Ooops!!!

Okay, I made a mistake in one of the captions in the Mesa Verde pictures. I said the Indians stored RICE. No, there was no rice raised in the desert!!! Ha-ha! I meant beans, not rice. They raised corn, beans and squash, and stored them along with firewood and water for the winter. Sorry, folks!

We are doing well. We rolled over 4,000 miles on the drive to here...Moab, UT. Amazing landscape around here -- very red. You'll see in the pictures later. The weather has finally gotten hot -- 93 today, but of course, very dry. Up until now, the weather in SD and CO has been surprisingly cool and green. We've enjoyed many days of 70s. A longtime resident of Estes Park, CO, remarked to Mark that in all the years he has lived there, he has never seen the landscape as green as it was this late in July.

Also, in the last couple of days, we have had some wicked storms, but they are interesting because there was scant rain. It was all about wind, thunder and some lightening. We also saw a dust devil yesterday. Certainly hope that's all we see...a camper isn't the place to be in a tornado.

Off to Arches and Canyonland National Parks today. Hi to the Bradshaws, who made it home safely this week from a similar trip to ours. We hope to compare notes when we get home.

Wednesday and Thursday, July 29 and 30

The past two days have not been particularly active. Yesterday, we mostly relaxed. Philip and I shot some pool, swam in the pool (a different one, obviously); Mom washed the laundry, and Dad worked on iTunes. We also watched three DVDs in a row yesterday (a record in the camper), as a result of the strange weather going on. It was sunny, then cloudy, then so windy it blew over a nearly full trash can, then thundery, then back to normal. And it was a cycle! It just kept on repeating! Anyway, today was pretty cool; we packed up fast, after getting up around 6:30, and we got going quickly. The scenery changed within two hours. It went from the somewhat grassy Mesa Verde area to the semi-desert of Arizona and Utah. On the way to Moab, where we now camp, we passed through the incredible Monument Valley. Huge sandstone formations, shapped like fingers, hands, mesas, and buttes jutted out from the desert floor, looking almost fake in their appearance. It is simply amazing, you have to see it. After arriving in Moab, we set up in about 10 minutes, a record time, I believe. It's a very nice campground, but somewhat intimidating on account of being between two monolithic, dead vertical sandstone walls. That's right, we're in a huge valley, right between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. Tonight's closing will be "goodbye and good night" Chinese, on account of the Patrick and Sharon Fitzpatrick's new Chinese daughter, Grace Lu Fitzpatrick: 再見，晚安!

Tuesday, July 28

Today was simply incredible, and you'll find out why. Later. Anyway, today we visited Mesa Verde National Park, the first place to become a National Park for cultural reasons as well as scenic reasons. We took a self-guided tour of the Spruce House cliff dwelling of the Puebloans, and a ranger-guided tour of Cliff Palace, the largest Puebloan cliff dwelling in the southwest, with over 150 rooms. By the way, I jogged the Spruce House trail a second time for reasons of getting pictures. I did about two and a half miles on that section of the park so I got a great workout, even though I almost perished of exertion in the 100 degree heat. The tour of Cliff Palace started at 11:30, and lasted about 1 hour. After taking the interesting tour, we all decided to sate our growing hunger and thirst at the Visitor Center restaurant. Believe me, after walking for a couple hours (or jogging) under a Colorado sun, there's nothing better than a little overpriced food in a National Park cafe. Mmmmmmm . . . Following lunch, we began to head back home. However, we encountered a dastardly roadblock. We sat in our car for about 15 minutes, waiting for the traffic to move along, but nothing happened. Finally, a construction-worker-looking guy came along and told us that a car had gone over the edge of the mountain. Now, we were rather shocked, as you can imagine, at least until the guy told us that nobody was in it. I got out of the car to walk to the big scene, and found out that a park ranger had stopped his truck on the side of the road to go check on something; however, he had neglected to put on the parking brake! The car rolled a ways, and then started rolling on its side. It had stopped halfway down. We waited an hour, but didn't see anything of the car coming up on the tow truck wire, so we got back in our truck. Finally, traffic began to pass, and we went past the scene until we got a great angle to view it. The truck literally looked like an oblong ball of metal. If someone had been inside, they surely would have met a horrible end. That was really the last part of our active day. We got back, no issues, and relaxed for the rest of the day. By the way, today was Dad's birthday! We haven't gotten him a gift yet, but our grandparents have; from them, he got five magazines: Car and Driver, Mopar, Diesel World, some home furnishings magazine, and a food magazine. He also get a set of dominos. Today's closing will be in Portueguese: Adeus e boa noite!

Monday, July 27

Today was a meager drive of about 260 miles, and about 6 hours. We drove through the scenic Sangre de Cristo and San Juan mountain ranges, where we began to see the changes in the environment that we would be seeing for a while. The landscape, if only slightly, began to change from mountains into the freestanding sandstone formations seen in Canyonlands and Arches National Parks of Utah. Anyway, on the way, we saw some very beautiful scenery; we saw fir-covered mountains and sheer cliffs, and we saw miles and miles of it. Other than that, we didn't do much. Right now, I'm writing the blog from the town of Cortez, right outside of Mesa Verde National Park. And no, regardless of how Spanish the names sound, we are not in Mexico. Anyway, that's really all that happened today, aside from writing up two backlogged blog postings, and updating the trip schedule, which can be found at the bottom of the page. By the way, our plans have changed somewhat from the original calendar, so beware! Tonight's closing will be "goodbye and good night" in Filipino: Paalam at magandang gabi!

Sunday, July 26

I'm sorry for being late on this posting and my last one, but there was just so much going on. Yesterday, on Sunday, we got up early, as we were going to travel quite a bit. We headed out to Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument, one of the largest and diverse fossil dig sites in the world. We watched an interesting movie on how the site was formed, and took a small hike along the Petrified Forest loop, where we witnessed a large variety of beautiful flowers, including the indian paintbrush, wild geranium, elk thistle, and yarrow. We also saw many petrified redwood stumps, one of which was as wide as at least five or six people. After our visit, we decided to head for the town of Cripple Creek, where we ate lunch. Now, here's the thing. When my mom lived in Colorado, around '68, Cripple Creek had one or two small casinos. Now, in 2009, Cripple Creek's main street is clogged with five or six casinos, each branching out into an average of about four large rooms, filled with slot machines and similar things. It's ridiculous. Anyway, we ate at a place called McGill's Pub and Platter, which was inside a casino. Therefore, we had to deal with constant, repetitive casino "music." It just kept droning on . . . ohh, it was horrible. We got out as quickly as possible, but when we did get out, it was thundering and lightning. We got in the car at the right time, because after we did, it starting hailing, hard. We took a little trip to a place where Mom and her parents used to go all the time when they lived in the mountains. We didn't see the road, "Greta Gulch", but we did see some other roads named after the wives of the men who lived there. After our side trip, we headed back to the camper, and got there around 5:30 or so. After that, we all sort of slipped into a lethargic state for the rest of the day. We ate noodles with pork and gravy for dinner, and broke into a new bag of cookies. There's really nothing else that happened, so tonight's closing will be "goodbye and goodnight" in Thai: โชคดีและดีกลางคืน!

Saturday, July 25

Today, Philip and I took our first lengthy horse ride! We got up at our own leisure, and generally sat around until 12:20. Philip watched TV, Dad and Mom did their own things, and I was on the computer. Around 12:00, Dad called the two of us out to do a quick sponge-bath on the camper. At around 12:15, Mom got back from the grocery store, and we finished our job. We had a ride scheduled for 1:00, and we had to be there by 12:40. Therefore, we finished at just the right time; we left at 12:20, and got there at 12:40 on the nose. Philip got a horse named Black Satin, Mom got a horse named Jake, and I got a horse named Barfly. Our guide, Scott, didn't speak a lot, but he definitely knew what he was doing, by the calm way he approached . . . well, everything. We had a wonderful time, taking a trip up onto a ridge with a great overlook of the entrance into the Rockies. However, for a short time, it rained during the ride, around the beginning. After a good two hours in the saddle, it felt great to be back on land, although the two hours we were in it were spectacular. The view was absolutely awesome from the ridgetop. After our trip, we headed back to the camper, and got there around 3:30. After that, we didn't do much at all. We had dinner on the grill: pork tenderloin with a spreading of Stubb's and BBQ sauce on top, along with orzo pasta. Mr. Nolan has requested that tonight's closing be in Gaelic, so here it is: Slan agus oiche mhaith leat!

Friday, July 24

Ahh, but for the life of laziness. Today was quite inactive, and we ended up lying around the camper until about 1:00. We accomplished a few things, including cleaning the custom air filter on the truck. Aside from that, Philip and I watched a Comedy Central show that made fun of Sean Hannity (much to Dad's delight), and we played two games of pool down at the main building. After a while of lounging, we pulled out of the park, with aims of finding out more about whitewater trips, horseback tours, and the like. We stopped at a rafting company called Wilderness Aware Rafting, where we picked up a few pamphlets. After that, we started driving through the mountains again to Taylor Reservoir, home of a pleasant little boat-rental/fishing business that we stopped at to just enjoy the surroundings. On the way there, however, we also stopped at Cottonwood Pass, a very scenic location with a small trail leading up a mountain. Anyway, at the little fishing business, we sat on some picnic tables next to the reservoir, and played with some animals which belonged to the owner; their names were Ringo, a chocolate lab, Duck, a chocolate lab puppy, Marley, a golden retriever, and Rambo, an inactive and fat tabby cat. After our brief but enjoyable excursion at the lake, we headed back, on account of the storms growing in the distance. When we got back, Dad started cooking the pork on the grill. Meanwhile, a family stopped by to talk. As it turned out, they were in a Boy Scout troop which was camping in this very park! They were in tents, of course. Anyway, they stopped to talk on account of me wearing my troop t-shirt. Apparently, the scoutmaster of the troop had a friend involved in the theater business, and had obtained a copy of the new movie, "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen" on DVD before its actual release!! The family actually invited Philip and I over to watch it at 9:00. They really were a great family. That basically concludes today, except for what's going to happen later. Tonight's closing will be "goodbye and goodnight" in Maltese: Addiju tajba lejl!

Blog Notes

Hi all,

I wanted to point out a few directions about the blog, for those who may be unfamiliar with this kind of communication. First, if you would like to make a comment, remember that all comments on this blog are available for other blog readers to view. To make a comment, click on "Comments" which appears below each post. A window will open for you to comment in.

Also, when viewing the photos, keep in mind that some of the photos have comments on them, but most don't. From what I can tell, if you play the slideshow without stopping, the comments will appear automatically. However, if you click through the photos manually, you may need to move the cursor up into the photo for the comment to appear.

This blog has truly been a trial and error adventure! It's been fun, though. Today, we are having the first real "down" day -- and a welcome one. Mark and the boys cleaned the air filter on the truck, and it's drying in the sun now. Can't go anywhere until it's dry, so that's great.

I'll leave the rest of the details for Spencer to illuminate. Love hearing your comments.

Mynn

Thursday, July 23

Here's my second post of the day. If you haven't read my first, check below this post for a second, titled: "Friday, July 22." Anyway, today was just another driving day, with some more gorgeous scenery, towering mountains, and spatious valleys. Ahh, the Rockies . . . We got packed up very well, considering that Dad and I had to use a bunch of time putting our heads together to figure out how to fix the sewer problem. We got out around 10:30, and got to the new campground at 4:00. We had some interesting events going on in the meantime, though. The early drive was mostly the same scenery we had witnessed earlier over a few days, but as we drove on, more space came around the corner, evolving into the beautiful valley of South Park (no, not the Comedy Central show that spews irreverent humor throughout each episode). But even before that, we had a teensy weensy problem with the air brake, involving an hour-long wait, a lunch break, and sighs of relief after success. It broke down about 11:45, and we pulled into a small convenience store. Dad ended up making a long phone call to PacBrake, and Mom made sandwiches for everybody. After a long hour of waiting, we got the brake fixed, and we headed out with full stomachs towards Buena Vista. After about two hours, we passed into South Park. It is stunning. You could probably fit most of New York City into the valley; it's that wide! We just came over the hill and saw a row of mountains on the left, a row on the right, and about 8 miles of spectacular plains in between. Shortly after that, the Collegiate Peaks came into view. They consist of five (maybe more) mountains named after major universities. Of the ones I know, there are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, and Columbia. Cool, isn't it. We're going to have a lot of fun over the next three days, because there's whitewater rafting, horseback riding, and even a music festival in town from July 24-26. Those are the exact same days we have down time in Buena Vista! Anyway, our campground is great. We have great cable, great WiFi, a small garden, and lots of shade. So, here I am, writing the blog. Today's closing will be "goodbye and good night" in Hindi: अलविदा और अच्छा शुभ रात्रि!

Wednesday, July 22

Sorry that I didn't publish yesterday's post yesterday; I'm making it up to you guys by doing it today, in addition to today's post. Yesterday was incredible. We got up early, around 6:15, and went to eat breakfast in Estes Park, at a good restaurant called the Grubsteak. We took Scout with us, leaving him in the car while we ate. Immediately after eating, we started driving to Rocky Mountain National Park, for a drive that would take about six hours and all around the beautiful tundra of the partly snow-covered mountains. We saw gorgeous valleys and soaring peaks, as well as the occasional marmot, standing up to view his land, or the shy pika, scampering under and across rocks. We even saw a couple herds of elk! By the way, if there's one thing I have noticed, it is that breathing up here is significantly harder than back in North Carolina. Regardless, it didn't stop us from having fun with the sights. Make sure you see yesterday's album; you won't want to miss it. We finally reached the town of Granby, outside the park, after travelling about 30 miles through the park. There, we visited an Ace Hardware, where we got some sewer equipment so we could fix the problem involving a broken coupling on one of the hoses. After another 30 mile drive back through the scenic mountains, we got back to camp, where we basically settled down for the rest of the day. The reason I didn't publish a post yesterday was because of a busy WiFi connection in the campground. Now, since I'm writing this around 12:30, yesterday's closing will be "goodbye and good afternoon" in French: Au revoir et bon après-midi!

Tuesday, July 21

Today was more random than most of the other days we've gone through so far. We woke up when we wanted to, no "get up now, we gotta get going" (hint, hint, that's Mr. Mazur and Mr. Haeseker), so we ended up leaving the campsite to explore quite late, around ten-ish. Not that it matters very much, because we saw quite a bit of good scenery as it was. The first thing that we did was to go to the Visitor Center to get some information about Estes Park. After some amount of inquiries, we decided to travel on the Peak-to-Peak highway, from Estes Park to Boulder, CO. We made the decision with the knowledge that we wouldn't cover the whole highway, which was, point to point, 55 miles. A round trip would be 110 miles, 70 more than we traveled yesterday - and today was down time! Anyway, we took a side trip from the highway which took us into the Wild Basin area of the Rockies, on a dirt road along an idyllic stream with firs and aspens dotting the way. We stopped at a nice picnic area, around 10:45 or so, and just walked around for a bit, marvelling at the beauty of the mountains. Eventually, we decided to take a short hike, maybe half a mile long (my apologies to Troop 215 that I did not go further than that). We hiked along the trail for about twenty-five minutes, viewing the superb alpine scenery - and attempting to avoid the stench of huge piles of horse excrement every two meters. That's right. We travelled on what we suspected to be something different than your average trail, and our suspicions were confirmed when we saw the sign: "Horse Trail - 1/2 mile to Finchley Lake, 1 mile to Ranger outpost." Go figure. By the way, note that "Horse Trail" is written in bold print. After our stinky side trip, we headed back to camp for some lunch. Lounging for about an hour, we ate potato chips and sandwiches, while planning in our heads what to do next. Following a standard lunch, we headed downtown to drop Mom off at the laundromat while Dad, Philip and I strolled around the shops along Elkhorn Avenue in Estes Park. Now, for those who are skeptical about Elkhorn Avenue, it is the equivalent of just about every major street in Gatlinburg, except with better flora and far more parking. And yes, I will admit, there was no Ripley's Believe It Or Not museums or 16-screen cinemas, but most of the shops were loaded with unnecessary pieces of garbage. Nevertheless, we did find some very cool things. For one, Dad bought me a 5'9" hickory walking stick, for the value of twenty-six dollars and ninety-five cents. Also, we saw a rock shop with exact casts of life-size Triceratops and Tyrannasaur skulls. Both were priced around ten grand. Not exactly a quick purchase. Dad got a tye-dye style shirt colored completely orange on the front and completely blue on the back. Who says dads can't be ostentatious? Oh yeah, Philip and I each got a half-pound of candy, courtesy of Dad (and of Mom's absence). We all climbed into the car after an hour and a half of looking and buying and proceeded to pick up Mom at the laundromat, along with about 150 pounds of clean clothes and bedsheets. When I got back, I almost immediately got on the computer to write about today, so here I am, typing away. Hey, that rhymes! Anyway, here's a "goodbye and good night" in Polish: Żegnaj i dobranoc!

Question to Seasoned Bloggers

Hi all,

One of our followers has received a message from Google that their invitation to this blog is about to expire. Spencer and I can't figure out how to extend it without typing in all of the email addresses again. Before we do that, does anyone know an easier way to extend the invitations? Also, let us know if you are getting that message as well.

Thanks, Mynn

Monday, July 20

I know I've already said this about Mt. Rushmore, but if you haven't seen the Rockies, they are simply incredible - you must see them. You drive along all these plains, and suddenly, you see them; they're monoliths of stone, spearing the sky with their sharp peaks, some still covered with snow. Supposedly, you can see bighorn sheep all around . . . if you look hard enough. We have not seen any just yet, but we will soon enough, I'm sure about it. We visited Colorado State today, home of Dad's studies and degrees. It really is a beautiful campus, with elm trees across the grounds, friendly students and alumni all 'round, greeting us and giving us information, when we asked. However, Dad says that the campus is so different than when he attended. He says it's changed for the better, though. You won't believe what happened today. When we visited the cafeteria, we met an alumnus of CSU who graduated in '92. Guess where he lived? Raleigh, North Carolina. He saw Philip's Raleigh Troop 215 t-shirt and spoke up. First the couple from Denmark, now a CSU grad student from Raleigh who just happened to visit his old campus on the same day, of the same month, in the same year that we did!!! Anyway, we got on the road to where we are now at about 1:00 Mountain time, as we only had about 40 or 50 miles to travel to Estes Park. We will be staying in Estes Park for about three nights, then we'll travel to Buena Vista, where we'll stay for four. We'll have roughly seven days of down time in the Rockies. We arrived in Estes at about 2:45. That left us with quite a bit of time to relax, which was a great gift. So, here I am, writing the blog, waiting for the days to bear some fruit. Oh! I forgot to write the closing in a foreign language yesterday. Therefore, here is the "goodbye and goodnight" in Greek: Αντίο και καλή νύχτα!

The Badlands...from Mynn

Hi all,

Just a note about the photos. So far, Spencer is the chief writer, Philip is the chief photographer, and I have been the album-maker. It has been a hard job to manage the pictures from three different cameras, especially when I have no knowledge of using Picasa. Now, after 8 or 9 days, I'm getting better at it. To that end, I re-did the Rushmore and Badlands albums, so if you have sufficient interest, you may want to go back and look at them again.

The Badlands -- it's a place I've never seen. It had a profound effect on all of us, but I think especially on Mark and me the most, because we're older and have seen more places in the world before this one. Standing on the edge of the prairie, looking into the underbelly of the grassland, one feels like one giant step has been taken from Montana to the Moon. No kidding. It is completely other-worldly. As a result, I've included a lot of photos of the area, in case you are interested.

We have had an uneventful journey, regarding any RV problems, to date. Interestingly, we pulled into the Iowa campground to camp next to a couple from.....Denmark! Can you believe it? They had rented an RV to visit the US. It is really a small world.

Tomorrow, we walk around Colorado State University -- Mark is returning after 25 years. We'll keep you apprised of happenings.

Love hearing from all of you,

Mynn

Sunday, July 18

We left the Badlands today, as well as a bunch of good days. Regardless, it's okay, because we're moving on into the Rockies of Colorado, and we're camping tonight in Ft. Collins, where Dad went to school. We're only staying one night, though, as our real destination in the Rockies is Estes Park. Not a lot of events happened today, so I'll be quick; we saw a dramatic change in scenery today, from when we pulled out of the Badlands to when we entered Ft. Collins. We started out the day with nearly everything being flat, rolling plains, to the hilly, grass-covered foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We pulled in around four, so we definitely made good time today. That's just about all, so this is Spencer, signing off.

Saturday, July 18

Today was far hotter than either of the two previous days in South Dakota. Temperatures, which started out on Thursday at around 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit, rose up to about 85-90 degrees over the course of our stay. Temperatures aside, however, we had a fun, if not interesting time today. Getting up at around 6:45, we ate a quick breakfast of cereal and orange juice. Shortly afterwards, around 7:45, we headed towards the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, where we waited for about an hour on the waiting list before we found out that the first tour had already been taken by reserved spots. After that, we headed back to the campsite to make a picnic lunch to take elsewhere on a different trip. By the way, we had discovered at our last site that the Liquid Propane Gas generator had run out of fuel on one side, so Dad and I filled up the tank while Mom made sandwiches for us. I'm not sure when we pulled out, but when we did, we were headed for the city of Wall, South Dakota, and its famous attraction, the Wall Drug Store. For those who don't know, think a "drug store" one square block in area, filled not only with pharmaceutical items, but more paraphernalia and useless items than one could possibly imagine. Ninja throwing stars and shot glasses with state names on them.

However, before we could get to Wall Drug, we had to pass through 29 miles of idyllic Badlands scenery. We saw many beautiful rock formations, as well as two iconic animals of the west: bison and prairie dogs. We stopped at a few overlooks, one of which we had lunch at, and took the Sage Creek Road, along which was supposedly the largest wild buffalo herds in the park. We also passed by Prairie Dog Town, which certainly lived up to its name. Hundreds of the little critters stood up and barked until the air rang with their cries. It was extremely cool.

We reached Wall at about 2:00 or so, and we found a parking place rather quickly. Once parked, we all searched for Wall Drug, which wasn't hard to find, as we used the crowds to guide us. Wall Drug was a monstrosity! One block of ripoffs, in one room after another. In the end, Dad, Philip, and I ended up getting root beer floats, and leaving without any actual item purchases, as everything there was naturally overpriced. After visiting there, we decided to go through a car wash while in town. We got through rather fast, and proceeded to drive to a small grocery store on the way back to camp. We bought some small necessities, and then we went back. I got started on writing the blog post for today almost right away when we got back, so that's really all for today. Mirupafshim! That's "goodbye" in Albanian.

Friday, July 17

Well, the Badlands, Mt Rushmore, and surrounding country certainly lived up to our expectations, if it didn't exceed them. We started out the day with a pancake breakfast, served by KOA (for a price, of course), and proceeded to drive to Mt. Rushmore at around 9:00. For some reason, whether through lack of knowledge and guidance, or maybe simply because we desired to, we ended up taking a 75-mile-plus journey through the Oglala Sioux Reservation, ending up at the southwest corner of the Badlands (we were camped in the northeast section), and then turning north toward Rushmore. However long it may have been, none of us regret doing it. The sights were impossibly beautiful, enough to take one's breath away. There were buttes, mesas, canyon-like depressions that expanded for dozens of miles into the distance. It simply robbed us of thought.

Anyway, after we exited the Badlands National Park and entered the Black Hills, it didn't take long to reach Mt. Rushmore. We could actually see it coming from a couple miles away. We pulled in around 12:00, and we got a parking space as quick as possible, as this was Philip's number one spot he wished to visit. If you guys haven't seen Mt. Rushmore, try to see it sometime in your life. It, like the Arch of St. Louis, is another miracle of engineering in the modern world. The heads of Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt, and Lincoln all stare into the distance, inspiring all even past their own deaths. Philip got a wide-brimmed hat inscribed with "Mount Rushmore" on it, while I, being the simple one (yeah right) got another medallion to put on my hiking staff. We didn't stay for long, as we also wished to visit the not-so-soon-to-be-completed memorial of Chief Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Memorial, currently in the early stages of construction, had an admission fee of 27 dollars simply to look at the head and arms. Naturally, we did not want to pay the outrageous fee, so we decided to view it and take pictures from a parking lot next to the entrance. FYI: when finished, Chief Crazy Horse will be twice the size of Mount Rushmore. Pretty big, huh? After we did our half-visit to Crazy Horse, we proceeded to drive back north to drive along the scenic Needles Highway, which a trucker yesterday had raved about at a stop. However, this too had an entrance fee: 15 dollars. What's wrong with these people?! We nixed that from our plans and then simply drove east, back to state highway 79. On the way there, though, we passed through yet another beautiful locale: Custer State Park, home to one of the world's largest buffalo herds. Then, we headed north to Rapid City, intent upon visiting the Cabela's, having already passed two without visiting: one it St. Louis, the other in an obscure city in eastern South Dakota. We took several wrong turns, but eventually made it to Rapid City.

While Dad, Philip, and I all went in Cabela's, Mom (being the sensible one yet again) turned around and did some shopping at the Super Target across the road. However, that didn't stop the guys from having a good time in the huge outdoor store. We browsed through just about everything except clothes. Now, this is Uncle Ken's benefit, mostly: I believe I have found a shotgun that suits me perfectly. After all, I have taken the Shotgun Shooting Merit badge at scout camp, where I finished at the top of my class. It's a pump action Remington 12-gauge, with a tubular magazine, and it's $250. Cool, huh? After looking at shotguns, airguns, and rifles for a while, Mom eventually called Dad on his phone, beckoning us out into the parking lot. I can only say one thing about Mom's purchases: she had gone to town, all right. The back seat (not the pickup bed) was so stuffed I was cramped up in a little tight ball for the 50-mile journey back to the site. Regardless, I, along with everyone else in the car, was left with a feeling of immense euphoria. That's all I have for tonight, except for this translation of "goodbye and good night" in Spanish: Adiós y buenas noches!

Thursday, July 16

There are two words that can be used to describe today: ordinary, and extraordinary. Yes, I know that you're all thinking, "Huh? Aren't those words completely different?" They are indeed! I use them to describe today because today's drive went through those two stages. We got up rather early, anxious to get on the road because of the sights we would be seeing. The sun rose over the cornfield and gave us a nice sight; we packed up and got on the road where we spent all the time from then until about 10:00 passing by mostly green plains. Pretty much like the day before, except that it changed . . . and became stunning. The green plains gave way to rolling amber prairie, which you could see stretching out for miles upon miles. We even passed a few buffaloe! About 30 miles away from where we would camp for the night, the Badlands just came out of nowhere. All of the sudden, there were canyons, gorges, mesas, mountains, and cliffs! The Badlands really are incredible; the biggest part of its splendor is the fact that it is so spontaneous. We're staying here in South Dakota for three nights. We'll have two full days of fun ahead of us, so I hope you'll enjoy hearing from us about our adventures! Now, Mrs. Nolan requested that I do tonight's farewell in Dutch. Naturally, I obliged. Here it is - Vaarwel en goede nacht. In English, it translates to "Goodbye and good night."

Wednesday, July 15

Driving. That's all today was. A whole lot of driving. We actually didn't do 470 miles, but instead did 480-so miles instead. The scenery, though, was fabulous. We have now breached the vast expanse of land that is the Great Plains. However, given its current state, it was more plain-like in the Kevin Costner's "Dances with Wolves" - era Great Plains, like in the movie. But enough of that. We are in Iowa, just across the border from Omaha, Nebraska. We have a beautiful campsite alongside a lake, with a cornfield just to the east of us. Poplars are the most numerous tree, but the occasional willow droops down to grace the park.

Tomorrow, we will drive 400 miles to the city of Interior, South Dakota, which lies in the Badlands. It is close in proximity to Mount Rushmore, so expect to hear from us soon on that subject. Aside from completely different scenery than the Great Plains, tomorrow will be quite similar today: with miles to go before we sleep. By the way, Mrs. Fitzpatrick, you asked me how I got the chinese characters on the blog post; the answer lies in Google Translate. I understand that you are adopting a Chinese girl, and Google Translate could be an extremely helpful tool for you. All you have to do is search up "Google translate" on Google, and click on the first search result that is not highlighted in a peach color, and then use the tool to your heart's content. Now, as Koreans say, 안녕히 가세요. Or, in English, goodbye.

Tuesday, July 14

Sorry for my extremely negative attitude yesterday. It really wasn't that bad yesterday. Anyway, today was definitely great. I mean, didn't you know? Obama, the Great Messiah, President of the United States, was throwing the first pitch at the All Stars game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis - today! Isn't that exciting? Not really, when you look at the spending plan he announced in Michigan just a few hours before. Anyway, forget politics. We got to see the Gateway Arch!

We got up for a leisurely breakfast, and proceeded to leave at about 9:30. We got to St. Louis about 30 minutes later, where we took a few wrong turns, but eventually got parked and could visit the Arch at leisure. We took a couple pictures, and then went down into the underground complex, where we bought tickets for a 45-minute movie about Lewis and Clark's expedition out west, and the tram ride to the top. The movie really was spectacular. We watched it on an IMAX style screen, and the footage of the West was simply astonishing to me. The top of the Arch, however, was a completely different story.

The land stretched out east and west as far as the eye could see. It really is that flat out west. Anyway, it was astounding, although the fact that the "land" was mostly concrete, steel, and asphalt. That's how big St. Louis is. Regardless, it still inspired. We followed up the Arch with a lunch at Tigin's Irish pub. Hunger and a lust for heights now sated, we proceed to leave the big city for camp. Once back, Philip, Dad, and I hung around while Mom shopped for groceries. Dinner was good - we had tacos. After dinner, life slowed down a bit as Philip went to bed, and I started on today's post. So, that's a wrap for today! Tomorrow, we drive 470 miles, to Iowa, where we'll be staying for one night as a simple stopping point before we hit South Dakota on the next day. As they say in Chinese, 再見. Or, in English, goodbye.

Monday, July 13

Hi, guys! It's Spencer again, reporting from the heartland of America; thaaat's right, folks - we're in St. Louis!!! Tomorrow, we'll be visiting the Gateway Arch! However, before we visit that section of the trip, we must go over today's events - as incredibly boring as they are. It really is no big story. We got up around 6:00, stretched, and packed up after a minute breakfast. Yawn. Even the road was boring. Especially the road. We started driving, and we didn't stop until lunch, which was about four hours from the start. After lunch, we had about one hour until we reached our campsite. It really is a great campsite. It's got great showers, and streets so clean you could eat off them. In short, in was even more boring than today. Great, but boring. I really am sorry for my pessimistic attitude, but I was simply telling the truth from my own point of view. As they say in Russian, До свидания. Or, in English, goodbye.

Sunday, July 12

Hello again, everybody! We visited Mammoth Cave today, which was a simply stunning natural creation. We got up quite early, around 6:15, and had breakfast. Around 7:30, we left the campground, driving a short way to the Visitor Center of Mammoth Cave National Park. We inquired about tickets, and decided that the New Entrance Tour would be the best choice. It was affordable, fun, and showed the astonishing immensity of the caverns while keeping in a short, easy tour. Many pictures were taken, several "oohs" were "ahhed," and so on and so forth.

After going to Mammoth Cave, we stopped at Big Mike's Rock Shop, apparently the biggest rock shop in Kentucky. We bought a few rough rocks to tumble back at home, and left for camp shortly after. Staying at camp for lunch held no surprises; we got back, fixed a few sandwiches, and hung around for a few hours before driving to Bowling Green, where we bought a few essentials for the camper and the cameras. Finally, our last stop in Bowling Green was Rafferty's, a great restaurant with great food (and sugary martinis, one of which made Dad pucker quite a bit, much to the laughter of us all).

Following our jaunt in Bowling Green, we made it back to camp in one piece. I got the flag down from the camper and stored it away, getting back inside shortly afterwards. And, as it happened, not a moment too soon. About ten minutes later, all hell broke loose, in the form of a monstrous thunderhead. Soon enough, lightning was cracking all around, and thunder was booming loudly. One or two trees broke down, but no damage occurred to our camper (thank God).

That concludes the day's events. However, there's one thing I wish to mention before signing off. I'm finding it extremely difficult and frustrating to upload pictures from our cameras to Picasa, a site which has a link on our blog. Ergo, I'll instead email the pictures to you all while I figure out Picasa in the meantime. As they say in German, auf Weidersehen, und gute nacht. For those who don't know German very well, it means "goodbye, and good night."

Saturday, July 11

Well, I'm back. That's right, it's Spencer and company reporting from Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park campground, at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. Today, we drove an exhaustingly long 8 hours and 55 minutes, from Pulaski, VA to Cave City, KY, and we managed to achieve a fairly suitable spot in the camp after much wear and tear. We set up reasonably quickly, cooked up some spaghetti, and dried our sleeping bags in "Yogi Bear's Laundry Room." Throwing pretense and facades to the four winds, it was a difficult morning, while the afternoon was bearable. We woke up around 6:30, and left camp by 7:20. Afterwards, we dealt with rainshowers, intense fog, and sleepiness in the back seat (as if that was a problem). Following a wake-up call of donuts, chocolate milk, and coffee, purchased at a West Virginia truck stop, we all woke up and dug in eagerly.

Philip has requested that I share something with you all. Shortly after he received the gift of a brand-new Nikon digital camera, he announced himself the official photographer of the trip. Therefore, once we post a link to Picasa Web Albums on the blog, we can share as many photos with you guys as we like. Signing off after a 425-mile drive, this is Spencer Paige. Adieu.

The boys start the trip!

Yesterday, Sunday, we took the boys to Powhatan Boy Scout Camp, where they will stay for the week. They won't come back home until after our trip. The camp is located in SW Virginia, so Mark and I will leave on Friday with the camper, drive up to a campground near Powhatan, pick up the boys Sat. morning and be on our way.

Philip cracked a good joke right as this picture was taken yesterday. Not seen in the picture, my brother-in-law found Philip's cap from the French Broad River in his car, and pulled it out. Philip remarked, "Oh, there's a French Broad in Uncle Ken's car!"

We had a big family party here this weekend, because it was my 5-0 birthday on Saturday!!! I'm still alive and kicking. Hence, the Uncle Sam hat...

We have a lot of work to do this week to get ready. However, with no peanut butter sandwiches to make or squabbles to settle, it all should go smoothly.

Thursday, July 2

Hello again, everyone! This is Spencer, announcing that everything is done (preparation-wise), except for stocking the camper with food and other supplies, a task which is currently underway. Philip and I just finished cleaning, waxing, and detailing the truck today. By the way, I've put up a new gadget at the bottom of this page which shows you our schedule for the whole summer. It may be rough, but this is my first time at administrating a blog, so . . . I'll see what I can do to clean it up a bit. In the meantime, stay tuned to the blog so you can catch all the details once the trip starts. Goodbye, everybody. The family says hello!