Oahu HI Jan 23 - 29

Hawaii is absolutely amazing, John and Mikey have a pretty sweet place, they live downtown Wikiki on the 47th floor so they have a really awesome veiw. The first pic is from the airplane right before we landed, it was pretty cool to see the coast like that!!



Here is a few pics of downtown Waikiki, the first one is from the balcony of John's place, as you can see its amazing. The other two are from the beach, you can see the pink hotel in the first one and the tip of Diamond Head on the second one!!







Here are some pictures of what can be seen from the highway when driving around the island, they are all amazing.





I was able to check out the Spanish Walls, this is a really cool place and there are places where the waves crash up upon the rocks, its pretty sweet!!



I went on a quick hike with a friend Jamie, the hike was called the Pillbox hike. It was nice to see the island from there. First picture is from the top of the Pillbox hike and the second picture is from the beach that you can see from the hike. The island is called "Flat Island," haha how ironic right!!





We were able to make another hike and this one was pretty hardcore. It was about 4200 steps to the top, pretty crazy because it was really windy and rained a bit while we were on the hike. There were a ton of steps but it was well worth it!!





I was able to get into the water on North Shore. It was really nice and the water and waves were great. It was kind of intimidating because in Sunset Beach, the water was so clear you could see straight to the bottom and on the bottom there were huge rocks, haha pretty crazy when your dropping in on a 8+ foot wave and see rocks waiting for you at the bottom!!



This is a good, blurry picture that John took from the beach, haha!!

Long Beach Jan 21

From my first trip to Cali, I was able to see some of the famous beaches like Huntington Beach, Venice Beach, and Sunset Beach, I decided to hit up Long Beach. I rolled down there with a friend I met the day before and actually met another traveler there from Switzerland. Together the 3 of us had a great time. We snuck into the Sain Mary's, the ship that rescued some people from the Titanic. It was cool touring the ship and reading the ghost stories. Here is a pic on the main deck of the ship. The second pic is of downtown Long Beach from Rainbow Harbor. Keep in mind it was still pretty cold and rainy down in Long Beach.

Los Angeles Jan 19 - 23

After a fun time in San Clementer and the southern parts of Cali and Northern parts of Mexico, I decided it was time to pack up and check out another city. I decided to take the train up and it was a really nice train ride up to LA from San Clemente, very beautiful and a good time because I met other travelers and talked to them about different things, mainly traveling through. Well all in all the majority of the time I was in LA the weather was nice but the times I came out to take some pictures, it turned out to be overcast and rainy, so the pictures are not really that great, but they are still some picures from LA!!

The first major place that I went to was the La Brea Tar-Pits, it was pretty cool but not really what I was expecting. I though it was going to be black tar everywhere, but there was a major lake with bubbling coming from it and tar around the outsides, it was pretty cool but really smelt like BUTT!! The Tar-Pits were really cool and throughout the park, there were places where the tar was coming up from the ground and they were labled with a cone as you can see.





After walking around the town, I came across the all famous Pinks Hotdog Stand. We rolled by there a couple of times and the first time we rolled by there was a huge line that would probally take about 2 hours to get served. When I took this picture there was still a line and it would probally take about 45 minutes to get a hotdog. I did not get one becasue I really didn't want to wait in line for a hotdog. Everyone I talked to said it was a regular hotdog and honestly I didnt think it was worth the wait, but here is a pic of the famous Pinks Hotdog Stand.



The Chinese Theatre was were some new movies would premiere at and this is where the stars have their hands, feet and signatures in the concrete. When I was there, the premiere of Cloverfield was happening. The weather was not nice and the second pic is of the Hollywood sign, you can see me pointing to it!!





Last, but not least, the all famous Disney Concert Hall, this was extremely beautiful and an archetecture wonder!!



This is probally the best pic of them all. Seeing that I had a red eye flight to Hawaii on the 23rd I decided that the best way to be at the airport would be to sleep at the airport. This was definately an interesting experience, not the most comfortable but got the job done. So, yeah here is a pic of my bed at the airport, I call it my home away from home, haha!!



This is the pic that really made my whole LA trip. My older sisters, Chris and Carolyn, called me, my brother and my sister the munchkins when we were smaller......they actually still call us munchkins even through we are taller then them haha. So yeah, this was an awesome pic!!!

Tijuana Mex Jan 14

I decided that I wanted to see Tijuana during the day because last time I was down in SD, Flo, Don and I left PB at 2am to head towards Tijuana in hopes to find a show....haha I think you know what Im talking about. Well reguardless we didnt find one but still had a great time down there, but I really wanted to experience TJ during the day. Flo and I crossed the border and stopped at a little bar and drank some beer, margaritas and ate tacos. It was a really nice and relaxing expreience. It was nice to experience the culture during the day because there was so much going on and it was just an interesting environment. The people, culture, food, beer and weather was amazing, so that was awesome in itself. Although no donkey show, there were plenty of donkeys for tourists to take pictures on, I thought that was pretty funny. Ill be heading up to LA on Sat Jan 19 - 22nd, will have some good pics up from there and then Hawaii on the 23rd!!

Here are just a few picture of TJs

San Diego CA Jan 12 - 15

I decided I wanted to see SD again because last time I came down with friends, we got caught up partying and forgot to actually see the city and somethings SD had to offer. I was lucky and took the Amtrak train down to SD and the way down I was able to sneak on board and not pay the $15 charge to ride down...cha-ching...but unfortunately my luck ran out on the way back up to San Clemente =( haha. The weather down there was amazing and it was absolutely beautiful down there. I only wish I was able to do some surfing at Blacks beach. Last time I was down, we did go see Blacks, and the beach has black sand and what was crazy was when we went, right in front it was barely breaking but down the beach about 100 yards or so it was 2 - 3 foot over head and barreling, pretty crazy huh??

This is a picture at Mission Beach, there was a boardwalk and lots of touristy things here, including a rollar coaster and a artificial wave like at Slitterbahn.



Flo (my other little sister) and I went to a museum place, totally forgot the name but it was really pretty.



Finally, I ended my time in SD at a place downtown called Seaport Village, this place was really cool, it had a really nice and relaxed atmosphere.

San Clemente CA Jan 5 - 11 and 15 - 18

I stayed mainly in San Clemente, CA with some good friends from high school and college. I have been here before and it was really nice to see them again and hang out and surf while here. When I first arrived on the Metrolink, it was overcast and cold for the first two days, but after that, the weather has been amazing and the surf has been really fun. Although, I do hate wearing a wetsuit when surfing, it was definately worth it becaus the water was still rather cold. I was able to surf Salt Creek, T-Street and the famous Trestles.

This pic is a good one, where you can see T-Street and the pier in San Clemente.



This is a pic of me about to go surfing at T-Street.



Here is a picture of the Pier right behing me, it was a beautiful day out there so I had to take a picture.

Lancaster CA Jan 2 - 4

After a fun time in Vegas, Don and I drove back to where he was living and working at in Lancaster, CA. It was a relatively small town but was still really nice to see because there were mountains and deserts everywhere. Also, Lancaster has a huge airforce base where Don showed me the UAV that the military uses when doing recon. These things were really big, unfortunately I didnt get any pictures while in Lancaster, but still had a great time with Don and his friend Mark.

Las Vegas Dec 31 - Jan 2

Shortly after graduation I planned on meeting some of my good friends in Las Vegas to bring in the New Years. This was a great time and it was really good seeing some friends who I havent seen in a long time. I stayed with a few friends at the Excalibur and John and Karlene stayed at the Luxor. For New Years, the entire strip was closed off and there were tons of people walking up and down the strip. The fireworks show was really awesome also and overall it was a great time. Vegas is always fun esp. if you surround yourself with great people.

Here is a pic of a few of the guys in our group (David, Don, Me and Derf), we were missing John, Karlene, Mike and Deana.



Here is a couple of pics of the fireworks show also......

Final thoughts from Corpus

After my graduation of college at TAMUCC on December 15, 2007, I was faced with the decision to either get a real "job" or postpone that and take the adventure of a lifetime. After thinking of what I really wanted to do, I decided to take this trip and shortly after graduation, I was already heading out of Corpus. I know that I would be leaving some great friends and my wonderful family behind, but they all supported me because this is something that most people will never have the chance to do in their lifetime. Anyways, I was not ready to work and a job will always be there, so Carpe Diem!!!

Here is one of the last pictures taken of me in Corpus, with everything I plan on carrying on my back or in a small backpack. This picture is with my mother, me and my little sister.



Here is a graudation pic of my dad, me and my mom