On The Road Again

Re-visiting a great trip

2008-11-27T16:17:00.002-06:00

We decided today, on thanksgiving we would watch one of the HOW video tapes..... we had a great laugh. here are some of the quotes from the first few days of our trip:

"They have nothing to do in South Dakota, so they do this (showing random sculptures at a farm)"

-Jessica

"Why didn't they just do this: YIAIAIAIAI (running towards the deer with an arrow)"

-Shelby

"Pete thinks that BP is going into a country-wide thing to piss him off"

-Mom

"I got those ibby-jeebies again!"

-Mom

"I found a geode"

-everyone

"White Domination!!!!"

"It's like the Mohave dessert out here, well not really cause there's grass and its about 80 degrees cooler."

-Mom

(dressed in a raccoon skin hat)"and then Lewis and Clark set off.... (runs off, and the hat falls)"

-Chris

"In my mirror you can see, they're still attacking us. I don't want those animals near me. (talking about the burros"

-Dad

"The donkey mauling"

-shelby

"They'll eat you. They'll eat your hair and then suck you out of the camper (talking about the bison)"

-Mom

And one of the most cherished lines of the entire trip:

"This is NOT Disney Land!!!"

-Dad

So What Now????

2008-08-24T21:23:00.003-05:00

Well! I finally finished posting our lovely trip! Everything is up here so read enjoy, laugh at us, or with us. Thanks for following along on this long journey i'm sure some of you enjoyed it as much as we did!!
Here are the STATS by the end of our trip:
We drove a total of 7,841 miles we drove an average of 8.92 miles per gallon, we bought 879.99 gallons of gas and we spent a total of $3,644.83 on gas!
Lets see, with 3,644 dollars you could buy:
1 used Nissan Maxima GLE
7 dell laptops
20 Ipod nanos
123 American Eagle Jeans
925 gallons of milk
or
6,166 pencils

Wow. So now what? Since my trip is over i have decided to create a different blog:
http://theventfullifeofme.blogspot.com/.
That blog is for everyday randomness i really put a bunch of my thoughts on it and hope people find it interesting.
This blog i will still use, when i go on vacations or trips of any kind! Yay! So if you want to keep up with me, read my blogs!

A few last thoughts:
~so sorry for all the typos! I know there's a lot!
~i changed all the dates so the posts were on the right days, i did not travel back in time and finish writing all of these

** To read this in order, i highly recommend going to the first blog and working your way up!**

(hint: it starts with the entry; T minus: 23 Days 2 hours 9 minutes!!)

Homeward Bound

2008-07-02T15:47:00.000-05:00

We woke up bright and early at 6:40 and started drving.... and driving...and driving... and driving... we drove till 1:30, and that's when we pulled into out driveway. OUR DRIVEWAY!!!!!!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!

OOOOOHHHHklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

2008-07-01T15:26:00.002-05:00

On our was to OK City we saw a huge cross. like HUGE!!!! it was 190 feet tall! So we pulled of the road and went to chekc it out. It was all life size bronze statues of the stations of the cross. They were amazing!! It takes 9 months just to make one person, and there is only one guy making them.

Then we went to the Oklahoma City Bombing muesem. It was THE BEST muesem i have ever been too. And believe me i have been to countless number of muesems. It was the most beautiful touching memorial to the people who died and the ones left behind during the oklahoma city bombing. Outside there was a huge reflective pool symbolizeing the exact second when the bomb went off, and there are chairs set up for each life lost on each floor.

Then we drove to the old huge silo that was converted into a rock clibing arena. It was pretty awesom, chris anmd shelby clumbed, and the rest of us just watched, it cost a bunch of money!

Then we went to El Chicos for dinner. We had a GREAT time. We got a little crazy.... if you know my family well, you know when that happens things get a little weird....
Shelby kept doing the weird "hook the moon" dance move (that was an inside joke the whole trip) and Chris hate so many chips he didn't eat any dinner. It was our last night on the trip and we went crazy.

Shelby's hook the moon in Chicos:

Skinny side of the table:

Fatty side fo the table:

After we ate too much:

We drove for 2 hours and slept at a Mickey D's!

RAFTING- white water style!

2008-06-30T11:29:00.000-05:00

Monday June 30th:

This was so much fun. Best day ever! Our raft guide's name was Jared and he talked very quietly. So we are like paddling like crazy and he's telling us what to do, when to stop when to go. So the seating arrangements go like this:

And that is a major problem cause deaf women is seated the farthest away from our soft-spoken guide. SO the trip goes like this:

Jared:Paddle (everyone paddles)
Jared: Stop paddling
(everyone stops paddling except for mom who is working up a sweat paddling like crazy)
Jared: Stop paddling
(mom still keeps going)
Jared: Stop paddling
(mom still keeps going)
Me: MOM STOP (as i whack her on the back with my paddle)
Mom: What? oh you want me to stop... OK.

and this goes on... and on... and on... the entire trip.. it was very amusing.

When we got done the guides brought out snacks, which included watermelon and... The best snack ever!!! What you do is take peanut butter put in on a tortilla chip and then dip it in salsa!!! I LOVE IT

Then we drove to El Santuario de Chimayo Shrine. Also known as, The Holy Dirt Place.

Anyway, the deal with this place is that this dude, OK excuse me, this priest saw a light shining from the ground so he dug up this cross. Pretty cool right, so anyway he moves the cross to his Church, but the next day its gone. Well, he finds it back at the place he dug it up, so again he takes it back to his Church and the next morning it was back at the other place. This happened once again, and the dude, sorry, priest, finally got the hint and built a shrine at the place he dug up the cross. Now the shrine is still there and there is a hole in the ground where there is blessed dirt that heals people. In the room outside of the dirt hole there are a bunch of crutches and walkers just left there. It's pretty cool. There was a cute pony there! He would trot along the gate and follow us.

From there we headed to Oklahoma City and we stopped in Amarillo Texas at the RV Site. It was a nice site, they had a pool, and doughnuts in the morning, but in moms words, "it stinks like a herd of cattle took a dump in our RV!!" It did.... we were like right next to a huge cattle farm. Who is stupid enough to put an RV site right next to a poop farm!! Well... it is Texas.

Another day in Santa Fe and a big rock

2008-06-29T10:46:00.000-05:00

Sunday July 29th:

We went to church at St. Francis Basilica, which was celebrating it's 400th birthday. Gosh, i thought it was a big deal when St. Alban celebrated it's 20'th!! The church wasn't all that pretty, but i think i'm biased cause I'm in love with the St.Louis Basilica!

The we walked over to the Loretta Chapel. Which is the CUTEST chapel ever!!!!!! The nuns who built it needed a way to get up into the choir loft, and they prayed for a builder who could help them design stairs that wouldn't take up any of the seating room. Then all of a sudden this man came and built the stairs for them, and then left. Here's a picture of them

When he built them, there were no handrails, and they kept it that way a long time, but then they put them in, because it was scary! The weird thing is there is no center beam for support and they have lasted for a long time!!!! Another gorgeous thing in the chapel was the stations of the cross. They were the prettiest ones i've ever seen.

After the chapel we shopped around the square and mom and dad fell in love... with a rock. Ok, alabaster tone, but it is still a rock.

We shoped around a bit more, had lunch at Plaza Cafe. Then everyone except me, i was feeling a little sick, had Roasted Corn from a Cart. They all siad it was delicous!

Then we shopped at walmart!! Yay!!! We bought som hemp so we wouldn't get bored. Then we got to the scay place.....

CREEPY!!!!!! We hid in the RV.

Sedonna

2008-06-29T09:36:00.006-05:00

Wednesday June 25th:
We drove from the canyon and went to sedonna. So much red rock!!! i mean it's everywhere, and it is so pretty and ... well, red. But we had another accident, the muffler on our car was all twisted up so we had to cut it off!
When we arrived at the RV park, probably the nicest one yet, we went down to the creek and swam and played with the rope swing. Then when we went back, the little kids next door (there was like 8 or 9 kids ages from like 2-8) put on a circus so shelby and chris went to play with them. exactly one week till we get home!!!!!

Thursday June 26th:
We woke up really early in the morning, well early for us, and went on a Pink Jeep Tour. Bob was our driver and he was pretty cool. At first i thought it was going to be boring because we were driving on the street, then when Bob pulled over and started rearranging all the car parts, i realized this was no ordinary tour. We went off-roading for about 1 1/2 hours.

It was really fun, although it hurt my back and neck a bit, it was still a lot of fun! We went down these crazy hills and stuff, it felt like we were going to flip right over.

We also went rock climbing.....

great picture huh?!?!

Then we went shopping for a while. There are a ton of little shops all around with some great stuff! We saw this guy making candles that glow when you light them. They are really hard to explain, but they were sooo cool. Shelby bought one that was on clearence for 8 bucks. Christopher was so facinated by it that we stayed for like an hour!!

We also met two little Chihuahuas that were for sale . We wanted them soooooo bad!!! but dad said no... surprisingly.

Acoma and Boring Burros

2008-06-28T10:35:00.000-05:00

Saturday June 28th:

We went to Acoma Pueblo Village . It was a village all on a huge rock. AND there are still people living there! I thought it was fascinating. There is no electricity, and it is soooo quite, except for a few generators people dare to bring up there. I think it would be a perfect place to live for a few months to get some peace and quiet. Life is so simple up there. They also have no plumbing, so each house has it's own bathroom (a.k.a. wooden out house). There was no running water, so they had a "water catch" which was basically a shallow hole in the ground where rain water would collect. It was weird.

The village is up on that rock: These are prayer ladders, that is where the men pray:
Then on the way to Santa Fe Mom and Dad decide it would be fun to go to a Burro Fair, a.k.a El Rancho De Las Golondrinas. WOOOPIE! I was in a very bad mood that day, and on top of that we had to sit around and watch burros. I do admit though, they were extremely cute!!

The entire ranch was kinda neat, but the activities were really boring. We learned how to pack a mule. We watched a blacksmith heat metal. We learned about the difference between mules donkeys and burros, except i don't remember because i wasn't really paying attention. We watched mule racing - i slept through that one.

We also saw a little Mexican village they had built. i got a great shot of the storm coming in. I thought the little town was cute, everything was so surreal. Well probably because is was a fake little town, but still.

I was looking back at the journal my mom wrote, my quote of what i though was there, it reads:
"t- thought they were a bunch of fat asses. Did i look like i enjoyed it?"

Then we walked around Santa Fe. What an adorable town! I love it. There are tons of little shops, and in the middle there is a huge square. They were having some sort of music fest there. I would love to go back and spend a few more days there. We went to eat at a very fancy, ok not that fancy, Italian restaurant. The served gluten free pasta, so mom and Chris were very happy. I had a pizza with 4 cheeses. Best pizza i've ever had period. Christopher was also happy because he got to order his new favorite dessert, creme brulee, he liked it very, very much.

Slide Rock

2008-06-27T10:26:00.000-05:00

Friday June 27th:

On our last day in Sedona we went to Slide rock. If you have ever been to Johnston's Shut in in MO then that's the same general thing. It was so fun, but a little scary at first. What it is, is a giant "slide". Basically a long river where the rocks are really slippery and you just slide down in!!

Here's some fantastic action shots. The hardest part, aside from trying not to get a major wedgie, was actually getting in the water. You'd think in Arizona the water would be warm!!

Look how red the rocks are:

The five of us jump in, our first slide: ..... Yeah i was scared.
I think i actually landed on him once we dropped in the water...
After slide rock we drove! To New Mexico!!!

The RV Park where we stayed was on an Indian Reservation. It looked like a parking lot. The bathrooms were a conundrum. They were beautiful.. they looked like a master bathroom in someones house. The only problem was, they were very large and there was no shower curtain, so it was FREEZING!!! And the water pressure wasn't all that great either. SO i'm standing in this massive bathroom stark naked, trying to fit my entire body under the little stream of water trickling out of the shower head, while a breeze is coming in and giving me goosebumps. That was an interesting experience.

June 24th... grand canyon

2008-06-24T21:39:00.000-05:00

Wow... i bet when the first explorers came to the arizona area, they were riding their horses super fast and just fell into the Grand Canyon. i didn't realize that the grand canyon was just a giant hole in the ground!!!! It is, i might add, the prettiest hole in the ground ever!!! We hiked around the rim for about 2 miles. It was beautiful, then we went back to our RV and hung out the rest of the day. It was a great relaxing day. We got some really great shots:

I'll be your dam tour guide and answer any of your dam questions...

2008-06-23T20:21:00.000-05:00

June 23:

Hoover dam and grand canyon west rim.

The hoover dam was big...really big...really really big...I got nothing else. It was a big dam.

we did rub the angles toes to give us good luck.

It was too hot for me to remember, so heres a picture:

Then we drove to the Grand Canyon West rim to go on the Skywalk. That was breathtaking, literally. Jess and Dad were very scared to go on it at first, but when we did actually get out on it, jess was fine, but mom and dad were a little wary.

it was an amazing first view of the grand canyon. The colors were beautiful and it seemed to go on for miles. I really enjoyed that, i could have stayed on the glass bridge for hours.
I'm sorry for the incorrect date on the blog. e haven't had internet for a while, so i am trying to catch you up on everything that has happened.

Ice......

2008-06-23T09:52:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was another day on the town. We went to church and then went to MGM grand. Funny thing is, the shirt that christopher innocently chose to wear said, Rain Forest Cafe MGM Grand Las Vegas. We didn't realize that until after we had eaten at The Rainforest Cafe.

Then we went to see the lion exhibit in MGM. It was the coolest thing ever. You could walk under the Lions because the "cage" was all glass. They were right on top of us. And these were not your regular zoo lazy lions, these cats were up and about tackling each other and playing with their toy. It was really fun to watch.

Then we shopped around a while. We went to Miracle Mile and watch a laser show and a rainstorm inside. It was really weird, it felt like a movie set. Then we went to see the Sirens at TI show. That was a little risque. I asked christopher what he though and he said " I liked the explosions and fire and all that stuff...." He did not mention the skinny barely-clothed girls that were dancing all around.

THen we went to the our first Vegas show, which was Ice. I loved it. It was beautiful and breathtaking, and very strange. There was a girl who hula-hooped like 30 hoops on ice, then guys and girls on unicycles, girls who would skate around and then lift them selves up with these ribbons attached to the ceiling. Tese guys even did backflips and jumped off see-saw like devices and fliped in mmid air, ON ICE! It was really cool. This morning we are going to a buffet breakfast at Circus Circus and then we're off!!

My mom is NOT 43 years old!

2008-06-22T11:43:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we explored Vegas! We had a ton of fun, except for the fact that it was 108 degrees and possibly the hottest wind i have ever felt. We walked through lots of casinos, including Circus Circus, Belagio, New York New York, Treasure Island, The Mirage, Excalibur, and the Venetian. They are all so pretty and glamourous. We didn't see any shows, but we just wandered around the city looking for stuff to do. The Venetian was def. my favorite because it looked like italy, there was even Gondolas!

When we went to Excalibur mom wanted to do one of those "I'll Guess your Age". So she's goes up, and all the kids and Dad hide behind this wall. (so we could con the man into thinking she was younger) Well it worked and he guessed 36!!!! So we got to get a prize and we picked a little stuffed chicken. It is adorable. We named him Vegas and he is a 43 year old English chicken who lost his eyes in a Bar fight with a Pig.
Hmmm... what else did we do. We saw the Belagio lights, that was great. We saw an amazing Acrobat Act at Circus Circus. These guys were insane, they were jumping on each other creating "super-men" It was really cool. We also went to the MnM "factory" which is basically like a use merchandise gimmick. It was still fun. We saw a cool light show on the ceiling in down town Vegas on Freemont street. It was a big tribute to Queen.

I think thats all we did. Today we are heading off to church and then going to see some shows, hopefully.

death..........

2008-06-20T23:02:00.000-05:00

Right before Las Vegas we drove through Death valley:
HOT HOT HOT!!! The only word to describe death valley. It was not beautiful, nor breathtaking, just super hot. It was cool (wow that's ironic) to drive through the lowest point in America, but it was too hot. We did try to fry an egg on the asphalt, and the car, neither cooked.

One good thing did come out of Death Valley though, i bought a really pretty ring!! it's hearts linked together.

So that night we were supposed to stay in the valley, but the kids and mom decided against it, so we forced dad to drive us all the way to Las Vegas.

Yosemite was the best!

2008-06-19T22:22:00.004-05:00

So we spent two full days in yosemite!
Wednesday:
We traveled into yosemite and first thing we did was take a open-air tram ride all around the park. It was great because, well we weren't in the HOW and we still got to see the whole park without walking. There are some beautiful falls in this huge valley. Me and dad both think its the best National Park yet. Its great because the whole park is routed with roads and shuttle busses that take you from place to place. We hiked and went to see the Lower Falls. It was a tough climb but def. worth the knee scraping and mist spraying.

We also stopped at a nice little spot by the Merced River. Me and Mom decided that we are building a house there, the tour guide said he would move in next door. It was absolutely gorgeous!! So peaceful and surreal.

Then later we hiked for about a mile up to Mirror lake. Big let down, but still beautiful. Shelby, Jess and Chris walked across the lake in their clothes while i was fighting the battle of Skeeters vs. Taylor. Apparently all the bugs love me, and the lake.

Thursday (a.k.a. today):
We took another tram tour today around the Mariposa Grove. Its a bunch of really big Sequoia Trees. They are stunning. They are the largest living thing. ever.... The trees are really interesting too, we learned a ton about them, but it wasn't boring at all. We saw some GIANT trees.

Then we drove... again. there seems to be a lot of that on this vacation. We stopped a few times and saw the valley from up high. One of the stops we slept... and the other, well.... there was an accident.

Well, we were taking really pretty picture by this lake. When all of a sudden, disaster strikes. So here's what went down: Jess mom and i wanted to take a picture of us sitting on this log in front of the lake. So when jessica had to climb aboard, she lost her footing and fell. To her death. No not really. But, as she was falling she grabbed hold on already-sitting-on-the-log-not-really-well-balanced mom. who, in all her graceful glory, tumbled down with her. I laughed.... so did dad.. and mom for that matter. But jess was seriously hurt. Just some flesh wounds. The funny thing was the way mom bandaged her up after wards. You see, staying in an RV has its disadvantages; we really don't have adequate gauze and linens to dress wounds properly. So my girl-scout mom pulled her resources together and did what she could. Well... just look at the pictures....

So after that incident we took a hike, without the mummy-jessica. We climbed, and climed and climed. And the thing is, we were already at 9,945 feet (exact;y cause Ranger Parker told me so), and we just kept getting higher. Shelby and I almost died. No seriously i think we stoped every two feet. It was only 1/2 mile up but it felt like 3 years. The altitude was really getting to us. It didn;t bother chris and dad though... oh well. Well the lake was beautiful (the lake was at the very top ) but i'm not so happy about the hike up. Though very pretty, i think i suffered from my first heart attack.

So from todays amazing height of 10,100 feet, we will travel to Death Valley tomorrow... at the amazing hight.. wel depth of -200 and something feet!!! Its gunna be sooo hot.

Alright, i'm going to go beg mom for some of the Tillamook cheese we bought. its some good stuff

Driving...

2008-06-17T22:46:00.002-05:00

Today we drove. A bunch. I really have nothing else to say.
The RV park we are at is wonderful. There is a petting zoo with Llamas!! We also swam in the pool, and made a fire.
Other than that we really did nothing today. We had a great drive... i guess i just read the entire time.
Tomorrow we drive into Yosemite, no showers.. probably no internet, or phone service....
Shortest blog ever..... bye!

The beast is tamed!!

2008-06-16T23:15:00.005-05:00

So we left our cousins house this morning. It was a teary goodbye, but I’ll see you all in 27 weeks for Christmas!
Yesterday we spent almost the entire day at Alcatraz. That was probably my favorite thing so far. It was extremely interesting and informative, and a bit creepy. Our tour guide/ranger was great and gave us a “behind the scenes” tour. We then took an audio tour and, thank goodness, it was inside. We got to walk through the cell blocks and see where all the famous prisoners stayed, like Al Capone and Robert “The Birdman” Stroud. It was a bunch of fun. We could have spent another

2 hours there easily, but in all we were stranded on the island (a.k.a. The Rock) for 4 hours!!
Then we walked around fisherman’s warf on Pier 39. Except for the fact that it was FREEZING, we had a great time. We ate dinner at Wipeout and then went to go see the sea lions. But on the way we stopped by the candy store, and Mom picked up another pack of ciggies. Shelby just couldn’t bear being without her smokes. So we had another eventful night with cigarettes in hand wandering around the city.

Last night it was freezing in our little RV. And it wasn’t until morning that we figured out why. Dad forgot to close the front door of the RV cab. I swear I didn’t sleep more than 2 hours consecutively on account of the need to bundle up in order to survive.
So today we drove down the California coast some more. We stopped in Monterey Bay Warf. Very quaint cute boardwalk shopping strip kind of place. We ate lunch right next to the bay.

Than we stopped for ice cream…. It was the most disgusting experience of my life…. Here is what went down:
I asked for a strawberry sugar cone. She scooped out a large helping and handed it to me happily. I was content until I took the first lick… It was full of icy bits. Now I am not normally picky, but this was gross ice cream. So I asked if she could get me another and explained the icy situation . She agreed and then proceeded to dump MY ice cream cone BACK into the ice cream bucket. Mom stopped her and said, screamed rather, Your going to put that back??. She looked at my mom like she was crazy but decided to put the ice cream in the trash. First of all, that is GROSS… not only did I lick it, but I returned it because it was so nasty, why would she want to put it back for other customers to enjoy. But not only that, the other older gentleman working there stared at the young girl accusingly and asked what she was doing. She explained the ice situation, but they both seemed to think that putting the ice cream back was the better alternative. I swear we had to hold my mother back, she was going to tear their eyes out. It was pretty gross.

I realize I need to stop writing… I put a lot in this one, dad will be proud. Just one more crazy story:
The thing is, a few days back, in Oregon, the awning came undone in a huge windstorm, while we were crossing a bridge. You can read about the whole story on my DADS BLOG. It was pretty crazy, and we knew it wasn’t totally fixed. SO just a few minutes ago we heard a FLAP FLAP FLAP-ing noise. We knew it was the awning. We pulled over and started work. About 20 minutes later we had the beast tamed. After unrolling the entire thing, and practically setting it up for camp, we finally figured it out and rolled it bak up successfully, and now hopefully the beast will stay that way for the entirety of our trip!!
The coast was just beautiful!!!
Alright. Sorry for the long blog, but I actually have time to write now, and I am, for once, not too tired. Oh well, Enjoy!

WE have arrived in SAN FRAN!

2008-06-14T22:49:00.005-05:00

So friday was the 13th, my lucky day (my lucky number)!!! We went through the avenue of the giants. Saw some more beautiful trees. We "drove" through the big tree. What i mean by "drove" we parked the RV, got out, and walked through the tree. Our HOW was to fatty to fit through the dumb tree!! We also saw the "enchanted tree house" which was supposed to be this really cool gift store in a tree. But it was really a dark damp little hole in a tree with nothing in it.. it was cold... so we left. Then we drove to SAN FRAN!!! We saw some war activists sitting on motorcycles outside of a gas stations with signs telling us all abut the bad war.... That was interesting. Then we reached our cousins house.

They live in a gorgeous house in a beautiful neighborhood. We took the tour of their house then walked down to the farm where we met, rio and mac!! Two pretty ponies!! And we also met some pigs. and a goat. and some ducks. and a chicken. and four turkeys. and peacocks. and a llama. and some mules.* Today was much more eventful. After an amazing breakfast in more spacious kitchen that that of the HOW, we drove to the golden gate bridge. It is more beautiful than the pictures. It's pretty awesome, but Dad was disappointed because it wasn't gold... he was serious too. Then we drove to china town and spent the day wandering the city and shopping and pigging out on Chinese food!! We drove down the winding crazy Lombard Street!

Then one of the little un's got ahold of some ciggaretts and pased em around. We got a bunch of wary glances. Don't worry, they were only bubble gum, but they looked pretty real. After we told Angela (my 5 year old cousin) that the brown part of the cigarette goes in your mouth, we had an easy time convincing people on the street that all seven of us, ages ranging from 5-16, were smoking. The comments we got were halarious. people would take a double take and mutter, that's disgusting. We were acting like total crazy people, and then we had to stop at a candy store... wooo hooo the energy level went waaay up.

Now i am sitting up with my little cousin and she is helping me write. She really is just excited to look at the pictures, so i am about done writing. Well thanks for all the comments and thanks for reading my blog!!! I love all the feedback!!! Alright, bye!!
*the italicized sentance was edited by all the cousins.

From the redwood forest... this land was made for you and me...

2008-06-12T22:51:00.004-05:00

Wow are redwood trees HUGE!!! They are so very very very big. We took a bunch of hikes today all though the woods and stood in awe of these giants!! We also took a nice walk along the beach. The sun is out for good hopefully, knock on wood!! Great weather and great sights. Only a day until we get to see our cousins!!! Yay!!! Thats about all we did today, we also had a really nice lunch by the cliffs on the ocean. Now we are doing laundry, and lots of it!! We've started 4 loads, with more to come!!
The biggest tree!!
Lunch near the ocean!
Can you spot me?????

Sea Lions and Sand Dunes

2008-06-12T12:05:00.005-05:00

Yesterday was so much fun!! We drove a llooooonnnggg time, but we got to see sea lions. They were sooo cute. they are the fattest laziest creatures but there was so many everywhere, it was so fun to watch. The weird thing was seeing the animals and knowing that we weren't at a zoo. These little (well big) guys have the whole coast to stay at and they choose to come back to the same place over and over again!

Then we went to Spinreel. We, all six of us (even my scardy-cat father), got in an ATV and took on the sand dunes. We had a blast. It was crazy bumpy, and my Dad was so scared. He wouldn't go down any of the steep hills because he was "protecting his family" we were yelling and screaming and having a grand old time!!

Then we stopped at this beautiful beach. It was so windy and sunny and gorgeous!!!! We took bunches of pictures and me and shel found a sand dollar. The entire coast was so pretty. We drove up the entire thing on the way to Cali. What a spectacular road.

So now its the morning and we are at an RV park (i really shouldn't call it a park, more like a parking lot!). We can see the beach from our RV and it is soooo pretty to wake up and see the waves. Today the plan is drive. Drive and drive and drive. We are seeing the Red wood forest today so i will fill you all in later.

Shelby got a really good shot!

Just a clarification real quick:

a FAQ:

Is it more fun than you thought it would be?

My A:

Yes it is more fun than i thought, but its a lot longer than i realized. A lot longer!!

I Felt like Lewis and Clark!!

2008-06-10T23:16:00.006-05:00

Finally i got to see the beautiful pacific coast!!! Wow was it pretty. We first saw it in La Push beach 30 minutes west of Forks! Forks was great, it was so much fun to see Twilight come alive, i could almost see the characters walking around! We drove down the Oregon coast all today and it is so pretty. We also went to an ice cream store, which served delicious creamy ice cream in a bunch of flavors. It also doubled as a Cheese Factory. We got to see the actual production room of the cheese cutting/packaging!!! It was cool.
Well, it is my birthday today!!! Yay. We went to Fort Clatsop which was one of Lewis and Clark's forts on the pacific. It was pretty cool. We walked down to the fort and it was freezing. Then we went to a beach and walked along the tide pools. We were "rock hopping" and all of a sudden i here my dad screaming, i look back and the water from the tide is rushing up. So i start screaming and i jump on the highest land possible (which wasn't all that high), and then my mom, who wasn't really paying attention, started screaming and i look over and she's wading through the water holding up her pants. It was pretty funny.
SOooo while we were all screaming a guy came up and was like " you probably should come back and see the tide pools a little later." So he started telling my mom all about the tide animals. Now here's the thing. My mom decided before we left that when i turned 16 we would find some cute surferguy on the beach. Well, we were not about to find a cute surfer guy because it was freezing and there was not a soul on the beach... except.... for the guy with rubber boots who was "Mr. Tide Pools" So mom got a picture of me with him... for my birthday!
Well more on HOBY:

Gosh, i could go on and on about how much i learned and expierenced. The weekend was amazing/ We had several panels in which 4 professionals would sit before us, introduce themselves a little, and then open the floor for us all to ask questions. The panels consisted of media, education, business, and some other. We also did a service project for a hospital and my group wrote a book in Dr. Suess style!! We did skits, lunch with a pro, finding our "true colors" (i am an orange), and so much more. I loved it and i will be going back!!! Anyway, if you want to see pictures, check out the HOBY picture website:

http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/HOBYmissouri/2008Seminar

How's my PMA???

2008-06-09T23:43:00.002-05:00

HOBY was one of the most amazing and intense weekends of my life. I learned a ton, lost my voice, and met some great people. "There is not a word yet for old friends that you have just met" I mean the people i met on the weekend were automatically my best friends. It feels as if i've known them forever. I will never forget what an amazing weekend HOBY was. I will be going back next year, and the year after that, and the year after that. The weekend consisted of lots of cheers, little sleep, good food, nice people, and tons of PMA (positive mental attitude). I wish i could write everything that happened on the retreat, but there really isn't enough time. I am soooo tired, so very exhausted, that i am going to have to cut this very short. I will probably write more on this later, and tell you all about my First Class Flight Experience, but for now its off to the land of Zzzzz's.

Welcome to Washington...

2008-06-04T19:37:00.008-05:00

Well, we drove through Idaho and made it to Washington! We went to Snoqualmie Falls, and they were huge!! We took a 1/2 mile hike down to the bottom of the falls. It was long, but really pretty, the trees were crazy big. Now we have a couple more hours till night, and nothing to do!! Well, i leave tomorrow at 11 so i won't post for the next ... 4 days. Alright, not much more to say, so bye!

Casper the Friendly Horse

2008-06-03T21:39:00.003-05:00

Today was another long day. Two big travel days in a row wooo hoo!!! Yesterday we drove and drove and drove, and when we reached our campsite, (without showers or electricity) we made a fire and roasted marshmallows (along with rice krispies and oatmeal creme pies.) Dad and chris were too worried about the bears to really enjoy it though.

Then we got up and took a 2 hour trail ride!!! Shelby has been pumped to ride horses the entire trip, and this morning, in the freezing cold Montana weather, we saddled up and rode. My horse's name was Casper. Christopher rode Montana (he found that ironic), SHelby rode Russia, Jess rode Midnight, Mom rode Rambo (yes, he was a fighter) and Dad rode (a little timidly at first) Colby. It was beautiful, but very, very cold.

When we got off the horses, we found we couldn't walk correctly. Then we tried to run. Not a good idea. Then we drove the rest of the day. I slept... and worked on my essay for school... and read... and ate... and slept again... and finished my essay. It was a very eventful and productive day! Now we are in some creepy little RV site we found (we were going to stay at a Walmart) and we have the doors and windows locked (mom suggested we sleep with knives) I'll let you know soon if we survive!

Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, and now Montana!

2008-06-02T15:33:00.006-05:00

I have to type fast, because i don't have much time. I hacked on to Arby's Internet. So we have a travel day today. A very long travel day. We're in Montana right now, but i guess i should fill you in on everything we did in Wyoming!! Well we saw Yellowstone. Very cool. Everyone says Yellowstone is beautiful, but i just think its weird. All the hot springs and geyser's make it look like a deserted wasteland!!

What is really beautiful is the Grand Tetons. Absolutely the most amazing place i have ever been to. They are so beautiful.

Hmm... what else have we done... Oh yeah!! Last night we went to the Cody Rodeo!! It was amazing. It was my first rodeo, and it was really fun. Mom wasn't to thrilled that the were "hurting the poor little animals" but everyone else enjoyed it. Lots of extremely cute cowboys. (only in Wyoming can a man pull of the jeans, boots, and cowboy hat routine!!)

While in Cody yesterday we went to the Buffalo Bill Museum. I thought it was great, but Dad and Jess were bored. I also met my dream car. It was the most beautiful car i have ever seen! I am in love with it!!!! Its a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, turquoise with black interior! I Love it!!!!!! We could have payed 20$ for a raffle ticket but dad rained on my parade and said i don't have any chance of winning.... Leave it to him to be Mr. positive.

My Dad is brave about the mountains, just not the Burrows!!

2008-05-29T08:29:00.007-05:00

We drove up a mountain. Yes in our RV... it was crazy!!! We had to keep going in these tunnles, and every time they kept getting smaller... and smaller.. and smaller until we just couldn't fit. So we had to turn around and drive all the way back down. The thing is, it took us 2 hours to get that far, and it was already getting dark. So we drove as far as we could and pulled over and ate. Hotdogs over the gas stove!! Then on our way back, the wildlife was amazing!!! We saw a huge herd of buffaloe!!!! There were tons of babies, it was sooo cute!

Then we saw two burrows. we had been warned that burrows are verrryy friendly. We opened the windows and they started walking toward us. mom and Dad started freaking out, dad especially, yelling and screaming for us to close the windows. Then dad got so scared he just stepped on the gas and we sped away. It was very funny, and we got it all on tape.

I think my Dad had the scare of his life. That day we attempted to see Mount Rushmore. No success there. Why? Well... it was so foggy we couldn't even see the mountain!!! We had to come back yesterday and see it. It was breathtaking how HUGE that thing is. I mean one eye is like 11 feet!! Thats crazy!!

After Mount Rushmore we had another long day of traveling. We drove through Big Horn mountains, and they are absolutely gorgeous! As we kept climbing, the whole family was on the look out for Moose. We spotted 4!!! It was so cool. We were driving through clouds and we were so high up that Jessica's ears started popping!

On the way down we stopped at a little town, with a population of 10 people!! Not kidding, thats what the sign said! I just can't imagine living in that small of a town. Well 1 month and 3 or 4 days left of the trip, and already it feels as if we've been on the road for a year!! It's going to be one long trip....

Two other thing we did, that i forgot to mention were Wall Drug and Devil's Tower.

Wall drug is a big tourist trap, lots of little stores. Really really fun! We each got and 1/8 lb of fudge, and and extra 2 for free. It was soooo yummy!! Devil's tower was amazing! There is a story that a man wanted to prove he was a good parachuter by jumping out of a plane and landing on the top of devils tower!! He did it, and then he was stuck up there for 6 days waiting ofr someone to rescue him!!

Well, goodbye. I have a feeling i wont be writing for a few days. We are staying in Yellowstone, and i doubt they have internet!

Just an update on the weather: Its been freezing, raining, sleeting, and every thing else. Its may and there was snow!!!!!

Bad Lands are not so bad...

2008-05-26T16:14:00.004-05:00

We drove over to go see the Bad Lands today. Wow. I have never seen mountains that up close before. They are absolutly gorgeous!! We took about an hour hike, and between Jessica freaking out because of the hieghts and christopher complaining about how he wanted to be in the front, we had an amazing time. We reached the dead-end of the trail and it was a huge drop-off cliff over looking the Bad Lands. So pretty!!

Then on our way back.... i was in the frotn leading us all when i almost stepped on a snake. And not just any old gardner snake, a rattle snake. I was sooo scared. Thankfully nobody got bit! Then we stopped in every gift store and vistor center we could find, there is not much to do out here. So now it's about 3pm and we've got the rest of today to hang out in the RV park. It's freezing here, so we are all in jeans sweatshirts, hats and gloves, but hopefully mom and dad will let us go on this hour and 1/2 horse trail ride.

First Two Crazy Days!!

2008-05-25T22:40:00.008-05:00

It's been a full two days!

We started off yesterday morning with my best friend trying to stow away. We drove for hours and hours and hours and hours.... and hours. We ate lunch at a place called Grinders in Kansas City. Really cool place, great meatball grinders. I took a picture of some

graffiti on a bike ship wall, really cool. But we've seen cooler things.

We made it through Iowa and to South Dakota.

This morning we went to St. Joe's Cathedral for mass. It was a beautiful old church in Sioux Falls.

The sermon was on the Eucharist and today was the priests 1 year anniversary of priesthood. He gave a very... intense sermon. Chris and Shelby leaned over and said, I'm scared! He was very excited. It was good.

We went to sioux falls after. Wow are they pretty. Small but really nice!!!

Then we drove to the Corn Palace. It's been remade every year since 1892... out of corn!! It was pretty cool.

After that we went to an old Indi

an Village. Me and my Dad tried throwing these old indian spears for like 20 minutes, but we couldn't hit the fake deer. We dug for "artifacts" and got a few arrow heads. Then we drove to Bad Lands. It was absolutely amazing. We were driving through completely flat land for a long while, when all of a sudden mountains starting appearing.. it was crazy!!! Its so cool up here. Everything is so different!

Now we're sitting in the Rv in a park watching tv. It's almost time for bed, so i'm gunna sign off!!

HOW is HERE!

2008-05-21T20:59:00.004-05:00

The HOW arrived this afternoon and wow is it a lot bigger in person!!! We started packing and that's when we figured out we had a lot more room then we expected. Believe me, it's no mansion, but it's pretty roomy.
Not very much left to say, I'll put pictures up later...

Only two more days...

I just posted the pictures, enjoy!

Scariest Realization ever...

2008-05-17T21:39:00.003-05:00

We were in the car on our way to Walmart for some shopping for the trip when my mom asked me if i knew my friends email addresses. I looked at her funny and held up my cell-phone... no but i do have their numbers... i said! She looked at me and says we might not have service everywhere...

AHHHH! Oh my oh my oh my.... i totally forgot that most of the trip we'll be in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!! Scary things lay in my future. So i will be almost completely cut off from any of the civilization that i will leave! Ah well, at least I'll look cute. We went to get some clothes for the trip and we spent at least 3 1/2 hours shopping!! We also hit the library i got 6 more books, and Jess got like 8 so all our books combined equals somewhere around 2 million. Mom says we have to store them all under the RV, not in the cabin with us, only a few at a time. I can't even imagine how crammed our RV will be, not including all the books we are bringing.

So our pool had been open for a couple days now, and it was finally sparkling clean this weekend and, what great luck, it was beautiful, sunny and 74 degrees!! I went sunbathing and then jumped in the 61 degree water, wow was it cold. That is one thing, out of the many, that I'll miss about being away from home.

Another frightening realization is that we'll be gone for 5 weeks... The longest I've been away from my home was for ... 18 days, but we were in Mexico and it was beautiful!! It's not like a regular vacation, or like summer camp... It's 5 WEEKS!!!

I am so very proud, because i am almost done packing!!! All my clothes are up stairs in a pile, now all i need is the necessary toiletries and others stuff. I even packed for the HOBY leadership conference! Oh yeah...
Sometime in the middle of the trip i am flying back home solo to attend a leadership conference. I was the recipient of this HOBY award and so when we reach Seattle in our big HOW i get on a plane, fly back home and spend a weekend with my friend on a retreat! That will really be a retreat, a great break from my inconsistent bed and small living quarters.

Book Spree

2008-05-16T20:20:00.002-05:00

We just got back from borders!!! Do you think 2,431 pages will last me 5 weeks?? probably not, but we are heading to the library sometime soon!! I got six books, seven including the one i need to read for AP Lit next year. I got to use my fancy giftcard that i won in a school raffle, for $50 dollars!!! Geez, a lot of money to spend on dead trees. I am just glad i have something to do during all the long hours in the HOW.
Oh yeah, i got an AMAZING early 16th birthday present!! I've been complaining about my broken Sansa (my MP3 player) for a while now, and i was just on the verge of buying one on Ebay this weekend, but Mom and Dad surprised me tonight with a brand new 4GB Sansa! Yes! music and books... i'm set!!
I tried talking Dad into buying a portable TV and hooking a Nintendo up to it for the trip, but he wouldn't agree. ah well, i will stick with my music.
Only 5 more days of school left, actually only 2 then 3 half-days of finals!! Gosh this HOW is coming at me like a freight train...

This is no "Spur-of-the-Moment" Trip

2008-05-12T17:11:00.004-05:00

This RV trip is not like:

"Oh honey i think we should take an RV around the county this summer"

"All right I'll grab the kids and the credit card and we'll leave tomorrow"

Geez..... It's insane the amount of work my parents have to put into this baby. I say my parents because i do not have to any work... i just simply pack my clothes in my bucket and get on the HOW a few days from now.

Our Packing project above takes up our entire hearth room. Dad just bought some biners for our Nalgene bottles (let me tell you, i was very excited)!!

When starting to pack simple questions come to mind:

What clothes will we wear?

What food will we eat?

But as the packing intensifies, well... so do the questions, and they don't stop "rolling in".

"where are we stopping, do we need lawn chairs, how are we going to get through mountain passes, why are we doing this, are we CRAZY?!?!?!!?"

It's all great...

So we got T-Shirts.... yes matching t-shirts for the whole family, yes Cousin Joanne there will be pictures, and lots of us matching.... wooo we are the biggest rednecks ever!

No Showers!?!?!?!

2008-05-08T18:56:00.003-05:00

Dad brought home the list of all the RV parks we'll be staying in. Some of them are in parks, like Yellowstone, others are right up on the beach. I can't wait to feel like a redneck and sit with our hot pink brand new lawn chairs in front of the HOW!

The only bad news about the parks, it that some don't have showers.... oh boy!! Just imagine 6 people living for a week without showers. Now put those same 6 people in an RV... woo!

I found out that i will be in Dunes, Oregon for my 16th birthday.

It's going to be gorgeous!! Can't wait to see the pacific ocean... i don't think I've ever seen it before... Cool!!

Question of the Day

2008-05-07T15:32:00.008-05:00

So, this isn't exactly the route we're taking, but it's pretty close.
We are covering a lot of ground here!!!! My major concern is gas... we will be the #1 cause for global warming this summer! Woo!

So today my history teacher asked us a Question of The Day. He does this often and requires us to answer 1 random question with no importance, or relevance to his class. Today the question was "You were in a plane crash, and you are stranded on a desert island. You have your Ipod with you, but you can only access 1 album of music... which would it be?" Of course my teacher knows about my RV trip and couldn't help adding a joke for my sake. So when he said "You were in a plane crash," he added, "or an RV crash." glancing slyly at me. So I've become the but of his jokes, but i don't mind, I'm actually excited about getting in the HOW and taking off into the unknown.

If you're wondering what my album was, it's Damien Rice's album 9. It's the only CD i listen to all the way through, enjoying every song and singing along.

Packing Problems....

2008-05-05T16:36:00.000-05:00

Oh the joy of packing.... especially when you have a little 2' by 2' box to fit all your clothes in for 5 weeks....

That is the space my mother is allowing us to have. Let me just explain to you something. I have a walk in closet... a very large walk in closet... and i would really prefer not to wear the same clothes everyday. This is going to be very interesting. I am allowed to bring two jeans, two shorts and probably 3 shirts.... oh yippee!!

I probably sound like a brat so sorry in advance. It will get better i promise. I am super pumped for the trip... actually just pumped.. I'm getting to the super part though.

I just finished reading Stephanie Meyer's book Twilight again. And that may seem to have no relevance to the topic of this blog, but it is ligament. Stephanie Meyer placed her book's setting in the small town of Forks in Washington. She describes every detail in her book as it is in real life. So on the trip we are making a special detour up to Forks!!! That, as of right now, is the highlight of my trip!! I'm so excited to see La Push beach, Forks High school, and the beautiful green forests.

So back to studying for finals... almost done with school... just keep pushing!

T minus: 23 Days 2 hours 9 minutes

2008-05-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

I decided to blog.. yes dad, i know you've told me to start a million times, but i finally have.

23 days till the big RV trip... mom's freaking out, dad's a bit nervous i'm just worried about finals. It really hasn't hit me that this trip is actually going to happen, yet in just 3 weeks i'll be sleeping on a table top and relieving my self in the tiniest bathroom you'll ever see... It's kind of scary.

I am excited, don't get me wrong, i know the scenery will be amazing, i love my family and i know we'll have a great time, yet living in the HOW* just is a bit... unnerving...

So i will probably get on later, when i actually have more time to blog, and update you on how we're preparing and all that great suff, but right now i'm going to sleep in my amazing bed, and enjoy my stationary room as much as possible!!!

*HOW stand for Hell On Wheels... thats what us kids named our RV!! Mom and Dad approve, so the name just stuck!!