Sunday, June 29, 2014
Day ?! Grants Pass, Oregon
Today was wonderful! We spent the day with Aunt Rosie. Doug's sister. She took us to an incredible hardware store. It had everything, plus more! We were there for a very long time. Afterward, we went to the only water powered, active mill grinding flour west of the Mississippi River. It is 137 years old! We had a tour and learned a ton! Rosie took us to the place where she works as a Pathologist assistant. She showed us from start to finish what she does. She didn't have an autopsy to do on a full human, but plenty of tales to tell. She was full of science as we learned from her on our private tour that lasted a few hours! Way cool! We went out for a really nice dinner afterwards. Back at the hotel, the kids made a video for all of you from Oregon. It will appear as a photo below. You need to click the above blue title....Day ?! Grants Pass, Oregon.....this will always take you to the website, where you can see the video. If you missed the viva Las Vegas video, that is on the website too! We miss you all, as our days blend in to one another..one day we will catch up on all our missed days on the blog. We are truly having a wonderful time on our trip. Be sure to click on the blue title, so you can go to the website to see the kids wishes for you!
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Viva Las Vegas by a 6 year old with no front teeth
I forgot, he lost a tooth on our trip! Now he is missing three top teeth!
Day Yuba City,CA to Arcata,CA
Today we were flat, dry, and slowly hills started. Suddenly, we were at the mountains. We took a super twisty road up and int the mountains. The SUV, for the second time this whole trip, wanted to overheat. It has been a perfect SUV otherwise! Doug was driving and of course he did not let it overheat going up the mountain. Conveniently, Chris had to go to the bathroom, and we stopped the SUV. Chris ran off and came back with a report that he saw a big snake! It was a ring neck snake with a red ring and mostly greenish gray. It was not a rattle snake thankfully!
Here are factoids from our trip, that probably no one thinks is funny or important but us..
1. Snakes seen ... 2
2. Rainbows seen ...4
3. Kids still alive... 4
4. Miles traveled ... 5200 miles
5. Ranger badges earned ...7
6. Steepest grade for mountains we went up or down... 12%
7. Longest mountain tunnel we went through... 1.9 miles I think
8. Favorite Ranger.... Just one ...MOLLY!
9. Words we thought we invented...1
10. Word we did not actually invent...NAGAVATOR. It means a person, usually female, that bugs the driver about the driving....!!!!!!
11. Times Geoff has gotten lost....once
12. Times we wore a lock of at trailer chain...once
13. Times we bottomed the trailer out...once
14. Times we yelled," volcano!!! I see one".... Hundreds of times!
15. 2 condor sightings
16. 3 times beca has been driving so far on our trip.
All we mostly listen to is Xm radio from the fifties music. We can all sing along quite well now. Can anyone tell the driver gets first dibs on music? It is Doug driving!
Our favorite thing to yell in the car is..."that's not the time, grandma .. it's really..three hours earlier than in NY!"
Famous quote before we went through the 2 mile tunnel at 12,000 feet above sealevel.
"We need to wait until the best psychological minute to tell grandma about the tunnel...when is that? When we are in the tunnel!!"
Injuries so far... We are all better now ..I think...all the kids just had crying meltdowns,except fr Beca...so I put them all to bed early!
Beca twisted ankle
Zack bug bites, dust in eyes from dust storm, scraped knees from jumping off steps with G.
Chris weird rash on arm, ran into a tree and scratched under his eye
Sam hurt knee racing down a ramp and slid out in a running race on a ramp
Mandy slammed finger in door
Okay...after a long day of traveling in the mountains, we arrived in Arcata, CA. We MADE it! We are two miles from the ocean! Yet, we are too tired to go see it. We went swimming and sat in the hot tub. Doug and Martty did too. The mountain driving is the most tiring for us.
Now, Geoff was so excited, at one point he yelled, " look the ocean!" We were still far away! It was funny! He was looking down at the gps on his phone and looked up, expecting it to be there. We still had lots of driving down the mountains to go. We have discovered never trust a GPS on you our phone, google maps, or a hand held GPS meant for the car. Between Geoff, Doug, and I we get places, by combining our directions and using our eyes and brains. There have been detours, rock slide areas, new on ramps, roads closed off, new roads added and just craziness with our directions so far. Mostly funny though! We have also learned to eat on the road, in the SUV, in 55 mph gusts of wind, in a shopping center parking lot under the only shady tree, and in a hotel...setting off the fire alarm and having the firemen come as we did in Denver,CO!
Another few things we have found fascinating is the hitchhikers. We would not them up, but they look interesting! They carry signs like...Pacific Ocean or Three miles east please.
So would you pick them up?
We also have some funny sayings. We are a bit tired and crazy driving some days...and we laugh at silly things...
Zack got the hotel key from Geoff and ran away yelling, " I've got the power!!!!"
I told dad I wanted to drive, Geoff said he could drive... Beca said she could settle everything and she could take a turn... And Zack yelled from the very far back seat...."I want to drive!!!!"
All the way to Las Vegas, Zack would often sing Viva Las Vegas...missing his two front teeth. Very funny! He liked Vegas!
Famous words today...
As Doug drives over the grooved edge of the highway...
Sam was in the very far back seat looking down at a book." Whoa why is my butt is vibrating?"
Here are factoids from our trip, that probably no one thinks is funny or important but us..
1. Snakes seen ... 2
2. Rainbows seen ...4
3. Kids still alive... 4
4. Miles traveled ... 5200 miles
5. Ranger badges earned ...7
6. Steepest grade for mountains we went up or down... 12%
7. Longest mountain tunnel we went through... 1.9 miles I think
8. Favorite Ranger.... Just one ...MOLLY!
9. Words we thought we invented...1
10. Word we did not actually invent...NAGAVATOR. It means a person, usually female, that bugs the driver about the driving....!!!!!!
11. Times Geoff has gotten lost....once
12. Times we wore a lock of at trailer chain...once
13. Times we bottomed the trailer out...once
14. Times we yelled," volcano!!! I see one".... Hundreds of times!
15. 2 condor sightings
16. 3 times beca has been driving so far on our trip.
All we mostly listen to is Xm radio from the fifties music. We can all sing along quite well now. Can anyone tell the driver gets first dibs on music? It is Doug driving!
Our favorite thing to yell in the car is..."that's not the time, grandma .. it's really..three hours earlier than in NY!"
Famous quote before we went through the 2 mile tunnel at 12,000 feet above sealevel.
"We need to wait until the best psychological minute to tell grandma about the tunnel...when is that? When we are in the tunnel!!"
Injuries so far... We are all better now ..I think...all the kids just had crying meltdowns,except fr Beca...so I put them all to bed early!
Beca twisted ankle
Zack bug bites, dust in eyes from dust storm, scraped knees from jumping off steps with G.
Chris weird rash on arm, ran into a tree and scratched under his eye
Sam hurt knee racing down a ramp and slid out in a running race on a ramp
Mandy slammed finger in door
Okay...after a long day of traveling in the mountains, we arrived in Arcata, CA. We MADE it! We are two miles from the ocean! Yet, we are too tired to go see it. We went swimming and sat in the hot tub. Doug and Martty did too. The mountain driving is the most tiring for us.
Now, Geoff was so excited, at one point he yelled, " look the ocean!" We were still far away! It was funny! He was looking down at the gps on his phone and looked up, expecting it to be there. We still had lots of driving down the mountains to go. We have discovered never trust a GPS on you our phone, google maps, or a hand held GPS meant for the car. Between Geoff, Doug, and I we get places, by combining our directions and using our eyes and brains. There have been detours, rock slide areas, new on ramps, roads closed off, new roads added and just craziness with our directions so far. Mostly funny though! We have also learned to eat on the road, in the SUV, in 55 mph gusts of wind, in a shopping center parking lot under the only shady tree, and in a hotel...setting off the fire alarm and having the firemen come as we did in Denver,CO!
Another few things we have found fascinating is the hitchhikers. We would not them up, but they look interesting! They carry signs like...Pacific Ocean or Three miles east please.
So would you pick them up?
We also have some funny sayings. We are a bit tired and crazy driving some days...and we laugh at silly things...
Zack got the hotel key from Geoff and ran away yelling, " I've got the power!!!!"
I told dad I wanted to drive, Geoff said he could drive... Beca said she could settle everything and she could take a turn... And Zack yelled from the very far back seat...."I want to drive!!!!"
All the way to Las Vegas, Zack would often sing Viva Las Vegas...missing his two front teeth. Very funny! He liked Vegas!
Famous words today...
As Doug drives over the grooved edge of the highway...
Sam was in the very far back seat looking down at a book." Whoa why is my butt is vibrating?"
Thursday, June 19, 2014
Day 22 June 16 Grand Canyon
Day 22 June 16 Grand Canyon
Today we got up early. Well most of us got up early. Geoff conned me into driving him to the Kaibab trail. I drove him four miles away to the trail head, at 2:30 AM !!! He decided to hike down the Kaibab trail, run the across the river an come up the other side on Bright Angel Trail. Now you need to know that EVERYWHERE there are signs saying don't do this. He did it. They rescue 250 people every year from the canyon. Geoff is unstoppable and pigheaded though. He talked to a ranger, who seemed to think it might be okay for Geoff to do. Most people only hike down and hike up the next day after 8 hours of hiking up! Geoff ran down the steep trail and came up the other trail, in 5.5 hours!it should have taken over two days of hiking. It was 16.9 miles and elevation was 7200. He did drink enough and did not get dehydrated. Meanwhile, Chris decided to hike at 6:30 am with the Spencer's on Bright Angel trail....so I got up AGAIN! Beca was still hobbling, Sam was tired and Zack...well he is six! I was not waking him up at the crack of dawn! Plus I was too tired and worried at this point about Geoff. His plan was to start at 2:30AM and hopefully get back before sunset. Geoff somehow met up with the group on his way up the trail....VERY tired.
We let him rest a bit. Then off we went to meet Molly the ranger. Chris did the trick then! Watch the video to see! Then we went off to finish the ranger program with our favorite ranger Molly. It was so windy, the kids were almost blown away during the ranger badge ceremony. Later we went to Hermits Rest, way out on the west side of the rim. Chris had an exhaustion breakdown at this point. He slumped way down among the rock wall and sun and I gave him caffeine and medicine and hoped for the best. He was much better after an hour. Geoff was hobbling at this point and getting tired....Beca was hobbling from her ankle....Chris was moving slow...Deb and I were getting blown away in the 55 mph winds! Back at the hotel rooms, took a break again. Rick, Doug, Martty, Geoff all needed a nap. Deb and I snuck out with the kids to the geology museum to watch the sunset. It was amazing. I am glad she dragged me there! We took the kids to a program about the 1000 caves found at the park. They are off limits. They have evidence of lots of megafauna animals that loved in the area and used the caves. It was interesting. It became more interesting when Zack needed to go to the bathroom and it was pitch black! I did not have a flashlight. Chris slumped and had a major exhaustion breakdown at that point too. It was okay though in the end. Everyone got home, put to bed! Beca moved upstairs to the Spencer's room, so Chris got a bed that night. Geoff was still sleeping when we arrived back at the hotel.
Today we got up early. Well most of us got up early. Geoff conned me into driving him to the Kaibab trail. I drove him four miles away to the trail head, at 2:30 AM !!! He decided to hike down the Kaibab trail, run the across the river an come up the other side on Bright Angel Trail. Now you need to know that EVERYWHERE there are signs saying don't do this. He did it. They rescue 250 people every year from the canyon. Geoff is unstoppable and pigheaded though. He talked to a ranger, who seemed to think it might be okay for Geoff to do. Most people only hike down and hike up the next day after 8 hours of hiking up! Geoff ran down the steep trail and came up the other trail, in 5.5 hours!it should have taken over two days of hiking. It was 16.9 miles and elevation was 7200. He did drink enough and did not get dehydrated. Meanwhile, Chris decided to hike at 6:30 am with the Spencer's on Bright Angel trail....so I got up AGAIN! Beca was still hobbling, Sam was tired and Zack...well he is six! I was not waking him up at the crack of dawn! Plus I was too tired and worried at this point about Geoff. His plan was to start at 2:30AM and hopefully get back before sunset. Geoff somehow met up with the group on his way up the trail....VERY tired.
We let him rest a bit. Then off we went to meet Molly the ranger. Chris did the trick then! Watch the video to see! Then we went off to finish the ranger program with our favorite ranger Molly. It was so windy, the kids were almost blown away during the ranger badge ceremony. Later we went to Hermits Rest, way out on the west side of the rim. Chris had an exhaustion breakdown at this point. He slumped way down among the rock wall and sun and I gave him caffeine and medicine and hoped for the best. He was much better after an hour. Geoff was hobbling at this point and getting tired....Beca was hobbling from her ankle....Chris was moving slow...Deb and I were getting blown away in the 55 mph winds! Back at the hotel rooms, took a break again. Rick, Doug, Martty, Geoff all needed a nap. Deb and I snuck out with the kids to the geology museum to watch the sunset. It was amazing. I am glad she dragged me there! We took the kids to a program about the 1000 caves found at the park. They are off limits. They have evidence of lots of megafauna animals that loved in the area and used the caves. It was interesting. It became more interesting when Zack needed to go to the bathroom and it was pitch black! I did not have a flashlight. Chris slumped and had a major exhaustion breakdown at that point too. It was okay though in the end. Everyone got home, put to bed! Beca moved upstairs to the Spencer's room, so Chris got a bed that night. Geoff was still sleeping when we arrived back at the hotel.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Day 21 June 15, 2014 Grand Canyon
Day 21 June 15, 2014 Grand Canyon
There are lizards everywhere! Sam is in heaven trying to chase them!!
We woke up and did two Ranger programs as a family. We did one about the rocks of the GC. The ranger was animated and had us all doing hand motions. "Layer upon layer..." The kids will always remember that! Afterwards, we raced over to another program. Molly became our favorite ranger so far on our trip across the country! She tricked us, but we laughed and even came back the next day to do it again! You will have to watch the video to see what Chris did, after we knew the trick, but the rest of the group did not! On her ranger hike, Chris walked into a tree ( don't ask!) and scratched below his eye up bad. He is okay though! In the afternoon, we waited for Deb and Rick Spencer, Hope and Faith to arrive. They were also going to the GC! About an hour after they arrived, the kids began playing ninja of course. Beca was so in to it, she fell and twisted her ankle. There is a picture below the second before she fell. We iced it and she was out of commission for the day. Bummer. Later, we did drag her around in our famous red wagon. The kids all pulled her. It was funny! I wonder what people thought! She stayed off her foot, but still wanted to be part of everything. Se hobbled around. She ended up being a fine a few days later. She hobbles, but is fine. In the afternoon, we went on the long Desert View Drive to the Watchtower. It was so amazing out there! Here is some background info....there is a fire burning on the North Rim. We are on the South Rim, but there is a burn ban. BUT...we did not know that before we arrived at GC. We had planned burgers for dinner, luckily we had cooked them before we left Flagstaff. Ther are no microwaves at GC either.....this is getting funnier....we drove the long drive to the Watchtower...and put our burgers on the engine of the SUV when we arrived for an hour! BUT they fell, some of them anyway...then it was SO windy, with gusts of 55 mph....so all our food was blown away for dinner as we ate it. It was funny. We did eat, but we were hungry still afterward. It was still really nice to be with the Spencer's and laugh about it. There is a picture of Chris reaching desperately down into the engine to get our lost burgers. Funny thing, the next day we saw a squirrel go up into the SUV.......hmmmm?! I will post the trick video with our new favorite ranger the next day.
There are lizards everywhere! Sam is in heaven trying to chase them!!
We woke up and did two Ranger programs as a family. We did one about the rocks of the GC. The ranger was animated and had us all doing hand motions. "Layer upon layer..." The kids will always remember that! Afterwards, we raced over to another program. Molly became our favorite ranger so far on our trip across the country! She tricked us, but we laughed and even came back the next day to do it again! You will have to watch the video to see what Chris did, after we knew the trick, but the rest of the group did not! On her ranger hike, Chris walked into a tree ( don't ask!) and scratched below his eye up bad. He is okay though! In the afternoon, we waited for Deb and Rick Spencer, Hope and Faith to arrive. They were also going to the GC! About an hour after they arrived, the kids began playing ninja of course. Beca was so in to it, she fell and twisted her ankle. There is a picture below the second before she fell. We iced it and she was out of commission for the day. Bummer. Later, we did drag her around in our famous red wagon. The kids all pulled her. It was funny! I wonder what people thought! She stayed off her foot, but still wanted to be part of everything. Se hobbled around. She ended up being a fine a few days later. She hobbles, but is fine. In the afternoon, we went on the long Desert View Drive to the Watchtower. It was so amazing out there! Here is some background info....there is a fire burning on the North Rim. We are on the South Rim, but there is a burn ban. BUT...we did not know that before we arrived at GC. We had planned burgers for dinner, luckily we had cooked them before we left Flagstaff. Ther are no microwaves at GC either.....this is getting funnier....we drove the long drive to the Watchtower...and put our burgers on the engine of the SUV when we arrived for an hour! BUT they fell, some of them anyway...then it was SO windy, with gusts of 55 mph....so all our food was blown away for dinner as we ate it. It was funny. We did eat, but we were hungry still afterward. It was still really nice to be with the Spencer's and laugh about it. There is a picture of Chris reaching desperately down into the engine to get our lost burgers. Funny thing, the next day we saw a squirrel go up into the SUV.......hmmmm?! I will post the trick video with our new favorite ranger the next day.
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