Steve and Samson

We added the two yellow wires at the bottom

And it works!

Shockingly, Larry doesn't really get along well with Steve.

Steve got to see some chickens for the first time!

To finish the day, Steve played hide and seek in the tall grass.

I did it! I successfully got through the first week of this semester! I won't lie, it was pretty tough. Alice, my professor, likes to jump right into things, no wasted time with her, which is ok with me. I always had a problem with high school teachers being as lazy as their students and just sticking in movies to occupy our time. But, there was alot of information thrown at us. We learned about heat and cold from a  therapeutic stand point and how to administer treatment using these modalities. We also covered alot on functional anatomy and started on the skeletal system. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized how little of a grasp I have on everything. Well, that is what today is for: studying...not blogging ;)>        Anyway, I found out this morning that I am to be in a parade. Before you get too excited, its a parade for Hanna City and we expect to be walking past maybe 12 or so people. Rachel Sauder is bringing 20 pieces of candy to throw at them, its always good to have extra.I am going to ride Sanna, Judy's older friesian mare. Things with Wynne kindof went downhill after she threw a bit of a bucking fit right before the hog roast and threw me to the hard ground. I came out of it ok and have a lovely big bruise the size of a big hand on my leg to show for it.             The vaulters will also be performing for the parade. I think it will be fun.             As for today, mom and I have had an easy day cleaning and such. Mom decided, after several sleepless nights over the subject, that we should make it so Steve can live in the field in order to give him more variety of plants to eat. The fence would not have held him before, but we spent an hour or so placing wires where needed and there we have it: instant deer and goat safe fence. I was so nervous when we let the Steve and Sandra out of their safe chain link pen to the wide open spaces of the field. The results were highly gratifying. After poking his nose at our makeshift fence he soon gave up and went on to more important things, like eating. As successful as this venture was, I still had to peek out to see if they were still there every few minutes. I worry too much. I think I will certainly pen them up for the night, but during the day, this is a perfect option.                The video is of our bird: Samson. He and his "wife" Delilah are a constant source of entertainment for us. I wasn't there when they took this, but I died laughing when I saw it. Silly guy, apparently likes to dance!!! I think the song suited him well.

Ishi, My Lord.

"And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali." Hosea 2:16.

What a strange verse! Why would anyone even care to dwell on that one at all? I mean, half of it is talking gibberish any way! It's one of those verses that should just be read over with no consideration to what so ever. In fact, because of verses like this, people should just quit reading the King James Version all together. Shoot, the whole Bible is filled with confusing verses like this, lets just forsake the entire book!

NO!

This particular verse is truly life changing. A small bit of research tells you, in plain English, the meaning of it. "And it shall be at that day..." that day is referring to the day that God rules through Jesus the Messiah and the relationship between Him and His people is restored. Are you wondering what "Baali" and "Ishi" mean? Well, Baali is saying that God is like a master or owner of His people. But, in "that day" He shall no longer be called that. Instead He shall be called "Ishi", or husband. He is saying that in that time we will have such a deep personal and intimate relationship with him as his bride that it will be like a beautiful and everlasting marriage, one without arguments over paint colors and finances. The marriage between Christ and His long awaiting bride will be one full of love and blessings from God! Doesn't this cause your entire being to feel a strong and desperate desire for Him? And the crazy part is, in this lifetime, we are only able to achieve small glimpses of Him and His love. An example of one such glimpse was Him dieing for us on the cross. We can't imagine greater love past this, yet He knows it well. Sometimes it's hard for us to wait for the day that we will truly be joined with our Husband and God, and I think, of all people, I should understand what this waiting is like. As a young girl I am naturally apt to dream of my wedding day and how marvelous it will be. I think it's one of the biggest events for any young person (but particularly girls) to get excited for. But, there are times when the waiting gets tedious and we want to seek out a lesser forms of the marriage by choosing crushes, flirting, pairing up, facebook stalking, and the like. I, and nearly every girl I know is guilty of this. We can hardly wait twenty years for this amazing, beautiful, and wonderful event to occur. Now, can you imagine waiting a lifetime to meet, not only your Husband who loves you more deeply than any other can, but also your Creator? How many times do we get tired of waiting and seek out a lesser form of His splendor in Heaven! 

I'm glad that we have scripture like this to return our focus to the wedding day. And you know what else, I think, when God had Hosea write this, He was also very excited for that day. 

Grey

The weekend went great. Everything about it was good and I look back on it and am glad for every bit. But coming off of such a busy weekend certainly put me in the wrong sorts this morning. I did not find joy in the sunrise or my coffee, and when I went to feed Steve hoping to be cheered by his vivaciousness and sweetness I realized that I only had enough formula to give him half of what he normally eats. My heart was even more deeply saddened to see him searching hungrily for another bottle when I had none to give him. My poor baby.
Today was also my first day of school, and though I left my house with confidence, as I came nearer to the building I began to feel anxious. The huge traffic jam right before the parking deck didn't help my mood. I was three minutes late and trying to think of some way to walk into the classroom gracefully. Well I got there, opened the door and saw that the lights were out and it was empty. Confused, I headed to the lounge area where I saw one of the ladies from my class and it dawned on me that class today starts at 9, tomorrow it starts at 8. Bummer. I sat down with her for awhile and watched her as she studied out of her super organized, fully prepared materials and felt bad for my total lack of preparation for this semester. I hadn't even gotten my books yet! So if that is any indication with how the rest of my scholastic day went then you are on the right track.
After school went better. I met mom to get some milk replacer for Steve, and spent the rest of the afternoon printing things off for tomorrow and praying that my books come in.
This evening was the ICC young group's beginning of the year meeting so I went to that, though I would have rather enjoyed the nice weather. It turned out to be a good evening. I got to see alot of people that I hadn't seen in a long time and meet some new ones. They talked about how they run things with the ICC Bible studies, church rotation, and such. At least this is one thing I'll be on top of. The fellowship and general mood of the evening totally made up for my bad day.
On the way home I was singing loud with wcic blaring out my windows, happily oblivious to anything unhappy. As I came up to Duebits feed store near Hanna City I was shocked to see the most offensive bumper sticker on the beat up truck in front of me. As he turned left and I set my blinker to turn right I saw that the man actually stuck his hand out the window in an incredibly rude gesture to me. I had done him no harm, my music wasn't even loud enough for him to hear. The song that came on next was about God reaching down into this dark world and how at times it feels like He is so far away. I cried just thinking about how truly dark the world is. It was well into the night, and though the moon was full, after that man did what he did I felt like I was drowning in a sickeningly black place and that God was way up there with the moon and stars. Where is God when people are so darkened, how could He even look upon this world.  I think about how women are sold for their bodies in some countries and children are made to fight in armies before they can recite the abc's and about how, in our own country, anger and hatred is a disease that lies so thick upon people that they don't even know what love is any more. I hate to say it, but my day began a little gloomy and is ending tragically. I don't know if I can sleep tonight knowing how terrible the world I live in is. I am reminded of Romans 12:21 "Do not be overcome by evil; but overcome evil with good." and I pray that God would come down tonight and touch lives and right wrongs. What a mighty God we serve.

Hosea

Ah me, how does time go so fast? This week seems to have slipped away and I am now at the end of it! Well, this weekend can make up for the slow pace of this week for sure. It all starts tomorrow, Yikes!

Today the only thing I had planned was to clean Diane's house, but I always find more to do. I went on the walk and afterwards went straight to the refrigerator to retrieve Steve's bottles. I haven't been able to get him to drink out of the big bottle so I have to take three small ones out to him instead. Then I cut down a tree branch for him and Sandra to snack on for the day. Next I had to get on the computer and finally order my books. I'm a teachers worst nightmare when it comes to being prepared for the first day of school. I cleaned at home for a little while after that. Mom had to go do some shopping and run errands and I wanted to wait till she got home to eat lunch. For some reason, I'll be fine doing any activity around the house alone, but when it comes to eating a meal, I'd rather have someone around to share it with. We each ended up making salads out of all the new garden fresh vegetables we had acquired from Rachel. Her salad was what we call a "Romanian Salad" and it is composed of oinions, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and radishes if they are on hand, all mix with a little bit of oil and salt, no lettuce. It is the cat's meow. (I know that phrase is outdated but it's seemed appropriate.) Mine was just a normal salad.

Then it was off to Diane's. Now, I don't mind cleaning, really, but today my shoulders were so sore from vaulting that it made the four hours drag on endlessly. I was glad when I had finished. The rest of the evening was really slow.

So, in my quest to better understand the word Devotion, today, in all my free time, I made a poster with the definition, synonyms, antonyms, verses that talk about it, and people from the Bible who are noted for their devotion. This is the sort of thing that really helps me. Upon finishing that I decided on a definite reading plan. I am going to start with Hosea and read through the rest of the old testament. And I have a special notebook and pen for note taking. The notes I am going to take are actually going to be in question form, like, what was Hosea's career? So then next time I get out my Bible I can do a review of what I read before. This has always worked for me in the past and I am excited to do it again.

You know what's interesting about the first chapter of Hosea? First, God tells him to marry a prostitute and he does it. That had to be a terribly hard thing to do for God, but he marries Gomer willingly. Well, she has a child and God tells them to name him Jezreel. Here's the cool part about the chapter: all the names signify God's reactions to Isreal's unfaithfulness. Jezreel, for instance was the place in which God was going to punish or judge Isreal. The next child was a girl named Lo-ruhamah (definitely going to name my first child that!) which meant no mercy for Isreal, but mercy for the more devoted Judah. Next came Lo-Ammi and the foreboding statement God made after announcing this child's name was,"for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." complete separation. However, and this is just super, the next sentence explains that God will still hold true to his promises to these unfaithful people! And, the last verse is my favorite. It's a total prophecy of Jesus and God says, "for great shall be the day of Jezreel". Jezreel in this case means "God plants" He's talking about a new relationship with His people. Isn't that cool to think about? It's scary also. I don't believe God's treatment to the Isrealite's unfaithfulness was much different than it would be for us if we are unfaithful. Judgment, no mercy, and separation. But praise be to God that he sent Jesus and we can everyday start a new relationship, a new love with him every day! Praise God!

First day of School

If you are just dieing to know how the rest of our trip went and haven't been able to speak with me or my family then you are tough out of luck ;) I just don't have the time or memory to get it written down on this blog, but I do have a very nice movie of it, if you don't mind sitting through 45 minutes of it. I made it long because I knew these would be precious memories to look back on throughout the years for my family.

Anyway, today was a big day for my younger three siblings as it was the first day of school. Anni is a Junior this year and excited to finally be an upperclassman. Ryan is just starting at Illini Bluffs and he is a Freshman, and Steven has also made the descion to attend Illini Bluffs for his 8th grade year. The Lighthouse Academy is our church's small school that goes from kindergarten to 8th grade and Steven would have been going there, but due to various circumstances is now at IB until further notice. I, of course am going to ICC this fall but they don't start till next Monday.
The kids were definitely nervous as they left for school this morning, Ryan the most. It is a tough transition to make and I had to be prayerful today for them. The prayers must have paid off for they all came home with good reports! Steven had one funny encounter: one girl approached him, introducing herself by saying, "I remember you! I peed in your house!" Of course he was shocked but later remembered a while back a car had some troubles down the road and this girl and her friend stopped in to use the restroom.
While the kids were away, Mom and I piddled around with little chores and stuff to keep ourselves busy. I'm really enjoying this time off. Nonetheless I am not unhappy at the prospect of school starting soon. But, before I think too much on school I must get through this weekend. It will be a busy one! We have a girl's retreat for the Peoria Church's Young Group girls scheduled to start at 6:30 on Friday and end Sunday morning. Before that, however I will be helping to prepare for said event. For Sunday I will arrive at church and head straight for the sunday school room in which I am helping to teach then I believe Anni and I signed up to serve during the second shift at the second table. I have to remember to bring the four jars of Hot Fudge that I bought to church for after church I will be heading directly to the fellowship hall for the Ice Cream Social fundraiser for the young group. I don't believe I will stay for the entire thing, for at four thirty there is a grand hog roast and horse show at the Lake. I expect that it will be a wonderfully busy and fun weekend. I am looking forward to it.

On another note, this morning I was listening to 91.5 and they were talking about choosing one word to focus on for a period of time. Immediately a word came to my mind: Devotion. Last fall I began my Senior year full of fire for God. I was sure that this would be the year in which a revival would happen at IB. I was sure it would be wonderful. Throughout the one semester that I was there I worked diligently in organizing the small Bible Study that we began a few years back. I talked to everyone about joining us in the mornings. I made posters for See You At the Pole hoping that the students would see them and come and realize that they are not the only Christians in the school and that united we could spark something that had died a long time ago in this community. Alas, it was not to be. I won't say that my efforts were all in vain, for I don't know if seeds were planted, but when See you at the pole was poorly attended and the Bible Study slowly sputtered and died, my view became less optimistic. I graduated early and left that school feeling disappointed in myself and, dare I even say, God, for not dramatically and drastically changing the sinful lives of the students there. Never once during this time was I angry at God or turned from Him, but the disappointment grew to become a hunk of apathy that hung on me heavily. I could barely find the motivation to pick up my Bible for a long time. I kept telling myself, as soon as summer starts I'll get more on fire for God, or at Girl's Camp, or on vacation. I lost any form of schedule or plan to follow for my reading, so when I did pick up the Bible I would only read a random chapter here or there and didn't feel I was getting much of the picture. I believe pride had a lot to do with it. I felt I had read the Bible through once or twice, what else have I to learn from it (terrible thinking I know). And anyway, what is reading the Bible daily, but something I was told I should do? I was mostly doing everything else right: I got along with my parents and siblings, I attended church, I was full of joy of just living, etc. And then it hit me in church Sunday, if I'm being joyful, but not giving God glory, then I'm only being joyful for myself. The reading during the second sermon was Psalm 77 and it was so weird, I felt as if I was discovering a Bible for the first time in my life. The words and sentences were so unlike anything else that I read and they said such marvelous and terrifying things. I was especially struck by these verses: 13 -14. They say, "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders : thou hast declared thy strength among the people." My mind began to whirl with thoughts as I felt convicted of being lackidaisical with my personal devotions. Another thought hit me as I sat in the front pew, and that was the very words "personal devotions". People say it as if it were this chore or thing we do everyday, but just thinking about those two words it means so much more than that. Personal DEVOTIONS. Devotion means Profound dedication. Reading the Bible every day is not just something we do so that if we are ever asked a hard question we can answer it wisely. No, it is a show of our dedication. Not just dedication our PROFOUND dedication. That is so cool that we even have that opportunity and here I took it so for granted. As I sat in church this Sunday I looked at the Bible laying open on my lap and couldn't stop thinking of how awesome a gift it was to me. I'm sure I looked silly to those sitting beside me for I could not stop staring at it lovingly. God's Word. I've realized that it is so easy for us to slip in this secretive area. Apathy can take over a person, but none would ever see. I could go on living without so much as praying a single prayer or reading a single word, but put on a Christian front and no one would be the wiser. It is something that I have to make a resolution to do by myself and I cannot be held accountable in this area at all. So for this week or month or whatever, I am going to focus on Devotion.

Pacific Coast Day 2

This was a day of miserable driving. The fog was all encompassing, obstructing even the slightest view that we might have of the ocean, and the drive was, again, a series of dips, hills, and many, many curves. The only place that was a signifigant stop was at a cliff faced beach where dad was able to do some fishing. We had given up on swimming at this point so climbing on the rocks was much more appealing. Within the large rocks we found a great number of tide pools, each varying in size and contents. Some were large and contained great leafy seaweed and tons of mussels. In the smaller ones we found lots of little crabs and such. On the rock walls that bordered the ocean we found various star fish. It's funny, because I've always wanted to go somewhere where I could explore tide pools and this was the perfect place.
        Alas, however, it was not long before we began to bore of the little pools and looked about for a more interesting diversion. While scoping out our surroundings, our attention was called to a particular rock by a splashing noise. Peering through the fog we realized that we had been playing in the territory of a bunch of large harbor seals. Once again, the seals took the place for best activity of the day. Though these were a bit more laid back than San Fransisco's sea lions, their big eyes and funny way of moving kept our attention for quite some time.
         Our next destination was the Redwood forest. We had about an hour to explore one of the groves before dark. As soon as we set foot on the trail head we began to express how much we feel a dinosaur may just jump right out of the underbrush. The forest floor was covered in huge ferns and the air was damp. Every branch was covered in a thick olive green moss and of course our view of the sky was obstructed by the monstrous Redwood trees that grow over 300 feet tall. At this particular grove, many of the trees were fallen or dead, making the forest seem to be a very large playground with tunnels, climbing places, and cave like areas.
        It was dark and cold enough that we decided to just find a camping spot within the forest. The tiny private campground we chose was not spectacular, but adequate. Two dogs, a nice looking boxer and a huge wolf like dog wandered the campground freely and quickly made friends with the boys. Dad grew so attatched to the stray wolf-like one that he said he would take it home in an instant, if only mom would agree. Of course, she wouldn't, but dad convinced her to put the "fleece before God." She said that if it was pouring down rain in the morning we could take him. Needless to say the fine mist in the morning could hardly be classified as rain and we left without the hound.
      Mom is continuously reminding me of the great goulash we had for supper that evening so I must record it. We came to the campground, as I said, cold and hungry, thus the perfect meal would be a thick warm stew of potatoes and meat. It was a great meal.
I am sorry to say the Camera was out of order for this day.

The Pacific Coast

We stayed the night at San Fransisco in an RV park that was more like a hotel where you bring your own room. It even had a pool table and a lobby. As usual, that morning mom and dad woke up before any of us and took off to get a good head start on the day. Luckily they woke us all up to see the Golden Gate bridge.
     From there we drove to the coast. The plan was to spend a nice day by the beach so Steven could swim (something he's been begging to do at almost every body of water we pass), the girls can lay out and read, dad could fish, and Ryan could build something with all the drift wood around. Unfortunately, instead of sun, water, and sand, we were met with fog, fog, and a really cold dense fog. Apparently thick fog is normal for this area and we had no chance of the sunny Gulf Shores like day we were hoping for. We did make one stop in the morning to eat breakfast and went out to the beach only to walk back to the warm relief within our camper.
    No worries about the cold, we could still look forward to the coastal drive along Route 1. The views were nice from this road, but, once again were slightly ruined by the fog. And, the road was much, much curvier than we expected and most of us became quite car sick.
      Driving down the road we came upon plenty of tiny, quaint little coastal villages, which had such charm. The main produce/business for these towns was oysters. We soon spotted a place full of cars and people and decided to pull over and see whats up. (It was a good time to stop as we were all very sick.) It was an oyster fair. People came to this place, bought a bag of live oysters, grilled and ate them there at the many picnic tables set around. It was like a big community picnic. Of course we had to buy a bag to try them, but we didn't eat them there as there was no room.
       Traveling further down we decided to stop and have a picnic on the beach. We found a lovely place with a grill and picnic table. It was still very cold out so Dad lit a warm fire on the grill, which we later used to cook up some nice big hamburgers and the oysters. On this trip I have learned something about myself, I love picnics. Spreading out a tablecloth over the wooden picnic table, setting it up with great food like fresh tomatoes, red onion, lettuce, chips, etc., and eating outside with views of God's great earth is among one of my favorite things to do for sure.
      With lunch finished, we once again piled in the old motorhome and drove onward. Steven was quite upset with the fact that he still hasn't had the chance to swim, so we made a deal with him: if the sun comes out and we find a beach where RVs are allowed to park (a rare occasion) we will stop. Sure enough, it wasn't too much longer when the fog finally did clear just enough for the sun to make an appearance. Unfortunatly for Steven, the beach we stopped at was simply too dangerous to swim at due to rip tides and giant waves. None of us even dared to test whether the sign warning us not to swim was right or wrong, for just looking at the spectacular waves was enough to scare anyone. They towered high and came crashing down with enormous force. It was quite a show to watch. As we were enjoying the beach, Mom looked out and saw a spray of water shoot up. She began to wonder out loud if it was a whale or something. I didn't believe her until she began shrieking excitedly, "It is a whale!" Now everyone on the beach was facing that direction, and sure enough. After seeing another spray go up into the air we could see a very large and shiny black form break the surface. The whale hung around for quite some time before finally leaving.
    That night we found a nice little State park near the beach. It was really barren with hardly any trees, but had some charm to it. We made a super nice campfire and stayed up late chatting and singing. It was a good day.

San Fransisco

May I first say that we have become very spoiled! For the last two nights we have not only had full hook up, but also showers! Yep, that's right, showers. Be jealous if you must.
On today's agenda was the foggy city of San Fransisco! I was personally most excited for this day, I'm not sure why though. We rode a shuttle bus from the RV park that we are staying at tonight into the city near China town. China town was like nothing I've ever seen before! It was like being in another country for sure as everything was in Chinese and the people were all Asian and, well, it was very cool. I felt as though my eyes would bug out of my head any second from having too much to see! Walking through there was such an experience.

The Chinese architecture was really interesting.

This is Ryan at an Asian Art Gallery

We enjoyed browsing through the shops.

Coming out of China Town we headed for the fisherman's warf, which seemed more like something out of Disney world or six flags, but was still interesting. The quaint little shops along the boarded walkway were fun to look at and the smell of the nearby bay and the sounds of the little boats and ships made for a great experience.

The crowded, touristy fisherman's warf.

Certainly the best part was when we discovered a group of wild sea lions right next to the pier. Some people had designated special platforms for them so they wouldn't bother the boating docks and they were in the perfect place. We spent a long time watching their funny social interactions and antics.

Those were the highlights of the day. Once lunch came, we sort of ran out of things that we knew of to do and just wandered around and discussed quite a bit on activities. We ended up seeing an old WW2 Submarine. The boys enjoyed that.

And we saw a Japanese "tea Garden" which was interesting, but not worth it.

To finish up the day we went back to China Town as that was where our shuttle would be meeting and had supper in a little Chinese Restaurant. We ordered the "Banquet Meal for 6" and boy was that an experience! The waitresses brought out the first course, a clear eggy soup, which we all enjoyed quite a bit. The next course was beef, chicken, fish, shrimp, and broccoli. I can't describe how they tasted or how they were cooked, but it was all very good and well worth it.

So, that was the end of the day. We came back on the shuttle and did some laundry and every one else went to bed, but I am up typing my poor fingers off. It does feel good to be some what caught up. Sorry for any confusing parts, I had alot to remember in this one evening.

Yosemite Day 2

The plan for this day was to see the rest of Yosemite, stay the night once again in the same campground, and leave early for San Fransisco. Up to this point we had not kept to a single one of these "plans" and apparently we were keeping to that trend. We went to the Valley and saw the fancy hotel and decided it was time to move on. Before leaving the park we had to make one or two stops first, but the new plan for the day was basically get near San Fransisco and find a place to sleep. The stops we made were to the Historic sight and Maripos Grove. The Historic sight was a quicky. We were literally in and out of there within an hour.
We took more time at the Mariposa grove, and for good reason. This was the home of, not the tallest, but the largest trees in America. The giant Sequoias were pure majesty, the largest of which could very nearly stun any ususpecting passerby. It was called the Grizzly Giant and it was MASSIVE! The trunk alone had a diameter of 96 feet! That's one foot for every member of the Meister family! One of the limbs had a diameter of 7 feet. This thing was huge.
I haven't uploaded the pictures for this day onto my computer yet, so that will have to wait.

Yosemite

Yosemite National Park, California is what mom had been looking forward to most for this vacation. When she was twenty three, she made a wild decision to move to Yosemite to work in the park, so the area had alot of memories for her.
The morning we left for Yosemite began very early as mom and dad arose at around 3 or 4 am. Deciding they would not fall back asleep they began driving the long drive into the park. They woke us up around seven o clock saying that we are at a forest with big trees and need to take a walk to get there. The "walk" was all downhill and chilly, but none of us let the fact that we just woke up, were cold and hungry, and were asked to go on a two mile up and downhill hike get us down. It was worth it in the end. The trees we went to see were Giant Sequoias and boy were they big, and well worth the hike.
This is a tree that fell a year before mom worked at Yosemite, or 27 years ago. It was really fun to climb in and on.
This is a famous "tunnel tree". The tree was dead of course.Next for that day we headed up to see if we can grab a campsite within the park. This would mean we could stay for two days in order to really enjoy Yosemite. Well, luck was with us as we found an excellent site in the Bridalviel Creek Campground.
After securing our spot we headed off to Glacier Point. This place was high up and overlooking Yosemite's famous "half Dome" mountain and the valley. The view was spectacular, including two waterfalls and various awesome cliffs.

Next we headed down to the valley to check out the valley and go on some hikes to the waterfalls. The trail we went on was lovely and took us to at least two signifigant waterfalls, but was treacherously difficult. The path was a steady uphill at first, but then got steeper and steeper.

Toward the end of the trail we were stepping up huge stairs and struggling to keep our composure. The strenuous hike was worth it, though, as the falls were spectacular. We were even delighted to see that we made it at the perfect time of day to witness a perfect and vivid rainbow decorate the bottom of the falls.
After that hike we were all pretty tired so we took it easy, stopping at the visitors center to see a video and doing some shopping.

Mountian Lake and Mammoth Lake

If you are feeling a bit confused as to what events and places belong to what days then join the club. I have not done well with keeping a journal and managing photos and videos so its all befuddled.

So, on the day we spent time at the mountian lake in S. California we also went to Mammoth Lake. Mammoth Lake is a privately owned place, so everything cost and everything was commercialized. Once there we had to park the RV and take a shuttle up to the trial heads that lead to various scenic points. Some of those points included the "Devil's Post Pile", Minnerat falls, and Rainbow Falls. Coming off the shuttle bus we began to walk toward the Devil's Post Pile but took a small detour toward the "soda springs" (they ended up to be nothing). The trail continued up, but I didn't have the strength to keep going so Mom and I decided to stop and rest while everyone else headed up the trail to see what was there. Well, after what seemed to be an eternity of waiting we came to the conclusion that wherever that trail's destination was, it was not just around the corner. Turns out they were all headed up to the Minnerat falls which were a little more than a mile away. Of course the whole time they thought that it must be just up ahead so they kept going. It took forever!
It must have been worth the hike because Dad, Anni, Ryan, and Steven all came back with excited faces and fun stories of the waterfalls that they got to climb on. Next, we hiked to the Devil's Post Pile which is a natural rock formation that looked liked perfectly straight carved posts.
Then we hiked the two and a half mile up hill hike to the Rainbow falls. We decided they measured the distance of the walk as the crow flies because it had to be more than 2 1/2 miles. The falls weren't even that spectacular, but we got our exercise for the day.

Day 5...I think...

On day five I was still sick. That was the day we went to Death Valley. From what I heard from the family later was that it was hot and dry and low elevation. Apparently, it was so hot at one point that they tried to fry an egg on the blacktop. Anni said there was some white around the edges. I think I believe her.
While driving through Nevada there were several times when I could hear excited exclamations about dust devils. I guess there were quite a few large ones.
Once again, I was too sick to remember any of that day besides what I heard from the family.
I was feeling a bit better that evening to see the campground. At this point we had come to Southern California. The Campground was up a mountain and very primitive. At one edge of the campground there was a gorgeous mountain creek. The site we chose was very private and near some very interesting trees, one of which had a huge burned out hollow spot that looked as if it could fit a bear inside of it. The only pictures I have of this place are of some flowers Anni and I picked on a very short walk.
Here is Anni's account of Day 5:

We saw death valley. It was so hot we cracked an egg on the black top. It didn't cook through, bu it got a small white layer on the bottom. And it got hotter. after a while of driving we had to shut the air off so the engine wouldn't over heat. It was miserable, but we made it.
Our next campsite made up for the heat. It was in the mountains so it was cool during the day and wonderfully cold at night. Rebekah was feeling better so she read to us. We had spaghetti for supper, a Bible study, and then bed. Our site was on the edge of the camp ground and our motor home made a wall between us and every one else so it was very private. IN the morning we walked down to the river. It was like a fairy land. Ancient trees grow on small islands, parting the rocky river. Exotic flowers grow every where and the sun shimmered through the trees and a bouquet of flowers. There's a lake nearby that we are headed to to spend part of he day at.
Dad fished while we sat around. Then we went and saw the hot springs. Mom was disappointed because she was pretty sure this was the place that, 26 years ago, she could swim around in, and couldn't today.

Day 4

On day three (the day we saw the Painted desert, petrified forest, and Grand Canyon) I went to bed with a slightly throbbing headache expecting the elevation was affecting me in a poor way. That morning I was sick. My head was at this point began pounding at the slightest flinch and I was nauseous. Between states of delirious consciousness I could hear the family talking about entering Nevada. They talked about the Hoover Dam so I figured we must have crossed it. They talked about Las Vegas and a hotel room. I remember giving every bit of my strength to cross the room and find the bed. I remember the room was dark and cool and I lied there for hours. I listened to the family speak about the pool just outside the door and a Circus just down the road. Looking back I think about how pitiful I must have seemed to them, lying there moaning and gripping the edge of the bed till my knuckles were white to distract myself from whatever turmoil was going on either in my stomach or my head. It was a horrible illness that lasted two whole days. Even after it let up I didn't recover fully for another two days. The first day of being sick I missed Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam and the second day, Death Valley and the Nevada deserts. As far as I know, it all went well and was pretty interesting.
Unfortunately I have no photos of the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas and Death Valley and no memory of them either.

Day 1,2, 3 Anni

Day 1
After 1 night and half a day of travel we finally made it to the first inn our long line of camp grounds. We passed through Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and finally stopped in New Mexico. The motor home was muggy and hot. That plus, as always, I felt incredibly guilty for whoever had to stay up and drive made the first night of driving fairly long. So even though it was in the middle of the day I was asleep when we got to the camp site. I woke up alone in the motor home in a strange desert like place, but my last memory was of Steven tickling my feet and so, for the sake of his well being, I was glad for the solitude. I found my family walking toward me from a large lake.
The camp ground didn’t have a lack of vegetation. Just a lack of trees. The ground was green, but not with grass. It was covered with stiff, prickly plants. There were small round cactuses and bigger ones with round flat spiky plates. What looked like stiff, foot long tuffs of grass, turned out to have needle sharp tips. It was fairly hot but there was a constant breeze and it was warm and comforting.
We swam in the lake, ate supper, took showers and sat around until Dad got back from fishing. Then we had a bible study and went to bed.
The night was awful for me. I tossed and turned, listening to a symphony of snores. I wasn’t tired after sleeping so much the day before. But when I did fall asleep it was very soundly and I
woke up feeling good because it was colder.

Day 2
Dad was driving on a road in the middle of nowhere. On either side of us were light green rolling hills that were speckled with dark green tuffs of bushes and an endless clear sky. We stopped at a fire work store and I had a beautiful view of the mountains from the motor home window, but it was obstructed by a big white sign with faded red words that said FIRE WORKS.
We went to a place with volcano rocks that had Indian drawings on them. The highlight of that stop was a lizard I spotted.
Back on the road we passed some sand dunes. I had the window open to see them better and Steven decides he has to rule my life by keeping the window closed. I glared at him till he got board and looked away. Being patient has its uses.
I feel completely surrounded with different colored mountains. Some are red, some are green with plants, and in the distance there are white cliffs. Some cliffs are all three. Their white faded into red which was over taken by green. It was beautiful.
We went to a mining museum which was fun because there were no employees down stares where they had a mining simulation. We were the only ones in the whole museum so we goofed off a lot.When we got back to the motor home a fat, stinky, dirty man approached us and asked for money. We gave him a sandwich, a cookie, and a few slim-jims. He asked for something to drink and we gave him a soda. He complained about not getting money then we left.
We went to a Mexican restaurant and I got a hamburger and fries. After that we went and saw a volcano crater. Dad was a little high off the mountain air. He climbed up and around the crater till he was nearly opposite of us. We watched his figure; a speck on the tip of the ridge of the crater; run back toward us. Then we walked to the ice caves. It is 31 degrees in them. It was such a relief to be in the cold that we hung out there awhile. Dad (still crazily happy) hopped the fence, walked across the 20 feet deep pond of ice, took off his shirt, and hugged a giant ice pillar to cool down further.
Our next camp ground was nicer. It had trees, a lake, paved roads, and a beautiful valley with a sheer cliff walls almost all the way around it. Steven didn’t go and when we got back he was packing up our chairs. Dad told him to stop and that we were going to have a camp fire.
“Not here we’re not.” He told us, “This place was reserved.” We explained to him that the green card on the sign meant it was open and he pointed to an angry looking lady in her car. We ended up having to move to a place with no fire pit.
We road bikes for awhile then we went to an empty camp sight and had a fire, sang songs, and had a Bible study. After that it was showers and bed. It was cold and I didn’t sleep well.

Day 3

Today we made it to Arizona. We saw the Painted Desert stretch endlessly in front of us. The different shades of red capped with white sand and scattered with green vegetation was beautiful.Next we saw more ancient Indian drawings scratched on more rocks. Then we saw (from a distance) a petrified forest. Then we went to the place where you walk through the petrified logs. It was cool.After a few more hours of diving we made it to the Grand Canyon. I’m so glad we went. Even though I’ve already seen it, it’s not something you get used to. The first time we went that day it was crowded. We tried to wait for the trolley but the lines were long and when we got to the front on ambulance pulled up to pick up a girl laying on the bench. She got up and walked right into it. But that wasn’t the worst part. I think the doctors were trying to convince her she was ok or trying to treat her right there because the ambulance sat there, right in the way of the trolleys, forever. Eventually we just left. We came a second time to a less crowded spot and then a third time to watch the sun set.
It was Sunday morning so we went to a church service. Three girls only a little older than me led it. One played the violin while we sang. They talked about how God doesn’t take sides. Rebekah didn’t go. She was feeling sick. We made it to Las Vegas and got a hotel room. Dad, Ryan, and Steven went to see the sights and accidently got in on some action. Some guys got in a fight and Dad went to go break it up, but by the time they got there it was over.
Rebekah was throwing up sick. She had 100.1 temperature, but that's after she was given a ton of medicine.

Day 8

Just to let y'all know, we are in San Fransisco at an RV park right in the middle of the city. (that makes me laugh). At this point we are getting ready to leave the RV to spend a day in the city so I can't spend the time updating the blog as I would like to until later on tonight. So, until then...

Day 2

Day 2
Cool breezes on a summer evening, the laughter of children playing, the view from the top of a mountain, and waking up in a moving motor home are among some of the best sensations known. Mom and Dad woke early, packed up, and began driving as we slept in comfort. Upon waking we were met with views of red mountains and the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains. The drive this morning was quite nice and we did not cease to stare out the windows the entire time. Grandma should be proud as we have not played one card game all day for the fear of missing some spectacular view.

Our first stop was at the Petroglyphs National Monument in Albuquerque. The short hike among large black volcanic rocks was interesting enough, but we were a little skeptical when it came to the 130,000 year old spiritual Indian drawings as it was difficult to tell which were real and which were modern day scandilisms. That was a short enough stop.

Driving through Albuquerque was an adventure in itself. Everything was beautifully landscaped with colored rocks, painted and mosaic walls, and native plants. Mom and I were, of course, very interested in the houses here and their Mexican style.Next we drove on to a little town called Grants. This is a very Mexican/Indian population and it shows. Here we visited the National Mining Museum which was fascinating in many ways. The small upper portion had great information and a short video explaining how the town found prosperity through the discovery of large amounts of Uranium in the area. The Lower portion of the museum consisted of a mock mine with tools, little railway cars, and the works. We were the only ones there so we felt free to explore and climb around to our hearts desire. Coming out of the museum we found a quaint little Mexican restaurant for lunch and then headed off for El Malpais.
Twenty nine. Twenty-nine fire spouting, lava gushing volcanoes occupied this particular area. The road was not gravel, but fine black sand. On one particular hill, the volcanic soil prevented all but a few desperate trees from growing making it a rather interesting sight. We came to this place and began a half mile hike up to see the largest volcano in the area. The walk itself was worth stopping for as we passed a canyon full of huge rocks, gnarled trees of the most twisted nature, and a lovely blue sky. At the top of the path we saw what appeared to be a huge sunken hole. By huge, I mean bigger than at least two football fields across. It was a great sight.After the warm walk up to the volcano, of course, we had to cool off, and what better place to do so other than an underground cave of ice! It was such a strange sensation to come down the stairs and suddenly hit a wall of cold. Deeper in the cave it was a refreshing thirty-one degrees.
You know those “Stay on the Path” signs? Well, my Dad has no respect for these slight rules as he climbed to the volcano rim and ran around it to a ridiculous point, and then at the Ice cave, he jumped the railing to hug a column of ice. Silly, silly man.
Carrying on we decided the day shall come to an end at the Bluewater campground near the edge of New Mexico. The “blue water” of the lake here is not too impressive. Actually it is not even close to being blue as it is pretty dirty. But, there is a canyon here with a creek coming through it that looks great. Mom, Dad, Anni, Ryan, and I took an adventurous little hike down our own pathway to the valley of the canyon. It

Day 1

Day 1. Thursday.

It would seem we have come to an entirely separate world, than that of our dear home state. By separate would, I mean it is so vastly different, and so extremely far away, that I may even go to the extent of saying that, though it is absurd, our motor home has driven into some odd force that has shuttled us off to a distant planet.

Now, of course I am exaggerating for, thought it is a different shape and texture and have little nasty thistles hanging off the tips; the grass is still green here as it is in Illinois. And, though it is a shocking red hue, the dirt is still dirty. And though it has spread, engulfed, and in every way you look at it, has taken over 90% of the view here, the sky is still blue. Maybe the sky is not the same shade of blue, or the clouds do not take on any familiar cloud shapes, for, it does seem reasonable to speculate that the mammoth monstrosity that is the looming New Mexico sky is unusual.  May I add that the wind here is completely the same as it is in Illinois? However, it is here that I have discovered that at the moment of a large gust, if you hold up your open soda bottle it will whistle and howl as if in mourning. The crying sound almost caused me to pity the poor bit of plastic to the point of relinquishing the beverage all together.

How we came to this barren, treeless, dry, windy, prickly, lovely place was neither exciting nor worth mentioning aside from the simple statement that we drove many, many hours.

Now, I have described the place and our means of arriving, but I feel the need to enlighten you on the things we have done here at Ute Lake State Park, New Mexico. We rode bikes, being extra careful to remain only on the designated pathways due to the eminent danger of an attack from the aforementioned burrs that so decorate the grass. We swam in the lake which was not cold, but rather a funny lukewarm temperature. And, in our exhaustion from the enormous day and night of driving, we relaxed.

So, there is day one. We will leave the campground in the morning the same way we came, by driving, and we will look ahead for a new day, more interesting views, and a great deal less sky.