Salt Lake City, Utah!

Today we made it all the way to Salt Lake City. But first, I have to start with yesterday. I couldn't blog yesterday because...well, the Sheraton internet is weak! Yesterday we drove from Kansas City to Denver, 620 miles!. When we got to Denver we had dinner at about 10:30, but we took it back to the hotel and ate it there. We got free breakfast in the morning and then today we started our drive to Salt Lake City. We drove up through Wyoming, which is very pretty but barren. The winds were over 50 mph but we saw tons of wildlife. We saw a Bald Eagle and 4 wild horses. We also saw about 5 huge herds of Pronghorn Antelope. My dad spotted 2 dead wolves and we all saw a badger. Closer to the end, I found a bunch deer. About halfway through our drive we stopped on the side of the road because we had to blow up some fireworks we bought in New Mexico before we got back to California. They weren't that loud, but it was really cool because it wasn't even 4th of July! It got dark really fast and it was getting late so we stopped at Pizza Hut and kept going another 40 miles to Salt Lake. When we got there we found our hotel but we kept going because we wanted to look at the Mormon Temple that was about a block away from us. It was really pretty and we saw the capitol too! We checked into our hotel and came up to the room. I think we're going to go swimming later. But tomorrow... we're coming home!

Kansas City, Missouri

Today, we left Louisville and drove to St. Louis. We visited the Gateway Arch which was amazing! First, Reede, Beck, and I visited the musuem and became Junior Rangers again. Then we bought tickets to go up into the arch. We got in this little tram that had 5 seats in it, but Reede called it "an egg." It was a 4 minute ride to the top, but it felt like a ferris wheel that kept tipping. When we finally got to the top, there were windows we got to look out and since my dad is so scared of heights, he couldn't even look all the way down. There were two frozen ponds, the stadium that the Rams play in, and the Budweiser factory. We took some pictures and then took the tram back down. Then we had to continue our drive to Kansas City. We stopped at a Subway but I had fallen asleep. When I woke up we stopped at another Subway because we were still hungry and then we found a town called Emma. I took a picture of it because she is one of my best friends. We finished our drive and found our hotel called the Aladin Holiday Inn. It's a really cool hotel in downtown Kansas City. We gained one hour today and so we're all up late! We need to drive a long ways tomorrow to Denver, Colorado!

Icy, Icy Louisville

Today we had to stay another day becuase it was too dangerous to drive 450 miles! There was snow everywhere, more ice, and there were a bunch of accidents between here and St. Louis. We had breakfast in the hotel because we didn't want to drive around and then we went to go explore the town. We took a trolley down to 4th Street again to go see if the bowling alley was open. It was closed and then we learned that everything else in the town was closed. We took the pedwalks back to the hotel and on the way we stopped to buy tickets from a man who was selling Cardinal basketball tickets that we found on Craigslist. Then we watched TV in the hotel for about an 1 1/2 and then we drove around looking for dinner. We ended up eating at another restaurant on 4th Street at a Hard Rock Cafe and had a great meal! We drove to the stadium and found our seats in the top section in Row Z. We had a great time, but the game was pretty lopsided. I believe the score was 80 to 54, Louisville won!. Beck was so excited to be there and he even tracked down the mascot and gave him a high-five, which he is usually too scared to do! He even got a shirt from one of the cheerleaders as we were leaving and he's now wearing it to bed! We drove home but we have to go to bed early because we need to drive a long way in the morning! It isn't supposed to snow tonight so we are going to aiming for Kansas City tomorrow!

Louisville, Kentucky

Today was one of the hardest days of traveling ever! Last night, as you know, we were stuck in an ice storm, and we woke up to about 2 inches of snow and a lot of ice. The roads were clear so we kept driving. We had to drive really slow and saw about 6 people who had spun out and at least 3 who had rolled off the road. By the time we got to our hotel, in Louisville, we had about 3 inches of solid ice on the front of our car. It was crazy! My dad actually thought the car might overheat because the cool air couldn't get to the engine. We checked into our hotel which my mom booked for us online. It was a 4 star hotel for cheaper than the Days Hotel we stayed at last night! (It has 25 floors, my favorite part!) Then we walked a few blocks in pedwalks to a trendy street called 4th Street Live and we had a great dinner. We tried to take the trolley home but it didn't stop for us so we walked back to our hotel. We settled in for the night to watch Disney channel! Hopefully it won't be as cold, snowy, or icy tomorrow. Maybe we'll make it to St. Louis?

Sutton

Today, my mom went to the airport at about 5 in the morning, so we didn't get to see at all today. Everyone went down to the exercising room to have a little workout. We showered and then we packed up. We didn't end up leaving the hotel until about noon because the hotel washed our laundry and lost a whole bag of it and they didn't find it until about 11:30. We had breakfast and then started our first drive back home. We were headed for Charleston, West Virginia, but along the way it started to get really cold and icy. It started to get darker, and there were deer everywhere, so we had to stop in a small town called Sutton. We got a hotel called Days Inn and then we had dinner at a grocery store. After that we went swimming in the indoor pool! We had a great time, and then we went back to the hotel room and watched TV. It's supposed to snow tonight so we're hoping that we'll be able to drive tomorrow!

Mount Vernon

Today we spent the entire day at Mount Vernon! When we first got there, we bought tickets to go on a tour about where the first National Treasure film was made. (We got to see where they had the President's birthday party and the basement when the President gets kidnapped.) Our tourguide took us to Washington's old tomb and his new one, where George and Martha are both layed to rest. Next we went on a tour inside his mansion, which was really interesting. A lot of the things in the house were original and we even got to see the bed where he died. We walked down to the musuem area to have lunch (at 3:00) and it turns out that Mount Vernon was celebrating George and Martha Washington's 250th wedding anniversary. "Martha Washington" was giving a presentation so we decided to go and see it. Reede and I ended up sitting in a theatre for 1 hour and 10 minutes listening to this lady talk about her life. My mom fell asleep and left halfway through while Dad and Beck wandered through the museum. Almost everyone behind us, mostly old people though, were all asleep. My mom was amazed at how long it took! We looked around the gift shops for about 5 minutes and then we walked back to the car and drove to our hotel. Reede and I were so excited because the hotel had an indoor swimming pool and a fitness room where kids are allowed! Most of the hotels we go to, the pools are frozen! I really hope it's warmer tomorrow because we were not prepared for 29 degree weather today. On a sad note, Mom is leaving tomorrow at 5:30 in the morning. We had a lot of fun with her and we're all sad she's leaving. I hope we drive south tomorrow because it's so cold and it's snowing, but I think we're heading for Kentucky!

Colonial Williamsburg!

Today we went to Williamsburg,which is 2 1/2 hours away from D.C. We go there at about 1 p.m. and we went on as many tours as we could. We took a tour through the first capitol of Virginia and Dad and Reede took one through a tavern. My favorite tour was the one through the governor's palace. We got to see what the bed chambers and the ball room looked like. There were weapons everywhere on the wall, which was very different and old-fashioned. We went inside a bakery and got some very yummy things, and an old time jewelry shop. We went into a millery and the ladies there told us everything you could possibly know about fashion in the old times. They made everything in their shop, and I never knew making clothes could be so complicated. We had dinner and then took the bus back to the visitor center. We're on our way home now, it's 9:45 and we're all in the car, and we'll be back to the hotel in about 30 miles! Tomorrow, I'm sleeping in!