Well, we are back, I realized I never posted the last few posts,  Eventually I will try to get them up, but with school and drama that will not be easy. We are back in North Carolina and are temporarily settling down. This blog is going to be going dormant for awhile until we know where to go from here.

 Sorry for the long wait. (I admit procrastination got to me.) Well, here is the Yellowstone special told by each person in the family. In this post every member of the family, save Simon, will be writing a paragraph on their time in West Yellowstone.

First my mom’s post:Christian has asked us all to write a paragraph on our week at Yellowstone. I am going to tell you about the amazing scenery since that is what struck me the most.  I really had no preconceived idea of what I would see in Yellowstone except that I knew it was very large and had varied terrain and the Old Faithful geyser. We saw some amazing geysers and other interesting mineral springs that were green, orange, yellow, or chalky gray. Most were pretty stinky and the terrain near them was like seeing a sci-fi movie of a strange, desolate planet. There were large evergreen forests with about 3 feet of snow on the ground at the highest elevations. The beautiful meadows along the rivers were often filled with herds of bison, many of them young calves. Yellowstone Lake was pristine with the snowy mountains reflected in its clear waters. We got multiple photos that are worthy of postcard status. Check out the photo album when it gets posted.

Next Rebekahs’ post: While in West Yellowstone, I went to a kids program at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. It is called Keeper Kids. First, we got to learn all about the bears and wolves (what they eat, their behavior, etc.) and we got a free animal button pin of one of the animals at the Discovery Center. Then, after the bears were sent to their dens, we got to go inside the habitat. Once inside I, and several others kids, hid food for the bears under logs and rocks. The foods we hid were carrots, dog food, and grapes. My favorite part was getting to hide a jackpot for the bears to find with tons of food. Then we went out of the habitat and watched the bears come out and find the food. It was a great experience!

Then my post, Admittedly I am not a huge fan of aesthetics so the scenery didn’t interest me much, and I was expecting just another national park with trees and hills (boring). But I was so wrong. On our first trip inside the park we ran into a herd of bison crossing the road, and that was just twenty minutes in! The number of bison we saw was so huge that by the third day in the park we didn’t even bat an eye at spotting a herd of them. Then there were the geysers, mud pots, and mineral springs which were amazing! Old Faithful was much cooler then I anticipated. When we went to see it, a crowd had gathered and when it started its pre-eruption steam cycle, you could feel the suspense in the crowd. Then the water blasted 150 feet in the air! The other mud pots and mineral springs were like something out of another planet or one of those dinosaur movies. The mud pots looking like the ground was boiling and the weird mineral spring colors messing with the idea that the ground is brown . Despite all that was awesome at Yellowstone, there were only two down sides, the smell of eggs that originated from the mineral pits, and not being able to stay for longer.

My dads paragraph would be here to end this post but he is currently on a business trip and hasn’t written one, I will edit the post and add his in as soon as he returns.

Well that was all of our views on Yellowstone. Currently we are in Rapid City, SD. We will be here for another week and then off to Sioux Falls via the Badlands and then to St. Louis via Kansas City. For the blog, my goal by next week is to catch up on all the albums that are missing. Thanks for reading!

    Dust tornadoes, cattle herds, and bison – yes, we had the pleasure of staying in central Washington and Montana. Throughout the past two weeks, we visited relatives, drove through Idaho, stayed in Montana and went through fly fishing country. Currently we are staying just outside Yellowstone National Park and then we will be off to South Dakota.

          From Bellingham, we made our way to Cle Elum where we visited Aunt Marian and Uncle Kenny as well as my Grandma and Grandpa Gentry (They were visiting the area too.), Cousin Joel, and Great Grandma K. We played lots of cribbage; my dad got to ride his motorcycle with Uncle Kenny and Joel. It was great seeing everyone again.

         From there, we went through the Idaho panhandle to Montana. En route we passed multiple dust tornadoes in the newly plowed fields, some towering to the sky in groups. We stayed in a town in an isolated area. Inside the campsite, we saw deer and, although we personally didn’t see it, a bear had been around recently. It was a very small town and we got to have some special Montanan foods such as huckleberry shakes and huckleberry syrup. Mom, Rebekah, and Simon went to the National Bison Range where they learned about bison, how they live, and their history.

Pricilla helping to herd cattle.

En route to Ennis, Montana (which is a fly-fishing mecca) to visit my second cousin Willie, his wife Robin and their daughters, we were halted by a herd of cattle, complete with accompanying cowboys, coming down the road. After this unique experience, I got to meet a relative I have never met. Willie and Robin are currently starting a distillery. What is even better is that the cattle brand from Robin’s family (from Montana) is the jug brand (so they are using that as their logo). So, in few years, keep your eye out for whiskey from Willie’s Distillery. Despite not going fishing, I had a lot of fun.

Well that’s all for now. Next week, I will have a special post about Yellowstone, and tomorrow I will finally have the trailer tour up (at last!). Stay tuned for more!  

I apologize for previously posting that Simon had tuberculosis I mistakenly used the unedited version. So for those who were worried about Simon, he merely had bronchitis.

This week we stayed in the mid-sized town of Bellingham which is about 15-20 minutes away from the Canadian border. We spent several days in the glorious maple leaf land of Canada, going to the aquarium, visiting old friends and our old neighborhood, and having ice screamers. We also went and spent the day at Deception Pass on the American side.
We arrived in Bellingham on Friday after spending part of the week at my Aunt and Uncles and picking up the now repaired TARDIS. The very next day we made our way into Canada, We spent the rest of that day hanging out with old friends from our time in Richmond. We didn’t have the number for one of our friends and surprised them when we pulled up in front of their house when they were washing their car. We returned on Sunday and visited some other friends of ours (Jerand Jaana Weibe) that moved to Vancouver from New Brunswick. It was really good to see everyone again and I wish we could have spent more time with them.

We decided to stay on “our side” through the rest of the week where Mom enjoyed the variety of consignment shops, thrift shops, and coffee shops.  On Saturday we ventured to Granville Island (one of the more artsy areas in Vancouver) for the Spotted Prawn Festival.  After meeting up with some friends (the Ziberts), we made our way to the festival itself. Despite having to wait around for about an hour, we heartily enjoyed the prawns as well as the dry weather.

Our Granville adventure continued as we saw several street musicians and two street performers, one who juggled knives and torches and another that rode a 15 ft. unicycle. Despite being really cool, the best part of these acts was not the juggling or him riding the unicycle, it was the comedy act and cracking jokes.

Our weekend continued as we spent a gorgeous day at Deception Pass Park with the Weibes. We had foodie picnic with cheese, crackers, ribs and shrimp but I am going to leave that to Mom’s Foodie Favs.  Asher (the son of our friends) and Simon played in a mini sandbox edged in driftwood that we found on the beach. And Rebekah enjoyed playing with their daughter Eden, I constructed a fort out of driftwood and we all ate well and had a great time. Lastly on Monday we went to the Vancouver Aquarium where to our dismay, our favorite exhibit; the belugas, was closed for cleaning. Somewhat heartbroken, we still enjoyed the many other exhibits especially the dolphin show.

Well that’s all for now, I am trying to upload the video of our trailer and should

Sickness, and trailer parts have been some of the grievances that have beset our family in the last two weeks. That is not to say we didn’t have fun. We went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle and Rebekah and Dad went to the Puyallup Fair. I know this post is accompanying last week’s post and I am entirely to blame this time. I was late in giving this to my mom to edit so this time I can’t blame my mom. Well anyway enjoy.
We originally planned to remain Aunt Marian and Uncle Kenny’s house until the TARDIS’s repairs were completed, however we quickly found that the trailer repair company would not even have the parts for a minimum of five days. We did not want to overstay our welcome so we decided to take pick up the TARDIS until the company got our parts.
We set up the TARDIS in Bellevue near Seattle. We had planned to spend more time in and around Seattle but we got sick, Mom had pneumonia and Simon bronchitis. All of us got at least a little bit sick although Rebekah and I were the least scathed. Despite our recovery, I was unable to join my Dad and Rebekah when they went to the fair.
The Puyallup Fair is kind of like a state fair, with fair food, rides, animals and really cool new products. Portable gardens, health and beauty products, and all sorts of funky stuff were on sale. The bonsai club was present and Rebekah really enjoyed looking at the bonsai trees.
My favorite part of the last two weeks was getting to go to the Museum of Flight. It was incredible! They had an unused capsule that was at one point in time destined for the International Space Station. They had a Black Hawk, air mail planes, an Air Force One jet from the Nixon era, and even a Concord not to mention the plethora of WWI and WWII. planes! It was amazing!, I would have spent several more hours there if I could. I have learned so much and was so glad of the experience.
Well that’s all for now. We are at Aunt Marian and Uncle Kenny’s again for a few days as we get the trailer fixed. Soon we will be off to Vancouver.  Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more.

The last week we have been in the land of food carts, voodoo donuts and rain; Portland Oregon. The second best childrens library in America, several Portland markets and the Portland history museum were places we visited.
Portland is a remarkable city, and one of my favorite places thus far (besides the rain). I try to go to the library at least once a week, this week I am glad I did. Portland is situated right on the state line so the closest library to us was in Vancouver, Washington. This library was just recently built, it is 5 floors, contains a coffee shop, 355,000 books and amazing architecture. This library was rated the second best childrens library in America and it was a pleasure to spend several days there.
Where can you find Indonesian, American, African and European food in close proximity? On a sole block in Portland. Food carts are extremely popular with over 650 licensed food cart vendors. Selling everything from Korean tacos, to sushi to grilled cheese sandwiches. The food that comes from these food carts is not only tasty its also affordable with most carts prices averaging about 6$ for a meal. Thanks to food carts the options for culinary exploration are nearly endless.
On Saturday we made our way to the famed Portland Saturday Market. Their we found more food carts, musicians and vendors selling art, clothing, and even fire starting systems. It was a very enjoyable experience and we picked up several souvenirs. The Saturday market was not the only market we went to in Portland, later that same day we visited the Portland farmers market. Bakers, forgers, farmers and chefs all selling their wares.
Lastly we went to the Portland history museum, I picked up a lot of facts on the history of Portland The museum was done really well. One of my favorite parts was the movie they had for Portland immigration, with titles like in Portland……Crops Never Fail…..The forests are endless……or the minerals with get you rich quick, made the whole movie very comical.
Well that’s all for now, We’ll be here till Friday then off we go to my Aunt and Uncles north of Seattle, after that Vancouver. I know I have been promising this for awhile, but tomorrow I will be posting a video or pictures showing the inside of our trailer. Stay tuned!

I thought that this was posted but due to technical errors it wasnt so here it is!

Sorry I did not get around to editing the post on Phoenix for a long time, so although this post is 3 days late, I will try to be on time from now on. This week we went to the Grand Canyon, we visted relatives I didn’t know we had, and we went to Knotts Berry Farm. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding we didn’t go to the gun course in Nevada .
The Grand Canyon was amazing! I was worried that due to overexposure, the Grand Canyon would be a bit underwhelming. Well, was I wrong! Thanks to sickness (we all had a cold), we only spent one day at the Canyon but that one day was spectacular. It’s hard to describe it: amazing, awe-inspiring – those words just don’t do it justice. I wonder what it was like for the first explorers to be walking through a forest and suddenly right in front of them was a mile deep canyon stretching on and on. Imagine their shock when they saw it. We started our day at the Grand Canyon near the Visitors Center along the south rim. We listened to a ranger talk on how the Grand Canyon was created by the rising of the Colorado Plateau. After lunch we hiked a trail along the rim that was edged with marked rocks that are taken from the different levels of the Canyon. Overall we had a amazing time and learned a ton.

What a view!

On Tuesday, we headed to San Demas. The campground we stayed at was one of the most beautiful campgrounds we have been at. The campground was sitting a top a high hill with amazing views of a lake. A large varity of trees lined the campsites, it was beautiful even with the LA smog.

On Friday we went to Knotts Berry Farm, an amusment park with a mild Peanuts theme. It was really fun! I rode a rollercoaster that shot out at over 90 mph, went up a hill, then dropped at a near 90 degree angle called the Xcelerater. Other fun rides included the Silver bullet (a fast, flying, dangling rollercoaster) and the Windseeker (a swing ride at 300 ft). Simon enjoyed himself. He rode the same ride nearly a dozen times and even said in his sleep that night ” One more time big trucks…One more time.” Our day at Knotts culminated in a western gun comedy show that had everyone laughing.

Simon with the "big trucks!

Lastly, this week we also got to visit my great-aunt Marie as well as other relatives all of which I never knew existed. On Saturday, at my cousin Blayne’s house, we had Armenian food (Lamajuns). They were so tasty.  They easily are my favorite food. I am glad to have met my relatives. and I enjoyed the visit.
This week we are going to Paso Robles until Wednesday. Then off we go to the Bay area.  The computer is broken again so as soon as we get it back (later this week), I will post pictures. Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more..