The Bible Belt

For the last few days we've been driving and driving and driving and staying in hotels...through Louisiana, Mississippi (where we stopped for barbecue), and Alabama, and then finally took a real break at Stone Mountain Park, Georgia, which is just outside of Atlanta. There is a giant sculpture in the mountain of three Confederate Civil War heroes: Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis, and of course, Robert E. Lee. We had a relaxing night camping and checked out the mountain in the morning. We're finally in South Carolina.

Dinosaur Valley

We really are on our way to South Carolina, but had to stop in Glen Rose Texas, just outside Dallas/Fort Worth to see REAL dinosaur tracks at Dinosaur Valley State Park. The river bed is full of these fossils made 105-113 million years ago. Controversial fake human tracks have been sculpted into the limestone as well, and a Creationist Museum is also located nearby.



I think I was the most excited about the footprints, and Tyler and Joe were happy just throwing stones into the footprints and playing with the minnows. This was way cool.

Big Bend

I wish we had an entire month just to spend in Big Bend National Park in Texas. Unfortunately we had to settle for two nights and we only saw a fraction of the park. This place has everything: deserts, mountains, and not just any river, the Rio Grande. We drove in at night and it was kind of scary, it was so big and endless. And the night skies were so clear because there are no cities near Big Bend.

We saw deer, roadrunners, huge bugs: beetles, caterpillars, butterflies, grasshoppers, and even a tarantula crossing the road. Wayne swears he heard coyote. But we were eluded by the javelina (a wild pig) and the chupacabra (the mythical goat blood-sucking wolf creature). We also tried to catch catfish in the Rio Grande with no luck, although we did find an amazing hot spring right on the river. It's amazing how narrow the Rio Grande appears, and how easy it looks to cross the border.





















Big Bend is also full of fossils and we got to touch a hadrosaur and pteranodon fossil, and Tyler even found some seashell fossils (in Texas!). This place is truly special...

Carlsbad Caverns

Trying to take it slow which is impossible... We visited the caves in New Mexico and were 700 feet below the ground. I'm not sure the boys really understood how far underground we were. I'm not sure I understood either...The pictures just don't do it justice.

Grasshoppers!!!

Today we went to Guadalupe Mountains National Park which is actually in Texas which we crossed into just for a little bit. We took a little nature hike, because obviously the kids can't do anything for too long, especially Joe. We did get lucky, however, and saw three deer cutting across our trail just as the sun was beginning to go down. And we can't seem to escape from the kid-friendly grasshopper, which in Texas are huge! Tyler loves them, and I'm glad we know how to work the macro feature on the camera.

What little boys are made of...

We've spent a day and a half in Arizona. We had a great night stargazing at Catalina State Park and toured around Saguaro National Park during the day. The Saguaro cacti are very cool, and we have learned a lot about the desert. Tyler and Joe spent all morning chasing grasshoppers and at breakfast Wayne caught a Regal Thorny Lizard, aka the "horny toad." The poor reptile spent 30 minutes being examined and having it's belly rubbed by Tyler and Joe. I was sure Joe was going to kill it, but we did finally let it go.

Joshua Tree

It's so great to not be in busy traffic again. We're finally able to take it slow, and we've spent the last two days in Joshua Tree National. Park. It's two deserts here (Mojave and Colorado deserts), and this odd tree only grows in the Mojave part. It really seems like Dr. Seuss got some of his ideas from the flora in this area. The Colorado desert area looked very similar to Nome's tundra--very vast and desolate. This is a haven for rock climbers, and the boys, especially Tyler, did their fair share of rock climbing. They also "hunted" for lizards, but we only saw one the whole time.

We're actually in Arizona now and we're not missing Nome's 14 degree weather right now--it's a balmy 76 degrees here.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Today is Tyler's 5th birthday.
We started the day at the Rancho La Brea Tar Pits which is an area right in the middle of LA where there are sticky asphalt ("tar") pits. The asphalt has preserved thousands and thousands of fossils such as mastodons, sabre tooth cats, and wolves. When you walk around the museum's park and sidewalks in the neighborhood these "tar pits" actually surface to the top of the earth and they are black and gooey.


Then we went to Grauman's Chinese Theatre to people watch. Joe and Tyler imprinted their feet and hands into the cement (okay maybe into Harrison Ford's hand and footprints) and Bo checked out her favorite stars' stars.




Finally we went to Anaheim and had Tyler's birthday celebration at the Rainforest Cafe. Tyler was so happy at bed time and we stayed up reading one of his birthday books, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

Whew...it was another busy day. We are going to need a vacation from this vacation soon.

Fresno to San Carlos to LA

We've had a busy few days zig-zagging around Cali to see friends. We went to Fresno to see my Aunt Purple Violet and I was glad she finally got to meet the boys. Then we drove back up North to see my good friend, Dr. Frank Hsu, from dental school who has a beautiful practice in San Carlos with a very friendly staff (Hi Tyson!). And for NUDS alumni, Frank also has two children (a boy, Conrad, and a baby girl, Naomi).


Then we drove south along the coast to the Monterey Aquarium, had a short stop in Santa Barbara, and now we're finally in Los Angeles, visiting Wayne's friend Scott Chism. We spent all afternoon in Santa Monica and we rode the ferris wheel, played skeeball (Joe just walked to the target and threw the balls in), and just played on the beach. The weather is getting warmer now!

Berkeley and San Francisco

I knew we should not have entered California at all--too many things to do and too many people to see. And we still have to get to South Carolina by Thanksgiving...


But I finally got to eat at my dream restaurant in Berkeley, Chez Panisse, a mecca for those who read about food and eating...It's the birthplace of California cuisine and preparing locally grown foods. It was a pricey, but yummy, lunch and Wayne wondered if we were the only patrons who had slept in a van the night before. Tyler also spit out about a $4 mouthful of oysters while Joe ate the ice upon which the oysters sat.

Then we went into San Francisco and walked around Chinatown and the Fisherman's Wharf. We saw a fortune cookie factory and watched sourdough bread being made. We grabbed a crab sandwich and fried fish and shrimp on the wharf for dinner The boys loved the sea lions that moved into one of the piers. It was another incredible night and I recommend that everyone take some serious time off.

Crabs at Bodega Bay

We spent two nights in Bodega Bay. It just happened to be the beginning of Dungeness crab season in California so Wayne bought a fishing rod, this little crab trap that you tie to the end of the line, and some frozen mackerel for bait. Tyler and Joe each caught one, and we ate them both for dinner (which for all the gear cost us $40.00, the price of a pizza and a salad in Nome).

From the Redwood Forests...

We've spent the last two days in Redwood National Park along the Northern California coast line. The Sequoias truly are gigantic. Tyler rescued some banana slugs, we went hiking, and we checked out The Trees of Mystery, a campy tour of the Redwoods complete with a Giant Paul Bunyan and Babe, the ox.

Leaving Oregon

This was our last day in Oregon, and although it drizzled a lot, it was so beautiful. We ran into a sea lion on the beach (you can see it on the right in Tyler's picture on the rock). He wouldn't have lasted very long if he was spotted in Nome... and we went to the Sea Lion Caves, where hundreds of these animals gather often, just not while we were there! However, with binoculars, we did see about twenty or so out in the ocean swimming.

President Barack Obama

We saw this in Portland...

Tillamook Cheese Factory

We can't escape Oregon! There is so much to do and today we're on the Oregon Coast now and had to see the cheese factory. It was cool watching the cheddar getting processed. We're staying at a hotel tonight to watch presidential election coverage as we have no TV in the van.

Multnomah Falls and Fish Hatchery

Here we are taking the loop around Mount Hood /Hood River. Tyler and Joe climbed the 1 mile hike all the way up to the top of the Falls (with only minor whining and some piggy back rides). And then Tyler was in heaven as we stumbled upon this amazing fish hatchery where Silvers and King Salmon were being collected for egg and milt (sperm) harvesting. The hatchery is also home to Herman the (gigantic) Sturgeon.