Mon. July 28th... Day 45

Today we visited the Zamojski's today. Unfortunately Mary wasn't there, but Annie made if for the last half an hour or so of our visit. They have a really nice house and Ann and Edd we very nice. Nick and I watched 10,000 B. C. and played on their zip line! The zip line was awesome!!!!!!! We had a ton of fun!!! It was a fun day!

~Rebecca~

Sun. July 27th... Day 44

Today we headed toward the Space Needle in Seattle. It was really cool going up to the top and seeing the city and the Puget Sound bellow us. It was pretty intimidating five or six hundred feet in the air. Mom and Dad went on a sort of tour around the outdoor observation deck. I really enjoyed it.

We also went to the Science Fiction Museum and to a small amusement park bellow the Needle. The Sci-Fi Museum was really cool! It had all sorts of books and props from movies and a ton of information about everything Sci-Fi!!! I really enjoyed that. It was attached to a music museum but we didn't have time for that. The amusement park had six or seven rides that we worth going on. (there were a few kiddie rides that didn't interest us) We went on an egg beater type ride called the Orbiter that we went on and a medium sized roller coaster and we went on a swing ship. It was a blast we also played a few shooting games. Nick won a small red bull dog toy. Today was a really fun day!!!!

~Rebecca~

Sci-Fi and Music Museum (Below)

Sat. July 26th... Day 43

We left for Seattle, WA and made it here around 5:00pm and we went out to dinner at Cutters on the Pike Street Market Place with Anne, Annie, and Mary Zamojski. (Cousins of mom) The food was great!!! I really enjoyed it!

~Rebecca~

Fri. July 25th... Day 42

We made it to Vancouver, WA late last night and are staying with our friends Todd and Rae Korthuis/Wright they have one daughter, Grace (7). In the morning we met Grace's nanny, Norma, and her three children Kim (12), Johnathan (9), and Emily (6). Mom and Dad took Kim and me to a bookstore called Powell's. Powell's is the biggest bookstore in the world!!! It's a five story warehouse PACKED with books!!!!

~Rebecca~

Thu. July 24th... Day 41

Today we headed towards Vancouver, WA and stopped in Florence, OR and did a little sand surfing. On the second or third run Nick took a bad fall and bruised his butt pretty bad. We made it to Vancouver, WA late at night.

~Rebecca~

Wed. July 23rd... Day 40

Today we went to Junction City and toured the Country Coach factory. It was really cool and we got to see a model called the Veranda 400 which only came out a few weeks ago. It was really cool!!! It had a pop out porch! After the tour we went into Eugene and had dinner at the Filip/Betterton family's house. They have two daughters Sally (16) and Sofia (9) and they were a lot of fun!!!

~Rebecca~

Tue. July 22nd... Day 39

Today we went White Water Rafting on the Umpqua River with a local river guide named Bill who was very informed on the history and geography of the river. If you do this ride go with the local guide!!! We went 14 miles through class three and four rapids. We saw some wildlife along the way too. I definitely recommend it!!! Nick fell out on the flat water about 20 yards from the landing where we were getting off.

~Rebecca~

Mon. July 21st... Day 38

Today we went to Crater Lake and saw some beautiful scenery! The water was a very clear blue! We watched a short movie on the creation of this massive lake (6mi in diameter and 1943ft deep). It was formed when a huge volcano collapsed 7,700 years ago and made it the 7th deepest lake in the world. But Nick was more interested in climbing the rocks around it. This was a very beautiful lake!!!! There was still some snow around it that Nick and Dad played in.

~Rebecca~

Sun. July 20th... Day 37

Today we headed towards Crater and Diamond Lake following the GPS' instructions through the Siskiyou National Forrest. The road got smaller and smaller and we knew we were in trouble when we saw a sign that said, "This road is not maintained in winter". Although the road actually got wider it went from asphalt to talcum powder like dust creating a huge cloud behind us encasing the RV. We saw some beautiful scenery at the top of the mountain ridge and resorted to using an old fashion map. Arriving at Diamond Lake three hours later than expected.

-Dave

Sat. July 19th... Day 36

We headed north and crossed over into southern Oregon. We had dinner at the Charthouse and had great fish and chips at the Vargas' recommendation. We stayed overnight at Turtle Rock RV park, it was right where the Rogue River met the Pacific Ocean. It was really windy. They also have a jet boat that you can ride on that delivers mail along the river.

~Rebecca~

Fri. July 18th... Day 35

Today we left the Vargas' and drove north along the California coast among the Coastal Redwoods. We stayed at this small campground overnight.

Thu. July 17..... Day 34

Today Dad, Nick, Ben, and Steve went golfing for the morning. When they came back Dad, Nick, Ellie, Sarah, and I went to the movies. Ellie went with her friend to soccer afterwards and we came back to the house. While we were at the movies, Ben found a little lizard and put him in a toy car!

For dinner the Vargas' had two friends over for dinner, a duch-born french chef named Peter, and a neighbor named Mary Ann. Peter cooked this rice sort of dish called paella (pie-yay-ah). It was really good!!! After dinner the kids went downstairs and watched Batman Begins. We played a little of Tony the Tiger afterwards. It was fun!!!

~Rebecca~

Nick in front, behind Nick, Rebecca.

To right Ben, behind Ben Sarah.

In very back Ellie, and in front of Ellie Sophie.

To left (front to back) Steve, Susan, Mary Ann.

To right (front to back) Yola, Dave, Peter.

Wed. July 16th... Day 33

Today we went tubing down the Russian River. Not behind a boat. We just floated in iner-tubes. until we got to the meeting point where we met Susan, Ellie, and Sophie. Sarah was at soccer and Ben came with us. It was slow at spots but over all pretty relaxing. That night the adults went out to dinner and Sarah and I were in charge. It was really fun! We played Tony the Tiger* after dinner and by the end off the game we were jumping out scaring another. We played until the adults came home with ice cream!!! (It was about 10:30pm by then.)

~Rebecca~

*Tony the Tiger is where you turn off all the lights and one person is "Tony the Tiger" and they have to count to a previously determined number. Everyone else hides and you can hide in plain sight because it's dark. Whoever is found first is Tony the Tiger for the next round.

Tue. July 15... Day 32

We got dad's glasses around 1:30 - 2:00 pm. After we headed to Steve and Susan Vargas' house in Healdsberg, CA. They have 4 kids, Sarah (13), Ellie (11), Ben (8), and Sophie (6). We got there in time for dinner. They have a very nice house. Sarah and Ellie share a room and so do Ben and Sophie, but thier rooms are HUGE and you could change them into two rooms if you wanted to. I like thier house!!! It also has an amazing view!!!

~Rebecca~

Mon. July 14... Day 31

Today we left dad at home with Emmett, Nick, and Nick and Mom, Wendi (Mrs. Moore), and I went into town to do a little shopping. First we went to Inti's which is a neat store that imports all it's clothing, furniture, and instruments etc. from India. It was really cool and I got some great stuff!!! Then we went to this local bookstore and I got a few books and mom got some health quiz cards. We also stopped at Trader Joe's. We had a lot of fun!!!

~Rebecca~

Sun. July 13th... Day 30

Today we went to church at St. Apollinaris Catholic Church. During the homily a cat walked in and lay down on the alter. The Msg. just sat their not really doing anything about the cat while the other priest continued giving the homily. It was very interesting experience having a cat attend church. Unfortunately Rosemary and Marina had to go to sleep away camp this morning so I was left with Nick and Emmett. Also Emmett's cousin Nick came and his friend Marcos. So I got to hang around with more boys. I was VERY grateful for the loft!

~Rebecca~

Sat. July 12... Day 29

Today we went to Mariposa Grove in Yosemite and saw the Giant Sequoia trees. Their life span is about 3,000 years! They can be about 60ft in diameter. We spent most of the day checking out these massive trees. We saw the Grizzly Giant and one of the trees had a small footpath through the middle. The other tree you could drive through fell down in the winter of 1968-'69. Nick was upset about that. After we saw the trees we headed of to the Moore's house (one of mom's residency-mates) They have two daugters, Rosemary (14) and Marina (11), and a son, Emmet (about Nick's age). We got there late and didn't get a whole lot of time to hang out. The girls have this cool loft in between their rooms! It was really cool!!! They also have a HUGE kitchen!

~Rebecca~

Fri. July 11.... Day 28

Today we headed out around 7:30 am to get to Yosemite Village by 8:30 am for my "Go Climb a Rock" class. From there I headed to a smallish (500 vertical ft, 700 climbing ft) mountain near El Capitan. It was an awesome experience! I would love to, and probably will, do it again! It took my group (our instructor, Nate, a girl named Maggie, her dad, John, and I) our entire class to climb it, so from about 9:00 am to 3:10 ish pm. The good thing was we could just hike down the back so we didn't have to go through the trouble of repelling.

While I was rock climbing Mom, Dad, and Nick took a hike to Lower Yosemite Falls and saw some wildlife. They looked around for me trying to get a picture, but were unsuccessful. By the time they were done with all that it was time to go get me at the bus stop. I was a little late because my group just missed the bus at the bottom that only comes around every half hour. But, over all it was a fun day.

~Rebecca~

Thu. July 10th... Day 27

Today we headed out to the Yosemite Village which is about a hour drive into the park. We drove around and explored a lot. It was a hot day!!! 105 degrees in the sun most of the day. When it cooled down a little we went on a 1.6 mile hike. It was really pretty. We had a fun day.

~Rebecca~

Wed. July 9th... Day 26

Today we left San Francisco and headed up to Yosemite. We're staying at a 1000 Trails RV Park witch is about five minutes away from Yosemite National Park. We got here late and went swimming in the river. It was really refreshing on such a hot day. Tomorrow we'll head up to the park and explore.

~Rebecca~

Tue. July 8th... Day 25

Today we went around San Francisco and got a new camera at Best Buy. We started out by getting on a trolley car and going up to Fisherman's Wharf. From there we went out onto the pier and saw Alcatraz. Then we went on this Double Decker bus tour of downtown. We went shopping for a little bit after that at the Westfield Center. You could spend weeks going through all the stores. It had the second largest Macy's in the country (New York has the largest)!!! We went out to dinner and had Chinese again, but this time it was at a place called Four Seas. We saw some pretty amazing sights. I definitely recommend going to San Francisco!!!!

~Rebecca~

Mon. July 7th... Day 24

This morning we dropped off the Greenberg's at the San Francisco Airport. He arrived back around noon and we packed up to leave. We left about an hour later and came to this camping place called Candlestick Park. It's right across the street from the San Francisco 49ers Stadium. For dinner we went to this Chinese place in China town called Ming's. We ordered WAY too much food but we had a good time.

~Rebecca~

Sun. July 6th... Day 23

Today was a pretty lazy day. We hung out with the Greenberg kids this morning while Reid and Laurie went out on 17 Mile Drive which is this scenic drive that they took their bikes on. When they got back we headed out for the beach. The water was FREEZING!!!! "At most 40 degrees Fahrenheit," according to Nick who was in for about and hour and a half. From our spot on the beach we could see the smoke from the fire in Big Sur.

(Sorry no pictures, camera broke yesterday, remember)

~Rebecca~

Fri. July 5th... Day 22

Today we took the RV to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the day. This place is awesome! We probably didn't see half of the place after it sucked up most of the day! They have all sorts of sea creatures. I like the penguins, jelly fish, sea otters, and the HUGE tank of GIANT fish and sharks! There was also a few touch pools where you could touch crabs, sea cucumbers, and bat rays (which I guess is a type of ray)! I love this place!!! Unfortunately our camera broke before we could get some really cool pictures. We're hoping San Francisco has a Canon shop. Anyway, after the Aquarium we went to a KOA RV park in Santa Cruz, which is just north of Monterey.

~Rebecca~

Thu. July 4th... Day 21

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Today we didn't go to any parades or firework shows. There probably weren't any because of the fire danger. We went back to the dunes in the morning and went almost to the beach. We did make it to this HUGE hill/dune thingy and it was about a 45 degree angle and 40ft to the top. I wish I got a picture of Nick going down on the boogie board! I did get some other pictures of Mackenzie and Reid going up and mom coming down. When I went down on the boogie board I made it 4/5 of the way down and the board got stuck and I did a face plant. Talk about whiplash! It took me a minute to walk it off.

After we had to check out from the dunes place we went to this new place called Carmel by the River RV Park. It could only fit "Carmel by the River RV Pa" on the GPS, so it kept saying we were arriving in Pennsylvania. Anyway, this place was out in the middle of nowhere and the road was so tiny and twisty we could hardly believe that it was out here. Then we saw a sign that said, "Whew! You made it this far!" How much more was there?!?!?! Next we had to go down a steep narrow hill with a sharp turn at the bottom to finally get to the park. A miracle we made it!

We signed in and got parked. About an hour after we arrive this kid runs up to Mackenzie and introduces himself. Germany (Jeremy), as Mackenzie called him, was 5 1/2 and LOVED to collect rocks. He kept popping up throughout the day saying hi and running around the small loop with Mackenzie. He was really cute! We had a nice cook out anniversary dinner for mom and dad at the RV and had Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream for dessert.

~Rebecca~

Thu. July 3rd... Day 20

Today we headed out from Rich's place early and went to Firestone Vineyards and took the tour. Then we came to this awesome campground with access to about 7 sq miles of sand dunes! This place is awesome!!!!!!!!!! We were at the dunes from about 1pm to dinner time and after dinner we stayed for another hour or so. We had loads of fun and we didn't even make it to the beach! (the dunes were in between the campground and the beach) We had a BLAST!!!

~Rebecca~