We had an early morning this morning, had to drop the p-dawg off at the kennel here, then get the train tickets, then off to the train.

We enjoyed a nice 2.25 hour train ride to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon today. It was a very old restored train, and it was an enjoyable ride up and back. The train had entertainers, masked "robbers", and all the things that go along with train travel.

We spent about 3.5 hours at the Canyon, walked around the rim bit, shot the video, and grabbed some lunch. At the end of the day, it's just a really HUGE hole in the ground, but we loved seeing it, and were in awe of the creation...cool stuff.

We'll be here for a couple of more days, enjoying some work time and just doing nothing time and pool time. We have some videos to catch up with as well, so look for those.

We'll head out Friday for Mesa Verde National Park, should be a fun time as well. I'll update this post when the video is done.

Faith's blog:
Today we went to the Grand Canyon. It was cool. We walked around it for just a minute. No one really knows how it was made. We saw the many different layers in the rocks. The Grand Canyon is historic. It was fun.

Kenzie's blog:
We got to see the Grand Canyon. It was HUGE! We took a walk around the rim. When we were walking back we did the video. We finally got it right. Everyone around us started clapping and cheering. This was fun, but I liked taking the train there the best. The entertainment was good and the free soda was great! But I got bored because it’s a 2 and a half hour ride. Oh well, it was fun anyway.

Video:

We finished up the trip to Calico by panning for gold, walking in a very wacky crooked house, touring old west shops and museums, and walking through an 120+ year old hand dug mine. The experience was cool, and we had a great time there at Calico Ghost Town.

We decided to take a little diversion on the way to Williams and took Old Route 66 outside of Kingman. There are lots of little shops to see, mostly gone and abandoned, but a great place was found as well that had a '57 Corvette, and lots of cool stuff inside.

We arrived in Williams, AZ late in the day around dinner time, and on the suggestion of TripAdvisor, visited Twisters diner. We had some great burgers, dogs, and milkshakes, all in a 50's type diner, highly recommend. We ended up setting up camp in the dark, but the campground is really nice here. We also saw a little wild west shoot out show outside the restaurant.

We leave early for the Grand Canyon. It's 2.25 hours each way on the train, so it should be an adventure. We're looking forward to it. The girls are also looking forward to tomorrow night when they can grab some pool time. We're hear until Friday, so Thursday will be work for me, and play time for the girls. More later...

Faith's blog:
Today we went to Calico Ghost Town. It was fun. We got to pan for gold. We found quite a bit. It is real gold but it wasn’t worth much. We also got to go in a mystery house. There were about 5 or 6 different tricks. They were all cool.

Kenzie's blog:
We had lots of fun here! My favorite part was panning for gold. I found quite a bit of it! We saw lots of old stores and buildings, including the church/school. The Calico Ghost Town was named after the Calico Mountains. This was one of my favorite stops.



Photos:

Route 66 and Grand Canyon

We're sitting hiding in the trailer, hiding from the 113 degree heat outside here at Calico Ghost Town, just outside of Barstow, CA in the desert. We drove a bunch of miles today from San Mateo, and as expected, got here just as the main stuff was closing. We'll hit the high points in the morning and pan for gold, etc. The town is open until dusk, so we'll go up and take a look when it cools down.

This is largely just an overnight stop en route to the Grand Canyon. We're looking forward to a few down days, and of course a cool train ride to the Canyon, and some swimming and catching up on work.

We went up and looked around. This place is pretty cool, and incredibly HOT!

Photos:

Calico Ghost Town

Video:

Today was mainly just a travel day. We had a long drive, so we got up early in the rain and headed down the PCH to San Fransisco. What an awesome drive! The scenery was beautiful, but unfortunately the gas prices are about $.50 higher per gallon that pretty much any where else.

We got to Michelle's Uncle's place and just kind of hung out. It was great after a very long week of travel and tours. We had a wonderful dinner provided by Roger, and called it a relatively early night.

We're pumped for a great day of sightseeing tomorrow in San Fransisco.

Sunday Update:

We had a great fast and furious day of museums, and site seeing, and a whirlwind drive through the streets of San Francisco. I've decided Uncle Roger would make a great cabbie. ;->

We visited the Zeum first, which is a great interactive audio/visual museum. We did karaoke, make claymation, shot a commercial, and other interactive fun. We had a great time there. We then headed towards the Exploratorium, which is a huge interactive science museum, with more exhibits than you can handle. We actually ran out of time to finish, and my brain hurt from all of the stuff.

We stopped by and saw a the Golden Gate Bridge from afar, and were pleasantly surprised to see the fog lift briefly for a good view. From where we were, we also enjoyed a nice view of Alcatraz.

Back home for a great meal from Roger. We take off early for a long drive to Calico Ghost town en route to the Grand Canyon. We're all looking forward to a few days of R&R. Video will be a few days for Redwoods and San Fran, need some time to edit and post.

As a side bonus for this stop, we saw a bunch of the cars in the Gumball 3000, a world-wide road rally filled with some really cool cars. Lambos, rice rockets, and a few other interesting cars all passed us on the highway on the way to San Mateo.

Faith's blog:
We got to go to the Zeum, Exploratorium, and Golden Gate Bridge. I liked them all. At the Zeum we got to make our own video. It was really cool. It was called “The Shampoo Commercial.” I learned at the Exploratorium… Did you know that black sand has iron in it?

Kenzie's blog:
Last stop? San Francisco! We stayed with my great Uncle Roger. He was really nice! He took us to the Zeum and the Exploratorium. The Zeum has more of creative projects. The Exploratorium has lots of science projects. They were lots of fun. We also got to go over the Golden Gate Bridge. I didn’t realize that it’s red! I had a lot of fun.



Photos:

San Francisco

Video:

We had a great time yesterday at the Redwood National Forest, what an amazing place to see these 1000's of year old trees. We definitely saw the hand of God here...

On the way up, we stopped off to see a little beach off the 101 (PCH) where sea lions and seals come to sun and play (thanks to Candy M. for the recommendation), and it was cool to see the seals playing in the water.

We also saw some of the serious fires that are going on in Northern, CA, and you can see the smokey roads in some of the pictures.

We dropped the trailer at the campground and headed North to Trees of Mystery, a place that has a great selection of redwoods of all types, many of which have been featured in Ripley's Believe it or Not. We saw the largest Family Tree, some candelabra trees, and even took a high air tram ride to the top of the mountain for a birds eye view. As you can see in the photos, we got a good view of a huge Paul Bunyan and Ox out front.

We headed back towards the camper, and stopped off in a little diner (Palm Cafe) in Orick, CA and had a great time. The waiter was really nice, and we had some of the best food we've ever had. If you're ever in that area, a must stop.

The girls couldn't wait to hit the beach, and we found a great one right on the way and spent a couple of hours. You can see my new "office"...what a view.

Off to San Francisco tomorrow!

Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went and saw supposedly some of the oldest trees in the world. Most of them were very tall. One is in Ripley’s Believe It or Not. It was one you could walk through. We also got to drive through a giant tree. It was real cool.

Kenzie's blog:
We had lots of fun in the Redwood National Forest. The coolest part was the Trees of Mystery. It has some really cool and old trees, like the family tree which has trees growing out of it, and many more cool trees.

Photos:

Redwood National Forest

Today was a short 2 hour drive to Mt. Shasta, California to visit the area and spend time with friends.

Friday afternoon, the girls visited a fish hatchery, which had some cool trout, including a couple of orange ones, that looked like someone's Koi had been messing around in the tank, if you know what I mean. ;->

We spent Thursday around the Mt. Shasta area, hiking and visiting a great lake. This is a really beautiful area. We saw some absolutely huge Douglas Fir trees, and enjoyed a fun 4 mile hike. We also spent some time at a local lake here so the girls could swim a bit.

Faith's blog:
Mount Shasta was fun. We got to swim in the lake. It wasn’t very cold. It was called Lake Sisikyou. It was cool. Mount Shasta is a volcano. We got to see a puzzle plant.
They come apart and go back together. It doesn’t harm them. I would like one.

Kenzie's blog:
We were just in Mt. Shasta. Mt. Shasta is a volcano that hasn’t erupted in about 250 years. We saw a museum that gave us lots of info on the volcano. Like the first person to reach its top. After that we saw the fish hatchery which is where we fed the fish. The day after we arrived in Mt. Shasta we took a 4 mile hike. It was so beautiful. I had a lot of fun. Hopefully we go again!

Miles so Far:1350 Miles

Next stop, the Redwood National Forest and Trinidad, CA.

Photos:

Mt Shasta

Video - Short and Sweet

Just a quick note here, we stopped by Ashland, Oregon to see Michelle's Aunt Lyn. We had a lovely visit with Lyn, but I've decided Ashland hates me. We had lots of interesting things happen while we were there, most of which weren't great.

Even with that, we still had a good time. Off to Mt. Shasta.

Here are some photos, some great ones with Aunt Lyn...

Faith's blog entry:
In Ashland we got to go to a neat park. Me and Kenzie got soaked in the creek. We stayed with my great Aunt Lyn. We had a real fun time. I enjoyed it a lot.

Kenzie's blog entry:
We got to stay with our Great Aunt Lyn. She was sooooooo nice!!! We got to eat at the park. It was fun! I tried walking up the creek. I fell in a few times. I had sooo much fun! I can’t wait to visit her again!

Photos:

Ashland

Well, what a day...filled with lots of driving, quite a bit of frustration, especially with technology, and some interesting driving "lessons" for Michelle.

We made it to the Oregon coast and went by the Tillamook Cheese Factory (ie: Faith's dream location) for a tour and some cheese and ice cream. It's a fun trip around the factory, and educational.

Michelle had to drive the trailer today for a while, and unfortunately, through the city, and other than wanting to completely throw up, she did awesome! I was working through some work stuff until we got out of Verizon coverage for about an hour...all in all, I think I have less hair now, but we survived.

I'm still working on the video from Seattle. We'll be working on some voice over content for it so it makes more sense and is more educational.

More photos and videos to come. Sorry for the delay, with all the video and photos, it takes a bit of time to do each site. We're looking forward to some downtime in the coming days...

Faith's blog entry:
We stayed for one night. But we still got to see the cheese factory. It was really cool.

Kenzie's blog entry:
We just left Tillamook, OR. Seeing it’s cheese factory was cool! We watched them make, serperate and package the cheese. Then we got samples of some cheese and got ice cream. I liked the dioramas of how cheese started. It was fun.
Photos:

Tillamook

Video:

Days 2 and 3 were in Seattle, Washington. We spent a good deal of time at Ballard Locks, which is the gateway for boats and ships to go between the Puget Sound and Salmon Bay. There is up to a 26' elevation difference between the 2 bodies of water, so they use a system of water locks and gravity drains to move the boats up or down for entry between the two.

At the locks, there is also a set of "fish ladders" which allow the salmon to make their way more easily to their spawning grounds.

We also made our way to Pike Place Market, a huge market for fish, veggies, fruit, and all sorts of wares. There were a million people there it seemed, and very busy. There are live bands, lots of fun, and of course, the flying fish of the Pike Place Fish Market.

Also on the agenda was Pioneer Square, an area of town that was destroyed by fire at one point, and completely rebuilt. This area of town also includes a firefighter memorial, which was really cool.

To finish up the day, we spent some time at the Space Needle, built in 1962 for the World's Fair. We elected not to spend $64+ for the elevator ride up, but it's quite a site to see, especially considering it was largely ornamental.

Seattle is a neat town, and we enjoyed our time there.

We'll be updating the video here with some voice over information to add to the educational appeal. Check back for updates.

Faith's blog entry:
We got to see a lot. I liked the Space Needle the best. It was tall. . . taller than my mom (who is really tall.) We didn’t get to go in it though. But we got a souvenir. Thanks for reading.

Kenzie's blog entry:
We’re at Seattle, WA. We have a great campground that we’re staying in. It is so fun. We went and say the Pike Place Market, the space needle and the Ballard Locks. My favorite was the locks! It was so cool!!!! You can see the Salmon swimming when you go under ground. There are giant, lock-like things that block the water and even out for boaters to get across. It sounds confusing but you can watch our video to find out more. See yah!

Explanatory Text for Video - We had some technical issues preventing us from doing the voice over for this video, so here is some text to explain what you're seeing.

Ballard Locks:

The Ballard Locks were built to keep the fresh water from Lake Washington from mixing with the salt water of the ocean, and to move the boats from the higher water level of the lake to the lower water level of Puget Sound.

The way they work is that boats coming in from Salmon Bay line up in the lock. Then they shut the gates on the ends of the lock and seal it shut. The water is then drained until it is the same water level as Puget Sound. Once they are the same, the gate to Puget Sound is opened and the boats are released.

Everything is done in reverse for boats that are coming from Puget Sound and entering Salmon Bay.

Fish Ladders

Another part of the Ballard Locks is the fish ladders. Most fish ladders are entirely in salt water but the Ballard Locks are in salt water and fresh water. The ladders are steps that the Salmon swim up to get to the place they were born and lay their eggs. They usually die after laying their eggs. The ladders attract the fish and keep them from going into the locks were they would probably get killed by boats or birds.



Photos:

Seattle

Video:

I'm switching over to using GodTube for the large videos since some servers block Youtube. Smaller videos will just be embedded here.

Well, relatively uneventful day, largely just travel. Another 360 miles or so, and a really nice drive through huge wheat fields and corn fields (it's like Kansas and Iowa.) Then, you hit the mountains, and a beautiful drive with mountain lakes, great passes, and all around enjoyable scenery.

We're happy to report Faith is feeling better. She's still running a mild fever, but way better than last night. Kenzie had a bit of a headache today, but not sure if that's the same illness, or car sickness or dad-sickness or what.

Mom and Dad are doing well, and we're all still settling into the routine, figuring out pre-destination (not THAT pre-destination) research schedules, school work, and all of that. Michelle has done a great job, although home-schooling full time doesn't appear to be in the future for our family. ;-> The girls are filling out an information sheet for each destination and using the web and their textbooks to gather data, plus normal schoolwork, videos, and the blog/journal. Lots going on.

We're heading into Seattle tomorrow for the big sightseeing day. Peanut gets to come with us since all of the places are outside and/or dog friendly...he'll love that. He escaped to a neighboring campsite for a little barbecue, so he's enjoying Seattle so far.

Take care, and thanks for your continued prayers!

Photos:

Home and Coeur D'Alene

Well, we made it 560 miles to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. Despite a slow start and getting out a little late, we got here around dinner time, and had a fairly uneventful day. Michelle and I need to do some better food and snack planning, which she's doing right now, just to help the day flow a bit better.

This is really just a place to overnight on the way to Seattle. We are leaving in the morning sometime to head there, and have probably 5-6 hours again, but we'll be there for a couple of days.

Now, the bad news...it seems Faith caught a stomach flu bug that's been going around, and thank God it didn't show up until we were back in the camper and she was in bed. She's sleeping now, but had a bad headache and threw up once. We're hoping it's the 24 hour kind, and are praying for healing overnight so we can travel easily tomorrow. We'd appreciate prayers that the rest of us stay healthy.

The girls will be posting their journals as blog entries, depending on on-road internet, and Faith's status.

Thanks for checking in, see you soon!


Kenzie's blog entry:
Today we visited Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. And let me tell you, it was a loooooong drive. (Even longer than my mini dachshunds back!) Just joking! Actually, heading to Coeur d’ Alene from home (Belgrade, Montana) is traveling 560 miles in about 6 hours. But, don’t forget, we made about 4 pitstops. Anyway, we passed by some beautiful scenery! Hills, mountains, rivers and my favorite, Lake Coeur d’ Alene. It’s a beautiful lake that’s 30 miles long and only 1-3 miles wide. We got to stay right on the coast. We only stayed for one night but I have to give the road trip credit. We saw a collapsed mine with a statue by it of a miner. I found out that in 1972 a fire started and it filled with smoke and gases in the mine. All the miners tried to get out but only 82 survived. On my first day I learned a lot and I hope tomorrow will be the same.

I finally updated the map and route planner in MS Streets and Trips. We'll be navigating from my pda GPS, the laptop with MS Streets and Trips (and GPS), and maps and directions. Should be fun.

Once I entered all of the addresses, we're looking at 10,372 miles total, not including site seeing.

Fun fun!

The map is below:

We took a quick trip up to Pine Creek Falls outside of Livingston, Montana yesterday, which is always beautiful. This is where Michelle and I were engaged.

This gave us a chance to let Kenzie and Faith practice doing a travel video blog. They're just getting the hang of it.

The video is kind of noisy due to the water falls, but it'll help you get in the "moment".

We're 6 weeks out, and plenty to do, of course, we've met with both teachers now, and they are awesome! We're really excited to see how the school side of things shape up, and must admit we're all a little nervous about that part of the trip (more than any other part).

Here's a schedule of where we're planning on going and when we're planning to be there. Because we have reservations, it should be pretty close to this. We just added some dates in Cape Cod instead of spending so much time in New Fairfield, CT, which should add some fun and interesting things to see there.

The Schedule:

No big news on the trip front. We met with one of the teachers last week (Mrs. S), and we have another meeting today with Faith's teacher (Mrs. A) today. They've both been awesome, and we're so excited that the girls will both be highly integrated into the classroom throughout the trip.

School's out in the next couple of weeks, and we should have all of the curriculum we need for the "normal" school work. That'll give us a chance to do a bit of the school work during the summer so that burden is lessoned for the trip (and we can concentrate on the more trip-related studies.

In other news, Peanut came home yesterday. Although we had a sleepless night last night for the most part (we're crate training), he's doing great, and learning all he needs to learn about being a house/camper dog.

Here's a new pic. Isn't he the cutest?

That's his official name, Peanut. Not too manly, but since he'll only weigh 9 pounds, I guess it's okay.

Wouldn't YOU like to take him 9600 miles around the country with you? ;->



Another picture we just got.

We received encouraging words from the girls' principal, and it looks like we'll be able to get books and curriculum for the trip to keep the girls involved and on track for their schooling. We're looking forward to working with their next-year's teachers to involve the classroom in our trip, through possibly video, this blog, etc.

It will be exciting and interesting to see how we can work through all of the school-related issues we'll face.

Friday, we headed up to Great Falls to pay an initial visit to our new travel buddy, yet to be named...he's a mini dachshund puppy, born on 3/31. He'll permanently join our family on 5/30 or so. Should add an extra dimension to our trip, both a fun and frustrating one I'm sure!

This is Chi Chi.
Yesterday I found out that we get to go to the Jungle Friends Sanctuary! It is a primate rescue center. If you are one of my friends, you know how much I love monkeys! My family and I are going to volunteer there in Gainesville ,Florida. I've decided, for a late b-day present, to sponsor a monkey there. It includes a picture painted by my monkey! I get to watch him paint it! I've chose this cutie, Chi Chi. You can read about her at www.junglefriends.org. I get to be with her for a little bit by her cage. I can't wait! :)

We made our reservations for Fort Wilderness resort on the disney property. It looks like a great place to camp, and comes highly recommended. We'll be there starting on 9/10 for 10 nights.

We also put in our requests for our tours in DC. We're trying to get the White House tour, Capital Building, Engraving, and Monuments. We'll be in DC from 9/25 to 9/30. We won't know the status of the WH tour until 10 days prior to the date of the tour, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

I'm putting the final touches on the schedule and route, and looks like it'll be a lot of fun, and we look forward to seeing lots of family and friends!