I'm going going, back back, to Cali Cali

We are in Fremont, CA...yay!!  On our way to check out San Francisco. 

Washington State

Arrived to Megan's cousins apartment in Seattle on Sunday.  He took us to the Space Needle and then we walked down to the sound and had snacks and drinks.  It was nice, sprinkled a tiny bit.  The edamame was to die for!  Then walked to Pike's Place, it was closed but we saw the piggy bank and the gum wall (ewww).

Found out that the soldier my class adopted (My mom and his mom work together) was coming home and the Fort was only an hour from Seattle.  His flight would come in at Midnight.

So we left Matt's house and headed to Fort Lewis around 10:30 p.m.

We arrived to Fort Lewis about 11:30, signed in and then were told that the flight was delayed to 1:00 am.  We went inside and I met his mom and dad for the first time.  We have been in contact for the last 9 months, but I have never met them.  It was pretty cool, we went into a gym and their was a huge screen and they were playing Madagascar 2 for the kids to watch.  A little after 1 am, they cut to a video of a plane on the ground.  The soldiers were finally back.  We watched them deplane and we cheered for our soldier, Tim.  Then they had to check in their belongings, so about 2 hours later, a musician sang a song, and at the end they raised the curtain and there they were.   It was really cool.  Then the Commander (??) thanked them for their hard work and then dismissed them.  The men ran to their families and friends.  It really was amazing.  I was finally able to meet Tim face to face.  It was all over about 4am so Megan and I decided to drive for as long as we could...which ended up being only an hour.  We pulled into a rest stop in Washington and passed out for about 4 hours.  At 9:30, we headed on our way.  Deciding to skip Crater Lake, OR.

Oh Canada...The True North strong and free!

We were up and out of the hostel by 8:30 a.m. this morning.  We went to the Great Canadian Oil Change, and Megan's car received its much needed oil change and new wipers.  We also had breakfast at Tim Hortons.  As my dad would say, BSCOG's.  (Bitesize chunks of goodness).  And goodness it was.  It was about a 6 hour drive from Kamloops to Whistler, but we took Hwy 99, which is the scenic route and it was beautiful.  We arrived to Whistler about 3:30 ish.  We walked thru Whistler's Village and went to all of the stores.  We had lunch at the Brewhouse and my brother Tom, told us to take the Gondola up to the top.  By the time we got there is was almost 5 and the Gondola was closed.  The mountain shuts down at 5, but there were still some runs open for the mountain bikers.  We headed to the car and started the journey to Vancouver.  Tom told us to stop at Brandyvine Falls.  It was so beautiful, it was a huge waterfall!   It was a quick 300 m walk across railroad tracks to the overlook.  Amazing!   Pics to follow.  Again, we have shoddy internet connections.  Then we headed to Vancouver.  We drove on the sea to sky highway which hugs the pacific coast on a mountainside....again beautiful.  We got to the hostel in Vancouver at about 8:45p.m.  Last night in Canada, and then it is on to Seattle tomorrow!

Oh Canada

We crossed into Canada yesterday from Eureka, Montana.  We went to the customs window and had to declare our pepper spray.  Its illegal in Canada.  They gave me a receipt for it and when I asked, they stamped our passports!  It was then on to Salmon Arms.  We drove all day and finally at about 9:45 p.m. we arrived to the hostel.  The hostel was awesome...we slept in a trains caboose!!  Pictures will follow.  There was a rowdy group of teachers partying at the hostel, and we had 5 other girls staying with us.  One was from Australia, one was from Japan, one was German, and two were from Sweden.  They were cooking marshmallows over the fire, so I went to the car and Megan and I gave them graham crackers and chocolate.  They had never had a s'more!  We fixed that.  They loved them.


I wish we could have stayed longer.  That hostel is definitely one I want to go back to again.  Way cool!

We just had an elk walk through the campsite at Yellowstone National Park.

Wyoming has some of the nicest people...everyone is so nice and friendly, and helpful. We r in Cody, on our way to Yellowstone. A guy at the store gave us the route to take...its suppposed to be beautiful. We'll let u know.

Camped at Stone State Park in Sioux City, Iowa last night...absolutely gorgeous...and I saw my first lightening bug. They were everywhere, along with every other bug u could imagine. Now on our way to Wyoming.