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]

Shut up and put your money where your mouth is. (:

Oh, wow, my feet are killing me. XD

This morning we left Arizona and visited the Hoover Dam. It felt like the Colorado River was the first body of water we'd seen in days, haahha.

We headed over to Lake Mead before we went to Vegas. It was super windy, and we were caught in a bit of a windstorm.

By three o'clock, we were in Vegas. The hotel we're staying in, Circus Circus, has basically its own indoor mall and theme park, complete with roller coasters and drop zones. It's insaaaane.

Our hotel looks completely different at night compared to the daytime. Take a look for yourself.

We walked the Vegas Strip. I ran into a bin of pornographic magazines when I wasn't paying attention and thought I sprained my wrist. Apparently it looked quite comical, hahahah. I was also stupid and wore flip flops as opposed to tennis shoes and, as a consequence, I now have a blister on my foot.

There were several impersonaters roaming around as well. We saw Darth Vader, an guy with a gas mask,, Marilyn Monroe, a couple of guys from Kiss (one of them gave me a thumbs up, roflll XD), Johnny Depp talking to Captain Jack Sparrow, and Batman. Epic <3

Possibly the coolest part was the light show in front of the Bellagio. (:

The next time I update this, I'll be in California! :D

Later,

- Rachel (:

[Title from the song "Waking Up in Vegas" by Katy Perry]

Here's to the fast times, the times we felt alive: to all the nights that we forgot to get back home.

Today was super busy and filled with so many things. We went to the Grand Canyon today, hiking approximately two miles. I feel quite accomplished myself, haha. I mean, you know my dislike of physical activity. ;D

We caught a train from the small town of Williams, Arizona to the Grand Canyon. Did you know that the Grand Canyon is number three of the Seven Natural Wonders of the world? :P

The view was amazing; it's really amazing how the canyon came to be, if you think about it. Really, it's been there for billions of years.

On the train ride back, our train was "robbed" by some cowboys (all set up of course, and rather cheesy if I might add). Then we drove about an hour to Kingman, Arizona, where we are right now. The plan is to visit the Hoover Dam and then stay in Las Vegas tomorrow night. :D

Remember to check my Facebook for more pictures. :D There are wayyyy too many to post here, haha, and I have wayyy more of the Canyon. PLUS, Simon makes his daily appearances. :D

Also, I would like to say that this trip has been sooo much better thanks to Alex Gaskarth and his lyrics, which are just so great. I wish I could write like that. (: Plus, he has a pretty amazing voice too. ;D

Thanks to everyone who follows this! (:

- Rachel

[Title from "The Party Scene" by All Time Low.]

I've been to just about a million places, sunny skies everywhere and in between.

So today was another day filled with travel. We finished through New Mexico, and now I'm in a hotel room in Williams, Arizona, just north of Flagstaff. Grand Canyon tomorrow!

Most of the day was spent in the car, even though we did stop off at another Indian trading post. Simon enjoyed that a lot. ;D

This was near the petrified forest (although we didn't actually visit it.) Here's a petrified tree. :D

The town we're in now is right on Route 66, so it has an old time feel to it. We ate an Irish/Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good. It's 8:30 here (we went through another time zone change) but it's 11:30 at home, so we're all pretty beat.

That's all for today!

-Rachel (:

[Title from "Perfect Company" by A Cursive Memory]

Max's vlog of the day.

Look for a new cameo. ;D

I'm following myself, this once.

Max took this, haha. Texas, almost New Mexico.

Oh, it's been a longgg day. Hahah. (:

So this morning I was in Arkansas, and now I'm in New Mexico, two whoooole timezones from Indiana. I'm kinda likin' it. For instance, it's 10:45 back home, but only 8:45 here.

Also, I should introduce Simon. Simon is a good luck charm in the form of a tiki that Jesse brought me from Hawaii. Simon is going to be popping up in random places, because he has never traveled before and jumped at the chance to do so. (Well, thought about jumping, because... he's a tiki. G'duhhh.)

Simon:

Well, first we drove out to Oklahoma, which I thought would be pretty boring. Oklahoma is actually really beautiful, believe it or not. And they have waaaaaay nicer Wal-Marts than we do in Indiana. :D XD You can literally see for miles in all directions. It's pretty cool.

We did run into a storm on the other side of Oklahoma City, so we pulled off into a Cherokee trading post to eat lunch. The post was actually really cool. There were a bunch of painted statues of buffaloes outside, as well.

Max named this one Rainbow, but then we realized it was a boy. So, he renamed it Rambo. Hahah.

Simon also got his picture taken with Rambo (although he was Rainbow at the time). There was also a white buffalo, but we didn't want to go near that one because we had witnessed a dog urinating on it while we spent time with Rambo. O_o

After leaving the Cherokee trading post, we drove for several more hours, finally reaching Texas. And I know they say everything is bigger in Texas, but they didn't mention how everything is creepier. Seriously. The first, like, ten towns we passed were completely deserted, with rundown gas stations or barns that were falling apart the only thing visible. It was completely terrifying, hahaha. I will admit, I did let my imagination run away with me a little bit, hahah. We were only in Texas for a few hours, however, cutting across the panhandle only, so by 6:00 time back home, we had already crossed into New Mexico, changing timezones once again.

We stopped right before New Mexico, so these are technically in Texas.

Simon's such a ham. :P

My ipod, Jack, was a real lifesaver today. He's my bff for two whole weeks! Hahahah. Isn't he cuuute? :D

Well, now we're in a small town in New Mexico where every restaurant in town was closed except for Pizza Hut because of 4th of July. XD Oh well. I leave you with this New Mexican view. ;D

(:

-Rachel :D

For more pictures, visit my album on Facebook here.

[Title from "Rescued" by Jack's Mannequin]

Max's vlog of the day:

Heartbeats racing, the interstate, my home tonight, for one more long night.

After being in the car for approximately 13 hours, we are in Arkansas. I wore my iPod out; he definitely needs to recharge. Thankfully I also brought an old fashion CD player with a bunch of mixes to keep me occupied as well, and my trusty Harry Potter book to read in the hotel room. Right now, however, we're watching Anchorman. Oh, how I love this movie. (:

Not much else to report today; hopefully I'll have some more pictures up and more exciting adventures to convey tomorrow, where I'll hopefully be updating from Texas! Wooooot!! :D

Until next time,

Rachel. (:

[Title from the song "Vegas" by All Time Low]


OH, and here's Max's video-log thing he wanted to do, like Avatar. XD

California, California, here we come. (:

So I'm sitting here, in my room, packing, like I have been for the past two days. There's so many things to take; I'm afraid that I'll forget something, whether it be something tiny and not-so important, or really important, like my laptop charger. I think packing is more stressful than the trip sometimes.

Max is excited about the prospect of video blogging on this trip and uploading it to here; he thinks it'll be cool, "like in Avatar." And, yes, that is a direct quote. XD

Speaking of Avatar, I went and saw The Last Airbender with my good friend Jesse last night. It was pretty good, and I recommend it, haha.

Well, back to packing I suppose. The next time I update this, we'll be out on the road, on our journey to California.

- Rachel

These are the CD's I'm taking. Notice any patterns? ;] Hahah.

Aaaand these would be my DVDs. :D Hahahah.

I'll miss you guys! See you in a few weeks!

- Rachel. (:

[Title from "California" by Phantom Planet]