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We got home to sunny (and HUMID) South Florida Friday evening, unpacked the car and crashed. Saturday we did not go anywhere but to church. Boy am I having a hard time adjusting to this humidity--and I was born in Miami. I have been spoiled now that I have experienced other weather patterns besides South Florida. We spent a couple of days at Mammoth Caves National Park camping. Deer are everywhere--hang out right in your campground! We took a walking tour for 4 1/2 hours in Mammoth Cave itself. Very Cool. We all liked that--well, Shelby is still thinking about that. We also took a boat tour on an underground river--freaky--they say Jesse James hid out there. We also went to Abrahan Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home. After Kentucky, we stayed with an old friend of mine from high school in Hickory, NC, then off to Raleigh, NC to spend some time with the kids old youth pastor. He left their church about one year ago. They all had a great time with him. We also visited their old teenage babysitter who teaches school in NC now. Wow, was that a shock--she aged !! She is now 29, no longer a teenager ! Where have I been ! We spent some time in South Carolina and North Georgia visiting friends and family, and then it was back down into Florida. We visited some more old friends and then dropped in at Tampa and brought Brianne home for a few days. Coming full circle, two cracks on the windshield, alot of nicks on the hood, and 19,000 miles later, we are all home SAFE. Thanks be to God. Thank you to everybody who housed us along the way, and my husband who funded our trip--The Burtons, Linda, Christopher, Shelby, and Kyle
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South Dakota is wonderful !!! Highly recommend it as a trip. We went to the Crazy Horse Memorial where I talked to a Lakota Indian for awhile, Mt. Rushmore and Sylvan Lake where National Treasure 2 was filmed (Sylvan Lake area and Custer State Park--just beautiful), and Keystone town where Carrie and Mary Ingals lived for awhile--Carrie was town newspaper editor. In the town of Custer we sat in town and listened to local folk singers and blues ( old timers born and raised there--still singing all about the old times). Took a trip through Deadwood to visit the graves of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock. The old town was restored and still stands, so does the saloon that he was shot in. On our drive to Minnesota we stopped at 2 more Little House on the Praire houses, and a mall stop in Mall of America. Wisconsin was next with a visit to an old friend of mine and her family--Julie Bayles. Julie's church friends put us up over night---Thank you to Anita, Pam and Roy---our stay could not have been more blessed ! It was a wonderful blessing to make new friends. Next we drove through Chicago with a quick view of the Sears Tower and the waterway before it was off to Ohio where we have spent the last 6 days. Tomorrow we will venture through Kentucky with a couple of days exploring Mammoth Cave and Abraham Lincoln's birthplace. God is good. All is well. Thanks for visiting our site--Linda |
Badlands National Park. I was going to skip this, and how I am glad we didn't. Nothing like it !! We got in there at sunset and witnessed a wicked storm come through. Even had some tumbleweed blow into us. Slept in the car because of the lightning. The sky cleared up and at midnight none of us could sleep. We all looked up to see the sky filled with stars--never in all of my life have I seen this view. There was no light anywhere--pitch black--every star was visible. There was no room in the sky for one more!! Incredible !! The next morning we saw the park at sunrise--wonderful!! Definetly a DON'T MISS. Also was able to view a mammoth dig site. |
After a great time in Alaska, it had to come to an end. We drove 10 hour days for 4 days to get back through Canada and cross the border into North Dakota. The border guy gave us a little trouble, but we made it back in. We were glad to leave Canada; none of us really liked it. Way too expensive !! Drove straight down through North Dakota, to our destination--the Black Hills of South Dakota. Very different here--very nice people too. We saw Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, took a historic cave tour with lanterns in Jewel Cave (second longest in world), went to a mammoth dig site, hiking, driving looking at ALOT of buffalo, deer, burrors, and marmots running wild. Tomorrow we head to historic western town of Deadwood and then the Badlands. |
 It's really cold. I don't know how I lasted 5 seconds in here. I was in there about 5 minutes. It was COLD. I couldn't feel any of my body |
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Denali was wonderful. We had a CLEAR day for a change and we were able to see all of Mt. Mckinley !! We were told that only 20 percent of the visitors see all of Mt. Mckinley because of cloud cover. On our bus ride we also saw bears, one wolf, a marmot, moose, caribou, and eagles. After Denali we drove to Fairbanks,Ak and stayed there for the night. The next day, Sunday we went to Pioneer Park and went to this place called 40 Below Fairbanks. Fairbanks gets to 40 below, so they show visitors what it is like in this. It's a place were you go in a freezer and it's 40 below in there. Kyle, Chris. and Shelby went in and FROZE. We had a fun time hammering nails in with frozen bananas, watching the water we threw in the air evaporate, and sitting on an ice chair. I was frozen; my cheeks were as red as a cherry. After that, we went to the North Pole. It wasn't really anything special ,just a building with alot of Christmas things "Santas House", and then a little reindeer farm. On our next journey we stopped along side the rode and picked wild strawberries. They tasted very good, but are tiny. That night we stayed in Palmer,AK. Today we made our way back to Seward to get the fish Chris and my dad caught. We put it in a cooler and tied it to the roof of the car because there was no room for it in the car. We were also able to see another glacier that is 3 miles long. We stopped in Tolsona right outside Glennallen for tonight. Yesterday they had a bear walk right through the campground and they have not see one here in 3 years. We are now working our way out of Alaska into Canada and then South Dakota. After tomorrow we may not have phone or computer service for as long as a week. We will keep as much contact as we can. God Bless, Shelby and The Burton Gang |
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We made our way first to Valdez and checked out the area. We then went to Anchorage on Tuesday and spent the day there. At 12:30am we picked up my dad from the airport and stayed in a hotel that night. The next day we went to Seward. There we went on a 5 hour boat cruise and saw otters, whales, sea lions, dall porpoises, puffin birds and got an all you can eat salmon and dessert buffet. We had alot of fun and that night we stayed right off the water at a campground. The next morning Tom and Chris went halibut fishing on a 12 hour charter boat. Linda, Kyle, and Shelby went fishing off the banks and also to Exit Glacier. At Exit Glacier we decided to take a short cut back instead of back through the rivers. We climbed up a rocky mountain. After Shelby had a slight slip on the rocks, we found another way to get back to the trail. That night we drove to Moose Pass and stayed there. Today we drove to Denali National Park. We stayed at Grizzly Bear Campground. Tomorrow we will take an 8 hour tour bus ride threw Denali National Park. All is well-nights are always cold and the daytime temps. reach 65. We love and miss all you guys. God Bless, The Burton's |
Check out photobucket.com/burtontravelers for pictuers of our trip. When you get to the site click on the burton trip album. The pictures are from the middle of the trip, but we are working on more. |
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This morning we left Haines Junction, Yukon Territory and made our way to Tok, Alaska. We stopped for lunch at this place called Buckshot Betty's. The restaurant ripped us off by telling us the US dollar dropped today and the exchange went down alot, but it didn't. This was our last day in Canada. YEA!! untill our way back at least. Not impressed with Canada at all. We entered Alaska at 2pm which is about 6pm in FL. We had no problems at the border, but we had to wait in a 25min line. We stopped in Tok,AK at 4:30pm and stayed here for the night. Just so everyone knows we are on Alaska time now which is 4hrs earlier here. We love and miss you all and are Glad to be back in the US with nice and not rude Canadians and American prices not expensive canadian prices. We miss you all and hope your summer's going great. Tomorrow we start our exploring of ALASKA. God Bless, THE BURTONS ( only 43 days left) |
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Hey everyone ,"Wednesday July 2nd" we left Jasper, Alberta and headed to Edmonton. In Edmonton we went to the Worlds Largest Mall. This Mall was huge. it had a theme park, a water park ,ton of mini golfs, A ton of stores and arcades, A full size bowling alley, An aquirium, and replica of Christopher Columbus boat. a Huge Hotel and casino, 21 movie theaters, An Ice hockey Rink. There was a hockey game going on --12yr olds from California and Canada. I can't even explain the rest it was huge and amazing we spent 2 and half hr there and couldn't even walk the whole thing. That night we stopped in White Court, Alberta and stayed at a campground . On Thursday we headed for Dawson Creek, BC. Dawson Creek is the beggining of the Alaskan Highway. The sign is right in the middle of the intersection which was weird, lol but we got pics. Shelby. In Jasper--alot of animals--bears, moose, elk, fox, buffalo. The bear thing was an issue. I could not find a campground for the night. everything was full !!! It was Canada Day--their July 4th. Finally come across one and they recommend I NOT stay there. I was tired, but we kept moving and found something else. Several of the campsites were blocked off and a LARGE bear trap was set !!! They were having trouble with an aggressive bear !! Then the next morning in the shower, I over heard women talking about the avalanche on Hwy 16 --road totally closed off. None could get through. That was the road I needed!!! Too much excitement for me--got too my road and thanked God. The mud slide was the opposite direction-- was in the clear !!!! Time change is hard to keep track of. We are 3 hours behind, until tomorrow then we go to 4. We should get into Alaska. Weather is crazy--you never know 48 and rainy or 67 and sunny. Luclily we have stayed dry in the tent. one night rain was so bad we opted to sleep in the car. Driving is very tricky--the Alaskan Highway is still primitive. Did not expect this danger. Road has pot holes bad, no center line sometime, NO guard rails, NO extra lane at all, one lane bridges, and alot of loose gravel road!!!!!!! There was a stretch I saw none and I actually thought I took a wrong turn because the road was still being built. --just road work. Speed limit is between 40 and 57 through Canada. And there is nothing, NOTHING. My guess it is the animals. There are warnings all over about animals on road. Have seen alot of dead ones. The worse was a horse--there are wild horses out here too. Have been much too close to the bears and bison--but the pictures turned out great !! Today we stopped in Whitehorse and I treated the kids to Caribou burgers and halibut soup. Both VERY good, and they liked it too!! okay enough of the parent perspective--back to Shelby--- HI again, Well, the 4th of July was very different in a different country . No one was celebrating of course and we couldn't buy any fireworks. This day did not seem like the Fourth of July and it was the most boring. Today was very boring again, because all we did was drive and tomorrow will be the same. I have liked this campground we are staying at the best, besides the mosquitoes. They are worse then at home. The worst thing recently is we haven't had any phone service in Canada and when we did get it in Alberta we were getting charged 79 cents a min. for international rates. We have been lucky to get free internet at our campgrounds the past two nights because we haven't had it in so long. If we did have it ,we didn't have it for long. Tomorrow we will make our way into Alaska and stop in Tok, Ak. Shelby ,God Bless and miss you all |
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We got to East Glacier, Montana on Sunday nIght and stayed at a KOA there. The next morning we went to Glacier NP. The water from glacier melting was amazing. Most of Going to the Sun Rd. was closed due to the avalanches. We drove the most we could though. This park was definetly made by God it was so amazing. We then headed for the Canadian Border. We crossed with no problem, all we had to do was give them our ID's. In Canada, we went to Waterton Lake NP which is the Glacier Peace Park. There was still snow in some places and we saw more bears. We got Subway for dinner. The reason I tell you this is that everything was double the price from home subs were 9$. We had a long drive through Alberta. It was flat and hilly--cattle and farms. It was late and with no campground around we slept in the car in the hospital parking lot. We went to Calgary--olympic park 1988, and then drove through Banff National Park and Japer. Camped there--problems---campgrounds full and an aggresive bear in one where some site were closed., The next morning there had been an avalanche. |
 Black Bear in Yellowstone very close to us. The ranger made all of us move back. |
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Hey everyone. We have been without internet and cell phone service again. We are now in Bozeman, Montana, but let me back track. We were in Salt lake City a week ago and we saw the Morman Tabernacle Choir practicing in the conference center. We also got to see the Tabernacle and how it works for someone with no microphone. We then headed up to Idaho, but just drove through it. We did stop and buy some potatos very cheaply; I mean we were in the potato state. We stayed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for two nights and went to Grand Teton National Park. We were suppose to stay at Lewis Lake one night, but it was closed due to the snow covering it. There was alot of snow in some place and we got to play in it. We thought it was funny since it was the third week of June.We did hike a strenueous trek up to a waterfall at Jenny Lake. It took us about 2hrs to go half way and then we took a boat back. We then headed up to Yellowstone National Park and camped at Grant Village. We finally took showers there, but we had to pay 2 dollars for 6mins, which stunk. We then camped in Madison for 2 nights and got to see three grizzly bears and three black bears. We then camped at another campground in Yellowstone( Mammoth) Thursday night and on Friday we headed up here to Bozeman, Montana. We got here and toured a wheat mill called Wheat Montana which was ok. My mom really enjoyed that though. We learned how the wheat was brought in from the fields, cleaned, ground and used for baking. We watched them make hot dog buns. We took my dad to the airport today and now we are in a library catching up on things and doing our resarch for Canada. FUTURE PLANS: Tomorrow we will leave and go up to Glacier National Park which is in Montana and Canada and stay there for about 3 days, but will enter the Canada part on Canada Day July 1st. We wll then make our way up to Alaska and hope to be in Alaska on USA Day July 4th. My dad will fly in to meet us on July 11th or 12th. He will stay with us for about 6 more days in Alaska. We will then make our way to South Dakota, Mt. Rushmore. My dad will fly out of there after we camp at Mt. Rushmore. We are not sure how Glacier Ntl. Park is going to be because alot of the roads are still closed due to thick snow and an avalanche. We may not be able to do everything we hope which may put us ahead of schedule. We will be relaxed and just go with the flow. I mean its vacation right. We love and miss everyone and hope to see you all happy and healthy when we get back. God Bless, SHELBY ( and the Loxahatchee Gang) for the other Burtons they know what I am talking about. lol |
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 All of us in The Grand Canyon (North Rim). No, we did not loose kyle or have any accidents like last time. If any of you are wondering what I am talking about when we were here 9 years ago, Kyle was 3 and he ended up on the other side of the railing. |
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We have not had internet since I blogged last. We have not even had cell phone service. We went to the Four Corners on Monday. After that we went to Page, Arizona and went rafting down the Colorado River which was alot of fun. Shelby and Kyle went in 45 degree water on the river . After rafting we were suppose to stay on the beach on Lake Powell, but when we got down there we didn't make it all the way because we got stuck in sand. It took us an hour to get out with digging out from under the car ,and then someone finally helped us out. At the 2002 Utah Olympic Training Center we got to look around and even go down a zipline. The one dad and Chirs went down was the longest in the world. We stayed in Salt Lake City that night. Today we went to the capitoal building, Clark Planetarium, and the Great Salt Lake which was really salty. We are eating dinner right now and then we are going ice skating at the 2002 olympic oval ice skating rink. We will leave tomorrow and head towards Idaho. I do not think we will have internet for a while. All is well here, hope the same with all of you. God Bless, The Burtons. |
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Right now we are in Cortez, Colorado. We picked up my dad last night from the Denver airport, which was a pretty big airport. We left Brenda Koffs this morning and headed here to Cortez. On the way here we stop around 3:45 and played in SNOW. It was everywere, remember this is June 15th and we're in Colorado. We arrived here at 6pm. Tomorrow we go to the 4 Corners which are Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. After that we go to Page, Arizona and go White Water rafting, well a mild raft trip anyway. Tuesday, we will go to the Grand Canyon on the North Rim. I am not sure when we will have internet again, it may not be until Utah. We have not figured out how to put more then 5 pictures on and it takes forever to put just one on. We will put 5 on and then after a couple of days delete them and put differant ones on. You will know when they were deleted though because there will be an x where they were. Hope every on is having a nice summer. Keep in touch. God Bless, THE BURTONS |
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As we were leaving Arkansas, my mother decided to take a detour to the first Walmart opened by Sam Walton. It was very interesting. After traveling over the border into Missouri, Christopher tuned into the weather radio to check out the black clouds. TORNADO activity--lots of it right where we were driving--Joplin, Missouri. Plans were changed, mom called my aunt for weater updates, used weather.com to guide us in between the heavy cells. We camped for the next 2 nights at Weston Bend State Park north of Kansas City, Missouri on the river. The next day we went to Cabela's and a jazz festival in Topeka, Kansas. We got to meet Sam Rivers and talk to him. Sunday we had a filled day--Jesse James home, a bank he robbed just before he was killed, President Truman's home and library, The American Jazz Museum (very impressive), and then a local BBQ spot. After eating Christopher noticed ALOT of black clouds and we ran for the weather radio and the car. Expected-- 70 mph winds, hail, and tornadoes. Problem, we had nowhere to go. We were driiiving on the road to Oklahoma. We got in the car and my mother kept driving to get out of it before it got bad. Her friend Terri got on weather.com and tried to help her escape, but told her she was stuck in it. She kept driving until the rain and wind got too bad. We stopped at a hotel for the night in Ottawa, Kansas. Next morning very rainy and cold !!! We drove on to Oklahoma City. The bombing memorial and the capitol buiding were so impressive. Capitol better than Tallahassee !! We also visited with my sisters friends and they took us on a boat on the lake. My mother met up with a friend she had not seen in 30 years. It was like they were best friends. The next day it was off to the wheatfields of Kansas. Had a wheatfield tour in Wichita--very educational-learned alot. Everyday is windy here in Kansas. Today happens to be 40 mph winds, can't even stand at times and this is normal for these people. Dodge City was next for some western adventure and then a LONG drive to Denver, CO. This drive was lonely, not one gas staion, house, or light in sight. Storms started brewing in the north and east of us, and they looked bad. Mom went faster to outrun the storms coming. After hours, we had beat them. They were all behind us. (the next day we would find out about all the tornadoes that spun out of this storm to cause damage and loss of life--we are counting our blessings). As we approached the Colorado border, the temperature was dropping fast. We had left Wichita, KS at 96 and 5 hours later it was 38 degrees. Slept in the car this night with blankets. We are in Auroa, Colorado right now and staying at a friends house that use to live by us in West Palm Beach. Yesterday we went to the Denver Mint, the capitol building , and the Coors Brewery. Today we went to Colorado Springs area to The Manitou Cliff Dwellings, and a gold mine, which was really fun. The miners work in it in the winter and it is open to the public in the summer. We went 1000 feet down in a miners elevator to walk in the underground miners tunnels. This mine was 2/3 of the way up to Pikes Peak. We also toured the Focus on the Family headquarters in Colorado Springs. Tomorrow we are going on a tour of Celestial Seasonings Tea factory, Honey Winery, a farmers market, the Natioanl Center for Atmospheric Research, and the Rocky Mountains National Park. There are still 8 foot drifts in the Rocky Mountains, so to all the Floridians we know we want you to know we hope to be playing in the snow in JUNE !!! My dad flies in tomorrow night at 11pm and then we leave Colorado on Sunday morning and head to the Grand Canyon. By the way, it has been windy here too and temperatures have ranged from 38-70. In JUNE !!! |
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Jack, the miner, giving us a private tour of a working gold mine near Pikes Peak, Colorado. |
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.Hey everyone Just updating you a little bit. I am in Little Rock , Arkansas in a library and in a half hour we are going to tour the capitol building here. We will then head to Joplin, Missouri, For a couple hours to visit George Washington Carver National Monument. Tonight we will go to Kansas to stay at a campground. Tomorrow in Kansas we will go to a jazz festival and then on Sunday we go to Oklahoma. This past Wednesday we went to Crater of Diamonds State Park and dug for diamonds the whole day but didn't find anything. On Tuesday we drove all day, yes so much fun, not lol. Well I got to go. hope to update you soon and next Monday we will be loading pictures on. Talk to you all later, Love you all, bye |
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We started our trip out on Saturday at 5:30am. Kyle and Shelby rode the bus up to Busch Gardens and they had alot of fun. Linda and Chris left at about 12:30pm and picked Kyle and Shelby up from Busch Gardens at 5pm. We then went to Brianne's in Tampa and spent the night there. We woke up the next morning and headed out at 10:30am to the Burrell's in Dunnellon. Tomorrow we will start working our way to Akansas, our first main stop. |
 getting ready to leave in 1 1/2 days. |
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Ok, so we have all our plans set and we are finishing up with making reservations now. We are going to be leaving on May 31st at 5:30am and heading to Tampa for Kyle and Shelby to attend a trip Busch Gardens with there band. We plan to be back on August 16th. We hope to keep in contact with everyone while on this trip and we will be updating frequently. |
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We are planing our trip at this moment. We do not have all the plans set yet. When we get them set we will let you know the states we are going to, and the dates we will be gone. We hope to get this planned fast. If you have ever been to Alaska, we would like to know about your trip and how it went. |
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My family and I will be traveling to Alaska this summer, but will be trying to hit as many states as possible. We will be taking our time and will be in AK. for two to three weeks. We will be gone for 2 and a half months and plan to leave between May 30 and June 2nd |