Savannah, Georgia

Historic Cotton Exchange Building built in 1887. We had dinner in a cafe below that was originally the old warehouse where 2 million bales of cotton were processed annually.

An iron stairway from the 1800s leads down to the waterfront.

Riverboats still operate on the Savannah River.

Pastel colors and covered porches representative of southern architecture.

The lobby of our quaint hotel for a night felt like home.

Forrest Gump's mama always said life is like a box o' chocolates - ya never know what ya gonna get.

Miami

South Beach, Miami - miles of white sand, clear warm waters and thousands of people.

Pastel colors of the Historic Art Deco District.  We took lunch at the Carlyle.

Key Largo in the Florida Keys - the furthest south point of our trip.

Space shuttle Inspiration at NASA Kennedy Space Center.

Visiting with cousin Amy in Jacksonville.

Florida

Sarasota Beach - white talcum powder sand - some of the warmest water in the world - rated America's #1 beach.

Everglades consist of an endless maze of mangroves and shallow waters.

Swamps house panthers, snakes, spiders and ....

Air boats with 450 HP provide the best method of getting around.

Gator feeding best left to the locals.

Posing in the jaws of the largest 'gator ever caught in the everglades.

The Deep South

We drove through Louisiana, Biloxi Mississippi and Mobile Alabama - across swamps and bayous - looking for good old boys and 'gators.

Gassing up in Biloxi at $0.84/litre [$3.18/gal] makes driving a breeze.

New Orleans

Blowin' horn on the streets of New Orleans.

Some balls are getting bigger after the recent Mardi Gras.

A small jazz bar off-off-Bourban Street provides superb talent including Mykia Jovan.

Classic southern architecture include wrought iron balconies.

Southern States

Leaving the Grand Canyon in Arizona we drove east through New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas where we encountered droughts and temperatures well above 40C as depicted on this campground notice board. Thankful for swimming pools and cold beer at the end of each day.

We then turned south and drove straight into torrential rain storms and flooding, eventually dining on cajun prawns and rice in Lafayete, Louisiana.  

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Heading west - we got our kicks on Route 66.

The Grand Canyon is 10 miles wide and a mile deep. We started our decent at dawn before the heat of the day.

Vertical drops exist along the entire south rim. At the bottom flows the Colorado River - so named by Native Americans due to the color red created from the eroding layers of rock.

Looking back up from within the canyon - a completely different experience than viewing down from the rim. Less than 5% of visitors venture below the canyon rim.

Hiking back out at 7000 foot elevation and 40 degrees C is exhausting at best. We ended the day in the garden of a Mexican restaurant savouring BBQ ribs, nachos and marguaritas before retiring to the campground.

Las Vegas

Heading south from Santa Barbara the Pacific Coast Highway grew into a 12 lane freeway occupied by chronic lane changers. As the smog of LA became visible over the hills we knew we didn't want to get any closer and turned east across the Mojave Desert to Las Vegas.

Billion dollar hotel complexes include the Bellagio and Venetian.

Fashion at the mega malls by day - reflective of the entertainment by night.

Tacky - symbolized in this casino sculpture - is superceded by real people. Middle aged men in tank tops with white gym socks pulled up high. Elderly women in velour track suits, butts hanging from collagen impregnated lips, wigs slightly off center, plugging quarters into one armed bandits to no avail. Girls in too tight and too short dresses learning to walk in 7" heels.

Stars of days gone by.

Central California

San Francisco would not be complete without a little seafood at the wharf.

'Going green' taken literally on one of the steep streets of San Francisco.

The twists and turns and rolling hills along Pacific Coast Highway 1 provide a peaceful pace and scenic vista set against a mix of blue skies and coastal fog.

Flower boxes are part of the charm in Carmel.

After several nights camping we opted for a B&B that included a wood burning fireplace in the room and wine & cheese around a fire pit before dinner.

Northern California

Highway 101 then the smaller Highway 1 provide magnificent vistas of the rugged Pacific coastline. We crossed into California at noon - then pulled into a viewpoint for a tailgate lunch.

Redwood trees live 500 plus years - some to 2000 years and over 12 feet in diameter. These trees provided a backdrop and a canopy along the Redwood Highway and in our campground for the night.

Oregon Coast

The haystacks at Cannon Beach stand prominently in the Pacific Ocean with kilometers of clean sand beach on either side.

Sea grasses sway on the coastal sand dunes under clear skies.

Quaint cottages with weathered shingles and picket fences align the seashore towns.

The sign reminded me of my Vancouver to Tijuana bicycle journey along this same route many years ago.