Summary of the Trip Out West

Last summer, my family took a trip out to the western United States from our small town in Central Indiana. The trip was to California and back, and it took about two weeks to complete. We stayed in various towns along the way, and it was a bonding experience of sorts for our entire family.

My favorite place that I traveled to was San Francisco, California. I liked the city as a whole, and I thought it was educational as well as beautiful, even though we went on a rather overcast day. We saw Alcatraz, China Town, and the Fisherman's Wharf.

One place I was rather disappointed in was Los Angeles. I found the city to be rather dirty and surprisingly, nothing was even open until around noon, when the smog finally lifted from the area. We did the touristy things like walking along the Hollywood Walk of Fame and visiting the Chinese Theater, but overall the area seemed really gross and just not well kept.

We took Route 66 on the way out west which proved to be very informative and historical. We passed through small towns that were decked out in Route 66 things, and we stopped by a Native American trading post in Oklahoma.

We stopped at several landmarks on the way there and back, like the Grand Canyon, which we dedicated an entire day to. It was beautiful, although, having a fear of heights, I was too hestitant to go anywhere near the edge of the massive basin. We also stopped by Mount Rushmore and the Devil’s Tower on the drive back home.

Another favorite place of mine was Las Vegas. The city was gorgeous at night, with all the flashing neon lights and people dressed up as various celebrities – from Marilyn Monroe to the band Kiss to Johnny Depp to Storm Troopers from Star Wars. Even though I got a blister from walking the strip in flip flops, the city was still one of my favorites. And the hotel we stayed in, Circus Circus, had an arcade in the lobby, which was pretty awesome.

One of the drawbacks of the trip was spending literally every minute of every day for two weeks with my family, which consists of my dad, my mom, and my brother. As a teenager, I need my space, and my brother and I tended to fight about trivial things and that in turn would drive our mother crazy. Eventually we would just pop in our headphones and block each other out, which proved to be the most effective way of dealing with our arguments.

I learned about the beauty of the country we lived in through this trip. I saw a storm in Oklahoma, and the land was so flat we could literally see where it ended. I stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and saw the shadows of the clouds as they sailed overhead. I stood on Santa Monica peer and watched the waves crash against the shore. I sat outside our hotel in New Mexico and watched fireworks on the Fourth of July.

This trip brought me many life experiences that I will be eternally grateful for, and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Lights will guide you home, and ignite your bones.

Helllooo from Sioux City, South Dakota! (:

Today, as we were leaving Wyoming, we visited The Devil's Tower, which you may recognize from the Spielburg flick Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Pretty cool, huh?

Then we headed over to Mt. Rushmore, and if you don't know what Mt. Rushmore is, shame on you. We got some pretty cool pictures over there, as well.

George, Thomas, Teddy, and Abe (;

Some guy behind us was trying to explain to his girlfriend about how Federalists were the first political party in our nation (which is totally wrong) so I had to refrain myself from correcting him. XD

Mostly driving the rest of the day, and all of tomorrow. I probably won't update this again until we get back. We're all suuuper tired.

Love you guys!

Thanks for reading!

- Rachel (:

[Title from "Fix You" by Coldplay]

I took pictures of everything you've been missing.

Today was another travel day, so not much to report.

Simon attempted to sleep in, but we had to jostle him awake if he didn't want to be left behind. (;

I also made a new friend today when we stopped for lunch in Wyoming. Prairie dog homes were everywhere, and a couple popped up.

His name is Nigel. We fed him some bread (which is probably frowned upon), and he was extremely friendly.

Look how close he got! O_o

Still on our way home, we're in Gillette, Wyoming right now. We're headed to Mt. Rushmore tomorrow, then hope to be home soon.

Love from,

- Rachel, Simon, and Nigel. (:

[Title from "My Apologies" by The Hush Sound]

I get the feeling we're onto something. I say jump and you start jumping. (:

Hellllooo from Salt Lake City. (:

Sorry for the lack of an update yesterday; we had no internet at our hotel in Reno. D:

Yesterday was quite eventful. We ventured into San Francisco in the morning, and, yes, it was still quite freezing. We walked down The Fisherman's Wharf, which had many interesting shops. We also had an excellent view of Alcatraz, which Mom explained to Max as "what used to be the most high security prison. It was on an island so that they had no chance of escaping." I liked my explanation better: "Basically, it's like Azkaban without the dementors." XD (If you have nooo idea what I'm talking about, wow. Just wow. Umm, Harry Potter? Hahahah. Just kidding, I guess I can forgive you. [;)

We then drove through China town and up some of the hilly San Francisco streets. We drove over by the Golden Gate Bridge and snapped some pictures.

The rest of the day was spent driving, through Oakland, Sacramento, and spending the night at another Circus Circus, this time in Reno. Max and I played games Great Time style while Mom and Dad played the slots.

Today we drove all day, to Salt Lake City, where I'm typing this now. We're all tired and ready to be home, and hope to be home by the end of this week.

More driving tomorrow, and Mt. Rushmore in the very near future!

More later. (:

- Rachel (:

[Title from "What Do You Want from Me?" by Forever the Sickest Kids]

Oh, we are the dancers.

Still in California, in a town called San Carlos just south of San Francisco. Today was mostly a driving day.

We ate at an authentic Indian restuarant for dinner, which was really good. We went Putt-Putting afterwards.

Sorry this is not very long. I'm suuuuper tired.

San Francisco tomorrow!

I miss you alllll. D:

-Rachel (:

PS. The title of this has nothing to do with anything mentioned here, hahah.

[Title from "Sticks, Stones, and Techno" by All Time Low]

I made it this far. I'm making my way. (:

Los Angeles is nothing like in the movies. It's dirty. You can't see anything due to the smog. the sun literally can't emerge from behind it until the afternoon. And the Walk of Fame is located in an extremely dingy and kind of shady part of town. I don't know where they film "Los Angeles" in the movies, but I know it isn't here.

The Walk of Fame was actually pretty cool though. Some of the stars' stars (hahahha) that we saw included Cloris Leachman, Kermit the Frog, Chris Farley, Drew Barrymore, Forest Whittaker, Sandra Bullock, Dr Seuss, and, my all time favorite, Danny Kaye (from White Christmas!) to name a few.

The stars lead us over to the Kodak Theatre, where the Oscars are held annually. FUN FACT: When the Oscar's are not being held there, it's a mall. No joke. It's just a mall, hahah. Mom had fun walking up the stairs and pretending it was the red carpet. XD

Then we headed just a few buildings down to the Chinese Theater, where all those handprints and footprints of the stars are. My personal favorites were the cast of Harry Potter (seen at the top of this post :D), Bing Crosby, and Robert Downey Jr. :D


Simon also loves Robert Downey Jr. He was super excited. :D Hahah.

By the way, California is like freezing cold. It's been an average of 50 or 60 degrees here daily. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Indiana weather. D:

After we finished slumming around downtown Hollywood, we headed to the Dodgers' Stadium. (Max's idea, of course.) Well, we attempted to. It proved impossible to see, and we weren't allowed past a certain point. So Max got a picture of the sign instead.


Then we headed out to Santa Monica, to the famous Santa Monica Pier. Santa Monica was gorgeous, although it was cloudy there as well. People were still on the beach, but it could hardly be considered crowded. It was by far the coldest I've been on this trip yet.

There was a theme park on the pier, complete with a supposedly solar powered Ferris Wheel. I mean, I don't know for sure, because the sun wasn't out. XD I had my first corndog of the trip (I've been going through a withdrawl, hahahah) at one of the stands on the pier, but the birds were AWFUL.

I'm sure most of you know how I feel about birds. I hate them. A lot. And these were flying everywhere, like a scene out of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. I seriously feared for my life, haha.

Here's the view from the pier of the city:

We then set off on a five hour drive towards San Francisco, driving on Highway 1 (which is right next to the ocean) through Malibu, which was also very nice looking. Most of the houses were actually built into the sides of the mountains. And, I must admit, I was secretly looking for Tony Stark's mansion, because I am an Iron Man nerd. Hahahah. We saw a few surfers, but they were all wearing full wetsuits, due to the sheer freezingness of this state, haha.

Right now, we are in the town of San Luis Obisbo, somewhere between San Francisco and LA. We're going to San Francisco tomorrow. (: We ate at an Irish pub here in town, called The Kilt, where, you guessed it, all the servers wore kilts. XD And I swear I heard Celtic Thunder on the in-restuarant music system, so, of course, I thought of Sarah, haha.

This trip has been fun, but California (besides Santa Monica, really) has been a bit of a disappointment. I can't help but hope that San Francisco is better. (:

- Rachel (:

[Title from "This Is How We Live" by The Summer Set]

Max's videolog, recapping the past few days. This still makes me laugh, hhahahahahahhahahahahhah.

By the way, we're all laughing because Max doesn't know who Gene Autry is. XD

Right now this town is for the taking. We'll bring neon to its knees. (:

So in Vegas this morning, it was 112 degrees. Now, here in LA, it's 59 degrees. It feels like the Ice Age! O_o

California is very mountainous so far. And LA is not that pretty. There's smog everywhere. We're staying in North Hollywood, and I just don't feel that impressed. We're supposed to be hitting all the tourist-y spots tomorrow, like the Hollywood Walk of Fame and stuff, so hopefully I'll like that better. (:

That's pretty much it; today consisting of mostly driving, haha. I'll be sure to update tomorrow!

Love,

-Rachel (:

[Title from "This City Is Contagious" by The Cab]