« It’s a good day to die, it’s a good day to eat Tacos ». that quote from Phoenix Arizona a friend teach me could resume my whole first trip in the US. Sometimes everything goes bad and you have to satisfy yourself with the most simple things. You will read further about this later.
I had told some american friends I will come to visit them in December. I landed at Dallas airport where a friend who hosted me was waiting for me. Those few days in Dallas allowed me to meet for the first time some friends I knew for a long time before on internet.
You can learn more about Dallas here.
I left Dallas with a but early in the morning to go to Houston for only one day. My goal was to see Johnson Space Center. I arrived in rhe middle of the morning and took an Uber to go to eat in a tacos place. One of my friend in Dallas give me the adress telling me it was the best tacos he ever ate. During the ride I talked to my driver and explain to him I will go to the NASA center after my lunch. He kindly offered me to wait for me. At the end the tacos were a little bit disapointing. It is about thirty minutes to get to the Space Center from the center of Houston, plenty of time to get a warn talk with the driver. And when we arrived he gave me his card and told me « Now you have a friend in Houston, if you need some help, just tell me.»
You can have my opinion about Johnson Space Center here.
After a nice flight of few hours, I arrived at Los Angeles where I met a friend I planned to travel with. Ours plans were to rent a car and head to Death Valley, Sequoia Park, Yosemite and end in San Francisco. But nothing of this actually happened. First we couldn’t rent a car because of some legislations. And then my friend had to go back in Indiana where she leaves. So I end up not knowing what the next days would be made of. When a thing like that happen, you are thinking about all the possibilities. Mine where quite many. Why not leaving everything and run away far from all of this ? I also could have try to make my trip has planned but without a car but not knowing if I would make it. At one moment, my friend from Dallas ask me some news and if I was having fun. She suggested me to come back to Dallas to her place, I will be welcomed. And a short time of reflexion and negociation involving me paying all the restaurants we would go (Americans eat a lot outside), I took, probably the wisest decision, to go back to Dallas. I choose some kind of securityknowing I could count on my friends to be sure the rest of my trip will be nice. but when you think everything is solved, there is always something ready to give you a last beating. Arriving at Los Angeles airport my fight was cancelled because of some meteorological conditions. I had to wait for ten hours there and lost my scarf I bought in Thaïland.
Definitely LA was tough on me.
You can still see what I did (or not) here.
Taking advantage of the changing of my plan I then went south to Austin to see a friend I missed during my time before in Dallas.
When I arrived i once again be able to attest the kindness of some Texans people. While I shop shopping in a hat store, one of the sellers ask me to having me shown the city and to go party during the time I was there. The Austin night life is an important part of what this place great. The friend I was visiting is a musician and performed one night in a local bar. After the gig someone who attended went to us and congratulated my friend. We begun to talk and by the end of the evening, this guys was one of our new friend. This is actually a good example of how people easily socialize and how their state of mind is in Austin. Meeting great people is extremely simple there. My time in this city was truly amazing and leave me one of my best memorie of this trip.
You can read more about Austin in my article there.
And the the pictures I took from the gig on my flickR page.
After my last stop in Dallas, I took a plane to San Francisco from the Lovefield airport (what a lovely name for an airport). I choose an Airbnb room somewhere in the south and spend three days there. I took the first day to buy a guitar. On the second day I walk around the city center. I went through Union square and Chinatown, then made a stop at the Zoetrope cafe (which is owned by Francis Ford Coppola). On the afternoon I went on the heighs of the city near the Coit Tower and end the day on the docks. The third day was about visiting the North West side of the city. I start by renting a bike because my legs were so sored from the walk the day before. I started my visit near Ashbury and I head, through the park, to the golden bridge. I left my bike and went down to the beach almost under the bridge. The day almost gone I went back to the docks to find some food.
You can find more about San Francisco here.
Leaving the US to go back to France, I had mixed feelings. On one hand there was the disapointement to not have seen things outside the city I was suposed to. On the other hand, meeting new people and growing relationship offset on a very special way to me the trip. Once again « It’s a good day to die, it’s a good day to have tacos ».