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Come visit us on our new blog http://campinfamily.blogspot.com/ |
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FOTR RALLY If I could have planned out a rally and put exactly the people there
that I thought would be the most fun, I couldn't have made it any cooler than the California FOTR Rally turned out to be!  We had great fun meeting new friends...  Abby & Cassie Rose Eddy & Jason, Abby & AuniHanging out with old friends....
 Eddy, Vern & Steve Pete, Steve, Rita, Bryce, Gayle, Eddy, ConnorCLICK HERE for More Pictures of our FOTR Friends Playing music & having fun around the campfire....  Kati & Rita Music on the beach Abby playing the guitar Karen, Steve, John, Gayle, & kids Jason, Kara & AuniCLICK HERE for More Campfire Pictures Enjoying all the fun things there were to do...  Curtis's Music Class Abby, Cassie Rose, Sierra & Auni blowing bubbles Exploring Tide PoolsCLICK HERE for More Tide Pool Pictures  Abby & Winston playing in the hot tubCLICK HERE for More Pictures of FOTR Fun Visit more websites and blogs about the FOTR Rally VISIT THE OFFICIAL FOTR RALLY WEBSITE - More Pics The DeMichiel Family - Great blog, lots of pictures The Robinson Family Mali Mish Family |
 What a Cool Place!! We found out that Calico was going to have the Civil War Re-enactment so we packed up our bags and left Las Vegas so we could get there by the weekend. Although the Civil War didn't actually take place in California, it was a good opportunity to re-enforce what Abby learned in Virginia about the Civil War. Abby even got a chance to meet "Abe Lincoln"
 Both the Union and the Confederate troops had set up encampments in the ghost town and the streets were full of actors in costume.   Plus, since Calico is actually a working ghost town, Abby was able to experience Pioneer life with the many activities they have there -  like leather working....  and making our own rope jump ropes....  and sitting in on class in the old school house |
 The Volcano at the Mirage - Circus acts and amusement rides at Circus Circus - M&M Factory Tour - Fountains of Bellagio - Aquariums, Robotics & Trojan Horse at Ceasars - Lions at the MGM -
Things we did:Finding pearls in oysters - Gondola ride and dinner at the Venetian - lots of fun!  Things Abby learned:
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The Astronomy Club sets up their telescopes once a month at the San Diego Planetarium and lets people view the stars and moon though their high powered telescopes. This also happened to be on the day when a special Southern Stars planetarium show was put on. And it just so happened that we were in San Diego at the right time!! The show was really interesting and it was really cool to see the craters on the moon and the constellations close up after just learning about them. |
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Yahoo!! Look at us go!!  We found a surf school while we were at the beach in San Diego and Pete, Christian & I all decided to learn to surf, while Dylan & Abby boogie boarded! An hour later, I finally was able to stand up on the surf board for an entire 30 seconds!!  |
 Legoland was very fun because it was all made out of Legos, even the rides. Me and my friends, Christian & Dylan, and our parents got to go on a ride where you got to splash each other with waterguns and I didn't get at all wet. We also got to make race cars and solar cars out of Legos. It was lots of fun, and I won the race.  |
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What a fun adventure we have had since we hit Quartzsite, AZ!
  The following week led us to Yuma, AZ where we toured the Yuma Territorial Prison, and the Army Proving Grounds, picked lettuce straight from the field, learned all about the Army Parachute Jumpers (the kids even got to help fold the parachute)  and and from there we went on to the Hot Springs and up to Slab City and saw Salvation Mtn (both of which were in the movie "Into the Wild"). Salvation Mountain was awesome in an incredibly weird sort of way. The man who built it has been out in the desert paper macheing a mountain for God for 24 years. He uses tires adobe mud, tires to make trees, and paint. There are little rooms to sit in, bible verses throughout, and the whole thing looks like it came right out of Dr. Suess's "Who Ville". Definately the coolest/weirdest thing I've ever seen.  |
 One of our goals for this trip was to learn about the Historic Rt. 66 and take it whenever possible. That being said, I was surprised at how little of it still actually exists (apart from the interstate or the frontage roads) and is in drivable condition. But we did veer off whenever possible, and I even rode my bike for about 10 miles of in in Tucamacari. Abby was excited that we saw lots of buildings and places that were used for the filming of the movie "Cars", and even got to see "Mater" a time or two.  1st stop - Oklahoma Buffalo Ranch
After leaving Nashville, our first stop on the official Rt. 66 tour was a KOA buffalo ranch. Unfortunately it turned out to be rather hokey (only 1 buffalo), but we did get to eat buffalo burgers and wander through the Indian gift store.
Amarillo Texas Cadillac Ranch
 After leaving the KOA early, we had all day to explore about a 150 mile section of Rt. 66. We didn't get a chance to explore Amarillo, but we did have a blast painting cars at the Cadillac Ranch. Bring your own spray paint if you go!
  Glenrio - Rt. 66 Ghost Town 
Having seen old "wild west" type ghost towns before, I was not prepared for Glenrio. This town was simply abandoned - furniture and tvs still in the buildings, jukeboxes still in the restaurants, household furnishings just left. It was strange to think the people just left, but I guess they did. We actually ended up seeing a lot of this on our trip - buildings with everything still in them but the people.
Route 66 left the main highway in Glenrio and traveled back through 19 miles of dirt road. Having come this far, we decided to go ahead and brave the dirt road in the RV. We only got concerned a couple times when we came across bridges which were technically not big enough to support us, but with a prayer and a scream we raced across and made it to the other side! Tucamacari
   Painted Desert, Petrified Forest & Petrogliffs  Wow!! This was awesome! But you can't see them from the highway - you have to get off at the National Park to get there. Historic Rt. 66 used to run through the park, but the pavement has since been removed in order to return it to it's natural state.
 Meteor Crater  50,000 years ago a meteor the size of a 6000 sq.ft. house hit the Earth and left this crater behind. We toured the rim of the crater, learned about the different layers of rock that the meteor disrupted, and learned about the meteor itself. Very interesting.
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What do you do in New England when the temperature in December is in the upper 40's? Go for a hike of course! And that's just what Debbie, Abby & I decided to do.  We had planned on hiking down from the top of Bash Bish Falls, but the trail was still way too icy, so we made our way up the 3 mile (roundtrip) trail from the bottom. Our hike brought us from New York to Massachusetts and then back again, through icy and muddy patches of trail, and to the waterfall itself. The falls were huge and the stairs down were covered with ice. Abby and I had on snow boots (no traction) so we almost didn't go down, but "Debbie The Brave" went ahead of us on the stairs and kicked the ice off each one so we wouldn't fall.  Abby made a snow puppy on the way back  |
 I was so excited about spending Christmas with Seth, Becky, Faith & Tommy this year. Since we started traveling our Christmases have just not been the same, but this one was absolutely perfect. We made cookies for Santa and decorated them, cut out gingerbread paper dolls and colored them to look like people in our family, visited Santa, went to Yankee Candle and made Christmas candles, and just had a great time all around. And to add to it, Dad & Kay came down to join us for a few days over Christmas. I really enjoyed seeing them and was able to finally find the perfect gift for my dad. It was one of those "picture perfect" holidays where you wouldn't change a thing!
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Hi, I'm Abby. We helped Kati & Vern this week at a Christmas Tree stand. It was so fun. Me and my Daddy drilled the Christmas trees holes so they could get onto the stands. And, I got to help deliver the Christmas trees to people's cars. Also, I sharpied my dog Christmas colors. My friends helped me to sharpie my dog. My mommy and I, Miss Kati, Zoe, me (and maybe even Auvi) had a Christmas tree fashion show. We dressed up in Christmas trees and put ribbons on our hineys! We didn't have any power while we were there and we had to use the gererator. We couldn't watch any TV (all because of the stupid generator). But the only thing that was the worst was that we had to buy 5 gallons of water to use for dishes cause we were out of water.
Me and Zoe made a little Christmas tree and it's in our camper right this second. Also, I wanted to make a Christmas windchime, but I couldn't because we didn't have enough time because Kati & Vern's friends (Steve & Bryce) were coming over. I had a lot of fun with Steve and Bryce's kids. They usually stay out until 1 in the morning, but now they just stayed until 1 minute till 8pm cause they had borrowed their cousin's car and had to get it back. Our parents wrapped us up in the tree netter. We had millions and killions and jillions of fun!
Me and my mommy and one of my little friends, Winston, made popcorn. He has red hair like my brother! He was 4 years old. Me and Winston had a lot fun- in fact, I think he was the only friend I played with all day long!
Chicky-Chick-Chock, Abby |
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The Pirates in Paradise Festival was in Key West today. It wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be, and Abby got scared with the re-enactment so we had to leave early. But we did get some AWESOME hippy pictures of us on the beach! Be on the lookout for these on our Christmas cards! |
We got to be on a Christmas float in the Key West Parade. I had joined the Key West homeschoolers group and when I found out they were going to be in the parade we asked if we could join them on their float.  |
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If someone ever tells me we're going on a 6 mile kayak trip again remind me to check the weather first! Pat, Debbie, Eddy, Abby and I all went up to the Key Deer Island for a kayak trip out to see the stingrays and hopefully to see some of the endangered Key Deer. The trip out was against the current but not too difficult, but coming back the wind picked up to about 25mph and blew right at us! The waves were coming in over the sides of my boat, Pat and Debbie had to put Abby into their 2 person kayak, and it took everything I had just to get back. Everytime you would stop paddling to rest the wind blew you back and you lost all the ground you just covered. My back hurt so bad by the time I finally got back. But, on the flip side, we did catch fish, saw some stingrays, got to investigate a mangrove swamp up close and personal, and got great exercise. It was an experience, and I would definately do it again, although I think I'd take a couple of pain pills before I started! Oh, and we did get to see the Key Deer! |
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We were suppose to leave from the KOA Friday to Leo's Campground, but we went down to take a look and none of us wanted to go there! So I went online and found the campground that I had actually seen on the travel channel - Bluewater Key RV Resort. All of their sites are owned (each site costs upwards of 1/2 million dollars!) but when the owner's aren't there they rent them out! We got a beautiful site, right on the canal, with a huge fishing dock, tiki hut, and patio set for $88 a night (which for Key West is really good). I can't wait to go!
Abby at our new campground with the fish she caught right off our deck! She's been fishing for 6 hours straight now!!
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We had Pat & Debbie over to the KOA for Thanksgiving. Eddy, Pat, Debbie & Abby hung out in the pool most of the day and amazingly dinner turned out good (except for my Key Lime pie which was actually more like Key Lime soup). I miss Seth, Tommy and my Mom. I'm glad we're going up there for Christmas. Holidays just aren't the same without family. |
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I guess you have to do the Duval Crawl at least once in your lifetime and yesterday was my day! We started with lunch (and drinks) at this neat dockside restaurant which had a swimming pool right in the middle of the restaurant (Abby swam before and after lunch) and made our way down Duval Street stopping at each place with music! Three (or four?) drinks and many tee shirt shops later, we headed over to the beach to watch the sunset. |
