Hey...just wanted to leave a note for the peeps who have been leaving me comments. :) Thanks for the encouragement...it helps. Things have just been really busy around here.....getting ready to move, trying to find a job, working, and hanging out with people (like going to Kings Island with my Little, McKenzie). I've also been pretty frustrated and down the past few weeks. Plus, for those of you who don't know, I haven't had internet access at my apartment since the middle of June, so that makes blogging difficult. Once I get internet in my new place, I hope to blog a lot more often. So....sorry about the few blogs.

*hugs*

You know, life just doesn't make a lot of sense to me right now.

A LITTLE BLOGGING POEM

O, how my brothers used to blog
I loved to read their thoughts
They took the time so I could read
They posted lots and lots

They wrote of things like God and life
And some were even funny
Some were about more serious things
Like government and money

Whether it seems possible
My brothers are quite smart
And I loved to read the things they wrote
Most being filled with heart.

I even liked the silly pics
Of poopy gardens and faces
Of everything from snow to Glenn
And other random places.

I’d loved to say “Go check it out.”
But I’m sorry to admit
Their rather short blogdom vacation
Has turned quite permanent

Even though the chance is slim
Every once in a while
I still click on their URL
In hopes a new post will make me smile

So far I’ve been quite out of luck
But still I check their sites
And if you have hope in your heart
You’ll check them, too, tonight

Maybe you could even take
The time to leave a comment
Maybe they will post again
If enough notes are sent.

Click right here for Jason's blog
And then once you are done
Click again for Spencer's blog
And say, “Start blogging, Son!”

Crater Lake and Old Faithful


Mammoth Hot Springs and The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone







Fountain Paint Pot Grand Tetons

THE WEST TRIP (part III):

This last section of my blog is about the part of the trip when I went by myself for a week around the NW United States. After getting through the haggle of renting a car for someone under 25 driving a one-way (the original place hooked up by the travel agent turned me down when I got there.....and we found ONE place that was able to rent to under 25 AND do a one-way to Denver), I drove out of Reno, Nevada back into northern Cali and into Oregon to Crater Lake. When I arrived, a girl came up to me and asked if I was camping alone and if she could split the cost of a campsite with me. Of course I was fine with that, and so I met Erica and camped on the same site as her. She was hiking the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail)....kind of like the Appalachian Trail of the West, but I'd say much more diverse, more difficult, longer, and more interesting. So, it was cool getting to talk to her later that night. The first thing I did, though, was drive up to the lake and hike and take a few pictures. It was amazing....like a big volcano top filled with a lot of really blue water (which is basically what it is). I'm glad I decided to go that evening, too, because the next morning when I went up to hike some more, it was so foggy I couldn't even see the lake anymore.

From there, I was off to Mt. Saint Helens, where I spent my second night in a row camping in the rain. I did meet some Amish people, though, from Iowa, and some of them had such weird accents that I could barely understand what they said. It was like Southern and Irish mixed together or something. lol Very cool. I didn't ever actually get to see Mt. Saint Helens because of fog (high altitudes breed much more fog than what we have in Ohio), but I visited a couple really awesome visitors' centers where I learned a lot of things I didn't know about Mt. Saint Helens, such as: it didn't spew molten lava when it erupted (like the red stuff we often see on TV), it has been "erupting" a lot over the last year (it's been building a new dome in the center), it was massively destructive when it erupted in 1980, it spewed ashes up to 12 miles high when it erupted in 1980, and the ashes affected weather across the globe.

Next stop was Seattle (only a couple hours north of Mt. St. Helens) where I stayed in the coolest hotel I have ever experienced. It was directly in the middle of downtown, and it was a historic hotel, meaning it was really old, which made it very awesome. And everyone I met there was super super nice and helpful. I told the guy at the front desk the next morning that if I ever come back to Seattle, I will stay at their hotel for sure. :) But anyway, I think Seattle had even more cafes and coffee shops than San Fran, which is a lot, and it wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say that there is a Star Bucks on every corner. I got to see the famous Space Needle, and for the first time ever, I did laundry in a laundromat. I felt so......independent I guess. lol I must say, that night, I slept sooooo well.....it was so nice to be in a bed. I was out so hard I slept through my alarm. It was wonderful.

From Seattle, I drove to Idaho, where I stayed in Clearwater National Forest. I wasn't expecting much, but it was a beautiful campsite. I stayed right by the water, and everything was so green and lush. The drive there was pretty incredible, too.....for about 2 hours, I wound around in a valley beside a river. It made for fun (and beautiful) driving. That night, I also met some nice people from Walla Walla and Florida who were so nice that they gave me some firewood. It was a good night.

From Idaho, I was off to Yellowstone. Yellowstone was amazing, but not really what I expected. I guess I was expecting the kind of scenery I saw at Yosemite, but both parks are just very different. They just can't really be compared. I spent two nites there, and I saw many sweet things that I have never seen before. I saw geysers and mud pots and buffalo and mule deer and hot springs. The fact that some of these things even exist is just out of this world. And if I remember right, Yellowstone alone holds 60% of the world's geysers, so if you want to see geysers, go there. :) I took a lot of pictures while I was there. And one of the days, I hiked around the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I went from one end to the other (about 5 miles) and then had to go all the way back. I saw some absolutely amazing views, including several roaring waterfalls and brightly colored rock walls. I was very tired by the end, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The morning I left Yellowstone, I got up at 4:20 in order to make it to Old Faithful at sun rise. I wasn't able to make it to Old Faithful the night I arrived because of a buffalo traffic jam. lol Anyway, I got to see Old Faithful go off at about 5:30am, and it was pretty darn sweet. From there, I traveled out the south entrance and into the Grand Teton National Park, where I was able to view the infamous Grand Tetons. I got a few pics of those, too. From there, I traveled out into Wyoming, which had beautiful brightly colored rock structures that blew me away. I loved the driving views at first. But as I got farther into Wyoming, it got dryer and dryer until I thought maybe I was in a desert! lol The roads were straight and seemed to go on for miles, and I was lucky to see a house or even a tree every few miles. And it was extremely windy.

My trek through Wyoming eventually brought me to Denver (that was the longest drive of the trip), where I checked into a really fancy hotel and proceeded to a suite on the top floor. No joke. I thought they had made a mistake putting me up there, so I went down to the front desk to make sure I was in the right room. It was the nicest hotel room I think I have ever stayed in, and I spent most of the evening just packing up and chilling out in my room, watching TV or relaxing in the desk chair with my feet propped up on the coffee table as I gazed out the huge window into the night of the city of Denver. It was beautiful, and I even saw a couple different fireworks shows going on. It was definitely a nice way to end my trip. I didn't get to see much of Denver, but I certainly enjoyed my stay there.

So, that's about the extent of my trip. I flew out of Denver the next morning into Chicago and then to Columbus, where I was able to see my mom, dad, and Little Lace once again. It was good to be home, but I want to go back again soon. :)

Grizzly Giant in Mariposa Grove & Me and Grizzly
Lace and I from Glacier Point



Bridalveil Falls, Yosemite



Lake Tahoe

THE WEST TRIP (Continued):

From San Francisco, we took the drive to Yosemite National Park, which might have been my favorite place from the trip. Our hotel was by far the nicest hotel yet, and the scenery, views, and hiking were just spectacular. When we arrived, we took the evening to drive into Yosemite and visit Mariposa Grove, the area where many giant Sequoia trees ("Redwoods") are located. The trees are just unbelievably huge.....the biggest I have ever seen, and probably ever will see. We took some time hiking through that part of Yosemite before heading back to the hotel for the night. I spent a lot of the hiking time walking several yards behind my little sister and parents in hopes of getting some good pics of them being absolutely silly with their walking sticks.....that and doing some weird walk thingy.....yeah, you had to be there.

The next day started bright and early as we headed back into Yosemite to our first destination, Glacier Point, where pretty much the entire park can be seen from one point. It was breath-taking.....we could see several waterfalls and domes from up there. Just beautiful. From there, we drove to a trailhead and hiked to Taft Point, another less-populated but almost just as beautiful point as Glacier Point. It's less popular mostly because you can't drive to it....it must be hiked to. There, I learned what "fissures" are.....cracks or spaces. In this case, between large rocks near cliffs.....meaning that on the way to Taft Point, if you aren't careful, you can be walking along and then all of a sudden fall down a very very steep crack in the rocks. It was cool and scary at the same time. If I went up to the edge of one, I got that sick weakly feeling that most people get when they look over the edge of something really high. After taking in Taft Point, we hiked to Sentinel Dome, which was quite an accomplishment. At the top, there was snow and a cold breeze, and it was nice to just take it all in.

While in Yosemite, we also visited the valley basin, where we got up close and personal with Bridalveil Falls...enough to get wet. It was pretty sweet.

The last stop with the fam was in Lake Tahoe, which is a gorgeous place.....a blue lake surrounded by snow-topped mountains. My favorite thing to do there was go out on the pier and watch the sunset. The one thing about Lake Tahoe that I didn't really like was the commercialism on the south end (where we stayed). It's always a little sad when something so beautiful is turned into a party-touristy place. But, we got to visit other areas that were much more natural, and so that helped me get over all of the restaurants and shops and things. Also, if you ever visit South Lake Tahoe, make sure you eat at Freshies. It was AMAZING!

Anyway, I will make blog III about the solo part of the trip, which might have to end up being two posts. So, stay tuned. :) And I hope to get some pics on here sometime soon, too.

I'm back from my vacation! Well, I've been back for several days now, but I'm just now getting around to blogging. Let me tell you, it was the trip of a lifetime. Honestly, I think this was one of the first vacations when by the end, I wasn't ready to go home. I've told a couple people that if I hadn't already signed a lease in Oxford, I think I'd be looking for jobs out West. If I've ever experienced love at first sight, that was definitely it. :) But no worries, I'm happy to be in Oxford with my peeps....especially after I find a job.

But anyway, the trip was amazing. I'm going to try to sum it up in as short of terms possible, though that's going to be hard. I never imagined California could be so beautiful. Seeing the cities of LA and San Francisco were awesome, but I think even better was the driving between them. The landscape in CA is just so outstanding and diverse, from lusch green to dry rolling hills to beaches to rocky shore lines. It's just incredible.

LA was how you would imagine it I would guess. Busy, lots of famous stuff, the Hollywood sign, Beverly Hills. We saw lots of famous people's houses (HUGE!), and Rodea Drive and all that jazz. We staying in Marina Del Ray, a part of LA along the coast. It was nice....but while we were there, too cold to lay out on the beach! We found out from some random LAers that it was not typical weather for LA in June. Go figure. It was warmer in Ohio! lol

Next was Morro Bay. Our first impression was not much of one.....it was kind of foggy and there wasn't much to see. But it didn't take us long to discover a whole other part of Morro Bay along (imagine this)....the bay! lol There were all kinds of shops and places to eat, and if you drove a little ways out into the bay, there was even this HUGE rock that just looked like someone plopped it down in the middle of the bay. Morro Rock is what they called it. We liked to refer to it as "The Rock," as we did many other objects during our trip thereafter. lol

On our way to San Fran, we checked out Hearst Castle, which was some rich dude's mansion that they've now turned into a National Park or something. It was crazy big. Huge. Wow.

San Fran was next.....I liked San Fran....much like a really big Kona Bistro or something....haha Very trendy, lots of fun. They have trollies and stuff in the middle of the city, and all the houses are packed together, most of them light-colored, adding a really cool effect. Being on the bay made it fun, too, and we even visited Alcatraz. We also trucked it to the top of the huge hill on Lombard Street so we could see the famous crooked street.....and then Mom thought it would be a great idea to truck it down the crooked street to see it from the bottom (which ultimately meants trucking it BACK up the hill once again to get back to our hotel). Needless to say, I got a good picture from the bottom, but I wasn't too happy. lol Here we also ate at Bubbas Shrimp Company and went through a cool aquarium.

OK, I think I'll stop there and do either one or two most posts at another time to talk about the trip, so it's not too overwhelming. Here's a couple picks, one of Lombard Street in San Fran and one of "the Rock" of Morro Bay. :)