The end

After deadwood we went and visited Pete's Uncle in Green Bay. It was nice to see him and meet some cousins that I had never met before. After Green Bay we went to Chicago. We went up the Sears/Willis Tower. There is a section with a glass bottom. Pretty, pretty scary but we did it and didn't fall through! We also went to dinner at Ed Debevics which is a restaurant where the waiters can be as rude to the customers as they want. VERY fun! The kids loved it and had fun giving it right back to our waitress. We went to Michiana Shores the following 2 days and spent time visiting with my friend Trish and her kids. That was fun and relaxing! We spent both days on the beach. A great way to spend 90 degree days. On Saturday we stop in at my uncles in Grand Blanc Michigan. We had a nice lunch with him! Then we were on our way home! We got home about 730pm and had a nice time at my sisters house visiting with my family! It was a great vacation but it was also great to be home!



Thanks for taking the journey with us!

Yellowstone and Devils Tower

Posted by Malena

Today we  went   to  Yellowstone.  We played license plate bingo.  I, Malena, won! The  first  day  we  were   there   we   saw   Bison. There  was a huge herd of  Bison   crossing   the  road. I almost   got   to  touch   one.  My  dad  found   Bison  hair  and   said  we  will  make  a  coat  for  our  guinea   pig.

Continued by Suzanne…

We went horseback riding.  Our horses were Mohawk, Dodger, Cheyenne, Cobbler, Buddy and Pow Wow. We rode by the edge of Yellowstone canyon.  We did not see any animals.  That may have been a good thing because when we asked our guide what would happen if we saw a bear she said she has only seen a bear once on the trail in the 3 years she has worked there and it didn’t end well!  I guess it was every man for themselves!  We went over to see Old Faithful!  The kids were amazed at the height of the geyser. Their  guesses ranged from 2 feet to 50 feet.  It went about 100 feet. 

We left Yellowstone and went to see the Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.  We also enjoyed watching the prairie dogs.  After DT we headed to Deadwood.  We are planning 2 days here.  We had a nice time walking the town last night.  Today we are making a side trip to Mt. Rushmore.  This is the stop Jamie has been looking forward to most.  Afterwards we are planning on catching the Wild West show.  Yeeeeeeee Haaaaaaaa!

Calgary and Galcier National Park

Posted by Mackenna

Yesterday we went to the Calgary stampede it was awesome.
We saw cowboys riding bareback on broncos. We also saw
More cowboys riding bulls’ one guy almost got his head
crushed. Then we saw cowboys wrestle baby bulls and
baby cows. Then we saw kids try and ride wild ponies
They had to run up to them then jump on there backs
It was hilarious. If you ever get to do that it is worth it.
Today was kids day and we were driving but it was fun.
We got to glacier national park and saw a black bear
Then we spotted a full grown male grizzly bear and got
The best pictures ever it was awesome because if
It wasn’t for my mom none of the thirty people there
Would have seen because at first he was hiding!
It was awesome we also saw a female moose and her
adorable baby! Then we saw a waterfall in the mountains.
We had a wonderful day!!

Portland

We were visiting Matt and Lisa Moran in Portland.  We spent one day hiking around Mullhomond Falls.  We also went to a place called Edgefield, which is a beautiful 30 acre resort which had tiny bars and restaurants as well as spas and shops. It used to be a poor farm and now all the little buildings are turned into shops and pubs.  You can only walk through and the children are not allowed in the little pubs and distilleries. You can walk from shop to shop and bar to bar with your drink.  There was an 80s band playing an outdoor concert that evening. Great place for people watching.  Hippies were visiting the Jerry Garcia statue and others were hanging out on the roof of the insane asylum turned hotel.  Needless to say we would like to spend more time there someday.  Pete and I think this would be a fun place to open in EA!

We celebrated our Anniversary there.  Look at the pics and see if you can find my present.

We started the drive to Calgary and are hoping to be there tonight.  Probably won’t get that far but should get pretty close.

San Fran

We are staying in a campground that is right on the Pacific!  Last night I fell asleep listening the waves.  I can get used to this!  We  went on a tour of Alcatraz this morning.  Very interesting!  It is pretty amazing that it is 1 ½ miles away from San Fran.  Those prisoners must have hated to see how close they were. Yet so far away.  We learned a lot.  I always thought it was just a prison but it was also a military fort and later after the prison closed the Indians tried to claim it as their land.   Then we took a trolley (cable car) ride up and down the streets of SF.  We visited Ghirardelli  Square.  We went down the Crookedest Street in America, and we visited the Redwoods in the Muir Woods. We are looking forward to our visit with our friends, the Morans, in Portland tomorrow and Thursday. 

LA conitnued

We spent Sunday at Venice Beach.  We didn’t see too many Crazies.  The only crazy thing I saw was Pete trying to Boogie Board with the kids. There was a guy riding a bike dressed in black leather, wrapped in chains with a padlock on his back, singing a happy tune.  We also walked through the Venice canals, which I didn’t know exisited. That is where I would want my vacation home.  That evening we went to Spago’s. Wolfgang Puck’s place.  It was wonderful, beautiful…The kids were great!  We sat at the table next to Stephanie Powers.  That was my celeb sighting of the weekend.  I loved Hart to Hart.

LA

     We headed into LA today. We spent the day with Pete’s cousin Andrea.   We went to the Le Brea Tar Pits which was pretty interesting but it wasn’t cruising the blvd to see famous people.  But we did do a little PLANKING at the Tar Pit.  See Mackenna.  Our camera broke right after that so either I have to become tech savvy with Pete’s phone or we need to buy a new one.  After the Pit we went to the Hard Rock Café for lunch.  We did the walk of star thing and we hunted down some celebs homes.  We all agreed that J. Depp has the best home and the best location.  Then we trekked it up to the Hollywood sign and took some great pics but unfortunately they are on HIS phone.  I’ll see what I can do after dinner.   Tomorrow we head to Venice Beach to watch the Crazies. I think there will be a lot of teachable moments during that visit!