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Fall / Winter 2006
My very favorite place was Theodore Roosevelt National Park. There we saw Teddy's cabin and
some things inside the kitchen and office that he actually used. I learned that he was an important president becuase
he helped make a lot of national parks for the future. This is also where we saw our first bison!
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At Custer State Park I climbed all day with my cousin, Simon. It was cool because there
were huge rocks and lots of tunnels. I love climbing with Simon!
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When we went to White Sands National Park I made a cool sand ditch and sledded into it. I hurt
my butt, but it was still fun. I learned that after the wind and rain erodes the nearby mountains the gypsum
is blown into great dunes.
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I liked our stop back in Florida, and
we stayed at Patrick AFB. We did visit our old neighborhood and friends and did
homeschool group stuff. The air base camp ground had an excellent park where
me and my brother played “Wizards and Warriors.” I liked playing
that! We did lots of cool things while we were there; Islands of Adventure, Legoland,
and went to the Everglades. We had lots of fun
in Florida!
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I really liked the Civil War sites we’ve seen so far; Vicksburg, Stone River,
and Fort Sumter.
I even played a game that I made up: Union and Confederates. I dressed up in the Union colors
and got to walk on the same ground Civil War Soldiers did. I think the
battles in this war had to be planned out very well because they didn’t have the weapons like today. I’m glad the war helped to free slaves. That’s
cool.
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Patriot’s
Point in Charleston,
S.Carolina was awesome. They have a battleship there called the Laffy. They called it “The unsinkable ship” because it got hit by two torpedoes and six kamikaze planes
and kept fighting! We also went in to a submarine. It was way, way small inside,
like a play house size. It was all very cool.
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Summer
was Zang! (2007)
In three months we
did so much cool stuff. My favorite was Voyageurs Ntl. Park. I loved canoeing to Echo
Island, eating giant ice cream cones, and catching lots of leeches.
My second favorite
was Lumberman’s Monument. It had a big pile of logs where we played tag. Then
on the big sand dune (created from logs being slid down the hill into the water) I found petosky stones which are really fossilized
coral. I added them to my growing fossil collection.
Last the Ford Museum was very
cool. My favorite thing were the trains and the Oscar Mayer Weener Mobile. But, the real cool thing was that I did it with
my dad.
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| Kayaking around Echo Island; Voyageurs Ntl. Park |
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| Jumping on Lumberman's Sand Dunes |
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The Best of the West
(Fall 2007)
My favorite place
was White Sands. Even though we’ve been there it’s still very awesome. You can sled down the dunes, make jumps
and it’s beautiful.
My second on the list is Joshua Tree National Park. It
had tons of cool rocks to climb on. We climbed there all day!
Then, right below it on
the list is Death Valley National Park. I like its campground
because of the bushes that we played around. We also went on great hikes and there was a cool place called Devil’s Golf
Course. It was make of dried salt formations that had hardened air-bubbles that
made the holes.
The fourth is Redwoods National Park. We could go inside of the
trunks of the tress that were burnt from fire, but still alive. They would eventually
heal themselves. Also, the hike through the forest meant we had climb over these hugenormic fallen redwoods, and it was great.
On one of them was a banana slug. It was so adorable. Only my sister held it, but its little antennas were so cool.
Last, is Arches National
Park. It had nice trails; not too hard, and fun because
you can climb almost anywhere, just not on the arch. It has great scenery too and it really beautiful.
We always find fun wherever we go, and I’ll write more about my next favorites in a couple
months.
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White Sands again, and again.... |
Joshua Tree National Park - endless climbing! |
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Redwoods Forest and endless hiking. |
At Arches and climbing, climbing, climbing... |
2008 Was Great!
The trip has ended but we went to many civil war battlefields. My favorite was Gettysburg, even though
they "nickel-and-dime you to death" because everything to do costs money. Did you know that General Pickett lost half
his men at one battle called Pickett's Charge? And, at the end of the Battle of Gettysburg there were over 28,000 Confederate
and 23,000 Union casualties.
I also went to the Battlefeilds of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. I learned that this is where Lee
had his easiest victory, but Stonewall Jackson died. Me and my brother played Union and Confederate, and this time the
Union won!
After a long time (over a year) of waiting, I finally went to Ulysses S. Grant's home. It was
very, very, very cool. I went on a tour of his house and ice house, and the museum that was in a barn. But, my favorite
rooms were the chicken house, because there was still feathers and chicken poop in it, and Grant's office, because I saw his
coat and a ledger with his writing.
We also went to the West Point museum. It was awesome! They had a lot of weapons, a home-made Thompson,
and a Brownings Automatic Rifle. The museum (had exhibits that) told you all about the evolution of modern infantry.
I also really like Lincoln's Memorial in Washington D.C. It's huge, and made me feel very small like
an ant. Lincoln's head has another "head" on the back that looks up, but you can't see it on the actual statue because
it's too big. I just learned that.
I sure had an excellent time going around the United States. I learned thousands of things. But, I loved
the Civil War sties the most. They are very interesting, in my opinion.
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Me in Ulysses S. Grant's office |
Gettysburg, Battle of Little Round Top |
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Fredricksburg/Chancellorsville; paying respects |
Lincoln Memorial, WA D.C. |
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