We left Cedar City Utah to visit the Zion National Park for the day. It was a lot of fun and it was very pretty. It is the only canyon where you actually go down inside the canyon and look up to the top at the rocks.
For me (Sarah) my favorite part of the Zion National Park was the HORSE RIDING!!! It was soooooooooo much fun. Dad, Josiah and Joel rode mules but mum and I rode horses. Dad’s mule was called Maynard, Mum’s horse was called Kiddy, Josiah’s mule was called Buckshot, Joel’s mule was called Cody and my horse was called Chief. The horse riding was soooooooooooooooooo much fun!!!
That night we drove a few hundred miles to Cameron, Arizona. On the way we crossed a big bridge that went over the Colorado river. We arrived at our hotel late that night. It was Indian themed and there was a store that we looked in called the Cameron Trading Post. After that we went to bed.
The next day we went to the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely amazing!!! It was so pretty and you really can’t put it into words how awesome God‘s creation is. We spent most of the day here.
That afternoon we drove to Las Vegas. On the way we crossed the Hoover Dam which is huge. When we arrived in Las Vegas late that night we then spent the next two days hibernating in our room. There were two exceptions. One morning we went shopping. The other time Dad took us out to watch the fountains at the Bellagio hotel. You may have seen the Fountains at the end of the movie “Ocean’s 11”. They were awesome. The water feature had lights and it played to the music of the Pink Panther.
On Monday we travelled from Las Vegas to our final motel in Anaheim, LA.
On Wednesday Mum, Josiah, Joel and I all went to DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!! (Dad had to stay behind to sort out shipping our truck and trailer to NZ). It was soooooooooooooo much fun and there was soooo many fun rides. We got to meet Mickey Mouse, Tigger and Pooh Bear!!!
On Friday we went to SEAWORLD!!! That was awesome as well. We went to a seal show, a solphin show and a killer whale show. I really liked the killer whale show. It was really cool with lots of jumping whales. The whales try to splash the audience. Josiah and Joel got completely SOAKED because they were close to the pool and the whale splashed right in front of them!!! We also went on two water rides and then I got soaked!!!
Yesterday we went to UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!! It was sooooooooooooo cool!!! We saw how they make movies and how they do special effects. We saw movie sets and went on the movie rides. We had pictures taken with Scooby Doo, Shreck, a weird scary dude, Sponge Bob and Jaws!!! It was sooooooo awesome!!!
So now we are just sitting in our motel getting ready to fly back to New Zealand tomorrow evening. We can‘t wait!!!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Midwest (Part II) and going West
After racing at Spring Creek in MN we drove to Davenport Iowa. The next day Dad and I (Sarah) took a tour of the John Deere factory in Moline IL and that was really cool. There were three stages to make the Combine harvesters.
The next day we were still waiting for our RV to be fixed (it required a new converter / batter charge) so mum and I went to look at the homes of the Deere family. We walked through John Deere’s son’s home (Charles Deere) built around 1870 which was very old and beautiful and had a lot of renovation done. There was also Charles daughter’s home (built in the 1890s) to walk through which was a lot more modern.
That night the RV was fixed so Dad, Mum, Joel and I travelled south for two hours back down to the Hempens (Josiah was already there). It was awesome seeing the Hempens again.
We mainly hung out for the next few days. Roger Hempen, Kenny’s dad, cooked dinner one night and BBQ’ed a massive dish of meat. On Saturday afternoon when we drove north to Cedar Rapids for a night race. Josiah, Joel, Kenny Jr., Josiah and Luke Hempen all raced and they all did a good job.
On Sunday we went to church and I enjoyed that even though every one was really tired from the night race (we got home after midnight). After church we all went out to lunch and stuffed ourselves silly. Then at dinner the Jim and Nancy Bash and their children came over for a BBQ and all the kids swam and played while the adults went on a 4-wheeler ride.
Over the weekend mum and dad sold our fifth wheeler (the Raptor). We sold it on eBay. We nearly sold the Raptor to two buyers. We had agreed to sell the fifth wheeler to an interested buyer who had the highest bid but in the seconds between seeing that this person was the highest bidder and going to the next screen to accept the highest bidder, another person put in a higher bid (and was now the highest bidder) so the Raptor was sold to them. Dad said it was a nice problem to have.
On Monday I went with Jennifer and Jamie to pick grapes. We picked grapes from 8am-3pm and we didn’t pick very many grapes because we had to pick the tiny green grapes out of the purple grapes. But it was worth it because we got paid. We did it again on Wednesday and we picked 28 buckets of grapes. Then we got paid again!!!
Also that day all the boys went riding in Illinois. Josiah got to test out his new Yamaha 85 he got the day before.
On Thursday Josiah, Joel and I travelled with the Hempens north to Mt Pleasant to a place that they go every year for a holiday. The place we went to was called Old Threshers and it was really fun. We rode trolleys & tractors, squished pennies on the rail tracks, shopped and tried heaps of new food. Mum and Dad arrived on Friday afternoon. The Bashs came up and we had dinner then went around and did all sorts of things together including a ride on a steam train.
We said goodbye that Friday night and it was really sad. We have made so many awesome friends on this trip and we are going to miss them all.
We left really early the next morning at 7 o‘clock. It was a super long day of traveling and we travelled till midnight from Mt Pleasant Iowa to Denver CO (800 miles). That day an old lady clipped the back left side of the RV but only hitting the ladder (and taking off her side mirror in the process). She then called 911 and tried to say dad side swiped her when the state trooper pulled us over (dad didn‘t know we had been hit). In the end she admitted that she had tried to pass us when her lane had finished (the state trooper said she changed her story six times!)
The next day (Sunday) we went to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was amazing and very pretty. We got through it quite quickly and once we were done we went back to our RV park.
On Monday morning we dropped off the fifth wheeler to an RV storage depot mum and dad and the new buyer had agreed to drop off the Raptor at. We then loaded every thing into the truck and travelled for another 12 hours to Cedar City Utah driving over the Rocky Mountains.
We are now staying in a hotel in Cedar City. Dad just got a new trailer so he is rather pleased about that.
The next day we were still waiting for our RV to be fixed (it required a new converter / batter charge) so mum and I went to look at the homes of the Deere family. We walked through John Deere’s son’s home (Charles Deere) built around 1870 which was very old and beautiful and had a lot of renovation done. There was also Charles daughter’s home (built in the 1890s) to walk through which was a lot more modern.
That night the RV was fixed so Dad, Mum, Joel and I travelled south for two hours back down to the Hempens (Josiah was already there). It was awesome seeing the Hempens again.
We mainly hung out for the next few days. Roger Hempen, Kenny’s dad, cooked dinner one night and BBQ’ed a massive dish of meat. On Saturday afternoon when we drove north to Cedar Rapids for a night race. Josiah, Joel, Kenny Jr., Josiah and Luke Hempen all raced and they all did a good job.
On Sunday we went to church and I enjoyed that even though every one was really tired from the night race (we got home after midnight). After church we all went out to lunch and stuffed ourselves silly. Then at dinner the Jim and Nancy Bash and their children came over for a BBQ and all the kids swam and played while the adults went on a 4-wheeler ride.
Over the weekend mum and dad sold our fifth wheeler (the Raptor). We sold it on eBay. We nearly sold the Raptor to two buyers. We had agreed to sell the fifth wheeler to an interested buyer who had the highest bid but in the seconds between seeing that this person was the highest bidder and going to the next screen to accept the highest bidder, another person put in a higher bid (and was now the highest bidder) so the Raptor was sold to them. Dad said it was a nice problem to have.
On Monday I went with Jennifer and Jamie to pick grapes. We picked grapes from 8am-3pm and we didn’t pick very many grapes because we had to pick the tiny green grapes out of the purple grapes. But it was worth it because we got paid. We did it again on Wednesday and we picked 28 buckets of grapes. Then we got paid again!!!
Also that day all the boys went riding in Illinois. Josiah got to test out his new Yamaha 85 he got the day before.
On Thursday Josiah, Joel and I travelled with the Hempens north to Mt Pleasant to a place that they go every year for a holiday. The place we went to was called Old Threshers and it was really fun. We rode trolleys & tractors, squished pennies on the rail tracks, shopped and tried heaps of new food. Mum and Dad arrived on Friday afternoon. The Bashs came up and we had dinner then went around and did all sorts of things together including a ride on a steam train.
We said goodbye that Friday night and it was really sad. We have made so many awesome friends on this trip and we are going to miss them all.
We left really early the next morning at 7 o‘clock. It was a super long day of traveling and we travelled till midnight from Mt Pleasant Iowa to Denver CO (800 miles). That day an old lady clipped the back left side of the RV but only hitting the ladder (and taking off her side mirror in the process). She then called 911 and tried to say dad side swiped her when the state trooper pulled us over (dad didn‘t know we had been hit). In the end she admitted that she had tried to pass us when her lane had finished (the state trooper said she changed her story six times!)
The next day (Sunday) we went to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was amazing and very pretty. We got through it quite quickly and once we were done we went back to our RV park.
On Monday morning we dropped off the fifth wheeler to an RV storage depot mum and dad and the new buyer had agreed to drop off the Raptor at. We then loaded every thing into the truck and travelled for another 12 hours to Cedar City Utah driving over the Rocky Mountains.
We are now staying in a hotel in Cedar City. Dad just got a new trailer so he is rather pleased about that.
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