistic kids. The evening I arrived we went to a friend of his. We jumped into the Jacusi under clear darkblue star-spangled sky and Bob told some stories of his jiu jitsu career. Afterwards we watched the movie “Hitman” which was quite entertaining – especially Olga Kurylenko

The 2nd day I went downtown and to the harbour to explore the city a little bit more. The harbour is quite interesting and provides several museum ships to look at. In the evening I met there with Kenny and two of his friends at a Sushi restaurant. They had happy hour and so the food wasn’t just delicious but also super-cheap. Wednesday I mainly used to explore Balboa Park which is an awesome facility alltogether. Lots of interesting architecture inmidst a green oasis in the city – and also a nice artists quarter. Thursday I first wanted to go to Seaworld but in the end didn’t go cause the weather was bad and it would cost 65 $ (not including 12 $ for parking!!!). I spent the day mainly indoors and joined Kenny on a trip north where he purchased a guy’s DVD collection. After that we went for dinner at a really good pizzeria.

On Friday I left early in the morning to complete a 800 km journey to Flagstaff, Arizona. Going out of San Diego the highway took me on an altitude of 1,500 metres within some miles until I reached the flat of southern Arizona again. Going through Phoenix I perfectly hit rush hour again like I always do and then continued my journey north to Flagstaff where I met Erin & Kriste, my hosts for the night. The have some pretty neat dogs and we had a nice evening at their place. Today I left at 8.30 in the morning again and went to Monument Valley which is at the Arizona/Utah border. I arrived there at noon and drove around the valley for almost 2 hours – it’s very scenic there and it was a great experience. I then continued my journey to Page, which lies north of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. Just as my brother Christian promised me it is a small & neat town. I stay at a motel here and tomorrow will continue my journey along the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas.

Pictures from Arizona will follow soon, but I put some online from L.A. and San Diego – check it out!

km 4013

Hi there all you out on God’s awesome planet! It’s been a while since my last blog entry and I’ve quite a lot to tell you

As I told you I stayed in Fort Bragg for one night and then went on to Sacramento. Going through the mountains inlands from the coast was a great experience again – an awesome windy road with lots of ups and downs for miles and along some beautiful lakes. In the evening I arrived at Dave’s house in Sacramento. He was tidying up for the days I was there, but still provided me with a comfortable couch to sleep on. We then went out the evening to meet some friends at a close bar who gave me some advice what to do and see in Sacramento. Dave seems to be a funny guy and he was searching for a new roommate that evening as well – I would describe him as a mixture between musician/actor Jack Black and Fat Mike from NoFX.

The next day I went to see the Capitol (Arnie’s office) in Sacramento and made a walk through downtown and “Old Sacramento” which is a kind of old western town near the centre. I also watched a movie @ the mall -> Bedtime Stories with Adam Sandler, which was hilarious the next day I left early towards San Francisco. I went down highway 160 to Antioch and then west to the Bay Area. I arrived there around noon and decided to drive around (south to San Jose and back up to SF) the Bay Area to San Francisco. As there was time enough I decided to go to Golden Gate Bridge first (AWESOME BRIDGE!!!!!) and then along Lombard Street down Russian hill and up to Coit Tower. In the evening I then perfectly hit rush hour again to arrive in Walnut Creek around 7 p.m. where I met Brian and his house-mates Stephen and Dave.

The next day I followed Stephen’s advice and went up to Mt. Diablo which is near Walnut Creek – again a windy road was there for Gergi’s joy The view from the top was awesome – you could see all of the Bay Area in the west and to the Rockies in the East and far to the North and South as well. In the evening I went to the movies with Brian to see “Gran Torino”, a film with Clint Eastwood which was really good.

On Saturday Brian, Erin (a friend of his) and me went to San Francisco and they showed me around the city. We started our trip with BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) in Walnut Creek and went to Embarcadero and Pier 33 where we hopped onto the ferry to Alcatraz. We spent the morning there doing the self-guided audio-tour and getting interesting details about the former prison and military base on the island. From there we also had a tremendous view to San Francisco. At noon we went back downtown to have Clam Chowder (mmmmmmmmm) for lunch. We then went through Chinatown’s markets where we had a pork bun. Arriving at Union Square we made a short break for coffee to walk back to the Harbour building, where we caught the perfect moment when moon was rising above Bay Bridge. Back in Walnut Creek we went to a new Sushi place for dinner which was also great.

On Sunday I went to church with Brian and Erin and afterwards us 3 and Amy (another friend of Brian) went to Santa Cruz, where Brian grew up. We first met his parents at their house and then did a walk through the local Redwood forest with huge trees and some tales told After organizing some sandwiches at a local store we went to the beach @ Santa Cruz to watch some surfers there which by the end of the day where reinforced by dozens more. Brian and I had a ride with a roller coaster @ the amusement park and afterwards we got some ice-cream before going home again.

On Monday I decided to explore San Francisco on my own – I again went to Golden Gate Bridge, cause the weather was even better and then strolled around in Mountain Lake Park. In the evening I went to Coit Tower again to see the awesome sundown over San Francisco and enjoy the view to the downtown’s skyline. On Tuesday I went to Berkeley to see the University of California, which actually has 7 Nobel laureates on staff (!!!!). In the afternoon I explored downtown Walnut Creek, which is a really nice place (they also have an Apple store

The highlight of the day was definitly in the evening when Brian, Dave, Stephen and I went to San Jose to see a NHL game of the San Jose Sharks. They are currently the best team in NHL and played Tampa Bay Lightning that evening. It just took them some minutes to gain momentum and then gave short shrift of Tampa Bay and sent them home with 7:1. It was a really great experience to be at a NHL game as it is a perfect show from the second you enter the arena. Funny trivia: most of the sponsors of the Sharks are from computer industry as San Jose is somehow the heart of Silicon Valley, e.g. their arena is named “HP Pavillon” for Hewlett-Packard.

As we got back home I said good bye already to Brian and his house-mates as they had to work the next day and had to get up early. I left at 10 a.m. this morning and went down to Santa Cruz to catch highway 1 there. It was a great drive again all the way, as most time the highway leads along the coastline. Some miles before Cambria I watched the sun drowning in the vast expense of the Pacific Ocean. Then I checked in @ the hostel, made some dinner and took a walk around the town centre, which also seems to be a nice place. I had a beer @ a bar and went back to the hostel, where I’m now.

Well … that was my last 9 days in short! Hope you enjoyed reading it.

Feel hugged & be blessed,
Gergi

km 2608

Wow, days fly by

So, I let you know, what I’m currently up to.
I left from Janet’s place in Vancouver on Jan. 2nd and went down to the US border, where it took me 2 and a half hours to cross the border, as it was quite busy there. It was quite funny when I jogged out the customs building to get some documents from the car as the customs officers outside thought I’d try to cross the border )))

I then went down highway 5 through Seattle & Tacoma and got off in Olympia to go to Aberdeen. Entering Aberdeen one can easily see that it’s the birthplace of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain – see the first picture in the gallery. I got there at about 7 pm and had no troubles finding Stephen’s apartment, which was close to the highschool Kurt Cobain went to. Stephen is a really interesting person and a real wine connoisseur working at Ocean’s Crest resort north of Aberdeen. He also hosted another couchsurfer that night – Jack, who is living in Seattle right now, but originally from Chicago. We went out for dinner to have some teriyaki and afterwards Stephen invited some of his friends to a party at his place. One of them, Bryan, is a professional wrestler and was world champion of the “Ring of Honor” (follow the link to wikipedia). We had lots of fun that evening and later on went to the “Pourhouse” – a real american-style bar with live music. After that we went back to Stephen, got to know each other a little better and finally went to bed.

On Saturday I went down to Astoria at the Columbia River and crossed Astoria bridge to get to Oregon. I then followed the Columbia upcountry to Portland where I checked in at the HI hostel. Portland seems to be a really nice city – I walked and drove around a bit and I really liked it. It also has impressive Mount Hood in the background of its panorama. That evening I went to the movies to see “Valkyrie” starring Tom Cruise as Colonel von Stauffenberg which narrates the story about a murder attempt on Hitler in 1944.

Sunday morning I had some cereals and coffee at the hostel and then made my way down highway 5 to Salem where I left it to the west to go to highway 101 at the coast. I went down there through Lincoln City and Newport reaching North Bend and Coos Bay in the end, where I met David, my host for that night. David is an architect and dancing teacher and I had the chance to see him work with one of his dancing classes and learned a few steps as well. Of course he also designed and built the house he’s living in, which is located on top of a cliff overlooking the East bay towards the city of Coos Bay – AWESOME!!!!

Today I got up at quarter to 8; David and I had breakfast (french toast with maple syrup, scrambled eggs & bananas). After that he showed me another house in Coos Bay which he currently is building – it also has a great view over the East bay and will have a huge living room. After that I left Coos Bay and went down the coast on 101 through Gold Beach and Brookings where I finally entered California …

I drove all the way down to Eureka, where I searched for the next Starbucks to check my mail if Anna (which was supposed to be my host this night) would have replied and told me her address or phone number. As I didn’t have any response I decided to go further down 101 which now turned inlands. About 1 hour later I left highway 101 to continue my drive on highway 1, which first leads through the mountains back to the coast again. These 50-60 kms of road are probably the most awesome road I was ever able to drive … I think my dad would love it as well – narrow, lots of sharp turns and a lot of ups & downs ))))

Around 7.30 pm. I finally arrived here in Fort Bragg, which is about 150 miles north of San Francisco. I got a room at the Super 8 motel and will continue my journey tomorrow, when I will go to Sacramento to meet my next couch host – Dave.

My brother Christian also helped me to get into contact with Brian, a friend of his near San Francisco. I messaged him on facebook and I will now surf his couch in Walnut Creek east of San Francisco. I also got back a positive answer from San Diego and will have a couch to surf there as well

Well, that’s what I did the past few days – hope you all are fine!!!! Let me hear something from you …

Be blessed & feel hugged,
Gergi

PS: it’s awesome that Wolfgang Loitzl finally won a worldcup event!

km 903

Hello again!
It was last year that I wrote my last blog entry so it’s time for another one.

Well … I spent Christmas in Whistler for 4 days and went skiing 3 of them. You can find some pics in the Ultimate Powder gallery. Especially Christmas Day was great for skiing, altough Whistler could make use of some more snow. I stayed at the HI hostel, which is situated directly at Alta Lake (also used to be the former name of Whistler). They provided turkey dinner on the evening of the 25th and delicious apple and pumpkin pie. I met some nice people up there and made new friends – Carolin, Arndt & Christopher (all from Germany, but on internship in Vancouver/Nanaimo/L.A.). Chris also offered me to stay at his place when I’m down in Los Angeles.

When I came back from Whistler I spent some time playing Nintendo Wii with Jacob (my 7-year old host) and had some good talks with Janet (his mom). I also went downtown Vancouver again to explore Chinatown, Granville Island and Yaletown. And I bought myself another Christmas gift – an iPod touch I also had a nice movie evening with Janet watching Saw I+II. I hadn’t seen them before as I’m not a big horror fan, but they turned out to be quite good. I also watched “21″ and Wall-E.

For New Years Eve I met with the german guys at Caro’s place where we did some “vorglühen” – I’m not sure if there’s a translation for that around 11 pm we left and met Erik (my CS buddy at Janet’s place) and went downtown, but acutally got into the new year by bus. We then went into club “Royal” next to the HI hostel on Granville street for dancing. I left around 3 am and as there was no bus I decided to walk back, which turned out to be a 2-hour & 9 km adventure across all 64 of Vancouver’s avenues

Today I just tried to relax and I’m thinking what the new year might bring. There’s so many things going wrong in so many places, so let us all make an effort to create a better place for us all.

Tomorrow I will leave Vancouver and head southwards. My first stage will take me to Aberdeen, Washington – Kurt Cobain’s birthplace. The next days I’ll then go through Portland, Coos Bay, and Eureka to Sacramento.

I get back to you when I got some stories to tell again …

In the meantime – be blessed & feel hugged,
Gergi