Dear Journal,

We left Kayla last attempting to escape a bird refuge where her evil parenting unit known as "Mother" attempted to make her learn.  Kayla managed to escape, thus preserving her ignorance.  But, on her way out, "Mother" and sibling unit "Alex" recaptured her, and are taking her to Glacier National Park.

August 13, 2009

On the way to Glacier National Park, parenting unit "Mother" once again attempted to rid her life of Kayla.  At a Huckleberry Stand, she purchased a bag of huckleberries and presented them to Kayla.  "Mother" also added a few drops of deadly poison to the bag.  Little did "Mother" know that Kayla had created an immunity to said poison by adding a safe amount of it to her own food prior to the huckleberry incident.  "Mother" was amazed (and very disappointed) when Kayla gobbled up the berries and wasn’t in the least bit sick.  Although "Mother" was not pleased by the outcome of the huckleberry incident, she thought up a new plan to get rid of Kayla once and for all.

Still on the way to Glacier National Park, "Mother", "Alex" and Kayla came across a rampage of bison.  "Mother" requested that Kayla take a picture of them.  Noticing the danger of the raging animals outside the car, Kayla refused.  But upon being offered 5$ by "Mother," Kayla finds it difficult to refuse.  With camera in hand, Kayla pokes her head out the sun roof of the car.  She pushes her entire body up so that she is standing on the roof. 

Horrid bison snarl brutally around her.  Kayla takes a few pictures, as "Mother" laughs and begins to close the sun roof.  Noticing the problem, Kayla, holding the sun roof in one hand and the camera in the other, pushes back with inhuman strength.  She opens it enough to slide through, and returns the camera to her dismayed parenting unit and redeems her money.

August 14, 2009

We still have not arrived in Glacier National Park, but parenting unit "Mother" is still devising a plan to get rid of Kayla in a horrible sort of way.  Although Kayla would be perfectly happy to return to her hometown in New York, that is  a much too pleasant and simple fate for her.  No, "Mother" must think up a more drastic way to rid Kayla from her life, one that will get rid of Kayla forever.

On the way, "Mother" noticed a road-side stop that could possibly fulfill her goal to get rid of Kayla.  The roadside attraction was called Bear Adventure. Upon entering, we noticed numerous "Danger" and "Enter at your own risk" signs.  Another sign declared that our car was our cage, and it most certainly was!

Vicious, man-eating bears surrounded our car.  Although there were many signs that said that we were not allowed to open our windows, "Mother" ignored them and rolled down her window to get a better picture.  She "accidentally" dropped her camera case out the window, and asked Kayla to get it for her like in the bison incident.  Kayla refused, but when "Mother" offered her money, Kayla could not refuse. 

As Kayla climbed out the car, "Mother" slipped a Huckleberry-Honey sandwich in Kayla’s back pocket.  Kayla retrieved the camera case, and slipped it through the window which "Mother" quickly closed.  As Kayla made her way around the front of the car, three bears made their way towards her.  They sniffed the air then walked towards Kayla.  With a low growl the bears charged.

Surprised, Kayla growled back.  The bears all threw their sharp claws at Kayla.  She fought back.  Unfortunately, for the bears, they were boy Grizzlies and Kayla kicked them in the groin.  As the bears fell to the floor in pain, Kayla slipped into the car.

"Mother" was dumbstruck as Kayla sat down she felt a squishy thing in her back pocket.  She reached in to find a sandwich.  With a pleased look on her face, she gobbled it down.

Later that day, upon arriving at Glacier National Park, "Mother" formed another diabolical plan to dispose of Kayla with the potential benefit of losing sibling unit "Alex" also.  Originally, "Mother" planned to tire us to death on a hike, but at the trail head she noticed a sign.  It said to beware of flying squirrels.  This gave her a plan that was certainly ten times more malicious.

As we made our way through the Trail of the Cedars, we noticed that it was teeming with life.  The rainforest was also very wet.  It is very curious that there should be a rainforest in Northwest America, but there was … laughing, a cackling laugh.  "Mother" stepped to the side of the trail.  She announce that she was taking a picture of some uprooted trees, and for us to go one up ahead.

We went on ahead a bit, then stopped to wait for "Mother."  About ten minutes later, "Mother" came by and was dismayed to discover that "Alex" and Kayla were completely unscathed.  Although there were plenty of ground squirrels everywhere, we saw no flying squirrels.

August 15, 2009

Today, Parent Unit "Mother" did not try to specifically kill Kayla (although the opportunities were plentiful.)  No, she has become much wiser through the previous attempts. 

She has realized that Kayla is much too amazing, witty, brawny, perspicacious, and savvy.  Furthermore, the author of this book has realized that it is easier and faster to pretend that today was a normal day and she wants to go fishing and her Parent Unit "Mother" said she could not fish until she finished catching up her journal up to the current day (an obvious attempt at boring Kayla to death.)  So, here we go with a fake "normal" journal entry.

Today, we went on the Road To The Sun.  It was awfully windy and extremely dangerous.  We went to a Visitor Center where we watched a movie and did Junior Ranger programs.  We also saw bighorn sheep on the side of the road.  They were walking around like it’s nobody’s business.

August 16, 2009

We are still pretending that Kayla’s days are normal so she can go fly fishing sooner.  Sooo here it goes.

Today we went on a hike from Logan’s Pass.  It was very foggy, it was like we were in a cloud (which we were.)  It also rained a lot.  We saw a mountain goat.  It was really cute.  It actually came up to us!

August 17, 2009

Today, we went on a boat trip.  We crossed two lakes to get to the place where we went for a hike.  It was a naturalist guided hike.  We saw a pretty waterfall.  We also had to cross a bridge.

It was the kind of bridge that shakes when you walk on it, and only holds one person at a time.  Everyone held the rails and walked slowly and stumbled a lot.  I power walked down the center, holding no rails, and not stumbling once. At the same time, Alex shook the bridge from the other end.  That just shows how strong I am.

This post is for the 2009 Blog Action Day on Climate Change.

Blog Action Day:

• Blog Action Day Pollution Story (2007)
• Blog Action Day Poverty (2008)

Dear Journal,

Today we went to the Not So Pah Hot Springs in Idaho.  The water was warm.  We went on a water slide.

Later we went to some Ice Caves.  It was really cold.  It was boring.

Even later we ate at an A&W for the first time.  They don’t have any in New York!  I was disappointed to learn that they did not sell A&W Cream Soda.  So, instead, I got their draft root beer.  It was delicious, way better than bottled ones.  I also got a cheeseburger.  It was OK.  I got one of the mugs to keep.   For dessert, I got an orange cream milkshake.  It was good.

Dear Journal,

We visited Ranch 71 in Nevada, and stayed there for a couple of days. 

The first day we went on a 2 hour horseback riding trip.  We were checking to see if the cattle had water in the troughs.  They did in all but one which we turned the water valve on.

The next day, we took a 5 hour horseback riding trip.  Like the day before, I rode Little Red.  I combed his hair and braided a piece of it. 

We rode into the Ruby Mountains.  I even swam in a pond there.  It was cold.  Not a lot of people can say they swam on the Ruby Mountains which still have snow on them in the summer.

We also found some leeches when we rested by the pond.  A bunch of them stuck to my foot when I went swimming.  I asked my mom if I could keep them, but she said NO:(

At Ranch 71, I also met Stretch Magoon and Happy Jack.  They are two of the many shooters who dress in old west clothing and shoot at metal targets with single action revolvers.  The event was called Cowboy Action Shooters Tournament.

Dear Journal,

Today we are on Route 375… a.k.a. the Extraterrestrial Highway.  It’s a long, long, long road.  For a while, the road was even unpaved.  The speed limit was 70 mph, but my mom found herself accidentally speeding at 100 mph at some points. 

She was afraid that a cop might catch her, but I explained to her that this road probably got 3 or 4 visitors a day, and no cop in his right mind would be stationed here.

We also went to a restaurant call A’Le’Inn.  They had good hamburgers.  it was all alien themed.  It even had a flying saucer in the front.

Despite our efforts to spot UFOs on this highway, all we saw were cows and antelopes.  I don’t believe in UFOs anyways.  Although the roads were so long and vacant, we could understand how someone driving it alone might become delusional enough to think that they spotted a UFO.

Today we went to the Hoover Dam.  I knew everything about the place from Social Studies, but I’ll tell you a few facts anyways.

Instead of hard helmets, people building the Hoover Dam wore baseball caps dipped in tar.  The dam itself is not just a lot of cement poured at once, that would take millions of years to dry,  It is many individual cubes poured, each dried individually.  The living conditions there were very hot, and many workers died.

It was hot when we visited, really, really hot, like 114 degrees Fahrenheit.  I cannot believe working there all day.

The Hoover Dam is a big cement wall in the middle of the Colorado River.  It provided jobs for people during the Great Depression.  It was also engineered so that it created an alternative energy by using the power of the Colorado River.  It also brought water to seven US states and Mexico.

Visiting the Hoover Dam was really interesting.

We are now staying in Las Vegas.  Last night we checked into the MGM Grand, but today we checked into Mandalay Bay.

Today, we went to a TV show thing.  We watched an episode of The Dating Game, and said what we thought.  Throughout the show, we held a controller and turned the thing closer to 100 if we liked it, or 0 if we hated it.  Or, we pressed the X if we didn’t want to watch it anymore.  The show was OK.  I kept it at 50 most of the time.  After, we took a survey.

Today, we also went to a lion habitat.  I felt bad for the lion who got too many pics.  People tapped on the soundproof glass to get the lion’s attention, how stupid.

We also went to a really great roller coaster, The Manhattan Express.  It’s now my favorite.  It spins upside down a lot, and is just generally amazing.

Dear Journal,

Today, my mother, Alex, Josh, Jamie and I went to Dana Point.  We had a lot of trouble with parking but we managed.  We saw a lot of marine life, including fish, starfish, sting rays, and jellyfish.  We got to watch a lady feed jellyfish.  She used a turkey baster.  She filled it with food, then pointed it at the jellyfish.  Jamie liked the jellyfish a lot.  She and I made craft jellyfish out of egg cartons.  I learned all about how jellyfish can’t actually choose where they move.  They just float in the water.

I also went to the Tustin Brewery with the Thompsons.  I ate good pizza, and played games on Heather’s phone.

Today we went shopping in Southern California. 

We bought new skinny jeans for Alex and me.  I also got a scarf and a sweater and flip flops. 

We went to a skateboard store.  My Auntie bought skateboards for Alex and me for our belated birthdays.  Josh and his friend Alex are trying to teach Alex and I how to skate.  I can kinda do that tic tac thing, and I can almost do an ollie.

Today we also went to see Ice Age 3.  It was really funny.  I liked Peaches, the baby mammoth from the end of the movie.

Today, I woke up at 5:30 AM to go surfing with Michael T.  I used a short board, but I didn’t stand up though.  It’s hard to get a parking space at the beach that we went to, so we had to leave early.  The water was really cold also.  I discovered that most of the work is paddling.  I learned that the wax on the surfboard will hurt your chest, so I wore a wetsuit.  You could also wear a rash guard.  They call it that because if you don’t wear it then that’s what you’re gonna  get.

Dear Journal,

Today, we went to the Pageant of the Masters.  It was cold.  We looked at many pieces.  One of my favorite ones was of a crayon tipping into a wine glass.

When the show started, I could not believe my eyes. 

People, posed to recreate famous paintings.  You have to see it to believe it.  They used makeup to completely change their faces.  It’s amazing.

They also made movie posters.  The posters were funny. 

My favorite recreation was The Last Supper.  It looked just like the painting.  For a moment, I thought it was!  Every person at the table was not a picture, but a real person.

To do these recreations, they first brought the background, then people, and then foreground props.  Then everyone freezes and they fix the lighting and, Voila!