From the Lake to VT

We drove through really hot weather for a couple of days to get to the Lake (Adams Lake in Northeastern Indiana) to see my cousins Jack, Kat and Anne. We got to go on a lot of boat rides and go tubing. I even got to go on the wakeboard. We got to play with my cousins Kat and Anne a lot. They took me golfing and my uncle, Brad tried to teach me how. It was fun.

Kat teaching me how to wakeboard.

I did it!

Hitting balls off the sea wall.

Me and Kat

Anne, me, Kat and Jackson

.......and this is my cousin, Jack

Then we got to go to Cincinnati and see where my mom grew up. We stayed with my mom's friend, Kara, and we got to play with her babies. They are twins. The night we got there we walked to get ice cream. We saw the house where Mom grew up and on the way out of Cincinnati we stopped by Kings Island. There was a bunch of roller coasters. The first ride we went on, they took you up on these seats around a big pole and just dropped you. Mom and I went on a ride where we put on these harnesses and stood on a platform. They hooked us up to a string and lifted us up into the air. Mom pulled on the string and it let go and it felt like we were flying.

My mom's friends in Cincinnati, Kara and Mike with their twins.

Then we drove to the Gunks to see our friends Bert and Ryane and their baby, Eliza. We went climbing there and there were really cool climbs.

A fun climb in the Gunks

Me and Eliza

Ryane, Eliza and Bert

The last day of our trip, we were in the Adirondacks. We went swimming in Chapel Pond and did another cool climb. The next day we took the ferry to Vermont. It was very weird to come home. The first thing I did was go to my room and looked around at all my stuff. I am very happy to be home now. I missed my cat, Piton the most. Now I can't wait to see my friends.

Me in the Adirondacks

All done with our last climb

On the ferry home to VT

The End

Smith Rock to Mt. Rushmore

At Smith Rock, the first thing we did was we did some really awesome climbing. There was this one climb where I had a smile on my face for the whole time. It was really hot there and there was a little river that was very cold that we just put our hands and feet into. The next climbing area we went to was City of Rocks. It wasn’t as good as Smith Rock because it had a bunch of biting ants and then it rained.

This is me at Smith Rock

I loved this climb.

Me climbing at City of Rocks

Next we went to Jackson. At first, on the way there I got a stomach bug and I threw up a lot. But when I got better we went to a cowboy show. It was really funny because there was this one guy who pretended to be his grandma and he told a story that was funny. We also got to see the Tetons that were really big and pretty.

Next we went to Yellowstone. It was really pretty there and it had a lot of trees. We got to see some geysers. Geysers are boiling water and it has fire under a rock. There were pretty colors. But it was a little stinky because it smelled like sulfur. Some of the geysers we saw were Daisy, Old Faithful and Riverside. Old Faithful was my favorite. We went to a really cool campground. It was still snowy there. My brother and me met two other kids that helped us make a fort out of snow. We got to make a tunnel and a bridge and a slide.

Yellowstone fumarole

Old Faithful

This buffalo was really close.

A lot of Yellowstone was really stinky.

Next we went to Bozeman. We went to a museum that had dinosaurs. It wasn't really my thing because I don’t really like museums. But we did get to see Indians which were my favorite. Then we went to Cody and we got to go horseback riding. My horse was named Bruiser. It was a very nice horse and it kept wanting to eat on the trail and our guide said I shouldn’t let him eat on the trail. I got to get the horse to stop eating. After the horseback riding we got to go to a rodeo. We got to see cowboys getting thrown off of horses and bulls. There were also these little girls who were riding horses. One was named Anna and she was about my age. She was the best. It was fun.

This is me riding my horse, Bruiser.

The rodeo was really fun.

Then we came to where we are right now which is near Mt. Rushmore. We got to go to a campground and go swimming. It was fun.

Here is Flat Lily and Flat Melissa at Mt. Rushmore.

Lake Tahoe, Redwood Forest and Crater Lake

I went to Lake Tahoe with my cousin, Hazel and my aunt and uncle, Annie and James. We went on a hike where there was snow. It felt like we were in winter and then like we were in spring. At the end of the hike there was a lake and my uncle and my dad went in it. It was freezing cold. On the way back I slipped in some mud. We got to go swimming every day at our campsite. In the pool, James threw me over his head. We also dove for quarters and nickels.

One day we went climbing and I watched my dad climb with James. When my dad was climbing, we went down because Hazel had to take a nap. The next day we went to the beach on Lake Tahoe. There were lots of Canada geese who were trying to take our food. Hazel didn’t really like the geese. She told them to “get your own food.” Annie shooed them away. At our campsite, we had smores every night. James got marshmallows that were really big. It was fun.

South Lake Tahoe with Annie, James and Hazel

Hazel ready to hike

me and Annie

The cold lake at the top

James was the first to swim

Daddy had to warm up on the rock

Mom, Hazel, Annie and me

That's Lake Tahoe in the background

Hazel at the base of the climb

Daddy and James climbing

We saw this near our campsite

The beach at Lake Tahoe

Canada Geese

We went to the Redwood Forest. It had a bunch of big trees. We went on a hike and we saw hollowed out trees that people lived in. That night we stayed on the beach. Me and Jackson got to play in the sand. The water was cold, so we didn’t really want to go in it. After the beach we had more smores.

The beach near the Redwood Forest

There was a cool teepee there that we used as our fort

Hollowed out Redwood

Our campsite on the beach

The next day we drove to Crater Lake. It is a lake that is in the cauldera of a volcano that erupted 7700 years ago. The lake is made out of rain and snow. Mom says it’s the deepest lake in America. There was lots of snow up there. 

Maggie wanted to see a volcano

Flat Maggie

The park ranger said there was 56 feet of snow up there this year.

Grand Canyon and Zion National Park

We went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was ok, but I was expecting a little bit more. While we were there we went on a hike and we saw deer on the hike. It was the closest I’ve ever been to deer because they didn’t run away.

The Grand Canyon

These are the mule deer.

They didn't even run away.

Then we went to Zion National Park in Utah. When we were at the campground me and Jackson got to go swimming. We went on a big climb. It was sort of a hike at first because we had to get to the bottom of the climb. We got to see petroglyphs on the way. There were also little ponds with tadpoles and a frog. It was really hot there. Me and Jackson got to play in the river at our campsite. We got to make sandcastles. The water was really cold. But when we got our hands in for a while we got used to it.

Our campsite by the river

Climbing in Zion

I got to play in this cave after we went climbing.

The hike to the big climb

These are the pools with the tadpoles in them.

Tadpoles just like in my kindergarten class.

Petroglyphs

At the ice cream store with my daddy.

Now we’re driving to Lake Tahoe to meet my aunt and uncle, Annie and James, and my cousin, Hazel. They live in Alaska.