Salt Lake City

I am in salty, salty, Salt Lake City, Utah! Which means that I will be arriving home on Thursday or Friday. Hooray!!!!! Though I am enjoying the trip I will be glad to be back. Have any of you been on an interstate, well if you had then you how crazy they are in big cities like in Minneapolis, Minnesota when they have five or six lane and they go over and under each other? Also when you're not in a city and are still on an interstate you see the same gas stations, restaurants, and hotels, exit after exit, no matter where you are. I think that I have at least a hundred Subway's! Speaking of the same thing, My dad said that we should stay at the same hotel because it is cheap, but I don't really like it.

This week is free National Park week so we went to the GRAND CANYON!!!!!!! It is so much better than you can ever imagine. I was so giddy with joy that couldn't speak! We were going to camp there, but it was way too cold that we had to camp somewhere else. Another park that we went to is call Zions and it is in Utah. It has whole mountains made out of sand! They say that they are one of the biggest in the world!

Oh, yeah when I was in New Mexico I bought the tail of a dead racoon! I named it Ringy!

Stuck in Winslow

Like Daelan said, we are stuck in Winslow, AZ as the highway towards Flagstaff is closed due to a dust storm. The last couple of days we have been following the old Route 66 path from Oklahoma City to Flagstaff, AZ. The old highway is mostly gone now, except in the towns along the way. Before the interstate highway system, the highways would run through the middle of town, much like they do in the interior of BC. Remnants of 66 exist in the motels, restaurants and lodges along the main streets of the towns along Interstate 40 through the west. In many cases, the buildings are gone or closed but the signs live on in old their nostalgic glory. Here's a selection of some of my favorites.

Hi, I am writing in Winslow, Arizona caught in the middle of a sand storm. We had just came out of Petrified Forest National Park when all of a sudden it just started to blow dust everywhere. It was hard to see. So that is why are stuck in Winslow. The highway to the west is closed.



Here's something that I should've told you a long time ago. While we were in Artheu Illinois my dad told me that we were in Amish country, so he want to go to an Amish restaurant for dessert (they had really good pie). Still I think the reason my dad want to go is because he what to see men with long beards riding on horses.



Before I was talking about going to Petrified Forest National Park. So now I will tell you about it. Ever since we hit the desert it has been so dry! I know what you are thinking "it's a desert what did you expect". I think it would be dry, but not like this! My dad is lucky because he had training in Utah. Where was I, oh ya the Park. It was so nice! I can't even describe it in words so that is why you see a buck of pictures below this.

Hi, I'm back. Yes, I suppose that you are wondering what I have seen since I last blogged. Well then this is your lucky day, because this is catch up day! ( or ketchup day if you want). When I think about going to a different country I think about some thing different and strange, but the US isn't that different from Canada.

I am beginning to hate the highway, but I still don't regret going on this trip. We just came from my grandpa's wedding. I met my new grandma, she's nice and so are her kids. At least the ones it met. Well anyways, when were that I found out that there were ticks there the hard way. These ticks jump out of trees on to your head. After that I was afraid to go out near trees. My dad and I have been checking each other's head every night.

So far we have been to or passed through: Jasper, AB; Linden, AB; Medicine Hat, AB; Havre, MT; Minot, ND; Grand Forks, ND; Minnepolis, MN; Madison, WI; Indianapolis, IN; Lexington, KY; Charleston, WV; Winston-Salem, NC; Charlotte, NC, Asheville, NC; Nashville, TN.

Books

Hi, sorry I haven't written for awhile, but I did see a lot. We have been in the US for five days now. I finished my book. You know, the one my mom didn't let me listen to. It was really good ( I can't wait until the third book comes out )! My got me to listen to " To Kill a Mockingbird ". It was pretty good. Now we are reading a book called " Roots ". We haven't finished it yet, but it is good so far. I wonder what book we will listen to next?

Day 2 - 3

I have been on this trip for two days, and it is okay I guess. But I would never think that we would be driving for so long! The only thing that makes me not to pass out of boredom is the books and the scenery. But for some reason I am having fun. The wildlife is nice. I saw a moose and a lot of cows and other animals.

We listened to To Kill A Mockingbird.

Dad's Entry

Daelan is pretty worn out so I'm going to submit a post. Day 2 ended at our good friends' house in Linden, AB. We veered off our intended route to avoid a snow storm in central Sask. The next day, we crossed the border in southwest Alberta at a crossing called Wild Horse. The border guards thought the purpose of our trip and the location of our crossing peculiar, but let us through. When asked how the highway was ahead, the border guard said he didn't know but said that we were headed into a storm.

There was no storm, at least not immediately. After about an hour heading south, we got onto US Route 2 heading east through northern Montana. We quickly learned that this was the route that early explorers, Lewis and Clark took both going to and coming back from the Pacific Coast in the early 1800s. There were lots of historic points along the road pointing out that so and so local outlaw died here and outlining the local cattle brands. Exciting stuff for me, not so much for the kid. The highlight for him was a stop at a dinosaur museum in Malta, Montana.


The end of the day took us into North Dakota and a restless night sleeping in the car near Minot, North Dakota as the heavens flashed, rumbled and dropped hail on the metallic roof of our trusty Subaru. Perhaps this was the storm that the border guard was talking about.

I will be leaving in one and a half days. My mom is being mean by not letting me listen to my book until I hit the road. I really want to listen to that book! It is called Catching Fire. I got it from Audible.com. Today she let me listen to my book while I was delivering my papers, but as soon as I finished my papers my mom said that I couldn’t listen to it anymore. The reason that she didn’t want me to listen to it is because my dad wanted to listen to it with me, but I think that my dad wouldn’t get most of the story ( it’s the second book in the series ). So I will listen to it by myself. My dad is getting annoyed about the weather. ( It’s been snowing! ) Today my dad went out to get the winter tires off. I think the weather is fine.

My sister is at a rehearsal for a play put on by Missoula Children’s Theatre that I would have auditioned for if we didn’t have to leave the day the play is on. She’s lucky. But I do get to go to the USA .