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Fall / Winter 2006
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My favorite thing on this RV trip so far was Whidby Island. I got to do paint ball
for the first time. Everyone who played was a lot older than me, and they all said I was a natural because I was the
last one standing many times. Also, on the sea shore there was a really awesome fort that me and my brother finished.
We worked on it for three days!
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Medicine Rock was wicked cool!!!!! Mega-rocky, mega-big, and mega-fun. We
climbed all day and built a sturdy fort under a cliff. I loved Medicine Rock also because it's a spritual place where indians
had gone to call up "big medicine" for a successful hunt. It was one of my favorite places.
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The Badlands were great because of the open hike policy - you can climb anywhere! My
family and I climbed all day with my Aunt Jenny and cousin Simon. I climbed to the top of 100 foot peaks!!
It was really cool.
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People knew Mount St. Helens was going to erupt, so very few died. But, it's still
sad. We learned about how volcanoes erupt, and earned a Junior Ranger Badge. The coolest thing at the visitor center was a
mat that you could jump on that would register on a Seismograph like an earthquake.
That's how scientist knew the eruption was coming. Cool.
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When we camped
at Arnold AFB in Tennessee, we went to an excellent community center!
They had a bunch of free games, but I mostly played pool and Halo2. We
went a lot because the weather was still cold. On Sunday they had a free Easter
Egg hunt with cotton candy and hot chocolate! The Arnold AFB campground was okay. The showers were old and creeky, but the nearby community center made it a great
place!
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Legoland by Universal
Studios ruled! When we first got there I saw a life-sized Lego sea dragon, shark
and huge crab. Inside they had tons of Lego sets, Lego people (you could build
your own), and bins filled with individual pieces you could fill a container with any mix.
I got two sets and a Lego guy, and can’t wait go to the one in California.
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Arkansas had a lot of mining to do, like at Craters of Diamonds, Mt.
Ida, and Crystal Vista. We
didn’t find any diamonds, but got lots of quartz crystals. Even though
we had to hack into this wall of rock at Crystal Vista for like three hours (and got nothing) we did find some at the roots
of a tree on our way out of the place. We found a bunch.
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I looked forward
to Iowa
for a long time. I hung out with my Aunt Jenny and played music with her band. She also took us camping at Saylorville Lake (pictured). Nick, my cousin Simon, and
I all played Nerf darts, and I got an excellent Alice Cooper DVD. Then, the coolest
thing happened…. we heard Alice Cooper was coming to the Iowa State Fair Aug. 10, and it just so happens that’s
when we’ll be back in Iowa!! Aunt Jenny is taking me for my birthday. We also got our new RV, and it’s excellent. I can’t wait to have more
adventures in our big, new house on wheels.
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What I Did My
Summer "Vacation" (2007)
This summer was fun! We
went to a lot of excellent places and had no school work! The coolest thing I
did was when we visited Jeffers Petroglyphs site in Minnesota. They
had a hands-on activity where I hit a foam bison target two times with an atlatl & spear. I must have been about 40-50
feet away and still got it!
The second coolest thing
I did was visit Voyageurs Ntl.
Park. We stayed at this
awesome resort where we got to do lots of stuff for free. My favorite thing was tubing from the back of a boat. I’ve
always wanted to do that. I also liked kayaking with my family to Echo
Island. I got to fish from the kayak when we were there.
The third favorite place
was Six Flags Great America (outside Chicago). We rode 200000 rides. Okay, maybe not that many, but a lot! The roller coasters ruled. The next day we
went to Six Flags Hurricane Harbor, a water park that was real
fun!
We had fun at our Grandparent
Lombardi’s house during the Fourth of July! That’s the fourth favorite
thing I did. It was cool because my Dad met us up there and we got to do fireworks with him and go to The Ford Museum. We
also played tennis and golf.
I also have to add Hiawatha Ntl. Forest
to my top favorites list. Bay Furnace was really cool. Iron workers (1800’s) would make lines in the sand by the lake,
and hot melted iron would be poured from the bay furnace into the lines, called piglets. The heat would also melt the beach
sands. We picked up about 20 pieces of colored glass and I also found a piece of an iron piglet. I also got some flint but
couldn’t get the fire started without the right steel. Hiawatha and Bay Furnace was awesome!
Last, St.
Paul’s Cathedral in Minneapolis was huge-normous.
It made me feel minusqule. The builders of these big churches did it so God would feel more powerful and the church would
feel ominous and important. I also liked all the stained glass windows. Tons of art on the walls and ceilings…I think
some were Frescos.
Even though the summer had
to end and I knew school work would start again, right before we started I finally saw Alice Cooper in concert! What
a great, great summer!
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| What's left of Bay Furnace |
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| A guest at Mooshorn took me for my first tubing ride. EXCELLENT! |
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“Go
West Young Man, Go West”
(Fall 2007)
Redwood National Park tops the list this venture out. The trails are great, with fallen big redwoods everywhere that we could climb over
and on. The super tall trees make you feel tiny, and it feel so powerful inside the forest.
Also tied along with first are Joshua Tree National Park and White Sands. Joshua Tree had
awesome rock formations to climb…everywhere. Huge piles of boulders shot up everywhere from the barren landscape. But, we got to go to White Sands again too, and it will always be at the top of my
lists. Sledding there is so fun, and building ramps and “butt busters” to slide on is excellent.
Death Valley National Park is number
two. I liked the Devils Golf Course, the campground, the hikes and the Junior
Ranger program. I liked the Ranger program about the 101 ways to die in Death Valley.
Then we have Six Flags Magic Mountain
at number three. I don’t care what it’s called Six Flags anywhere have excellent rides.
Arches National Park come in at number four. I loved their open hike
policy because we could climb on anything except the arches themselves. But, we got right up next to many of the awesome arches!
Thus concluding another review of PK’s Top
Sites.
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White Sands never "gets old" |
Fun at Joshua Tree National Park |
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And, even more climbing at Arches... |
- Spring & Summer 2008 -
I always look forward to summer, and we did so many cool things. But, I also knew that our trip
would be over and that at the end of summer we would be visiting Iowa again, and my Aunt Jenny. But, here are some
of the favorite things I did in 2008.
Mammoth Cave was extraordinarily cool! We went splelunking through tight holes, secret tunnels, and
into big caverns. If you get the chance you should do it! Did you know Mammoth cave has over 200 miles of mapped cave? Now,
that's cool.
We also went to the Louisville Slugger museum and factory. It was cool how they made bats. There are
many colors, even glow-in-the-dark ones. There are walking cane bats, and personalized bats. I got one with my name on it!
The General Patton Museum at Fort Knox was amazing. There's so much to learn, and to just look at. I also
found out that Patton was a goof-off in school. I also enjoyed the West Point museum, and looking around at West Point.
Just being there made me feel like being the next generation of military greatness like Generals Grant
and Eisenhower.
Another great military site we visited was the WWII memorial in Washington D.C. There is both a sad and
happy vibe there. The designers made it look cool and you could tell a lot of time and money was spent on it. I would like
to go back to D.C. some day.
But, a really cool end to a summer visiting so many military sites was going to the Missouri
Military Academy. Cadets had to dress is military uniforms, they had to march to lunch, and their dorm rooms were even
military. They also have a rifle club and a WWII reinactment club. I can't wait to go.
I loved the last part of our trip. And, even though it's over, I'm sure I'll always remember the adventures!
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Westpoint, New York
(click on picture for elarged view)
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