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.

Big Red

We are going to race in the second day of the Hound Dog Regatta. It will be an adventure!! Wish us luck! :)

A big truck a car behind us rear ended the small suv behind us, we were hit by a flying bumper and showered with glass, but other than that we are okay. No damage to us or the car! Of course the EMT lady sends us on our way right when the fire trucks show up.

Just left Pennsylvania, thru West Virginia and just entered Ohio.

Nicole just saw her first Amish horse and buggy!

Megan and I are sitting in a Broadway musical, waiting for it to start. What musical you ask? Mary Poppins.

We went to the site of ground zero, and are now on the way to the Met.

Sittin at a bar in Times Square...drinking some beer!!

Arrived at our hostel, pretty cool...now we are going to take the subway downtown to times square.

Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty

This is Ellis Island from the ferry.

This was the waiting area on Ellis Island where Immigrants would wait to be let in the US or deported back to their home country!

After Ellis Island, we took the ferry back to Liberty Island, and were able to see the Statue up close.  It was pretty cool, the best view was from the ferry.  If we had known, we would have bought tickets months ago to go up into her crown or her pedestal.

Washington D.C.

The Washington Monument

T

The Lincoln Memorial through the water from the World War II Memorial

 

The Lincoln Memorial through the reflection pond

The Vietnam Memorial - just a small section of it.

The Korean War Memorial

Megan and I are about to get on a Duck tour of Boston

Just walked thru a group of Zombies in Boston Commons!

Just said Hi to Lady Liberty...she said Bonjour!

Waiting to board the ferry for Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty.

We are at the motel in New Jersey...totally wiped from DC. We are taking a ferry to Ellis Island and Lady Liberty tomorrow. I hope to put pics up tonight, but the internet here sucks.

Sittin outside at a park waiting for the Beach Boys tribute concert to start.

Waiting at the station for the metro to take us to D.C.

Waiting at the station for the metro to take us to D.C.

South Carolina

We arrived at Erin's (Megan's sister) place in Clemson, South Carolina Sunday night at 10 pm.  Today we went to Clemson's campus...it is gorgeous!  After that Erin took us to the Stump House Tunnel.  They tried to make a railroad track thru the tunnel but the granite would not give no matter what they tried.  It was pretty cool.  Then we hiked down to the Issaqueena falls.  We all went under the little ledge of the waterfall and got soaked!  Those are the wet butt prints we left behind on the bench.  Then she drove us to the White Falls and that was gorgeous.  Finally, we ended the day at Lake Jocassee, and went swimming and laid in the sun.  The lake is so clear you can  see the bottom near shore, it is glacier water so it was a little cold but definitely refreshing.  Tonight she took us to Greenville.  It is a cool little town.  We walked on a suspension bridge overlooking a huge waterfall right in the center of town.  Pretty awesome!

Florida

We arrived in Florida and at the Welcome Center they have a Blue Angels jet.  It was cool.  We went to New Smyrna beach in Florida, the water was great.  People can drive cars on the beaches in Florida so as you walk to the water you need to look both ways.  If you survive the walk to the water you need to watch out for sharks ( apparently near the inlet, which we weren't, is the shark bite capital...baby sharks who don't know any better!)

On our way to Florida!

It seemed that the rain followed us from Texas!  It would stop raining and the minute we got out of the car it would start to pour!