Drewy's Explorer Blog

Disneyland

2006-09-07T18:55:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Disneyland. We were supposed to go when we first arrived in California but Mom cancelled it because we were all sick. Boy am I glad we waited. It was the first day of school for most kids so the parks were almost completely empty. Kaleb got to ride a single ride three times in a row without ever getting off. That is rare at Disneyland!

Marcia got us in for free which was super nice because Disney tickets are monster expensive. She can only sign three of us in so she brought her friend, Dave, in to get the rest of us. That was super nice! Disney has two parks right next to each other, California Adventure and Disneyland.

We went to California Adventure first. It was great! We did the Jellyfish Jumpers, a water playground, and Kaleb did Muholand Madness rollercoaster where he lost the Disney hat Mom gave him. Marcia met us so she could do the Tower of Terror with Kaleb. The Tower of Terror is a hotel that was hit by lightning and you are strapped into an elevator that falls 13 stories. Kaleb was pretty scared when he came out but the picture at least showed him smiling. Papa got him a shirt that said “I survived the tower!” that made him happy. We ate lunch at a big character spot and got to meet up with Cruella DeVil and the Incredibles. Cruella was really funny telling people to get out of here and getting mad when she found out we had left out puppy at home.

Halfway through the day we headed over Disney. We had to stop for Kaleb so he could switch out his pins on his lanyard. We all had tons of fun trading pins. We did King Arthur’s Carosuel, Dumbo, Space Mountain, Autopia, Buzz Lightyear, Rocketships, and more. The Buzz Lightyear ride is one of my favorites. You are a space cadet who is trying to help Buzz capture and defeat Zurg. Zurg is taking all the toys batteries so they can’t run any more and you have to stop him by using a laser gun to shoot the Z’s in the ride. The ride keeps your score and rates you and the end. I was a Level 2 which isn’t too bad.

All the rides have rules about height. I am finally tall enough to be able to drive myself on Autopia. I wasn’t doing so good though. Their pedals hate me! There is only one pedal but as soon as you let it go you stop automatically. Papa Chuck didn’t appreciate it when I stopped in the middle of the road and he rear-ended me! I also learned that you can’t go over the curb. Good thing I have lots of time to practice before I start driving Dad’s Camero. We accidentally got caught in the parade crowd. It turned out to be a awesome parade and we stayed for the rest of it even though I ran out video tape before the end. We did lots more pin trading and made smashed pennies for some of our friends back home until it was time to leave. It was an awesome day, except for Kaleb losing his hat. Papa says that he will take us back tomorrow to see if someone turns it in. Other than Moosey’s hat, it was the best day ever!

Surf Camp

2006-09-06T18:19:00.000-05:00

Today Mom got us up super duper early for surf camp. Grandma ‘Chel paid for Kaleb and I to get surf lessons for an entire day. Moose went last year and had such a blast I thought I would try. Now I can see why. It was so cool!

After lots of hugs for Grandma ‘Chel, we met the surf instructor, Michael. We got our boards and Michael kept us knew kids with him and taught us how to do pop-ups. We practiced on the beach a little before heading into the water. Surfing is way harder than it looks. The professionals make it look easy. I think we probably made it look hard. You have to be careful when you are trying to stand up on wave. It doesn’t take much to lose your balance and fall. Then you have to swim all the way back out over the waves and start all over again. It takes all your power to get through the waves.

After a while, I figured it out and started poping up easier. People were standing up all around me but they were older and had been surfing all week too. They fell off lots too! The other new girl was standing up and falling up lots like me so I kept yelling over encouragement. Here is a tip for the next time you go surfing: try to stand as far back as possible because as soon as your nose goes under you are done for. It didn’t take long to learn that as soon as my nose went under, it was over and I should jump ship before I fell hard. One of the crazy things is that I kept falling on my shoulder in the shallow water. I never snapped my neck or anything but surfing should be considered a contact sport!

It was finally lunch time. PB&J for me, please! Grandma ‘Chel brought all sorts of sandwhiches and snacks. Grandmas are good for planning picnics. They always know what you want and need and break Mom’s no sugar rule! After lunch, we headed down the beach to surf closer to the pier. That is where the big, rough waves were. I was having a grand time. Another tip: when you are trying to swim on your board, don’t kick your feet. It is all in your arms, dude! I surfed for a few more hours until I got super cold. By that time lots of cousins had joined us at the beach. Cousin Jesse, Jo, and Felishia were there and even little Maddy who isn’t the baby I remember from last trip. We had fun hunting for shells and playing tag. The other cousins are younger but it is still fun to play with them. Kaleb and I got permission to play farther out in the waves. All the cousins left and mom took Natey home to get ready to a dinner date with a friend.

Since we were spending the night with Grandma ‘Chel, we didn’t have to hurry home. We went to an awesome ice cream store on the beach called Cold Stone Creamery. I had mint-peanut butter cup-oreo. You pick your ice cream flavor and mix-ins and they stir it all up, special for you. After we finished we went to a place called the tot-lot. When we lived in California, Grandma always took us to the tot lot during our grandma dates. Now it is really special because we don’t get to go very often. They have monkey bars and swings, and all sorts of stuff to play right there on the beach. I like to specialize in the climbing equipment being the zoo monkey and all. We eventually went back to Grandma’s house and took showers and got ready for bed. She let us stay up late watching a movie. I am not a big movie fan so I stayed upstairs and played my gameboy instead. She doesn’t have the same gameboy rules as mom so I got to play way more than normal!

The next day Mom met us in the morning with Nate so we could visit Grandma Hinckley, Grandma’s ‘Chel’s mom. She said I must have grown eight inches since she had seen me last. Mom says I am eating her out of house and home so I must be in a growth spurt. I wonder how much I will grow before Dad sees me again? After that Mom left and we went back to Grandma ‘Chel’s house to play. She introduced us to a neighbor that had great kids to play with. Mom met up with us so we could go out to dinner but by the time everyone got cleaned up and found their shoes, it was late and the little kids were tired. Bek and Kaleb couldn’t agree on a place to go and soon all three little kids were crying. I tried to get them to compromise but I guess they were too tired to listen. We ended up having to leave the parking lot without eating and we couldn’t eat with Grandma ‘Chel. We were all sad by the time we got back to Papa Chucks so Mom quick fed the kids and sent everyone to bed. It wasn’t such a good way to end the day but at least we will get o go camping with Grandma ‘Chel this weekend.

Legoland

2006-09-04T16:10:00.000-05:00

This weekend was awesome. We went to Legoland and it's resort. We spent two days exploring the resort and one day at Legoland. I wish we could have spent three days at Legoland. It was incredible!!!

We went to the resort with Grandma Toni, Papa Dave, and Auntie Holly. The resort had a pool and a playground and a seperate adult pool that was open until 11. We went to the pool everyday. The pool was a peanut shape which was narrower in the middle. Also, they had a water playground complete with a pirate boat, water cannons, and a water wheel. You could turn valves on and off to control the splashing. You could use the water cannons to attack the pirates (and brothers) in the boat. Good thing I found some goggles to use. One time, a bunch of kids were working together at the top of the ship to keep other people from scaling up the slide. It was fun but I found that I'm not very good at staying up when people are attacking me.

Yesterday, we spent the day at Legoland. It gets two thumbs up! One sign said they used 22 million lego bricks to make a single dragon display. 22 million!!! It was so cool!!! The whole park was filled with lego bricks. We got to take our pictures with lego characters like Dora the Explorer, Darth Vader, Artoo Detoo, giant Bionicles, and everything else under the sun.

Legoland is divided into areas, just like Disney. The middle section is called Miniland USA which was totally unbelievable. It had New Yoprk City all made up out of legos including Freedom Tower which I had never heard of before. The lego cities were taller than my head, complete with lego cars and trains zipping through them. Miniland USA also had Washington D.C., the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, New Orleans with a Jazz Funeral and Mardi Gras parade, San Francisco, Hollywood Bowl that played music, a Lincoln statue found in front of the old Illinois State House that we visited a few weeks ago, and Chinatown. They even had things from other countries like the Eiffle Tower and the Syney Opera House. My favorite was New York. I wish we could have taken the boat tour to get a close up look at the State of Liberty but we ran out of time. It was either the boat tour or the Volvo Driving School.

I chose the driving school. It was definately the right choice. Instead of driving on a track like at Disneyland, I got to drive on a maze of streets. We had stop signs, traffic signals, yield signs, and traffic moving in both directions. It was crazy but important to make sure we didn't drive against the law or we wouldn't get our driving license. Some kids must not have earned theirs. They would try to pass someone and swerve into my lane! I had to move over onto the sidewalk and get through. There were lego pedistrians, mailboxes, and even a subway stair and signs too. I could have driven on this ride for hours but we only had a few minutes.

Another favorite was the boat ride. I got to drive my grandma around. It turns out that Kaleb isn't as good as a driver as he thought he was. He started off in front of everyone but he ended up second to last because he kept going in the wrong direction. Mom was last because she was driving and taking pictures at the same time. I ended up third to first because Grandma Toni was telling me what to do in tight situations. During our boating trip we saw lots of funny lego things. A man was taking a bath in a bathtub floating in the lake and a duckie wearing a lifesaver. It was fantastic!

If you are ever in San Diego, you just have to check this place out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Downtown Disney

2006-08-31T21:45:00.000-05:00

We went to Downtown Disney so Mom could make good on her promise. Last year, Bekah found a girlie store called Libby Lu's and wanted to get all princessed up. Mom said, "You are still too little but next year when you are four I will take you." Bek is four so Mom kept good on her promise. Bek was SO happy when she came out. She did look like a princess. Not that much changed but she pranced around like a pony and you could tell she felt pretty. Our cousin Jesse had arrived while she was inside. Bek adores Jess so she was thrilled to see him. She is always asking when he is going to come over because she doesn't understand how far away West Virginia is from California. When she saw him, she immediately changed course to go to him but he started to retreat. "Na-uh, you are too giiiiiiiirrrrrrly." When Bek finally caught up, she asked him if he wanted to play tag. He refused. All of a sudden, her sweet princess mood changed. Mom teases that she is 90% princess and 10% dragon. She was all dragon when he refused again. She put her hands on her hips that way only a sister can and ordered him to play with her or else! "You are playing with me, buster! Now run!" He started running in a full blown retreat and she chased him. I don't think she realized he was retreating, not playing, but it didn't matter to her. She was back in sweet princess mode and tagged him. Since she is a year older than him, she was able to manipulate him into playing. The rest of the night they played like best friends, even though she did keep primping her hair and girly stuff like that. Girls!

Bummer Dude!

2006-08-30T17:32:00.000-05:00

Our first day in California was a disappointment. It turns out that the car engine was broken so we spent the morning at the dealership. They had no idea what they are doing there. I wish we could have gone to a different place that knew what they are doing. Mom says that the car is here and they will fix it. I hope she knows what she is doing! After that we went out to breakfast at Coco’s. After a good breakfast we headed to the doctors. Unfortunately we learned that we were ALL infected with strep. Even worse, it is really contagious and could give it to a cousin who just had open heart surgery. We were supposed to meet her little brothers for a beach date. Unfortunately, it is so contagious that we could give it to them and they could pass it to their big sis and put her back in the hospital. We love Felisha and want her to be safe and ok so we had to cancel. We were sad but it was the best decision to make. Bek started to cry when the doctor said that but then the doctor said we would probably be ok to swim by ourselves and see them tomorrow. We had to get our medicine which took FOREVER! Mom had to take two store to get it. We finally got to go back to Papa’s and swim. I hope we are all feeling better tomorrow!!!!

M&M World

2006-08-29T20:25:00.000-05:00

Today we drove into Las Vegas so we could surprise Bekah with M&M World. She is addicted to M&M’s just like I am addicted to Reese’s White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. Mom doesn’t buy them for me very often so you can send them to me and it would be really great. We wouldn’t tell her where we were going but she knew it was a surprise especially for her. You should have seen her face when she saw the giant M&M’s! She was so surprised and happy at the same time. We went inside and immediately found smashed pennies so we got some. It turns out that M&M World is a four story tall store that sells anything and everything M&M. They M&M dispensers by the dozens, a soccer ball that Natey needed, pins, keychains, sweatshirts, pants, cups, you name it and they have it! They even had M&M figurines. There was even the M&M racecar. It wasn’t for sale but we got to look inside and take pictures. Nate went nuts over that one! On the second floor was an entire section of M&M’s you could buy by the pound. They were all seperated by color. They had colors there I didn’t even know you could get M’s in. Did you know they make hot pink m’s?!?! On the third floor was an exhibit that was a make believe factory so you could see how there are made. There is also a movie theater but we didn’t stay for that. It was a ten minute wait and we wanted to get going. Papa got us all awesome souvineers. I picked out a green monkey wearing an M&M shirt to hang on my bed with the rest of my collection. We stopped for dinner at another casino a little way down the road. By then Mom and Papa realized there was something wrong with the car. We were so close to California!!! They spent a long time looking at the engine before Papa decided it was safe to drive home. We watched Master of Disguise and fell asleep, which I rarely do. Las Vegas was fun but it was SOOOO hot. The thermometer read 110, which is the hottest it has been on this vacation. I hope it gets cooler. Mom woke us up when we arrived. It was really early in the morning so she let us sleep on Papa’s couch. We are in California at last!

Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks

2006-08-28T17:24:00.000-05:00

This weekend we got to see some of Utah’s most famous national parks, Bryce Canyon and Zion. Bryce is famous for it’s hoodoos. A hoodoo is a tall rock formation that is made through erosion. Rain takes away rock leaving behind a funny shaped tower. We knew we were getting close when we started seeing bright orange dirt and rock. Most of the rock out there is black because it is volcanic but the red rock is colored by iron oxide. Before we got to Bryce we had to drive through Red Rock National Forest. They had little tunnels of rock that you had to drive through. It made me think of how the Central Pacific had to dig through the mountains only these were just short little tunnels. When we got to Bryce we stopped at a ranger station and asked about the Junior Rangers. We learned that you can’t take the trailer anywhere in the park so we had to stash it and travel by shuttle. One of the requirements for the Bryce Ranger Program was going to a ranger talk. One was going to take place in just a few minutes at Inspiration Point. We hopped on a shuttle and got there just as the ranger was starting. This talk was about the geology of the canyon. I learned that Bryce isn’t a real canyon. It is a fake one because it doesn’t have a river running through it! We took the shuttle to another place where they had all kinds of hoodoos including my favorite, Thor’s hammer. The one right next to it was shocked by lightning and had lost 25 feet off the top. All the signs in the park warned to stay in the car in case of a lightning storm and now we knew why. It was really hot and we were all pretty happy to go back to the car.

The next day we went down to Zion. It’s not too far of a drive but we had to drive through a tunnel of death. We got to the enterance gate, the man told us that we would have to measure the car to see if we could go through the tunnel. I thought it was weird but Mom said ok. He measured the back of the camper and said that we were awesome, just barely, and sent us on our way. Now we know why he measured us. They have a tunnel of death! It is more than a mile long, right through the middle of the mountain. It was so dark. We got through but there were a dozen of holes in the side. Papa called them air holes but I think they were dug in case of a cave in so they could pull people out of the cars. When we finally got out, I was glad, I thought we would be in the tunnel forever!

Zion’s Junior Rnger program had us go through another Ranger talk. It might have been boring but it wasn’t because we got to learn about the coloring of the rock in Zion. It turns out that Zion is made out of a totally different kind of rock than Bryce. Bryce is limestone and Zion is made out of sandstone. The cool thing about Zion is that it has all kinds of crazy stripes. That is because sandstone is a kind of sedimentary rock which means that it is layered and squished on top of each other. Some of the layers have more iron than others. He tricked us because it turned out that there are actually two metals that are responsible for all the colors of the rock. Iron is responsible for all the colors, except the purple and pink which comes from another element that I can’t remember right now. When he asked what made the purple and pink, we all guessed iron and we were all wrong. Crazy!

It was really, really hot in Zion but Papa wanted us to go on a hike anyways. I am really glad we did. He took us hiking in a river that run through the canyon. Zion is a real canyon! The hike was awesome! We spent all day hiking up the river. Sometimes you could walk along on the rocks but I preferred walking down the middle. I had fun challenging myself by climbing up the rapids. That first one was really hard and I ended up slipping and getting soaked again and again. After that, Papa taught me that if the water is green it is deep. I walked ahead and found the best path for us take. Papa carried Natey in the hiking backpack and Mom herded Bek along. She had to carry her some of the time because it was too deep or Bek got too cold. Girls are like that you know. We walked for lots of hours until Bek started getting hungry. I could have walked all the way up the mountain if they had let me but Mom said I couldn’t wander too far ahead in case I got hurt. It turned out to be a good thing because Nate was playing in the water and slipped and I figured out how to be a lifeguard and grabbed him. I am a good lifeguard at that! He was trying to keep his head up but unfortunately he doesn’t swim so goo dnad the current was strong. Fortunately, I got him before he was washed down the rapid or something!

While Natey dried out onshore, I got a round of cheers and Pop invited me to hike further up the river while the little kids played in the water. They wanted to stay warm in the sun and I was still roaring to go. We went on beyond the rapids. I wanted to climb them but Papa made us go around them. Then we came to a huge rock which was around the bend. Papa said the bend was our stopping point until we saw the rock. Then, the rock was our stopping point but we went a little past that and turned around. I’m glad I hiked with him! I got a nice time visiting with him and showing off my monkey skills.

That night Papa showed me how to set up my telescope. I really wanted to look at the moon but then the trees were in the way. Good thing the next camp site was empty. I was able to use that picnic table to get a clear view. Moose and I had fun looking at all the stars. There are a lot more stars when you go camping!

Mom pushed Nate around in the stroller hoping he would go to sleep but no luck. It was time for us all to go in and he was still wide awake. He started to fuss so Papa gave us a new book to read to him but that turned into a disaster. It was a book about dinosaurs, so Natey roared every time Mom turned the page which made the rest of us laugh. Then on one of the pages, the dinosaurs jumped on the bed. Nate signed jump which made us all laugh harder. Mom was the only one not laughing. She sternly told him not to jump but he didn’t listen to her. Our laughing probably didn’t help but it was really funny. She got him laying down again when a few pages later the dinosaurs started jumping off a cliff. He jumped up and started signing jump again even faster. Mom said, “No jumping!” He started jumping and knocked the pole that held up the roof. The canvas started to collapse and everyone was laughing hysterically. It must have looked funny from the outside with it al falling down accept a bump jumping in the middle. No one got hurt by the falling pole but Mom declared that this was not a bedtime book. She finished reading it anyways. Too bad there wasn’t anymore jumping pages. It took him forever to get to sleep but we all liked the book anyway!

Golden Spike

2006-08-26T17:22:00.000-05:00

Golden Spike is located in the middle of nowhere, just inside the northern Utah boundary. We had to drive forever in Idaho. When we finally made it to Utah, we went 17 miles further and it was there at the tip top of the Great Salt Lake. The Golden Spike is the last spike, actually a collection of four, that connected the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads together to make the Transcontinental Railroad. Now, they could reinforce garrisons on the other side of the nation quickly. Better yet, it knocked six months off the mail service because California was demanding better mail service. It also knocked a cross country move from six long months by covered wagon down to ten short days by train.

We arrived just in time for the reenactment. They had all kinds of people there dressed up like it was May 10th, 1869. Did you know that the railroad had actually been completed two days earlier but one of the important Union guys was held up? He was train jacked because he didn’t pay his bills. The whole thing was pushed back two days waiting for him to pay his bills and arrive because they couldn’t have the ceremony without him. How embarrassing! They had telegraph lines there so that a telegrapher could quickly spread the news that it was done. The whole nation was waiting and within minutes of completion, people were celebrating in the streets throughout the country.

The coolest part was seeing the trains. There were two trains, one Jupiter and the other was #119. Both were steam engines but they ran on different fuels. One burned wood and the other burned coal. Back then, they could only go about 15 to 20 miles per stop because they had to refill their water. They didn’t have stations that often but they had LOTS of water tanks all along the track.

We learned that the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific were competing to see who could lay the most track. The Union Pacific started their side in Nebraska (I think) and the Central Pacific started in Sacramento, California. The Union Pacific had American men with lots of farmers. The Central Pacific started out with Americans but then hired a group of Chinese men to come help. They did such a good job that they hired lots more. The Chinese workers got paid less but did more work, even though they often got the most dangerous jobs. One interesting thing we noticed is that there isn’t a single Chinese worker in the famous picture of the celebration.

The Union Pacific started off strong because the Central Pacific got stuck working in the Sierra Nevadas. They had to blast tunnels and work miles beneath the snow. Sometimes, avalanches would wipe out entire camps of workers. While the Central Pacific was working around the clock to get through 8 inches a day, the Union Pacific was able to lay miles of track across the flat mid west. Believe me, it is flat! Then, once the Central Pacific finally got out of the Sierra Nevadas, the Central Pacific who was joking called the hare started to catch up. Those Chinese workers were incredible! While they were breaking speed records, the Union Pacific was having trouble with the heat and their own set of mountains. After four years of hard work and many lost lives, it was done. The country that had been torn apart by Civil War was now being rebuilt and connected by the transcontinental railroad.

After the ceremony, we got to go inside and watch a Peanuts movie about the whole thing. The ceremony was better but the cartoon did a good job teaching us kids about the competition and stuff. We went back outside to finish our Junior Engineer papers, like the Junior Ranger program only different, when it started raining. Then, while it was raining we started hearing this tap, tap, tap. It was hailing! Then it was hailing hard! The cold hail felt good after the hot day but then it started coming down so hard it really hurt. We ran out to scoop it up for pictures and run around a little but mostly we stayed under the protection of the overhang. The storm ended and we went back to the car only to discover that Mom had left the windows down. Her seat was soaked! I laughed but then Mom got even when she discovered that the camper vent was open and my sleeping bag was soaked! It managed to dry out before we went to bed.

After Golden Spike, we started the very long drive down towards Bryce Canyon that is at the bottom of the state. It was a boring drive so I read my book and Mom let us play our Gameboys.

Week at Yellowstone

2006-08-25T22:23:00.000-05:00

This week we went to Yellowstone. I thought it was awesome! I wish we could live there during the summer and in California during the winter. I liked how close the animals came to us. We also got to visit the Grand Tetons where we saw Yellowstone’s friendliness and beauty too.

The best part of Yellowstone was the animals. I loved how close the animals came to us. One morning at breakfast, we were sitting there eating our oatmeal and a male bison wandred into camp just ten feet from us. You are supposed to stay at least 25 feet away from them but when the animals approach you, it doesn’t count. We had four elk tromp through our campsite. In other parts of the park we saw a bald eagle and an osprey while we were fishing, four coyote, three foxes who kept running out in front of the car, deer, huge herds of bison, lots of elk, and even a Moose in the Grand Tetons. There was a huge traffic jam when a bear killed a bison in the river but Mom wouldn’t let us get out. She sent Dad to take a picture but the bear had already left. I guess he didn’t like having an audience. Dad said there was all kinds of nasty stuff floating in the water so he didn’t take a picture and I think that was a good thing. We tried to see the wolves in the Lamar and Hayden Valley but we couldn’t find the wolf man using the radio collers. He must have been taking a vacation or something. We did get to see our wolves at the Wolf and Grizly Bear Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. There were a number of bears there too. The Discovery Center had exhibits on bears and wolves, computer games where you got to by the manager of a forest where 50 grizzlys still roamed wild, a smashed penny machine, and of course places to see the bears and wolves. Animals get sent there because they keep finding humand food or they keep going into settled areas or they get orphaned when they are extra young. Animals who are troublesome or would otherwise die, get sent to the Center when they are used to teach us how to be good stewards and respect them.

Yellowstone is famous for all their gysers. I can see why. We watched two erupt and we saw much more. It turns out that Yelowstone used ot be a huge volcano that collapsed and turned into a caldera. Don’t worry though because it won’t explode again any time soon. What it does mean is that the gysers are powered on volcanoe steam. There are lots of other volcanic features there too like hot springs, mudpots, and fumeroles. Hot springs look like a boiling pot of water. Mudpots bubble and spit mud everywhere. Fumeroles do not have enough water to be hot springs and just hiss hot steam. What they all have in common is that they are all volcanic features and they really, really stink. Mom always teased that someone took off their shoes but it is really the sulfur that smells like bad eggs. They have really funny olors because of bacteria that like the hot temperatures. Some are bleached white and some are orange and others are inbetween. I really liked Old Faithful. It spouted pretty high and the steam went even higher. It is unusual because they can sort of predict when it will erupt.

We did a Junior Ranger Program here. It was harder than most other programs. We had to do four activity pages in addition to eight other requirements which included learning the Junior Ranger pledge, memorizing the park rules, attending two Ranger programs, walking at least one trail, and doing map work. We walked a number of trails including the Mud Volcano Trail which was stinky, the West Thumb Gyser Basin Trail which wasn’t as stinky and was right by the lake, and the Firehole Trail which had the second gyser. It is a small trail but it is a super good one with excellent examples of gysers, fumeroles, and an extremely cool mudpot.

The best part of the week was when Daddy and Papa came. Daddy came in the middle and then Papa came just before it was time to leave. We went fishing three times. Daddy was the only one who actually caught any fish. He landed three fish in one day. I wish I could catch fish like him. He said I just needed to practice, talk less, and cast more. We saw lots of waterfalls together: Lewis Falls, Firehole Falls, Moose Falls, and some others I am forgetting.
Today we sent Daddy home and then started driving towards California where we are taking Papa home. Tonight we are at a campsight where we have electricity and water. This is super nice since we didn’t have that in Yellowstone. There was only one campsight with full hookups but we couldn’t stay there because it was in bear country. The Indian Creek site had a water spout right there plus trash cans but it was too far north and we had to drive a half hour just to get to anything cool. Then we moved down to Bridge Bay which was more convenient to everything but it still didn’t have electricity. Tonight we don’t have to go outside for anything. It would be perfect if Nate would stop crying and just go to sleep!

See Yellowstone Pics

Day 11: Reptile Gardens and Thunder Mountain

2006-08-16T21:26:00.000-05:00

Today we did Reptile Gardens and Big Thunder Mountain. I learned about Reptile Gardens in the Visitor’s Center. I wanted to go because I wanted to go see all these crazy reptiles. They had an alligator snapping turtle that looked like an alligator in a shell. They also had a giant crocodiles. They had lots but Jumbo was too big to have an outdoor exhibit. They were considering it but those crocodiles aren’t smart enough to go inside when it gets too cold for them outside and he was so big that even eight men couldn’t drag him indoors. They were trying to do that while we were there. We really liked the giant tortiouses, also called gentle giants. We got to walk right up and touch them. Nate kept trying to poke their eyes out but Mom kept telling him “No eyes, no eyes!” until he finally stopped and started kissing them instead! Ewwwww! They really liked you scratching their neck but you could feel them all over. One was 125 years old and weighed 550 pounds. They can get up to 800 pounds but this one is full grown. They have other ones that are only 80 years old from the Gallapos Islands that are still growing so who know how big they will get. They are a different species from the old guy. They had an entire prairie dog town. One would squeek and they would all run underground and then another would squeek all clear and they would come back up. They had a bubble in the middle of the exhibit that was connected to a tunnel so you could see the middle of the area. I lifted up two little kids so they could see too. Kaleb’s favorite was the Komodo dragon. It had an indoor and an outdoor exhibit. They got it in and out by tempting it with a boiled egg and then shutting the door behind it. They were cleaning his litter so he was outside. He actually moved around and posed for us. Then we saw an alligator guy who was trying to move stubborn crocodiles so he could mow their grass. He had already moved the unstuborn alligators. Those crocodiles were crazy. He was raking them on the forehead trying to get them to move. He should have tried a shovel because they just kept ignoring him. Even after they moved, they came back and snuck back up onto the grass. They wanted to keep basking in the sun but he kept chasing them into the water. In the gift shop, Kaleb found a Moose sing and strumming on a guitar. It wasn’t exactly something you would expect to find in a Reptile Gardens but Mom got it for him anyway since he is our Moose and he plays guitar.

After the excitement at the Reptile Gardens, we went onto Big Thunder Mountain. We panning for gold and we learning about the machines they used back then. It started with a tour of the old mine with an old fashioned drill that was killing a bunch of miners because of the dust it was kicking up. Someone thought up the smart idea of blasting water through the drill tip which they had to interchange over and over again because it kept getting dull. The drill tips were the entire length of the drill but then someone else got smart and made it just littleshort tips that had to be changed. Next he showed us why the gold mine is called Big Thunder Mountain. There was a metal sheet they used to protect the rail cars from falling boulders. This one was actually dented from boulders. He had us cover our ears and then he pulled back on it and then let it go. A sound like big thunder came threw. He did it again on the way out to scare the next team coming through. Next we went into a barn with mercury tables and bell crusher and all sorts of machines used to find gold in rock ore. We learned that first the ore went through a bell crusher athat crushed up the ore. Then they put it through a water thing that was less dangers or through the mercury table. They didn’t have mercury table there to show us but mercury tables had strips of mercury there to catch the gold like a magnet. It caught like 100% gold but it was extra dangerous but they didn’t know that back then. They were working with it with their bare hands. Even worse was when they cooked it, they stood around all day because again they didn’t know the dangers of the fumes which is even worse than touching it. That is how they came up with the term gold fever. IT was very, very bad. Between the mercury tables and standing around waiting for the gold bar to cook, a bunch of people were killed. Before you died you got a fever of 110 degrees which is where the name came from.

After the tour, Matt showed us how to pan for gold. First, you dip it in the water three times at an agle trying to get the big rocks out. Then you spun it around and then you dipped it three more times and then you spun it around again. You repeated this process until you had almost no dirt left. At this point, you shake it around very gently since gold is very heavy. A whole bar would weight more than my four year old sister, Bekah. I can barely lift her up so I can’t imagine lifting up a tiny little bar. It took eight people to lift a half full box of gold. It is crazy heavy. Even tiny, tiny flecks of gold are heavy so they get caught in the gooves of your pan and then you use a single finger to get each fleck of gold out. It is it twice the size of a fleck, it is considered a nugget. All three big kids got to pan for gold. I got eight flecks of gold in my first try but then I had bad luck. It was very fun!

Day 10: Crazy Horse

2006-08-15T22:11:00.000-05:00

Today started off as a down day. We went on a bison photo safari. Custer has bison like Winchester has apples. Companies can purchase them and decorate them to attract people like me. I think it is a charity thing too. While we were hunting bison, we met a coo guy and his dog, Dave and Buddy. They were driving across the country too. Instead of collecting smashed pennies and stuff, they were collecting pictures of people with Buddy. It was fun. We actually took one with a super awesome motorcycle in the background. Guess what his yearbook was? His car! He had writing all over it where people signed it. He has even had the police stop and ask him why there was writing all over it. We got to sign it and Bek drew a picture in permanent marker.

After a long rest time, Mom took us to see the Crazy Horse monument. It was awesome! They said that all of Mount Rushmore could fit just inside the face of Crazy Horse. It is huge! They are doing it without government help so it is taking a really long time. It took 14 years and 400 people to carve out the faces of Rushmore. Crazy Horse was started by one single man hired by Sitting Bull. He eventually got married and had ten kids, seven of them are still working on it. He left them a letter that they saw only after his death that said they could work on the memorial or go off and do something else. If they worked on the Memorial, do it with all their heart and they would probably do it forever. There was also the Native American Museum that had two teepees, one caged off and one you could touch, the Warrior motorcycle with Native American warriors painted on it, and all sorts of examples of American arts and crafts. In the sculpture studio there were all sorts of things Korziak had sculpted including a 1/34th model of what the memorial would look ultimately look like. Even 1-34th it was still huge!!! It was probably more than three times taller than Daddy. When you stood in the right place, you could see it lined up with the mountain and see how accurate it was. They measure using an ancient scultpung tool called the pointing system. You take a bar and put it on top of the model and then measure it. You go to the mountain and measure the same exact spot only it is a foot on the mountain for each inch on the model. It sounds crazy but it really works. They are supposed to have a incredible light show but we couldn’t stay for it. Mom had to find a pay phone to check in with Dad so he wouldn’t worry. Most of these places don’t have pay phones! It is supposed to have a great laser light show that tells the story of the Indian tribes and chiefs and Crazy Horse. Mom promised Moose we would stay next time we were in the area.

See Crazy Horse Pictures

Day 9: Mt Rushmore

2006-08-14T21:20:00.000-05:00

We stayed at the best campground ever. It is called the Flintstones Bedrock City. It is a campground and amusement park all rolled into one. The best part is that it is half the price of a normal KOA. Mom took us over to the amusement park to burn off some energy. It was a picture op heaven. We got to walk through Bedrock and watch the city in action. We rode the train where we saw a giant group of deer plus a bunch of funny dinosaurs. We had fun posing with all the characters fro the Flinstones cartoon. We watched a Rock concert and got to meet Fred and Barney at the end. We also got to sit in a few of the Bedrock cars that were just props. One car actually worked and we got to ride around. It could actually go up to 90 miles an hour but he only went 30 miles an hour because there were kids present and stuff. There was the best playground there complete with a slideasaurus, ladders, bunch of slides, a snake to crawl through, and a train with lots of bells to ring.

Then we went off to see Mount Rushmore. We do these Junior Ranger things that are super cool. You get to learn about the park and at the end you earn a badge or a patch, usually badges though. Mount Rushmore is four faces of presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Each president represented a moral of our country. G Washington represents independence, Thomas Jefferson exploration, Lincoln represented freedom and FDR represented something I can’t exactly remember right now. The avenue of flags was really neat. You have to walk through an outdoor corridor lined with flags from all 50 states. They were arranged in alphabetical order, four flags on each pillar. The light show was really boring. They tell a story without any enthusiasm and then just shine white light on the faces. We sat there forever freezing waiting for it to start and then it was a dud! We left half way through and saw the white light illuminating it. Kaleb wanted to go back and Mom had a hard time convincing him that we had already seen the light show. That was it!

See Rushmore Pics

Day 8: Sturgis

2006-08-13T00:02:00.000-05:00

We slept in and Mom wouldn’t let us eat until we had broken down camp. That consisted of bunches of work that took longer because I was hungry. Finally Mom took us to the truck stop cause the pancake buffet we were going to go to was in the process of shutting down. So was the truck stop buffet when we got there but we were able to snag a plat full of rel breakfast food before it was all gone. Would you believe that our cell phone was STILL not working and we couldn’t find a pay phone to save our lives. We alked across the street to the Visitors Center where we discoved that the whole South Dakota is a huge blank spot in the cell phone world, at least for our company. While Mom was talking to the ladies, I was learning about Stan, the biggest and most complete male T-Rex. The Visitor Center didn’t have a phone either but they did have a smashed penny machine so we collected more treasures for our collection.

We decided to go to Mount Rushmore first but it started raining and then pouring so we decided to find the little dino museum and meet Stan. We looked and looked but couldn’t find it in the rain. It didn’t help that lots of streets were closed to cars to make room for all the motorcycles. That really didn’t help. Mom said we needed to go to camp so we could drop off the trailer and find a phone. Would you believe we couldn’t find a phone in the whole place?!? When we finally found a gas station with a pay phone we found out that Daddy had three quarters of the police force looking for us we had been out of touch for so long. We had just been out in a huge barren space with no phone and no internet but he was afraid something had happened. He was really, really glad to find us safe. After we got off the phone, it had stopped raining so we went looking for the museum. We found it on one of the streets that was closed off for the Sturgis Rally. Mom didn’t think it was there but I asked a biker for directions and he pointed us to a building that looked like a barn. How could you miss that?!?!

The museum was incredible. They had Stan and a super croc, a triceratops head, a teradyctl skeleton, and all kinds of other things. The cool part was that you could get so close. They also had lots of ammonite shells. Some were pretty and toher were plain but they were all interesting. They have a curly shell like a curlie cue, and the creature inside had an eye and plenty and plenty of tentacles. At least that is what the experts can guess. The lady working there was a huge help and answered lots of my questions. I got another pin from there for my collection.

On the way back to the car, we got to see lots of motorcycles. Kaleb used his own money and bought a flame Sturgis hat. It earned him many compliments from the bikers. He also bought a South Dakota magnet. I think he is starting up a magnet collection. Mommy teases that he is our big spender because he is always trying to spend money. It is true, he is our spender. I am our saver. I had $20 from Dad on the first day of our trip. Within three days of our trip, Kaleb had burned through his money and I had only spent $5 of mine! Mom treated us to Dairy Queen because we were all hungry.

From there, we went to Mount Rushmore. It was super close so we figured why not. It happened that they had a HUGE junior Ranger program so we all did he younger section so it wouldn’t be too hard. We got our second badge while Bek got her first one. Mt. Rushmore is the place where president faces are carved into the side of the mountain. They have an avenue of state flags where you can walk through all 50 of the flags. They even had a teepee we could sit in. We wanted to stay for the light show but it was too cold and we had forgotten to bring our sweat shirts so we went back to the camper instead. I hope we can see the show at Crazy Horse at least. Talk to you in the morning!

See our Rushmore pics

See our Black Hills pics

Day 7: S.D.

2006-08-12T23:58:00.000-05:00

We had to get up super duper early to take Samantha to the airport. The sun wasn’t even up yet! Then, when we got there we had to wait forever because the security had been raised a level and children could nto go unless thehy were attended by a grownup. So we had to buy her tickets to another plane and then wait for that plane to get there and then go out. The whole time Samantha was crying cause she really wanted to go home and Nate was grumpy because he was woken up so early. Mom kept him quite by teaching him games and singing songs. People in the airport laughed at us playing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes but it kept him quiet and not screeching so that’s ok. After Samantha finally got on the plane, we headed into South Dakota where we don’t get cell phone service. We tried to call Daddy several times to tell him we were ok and Samantha got on the plane finally but it didn’t work. All it said was no network or searching!

That is when I spotted a sign for the Laura Ingall’s Wilder home. She is a writer of the Little House on the Prairie series. We read a bunch of her books and are almost experts on her so we decided to go ahead and take the time and go. It turned out to be more than an hour away from the freeway but it was worth it. We watched a movie, investigated a bunch of wagons, made rope, ground wheat, wash clothes the old way, and even ride on horses. We got to see the dugout Pa made for them. It was small and cramped and smelly. No way, Jose! We met another family that is driving across country that had an eight year old like me. We kept running into them as we moved through the stuff there.

After that we had to drive and drive and drive because we were way behind schedule. We tried to keep calling Daddy but the cell phone still didn’t work and no one seemed to have working pay phones. Oh brother! The land was beautiful though. I got lots of great footage for my documentary and now I know why the praries have a danger of windstorms. They are so flat the wind just keeps on going and going. At the gas station, Mom almost got her skirt lifted up into her face like an umbrella. There were lots of huge open spaces just filled with golden grass, long wheat. Every here and there was a shrub and trees were even rarer. As we moved closer to the Black Hills there were more and more streaks of black. Part would be golden and part would be like black streaks of dirt of coal or whatever it was. There was also lots more motorcycles!

It was almost midnight by the time we found the campsite and it was all bikers again. By this time, Rusty was used to seeing people in helmets and has settled down a little bit when they walk by. Nate still vrooms whenever he hears a motorcycle.

Day 6

2006-08-11T23:56:00.000-05:00

Today I got up so early, before anyone else beside Mommy to climb on the roof of the trailer. We broke the awning yesterday and now we had to fix it or get it off. In the middle of it, Mommy was having a discussion with Daddy saying that she just wanted to cut it off with scissors and throw it away. Dad had a cow and said, “No way, Jose! That costs $1,000 so you better not throw it away. I want to see you in Yellowstone with it.” Then we had to get the awning off. Mom got two little screws off but I did most the other stuff. We had two good poles and two not good poles. The damaged poles had broken off but Dad wanted the good ones saved so I had to take them off. I used a small wrench to get it off. Good thing we had the tool box but too bad it didn’t have a hammer. Who would buy a tool kit if it didn’t have a hammer?! Anyways, we did fine and managed to get the thing off but before we could I had to take off the clip on the other side. In the middle of it all, everyone was waking up and Mommy kept getting pulled away from me. I did my jobs well and we did fine since I had mastered all of Daddy’s tools. He taught me how to use screwdrivers when I was a little kid and I started taking apart phones that he couldn’t fix. I managed to ruin a bunch of phones and a watch before he stopped my rampage. Dad, aren’t you glad I am using my skills for the light side of the force?

Later, we went to the Pony Express museum. It was cool. It was about linking California to the eastern states. The pony express was a fast mail service, which Californians demanded. It linked St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. It was getting too rough with Indian encounters and they were having money troubles. It was started by three men: Russell, Majors, and Waddell. They wanted to deliver mail in record time, ten days. They did it by setting up a series of stations where the riders had two minutes to switch to fresh horse and then giddy up. Every 50 miles or so, they got a special station where they could rest and hand over your mail to someone else. It cost a lot of money to use the Pony Express, the same as $95 an ounce in todays standards.

The museum had all kinds of stuff. They had real live horses outside and a movie to watch inside. They had a fun gift shop with pins to add to my collection. Bek loved the area where she could dress up. We got to dress up and take pictures. Our baby sitter played with the chalk board. Mommy is good at paying attention to everyone at once and managed to get us all dressed and photographed and keep Nate from running off.

After the Pony Express, we went over to Jesse James house a couple street away. They had a model casing of his brain where he was shot at. The entry passage was shown by an orange dart. It was cool. They even had a few furnishings from the real house. In one room, there was the casing of his brain, a bunch of pictures showing his killers, his actual teeth complete with gold fillings cause that was a very expensive luxury back then. My favorite part was where we actually got to see the monocasing of his brain!

After that, we started the long drive to Sioux because our babysitter wanted to go home. Becasuse we honor other’s peoples choices, we took her to the airport even though we wanted her to stay. We skipped lots of stops to get there in time but we managed to stop at the Floyd Monument, the only member to die on the Lewis and Clark trip. He had appendicitis and would have died no matter what back then but we might have saved him if we caught him in time today.

After that we got to our camp site right near the airport since Bobbi Jo had gotten Samantha tickets for really early in the morning. Apparently we might have been sleeping right on the runway for all the noise the airplanes made as they went in and out. When the planes weren’t roaring by, motorcycles were blaring You see, this was Sturgis week. There were motorcycles EVERYWHERE because everyone was going to the Sturgis motorcycle party. More bikers come to this rally than anywhere else in the world. It was crazy and we were one of the only people in the campground that didn’t have a motorcycle. Nate loved it and went “Vroooooommmm” all night long, even after he fell asleep!

Day 5: Crazy Day

2006-08-11T21:58:00.000-05:00

Today was kind of a rough day. Our trailer broke down, Rats! We had to go to Home Depot to fix it but the trip was worth while because we met an incredible new person. His name was Clay. He was our knight in an orange apron, as we joked. He took almost two and a half hours to help just us. He usually worked lumber but he took us all over the place. He actually custom bent on of the pieces we needed to fix the trailer. He was a great help so we will be sending out a letter of appreciation to his manager.

Guess What? We found the Bigfoot Factory where all the Bigfoot Trucks are made. We actually saw Bigfoot #5 and #16 (there are #16 total). The sixteenth one was in the shop but we got to look in the shop where it was being made. They don’t only make Bigfoot Monster Trucks but they make Bigfoot trucks you can buy and tank-like vehicles with treads too. We actually got to sit inside a little replica with a game system inside the cockpit. We took lots of pictures and then we got to play inside real Bigfoot tires, real ones I tell you! They were huge!!! Bigfoot #5 was even huger. You could even stand up in the wheel. It was so tall that I could walk underneath the truck without squatting or anything. It was awesome! If you are heading to St. Louis, ake sure your parents take you to see Bigfoot. It doesn’t cost anything unless you chose to buy some stuff. We picked up some postcards for our collection plus another smashed penny. They have an automatic machine that pops out the pressed penny after you drop in your quarters, and the penny of course.

Next we had a super long drive to the campground. To bad we kept getting lost. We had Samantha as navigator and Mommy as a driver, which isn’t the best combination for finding things on our first try. We ended up taking a side trip into this deserted town trying to find a gas station big enough to hold us. I had to use the restroom too so I did that while we were there. We were almost cornered in there were so many cars but we got out and kept on driving forever. We also went on an “adventure” when we were trying to find the campground. It was supposed to be a Lewis and Clark Historical marker but it was just two really long trails that led to nowhere. It was pretty I guess if you could get over all the gnats and bugs and stuff that kept trying to fly into your hair or bite you and eat you up. Naty exploded in the parking lot and covered Mommy head to toe in baby poop. Then, all he could say was “ewww” even though he didn’t sell any better. May I suggest that we never go back that way again. I think that the bugs put up the signs to lure unsuspecting humans into their trap so they can be munched at their leisure.

Once we FINALLY found the campground, things were still going way downhill. Samantha, without knowing, accidentally helped break the trailer. The shade thing that pulls down got broken off. We went back there and there it was, broken on the ground. Mommy tried to laugh it off but Samantha is really upset. Camp is finally set for the night and it seems like luck had just run out. The can opener broke but Bek had her heart set on Raviolis so Kaleb managed to rip the can open with screwdrivers. I had a PB&J which was much less work! When we were trying to set up Mommy and Nate’s bed, we discovered that their ceiling was broken. We finially managed to set it up by taping the pieces together with first aid tape. It works ok until someone bumps it and it collapses. Mom put Nate in my bed and it hasn’t collapsed in a while so hopefully our bad luck has run out.

I hope we have good luck tomorrow. I am off to curl up with my book. Goodnight! Don’t let the bedbugs bite! And don’t go on any of those historical trail of the bug will munch the meat off you!

Your munched boy explorer,
Drew

Pictures Coming Soon...

4th Day: St. Louis

2006-08-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

Today we drove all the way to St. Louis! We had to go all the way through Illinois into Missouri. Mr. Lincoln was from Illinois so we stopped and saw a statue of Lincoln with his bowler hat beside him as he read a newspaper in front of the old State House. Inside the State House we got to write our names with old fashioned feather quills. It was partly hard. With practice I could probably get good at it but I didn’t have much practice because we could only write our names.

Once we got into Missouri, we went off to find the St. Louis Arch. I think Mommy and Samantha were confused it was so poorly marked. The arch is this huge tall structures that is an important symbol to our government. Come on! Can’t they mark it better so we don’t have to go round and round across the river? Once we actually got there, we got to see an awesome museum underneath the arch. It was so cool. The museum was on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. I imagine we could have stayed a bunch longer if my baby brother hadn’t freaked out but sometimes baby brothers do that. For no reason, you are in the middle of something you really like and they decide, “Hey get me out of here and get away fro the cool exhibit! I am bored of looking at the same thing over and over again!”

The Arch was awesome. It was 635 feet from the base to the tip top. I remember that from the Junior Ranger Program. That is a program they have at lots of National Parks where you investigate to answer questions with the goal of earning a badge. The badge is super cool and Mom says that maybe I can make a vest of them by the tie we are done with our trip. You have to work hard to get the badges. Bek didn’t want to sit still to read all the exhibits so she couldn’t get a badge since she hadn’t earned it. It took me a little while since I was working on a harder one than my six year old brother. Kaleb was on the top of his game, flying through his activities and working his way through his booklet with Samantha. It was harder for me and I had to write them down myself so it took me longer.

I thought the Arch earned two thumbs up. Definitely worth all the trips over the bridge to find it. Good thing we set up camp before hand!

See our pictures

2006-08-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Our 3erd day

We went to an awesome children’s museum! It was so cool! It had five levels, each one containing a different exhibit. The bottom level contained one of my favorites, the dinosphere all about dinosaurs. You first entered into a dome where the top was the sky and it had thunderstorms and clear skys and sunsets. It probably would have had night if we had stayed long enough. Inside the exhibit there were computers with games that I played. I did great. I don’t think even mom thought I knew so much about computers. It was SO cool! :0)

We also saw a racecar that was real with it’s circuits disconnected. I got to sit in it and reach the petals. Mom took a picture of me.

It also had a real game place which had a maze of mirrors, a carosouel, a bunch of video gaes, dress up places, and much more. Then we went to a Science exhibit where it had a tunnel you climbed up and saw rats, mice, bugs, gophers, and all sorts of critters. Then, I turned a crane around and was trying to drop a load of foam on target but the I decided to drive a bulldozer instead. The bulldozer was a hand purpelled ones where you cranked it and it moved. The crane was too where you turned a little knob to make it turn. It was so crazy and cool! It was challenging to keep the bulldozers wheels turning at the same speed so you didn’t turn by accident. I wanted to turn though so I told my partner to be still while I turned like a maniac. We would have done great if we hadn’t had to go so I called and let someone else give it a try. It also had rock climbing we didn’t get to try because they ran out of tickets before we got there. It probably wouldn’t have matter because we didn’t have enough time. I need a whole week to explore the museum properly.

In the middle of it all we were paged over the intercom by the police to come to our car. So we went. Rusty was being held by animal control because we had left him in the car with the windows down. We had been going every hour to give him walks and water but they said it could get too hot. They thought we were being mean and cruel. Mom explained that we thought we were being nice and doing the right thing because otherwise he would be left all by himself for hours at a time in an unfamiliar place with other animals around and no way to go potty. The animal control dude agreed with us but said we should come out every half an hour, instead of every hour. We gave them our cell number and the security guards kept on checking on him too. One time, Rusty was sleeping in the way backseat and when the agent went up to make sure hw was there he didn’t see him. He got worried thinking someone had freeded him because it was cruel to keep a dog in the car. But then, so suddenly, Rusty jumped out of the backseat barking his “Eat the UPS man bark” and scared him so much he would have peed himself if he hadn’t seen Rusty licking us all over just an hour before. The man saw us later and told us all about it!

Over all, the museum had two thumbs up for me. If you are ever in the area, you should totally go to Indianapolis Children’s Museum. It’s impossible to miss with the huge dinosaurs breaking out and the Skywalk connecting everything. Our 3erd day

We went to an awesome children’s museum! It was so cool! It had five levels, each one containing a different exhibit. The bottom level contained one of my favorites, the dinosphere all about dinosaurs. You first entered into a dome where the top was the sky and it had thunderstorms and clear skys and sunsets. It probably would have had night if we had stayed long enough. Inside the exhibit there were computers with games that I played. I did great. I don’t think even mom thought I knew so much about computers. It was SO cool! :0)

We also saw a racecar that was real with it’s circuits disconnected. I got to sit in it and reach the petals. Mom took a picture of me.

It also had a real game place which had a maze of mirrors, a carosouel, a bunch of video gaes, dress up places, and much more. Then we went to a Science exhibit where it had a tunnel you climbed up and saw rats, mice, bugs, gophers, and all sorts of critters. Then, I turned a crane around and was trying to drop a load of foam on target but the I decided to drive a bulldozer instead. The bulldozer was a hand purpelled ones where you cranked it and it moved. The crane was too where you turned a little knob to make it turn. It was so crazy and cool! It was challenging to keep the bulldozers wheels turning at the same speed so you didn’t turn by accident. I wanted to turn though so I told my partner to be still while I turned like a maniac. We would have done great if we hadn’t had to go so I called and let someone else give it a try. It also had rock climbing we didn’t get to try because they ran out of tickets before we got there. It probably wouldn’t have matter because we didn’t have enough time. I need a whole week to explore the museum properly.

In the middle of it all we were paged over the intercom by the police to come to our car. So we went. Rusty was being held by animal control because we had left him in the car with the windows down. We had been going every hour to give him walks and water but they said it could get too hot. They thought we were being mean and cruel. Mom explained that we thought we were being nice and doing the right thing because otherwise he would be left all by himself for hours at a time in an unfamiliar place with other animals around and no way to go potty. The animal control dude agreed with us but said we should come out every half an hour, instead of every hour. We gave them our cell number and the security guards kept on checking on him too. One time, Rusty was sleeping in the way backseat and when the agent went up to make sure hw was there he didn’t see him. He got worried thinking someone had freeded him because it was cruel to keep a dog in the car. But then, so suddenly, Rusty jumped out of the backseat barking his “Eat the UPS man bark” and scared him so much he would have peed himself if he hadn’t seen Rusty licking us all over just an hour before. The man saw us later and told us all about it!

Over all, the museum had two thumbs up for me. If you are ever in the area, you should totally go to Indianapolis Children’s Museum. It’s impossible to miss with the huge dinosaurs breaking out and the Skywalk connecting everything.

Day 2: Air Force Museum

2006-08-06T21:50:00.000-05:00

We went to this awesome, awesome, awesome Air Force (A.F.) Museum in Dayton, Ohio which is also where the Wright Brothers built their Wright Flyer.

They had the coolest aircraft that I want to fly someday. It is a type of Stelth Bomber called Fire and Ice. It is a B-12 and tested for heat in Florida and coldness in Alaska. It passed both of the tests with flying colors or should I say flying aircraft. I also got to look at some space stuff and see the real battered Apollo 14 capsule.

It was pretty wild, burned from falling through the atmos[phere. We took a special tour and got to see a bunch of the president’s aircrafts, accept the one that is being used right now.

We got to see FDR’s plane called the Sacred Cow. It was huge and all silver. Even though it flew through all kinds of weather, they don’t want you to touch it because they have passed around a rumor that finger oil might discentagrate it. It got its name Sacred Cow because only a few people could touch it. The ground repairs people who couldn’t touch started calling it the Sacred Cow because in some cultures a cow is holy and you can’t kill it or eat it for some reason and you weren’t supposed to touch the plane. President FDR got sick as a child and he couldn’t walk so nstead of being carried up and down, up and down the stairs, he had an elevator installed in his plane. On it he signed the National Security Act which made the Air Force a separate part of the USA government.

My other favorit was Independence, President Truman’s plain. It had a picture of an eagle painted on it. It was named after Independence, Missouri and for the freedom we represent to the rest of the world.

The biggest President plane was Air Force One. It was built for President Kennedy and it has carried the next eight presidents including Lyndon B. Johnson, President Clinton, President Bush the first, Nixon, Reagon, and some others I am forgetting right now. It has also carried Queen Elezibeth the 2nd of England to the USA for a trip to the West Coast. I wonder if she went to Disneyland? It was on this plane that Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn President after Kennedy had been assassinated. It was this plane that brot Kennedy's body back.

See our pictures!

The rest of our day included eating some crackers and a quick swim after setting our camp. It’s bedtime now. Bye!

Our 1st Day

2006-08-05T22:39:00.000-05:00

Today was bad! First we had to stay in the car forever. Then when we got to the campsite Mom couldn’t set up the trailer. Then we had to wander all over the nabrhood until Dad called and told Mom how to set up the trailer and we camped out in Wal-Mart’s parking lot where it was unbelievably hot and noisy. What a way to start our trip. Today was a complete disaster!

Getting Ready

2006-07-24T14:58:00.000-05:00

Two weeks to go until we start our cross-counry adventure. We are going to drive across the country to California and then drive back. We are going to make lots of stops along the way. These are only some of them: Yellowstone, an airforce museum with all the old president's planes, the Golden Spike where the transcontinental railroad was completed, Devils Tower, a Crow Indian pow-wow, Mammoth Site where we can help dig up real bones, M&M World, Disneyland, and lots of others. We are going to be gone eight weeks on this adventure of a lifetime with four kids, one dog, and my mom who is driving us through 27 states and part of Mexico.

We are doing this because it is a learning experience. We have done a TON of research on the states these last few years and now we are going across the country to see it all. We have studied all sorts of famous people, landmarks, and events in our homeschooling. Planning our trip, everyone got to pick two places they just HAD to see. I picked the Lewis and Clark Trail and Jesse James hideout in Missouri. Mom said the Lewis and Clark Trail didn't count since is was 3,000 miles long but we are going to follow it from the St. Louis Arch all the way to Yellowstone. My brother picked the Grand Canyon and the Dinosuar Park in Utah. My sister picked M&M World and a circus. We haven't found a circus yet but we did find a real live pow-wow and we are trying to convince her that it is even cooler than the circus. Baby Nate doesn't care as long as we feed him, perferably M&Ms.

We still have lots to do before the trip. Moose and I are making Yellowstone Lapooks. A lapbook is a huge collection of work that I've done, kind of like scrapbooking to learn. My Yellowstone lapbook is going to have a Wolf: Friend of Foe? section talking about the controversy about reintroducing the Grey Wolves back into the park. It is going to have a plant cheat book where I have made notes about identifing plants for my hikes. It is also going to have a treasure acordian book where I can keep pressed flowers, rubbings, and other things I find along the way. I have read all kinds of things about the fires of 1988 so I am including a booklet about the importance of wildfires and fire saftey. We are also studying geysers and mudpots so I will have a section of my lapbook about them with pictures of some of our experiments. Kaleb is making a lapbook too only his is a little smaller and simplier because he is younger.

When we aren't working on our lapbooks, we are organizing the trailer, talking about the trip, or looking at maps. I can't wait to see Yellowstone with Tower Falls and I hope we get to see a wolf! Two whole weeks....

Your Adventurer,
Drewy the Explorer