Day 13 - June 22, 2009 - Travelling

Not much to share today. Today was all about roads and roads and roads and more roads. It was a travelling day. But before we left the hotel this morning I swam for an hour. That was really fun! We had rain in Indiana. There can’t be any rain in Pennsylvania because we brought it with us! We have had rain everyday!

Tomorrow we are going to the Louisville Zoo and then to Shaker Village. We missed these things when we started our trip a long time ago. The Louisville Zoo has Meerkats!

Day 12 - June 21, 2009 - Father's Day

Today was another driving day. I started by calling Daddy on Father's Day. I got him a present - ME!







This is what Denver looked like from our hotel. The hotel had a nice pool in the basement!

We saw lots of windmills in Kansas!

Day 11 - June 20, 2009 - Docking the Shuttle

Today was a driving day and we drove to Denver. It is the capitol of the state of Colorado. It has a very shiny dome.

We went to see the home of the Unsinkable Molly Brown. I really liked the green bedroom because green is a happy color. I also liked the lion on the front porch. I got a pin like the lion.

We then went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I had a great time there. It was like going to the Science Museum in Baltimore or the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg. they had lots of hands on stuff.

Here I am trying to dock the space shuttle.

They had a camera that showed how hot you were by infrared scanning. That was really cool!

Before we left we saw a movie at the Imax theater. It was about the Ocean and the fish that live off of South Africa. I liked running with the wolves in front of the Museum.

The last was the best - swimming. I am getting better!

Day 10 - June 19, 2009 - Wind Mills

Today was a driving day. We are on our way home. We crossed some land that was very windy. They have these big fences along the road so that when it snows these fences help to stop the drifting of the snow.







Because it is so windy it is a great place for windmills. We passed several windmill farms along the way to Laramie, WY.

We stopped at Walmart to get me new shoes. The bottoms are falling off the ones I really like to wear and even Walmart had it's own windmill.


We are going to Denver tomorrow - Mile High City.

Day 9 - June 18, 2009 - Water Falls

I really am in the West.

I told Daddy that today was a car day not a wagon day. I talked to Mommy, Daddy, and David today on Skype. I think David thinks I am living in the box cause he can see me and hear me.




Well today we saw elk - lots and lots of elk. Miss Carol, Eemaw and I went to Elk county in Pennsylvania to see elk but we saw more elk here. They were in a town, fields and on the road.

We also saw a moose. She was hard to find because she was laying down with her baby and we saw bison.














We stopped to see a couple of waterfalls too. This one was really loud!






We also stopped at the Grand Teton Center and saw a movie about the Tetons. It had a nice museum area.

We are staying in a really cool room tonight. It has a fireplace. We are starting for home tomorrow. Eemaw doesn't know how we will get there but we will.

Day 8 - June 17, 2009 - Old Faithful

Got up late because we got in late. Ate breakfast. And left Cody, WY for Yellowstone NP.

This is the day that we got to see Old Faithful!

When we left Cody this morning, I noticed that they have a stampede grounds like we have a fair grounds. That means they have rodeos there. As we left Cody, we into tunnels. We went through the mountain not around it.

We went into Yellowstone through the East gate. This is a real wilderness place - humongous mountains. I got to play in the snow. it wasn't cold when we left Cody but when we got to Yellowstone the wind was cold. I put on my jacket.

There was a fire at Yellowstone because there were lots of burned trees by the road. If I think about it tomorrow, I'll ask when it happened. there are lots of little trees growing in the forest.

We stopped at the lake where we found our first geyser. The steam was warm and it reeked! It was reallly awful.

We saw a bald eagle near the lake. We took a trail walk and we went right by a bison that was sleeping in the field. We were very quiet so that he didn't notice us.

I got to see mud bubble and boil.

Here is the BEST! Old Faithful! And I saw it two times!

We stopped by the Rainbow Pool. It was very hot there and windy.

And as we left to park today we saw a herd of bison.

Day 7 - June 16, 2009 - Devil's Tower

Today was awesome! We had mountains and snow!

But first - Devil's Tower in Wyoming! I climbed on the boulders and walked some of the trail. It rained just as we were leaving. We could see it from way off. It is BIG!

We came to Cody, Wyoming for the night. But on our way here we had to cross the Big Horn Mountains. We went up very high and we could see where we had been. The road was really winding and it was scarry because there were no rails on some of the sides of the road and it was really far down. The mountains are rough and rugged. We saw lots of antelope and deer grazing at the top of the mountains.

Snow on the mountains, me in the snow, and getting down the mountain.

It was an AWESOME day!

Day 6 - June 15, 2009 - Buffalo

I started the day with a small breakfast - cereal and bagel. Today was Mt. Rushmore NP. Eemaw says that it is really different than the last time she saw it! She said that it is really for tourists now. I thought that it was cool! There are State flags, movies, gift shops, and mint chocolate chip ice cream!



The best part of the day was after we left Mt. Rushmore. We went to Custer State Park and saw buffalo! We also saw deer, antelope, prairie dogs, wild burros, and a badger, but we didn't get a picture of the badger - he was running too fast! You are not supposed to feed the wild animals. They could hurt you. They just walk across the road right in front of you.

We also went to the Mammoth Paleontology dig at Hot Springs.

For supper, I ate a big salad with lots of olives and mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese! And last, I swam in the pool! I really like that slide!

Day 5 - June 14, 2009 - Twister!

The day started late. We had cheese omlets for breakfast and then went to the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD. I thought that it would smell funny but it didn't. It was an arena where they play basketball.

Then we drove to the Badlands NP. That was awesome. When we got to the turn off to the park - one side of the interstate was just grasslands but the other just dropped away to awesome mountains. You can't pick the plants or collect the fossils and you have to watch out for rattle snakes. We saw deer, prairie dogs, and mountain goats. We ate supper at Wall Drugs in Wall SD.

After we left the park, we went to Rapid City SD and we ran into a really bad storm. This was really scarry! We drove right through it! It was a tornado! We had lots of golfball and softball size hail.

When we got to the hotel, they had a waterslide in the pool! That was a nice way to end the day!

Today was GREAT!

Day 4 - June 13, 2009 - Driving to Corn Palace

Today is a travel day. We are going to Mitchell South Dakota. We had a big breakfast and went to see the geese at the Arch. Eemaw forgot to get a picture of me and the Arch together! Duh!


We didn't have any rain and I vegged on Pokemon and CSI in the car. I listened to NPR too - Prarie Home Companion. We stopped a lot to walk around because Eemaw said I needed to stretch my legs. I slept when it got dark. New time zone and the sun is up longer it seems.

Day 3 - June 12, 2009 - Top of Arch

We did the St. Louis Gateway Arch today. It was huge! It is stainless steel and it is very shiny. The steel in the Arch was made in Pennsylvania! You can see the Mississippi River in front of the Arch. We rode the pod to the top and it was rickety! We saw a movie about how the Arch was made and a movie about how Lewis and Clark left St. Louis for the Pacific Ocean from St. Louis. Lewis took his dog with him on the trip. In the museum we saw a bear and wagons and many things from people who went West.

We then went to the St. Louis Zoo.

The traffic around the zoo was crazy. The penguin exhibit was 45 degrees. It was really cold. The best part of the zoo was the Stingrays. I fed the stingrays little fish.

Tonight I got to swim!

Day 2 - June 11, 2009 - Mantle’s Bat

Today was kinda different. I had a cheese omelet, chocolate muffin, a banana, a waffle with syrup, and a cup of apple juice for breakfast. We went to the Louisville Slugger Museum. My Pappaw will be jealous because I got to hold Mickey Mantle’s bat that was used by him in a real game. I had to wear white gloves to hold it. It was a neat museum because it was a factory tour. In front of the building there was a huge bat. It was 120 feet tall. It was really big. We saw a movie about players using bats.

We went to Churchill Downs. That is where the Kentucky Derby is held. I sat on a fake horse in a starting gate. I also saw dresses that were very old. They were from the 1890s up to today. That was creepy because they had huge red rose heads and gloves that looked like green leaves. A guard took our picture with Mine That Bird – this years winner. We saw a movie about the race and saw a foal grow up to run in the race. We sat on stools. We took a tour of the track and we saw a race. We also saw where they buried some horses. they don't usually bury the whole horse when it dies - just his head, his heart and his hooves.

We came to St. Louis and we nearly saw a tornado. It rained so hard that the truck in front of us disappeared into the rain. The sky was very dark and when it rained the field along the road was like the ocean. Indiana is very flat. In some fields we saw pumps that looked like oil pumps. We don’t know if they were for water or oil.

When we got to the hotel, it was near the Mississippi River and we can see the Arch from the window. I wanted to go swimming in the pool on the fifth floor but someone pooped in the pool. That was really gross! Then I talked to Mommy and Daddy on Skype. I saw David and he saw me.

Day 1 - June 10, 2009

We didn't leave at 4 AM! EEmaw is always late for trips. We left York about 5:30 AM. And we drove to Crosskeys where we had pancakes at McDonald's! We stopped often to get out and walk. 6 hours and 39 minutes later we were in the Appalachian range of mountains in West Virginia. The mountains were beautiful. We drove through some forests that had been destroyed by fire in some places. Although it was destroyed it was healing well. Two hours later we passed by a wind mill for electricity. When we got to Kentucky the land changed. The hills were gently rolling. It really rained all afternoon really really hard and we stopped in traffic for a long time because of the rain. We stopped for dinner at a Cracker Barrel and I had root beer in a bottle, shrimp, mashed potatoes and ice cream. When we got to the motel, the pool was broken. We are staying at a Hampton because they have the best beds. I talked to Mommy and Daddy tonight using Skype and the webcam. I miss David already. He could hear us but didn’t know where we were. I was in the magic box. That is our computer screen.

The picture is of the book that I started to read. I have to read 5 books this summer. I will have them all read by the time we get back home.