Having a wonderful time.

August 6, Day 7ish:

Today, after a long, hot, crowded bus ride, we went for a long, hot, hilly, humid, sweaty, bug infested hike with dead trees and no rest areas. We had a great time, seeing great views like the one we saw while stopped by construction the other day. To sum up everything we saw on the extended trail today would be waterfalls and deer. Though the two made the trip exciting for the first turn or so, it got well frankly, boring. If someone was up ahead and said, “Look,” I’d say, “Let me guess, a small waterfall, or a deer perhaps?”

“Yes,” they’d say, “how’d you know?”

“The last bend.” I’d say.

I am now starting to think about mosquitoes here, and those back home. The difference, I suppose, aside from the Alamo type fighting numbers up here, is the smog down in So Cal keeps the creeps small, slow, and stupid. The ones down in my backyard hardly would make a mark when they would bite you, but the mosquitoes here are nasty, with bites that double the size of your arm. My legs are a small scale model of the mountains here in Glacier, complete with snow and wild mountain goats bouncing about. Each bite steals a little of my pigment. The ones that I am getting now turn white and look surprisingly like a skin disease, or an allergic reaction. Though I am not quite sure they are mosquito bites, I assume they are, since there is nothing else around here except poison oak.

The more people I see, often in long, crowded bus rides, I see the contrast to the people here and those in the California region. Unlike the bugs down south, the people in OC stick to themselves and aren’t super friendly (with the exception of the people in my church). Now the great sights and the fact that these people are on vacation could be factors in their kindness, but partially I think it is because where I live is on-your-toes-busy; fast paced. Taking things slow is a nice way to go, especially when there are waterfalls and deer on every around every turn.

Days 5 and 6

Here are days five and six of the journal I took on the summer trip. To read day one, click here.

Aug. 4, 2010, Day 5:

We are now camping at Glacier National Park in Montana. We’ve been in four National Parks in the five days we’ve been gone. Also today we go to see Jeremiah in his natural habitat, working by the road on an animal crossing over pass. The slow day of driving was a nice break seeing the Saoon Saloon, Taco John’s and various specks that we thought were animals. Chillin’ back at Glacier, we went down to Lake Macdonald, and on this lake we went on a raft. I always did like spinning in circles. We also attended a ranger-talk slideshow time, which looked as though no one in the campground was going to go to. Obligated by guilt, we went, and had a pleasant time looking at animals dangling over cliffs about to fall to their deaths. And actually a lot of people we; my conscience feels alright now.

Well it is getting dark. The family has a fire going, just waiting for it to finally get dark. Zac is still hoping to see the aurora, and I will show off my excellent constellation finding skills pointing out the Seven Sisters tonight. Oh yeah, I’m good. I can’t wait to see the glaciers, and soap in the bathrooms. C’mon, how hard is it to put some soap in all 50 of the restrooms, and restock them when they’re empty? I mean really? I’m an American, I want ease and comfort! What do they think I’m doing, camping?

Aug. 5, Day 6:

Glacier National Park is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Wide open places with snowy mountains, and deep gorges. The landscape, apparently, was carved out a lot by moving glaciers from many years past that have later melted away. The view is like a thanksgiving banquet for your eyes; the turkey being Heaven’s Peak, with snowy mashed potatoes and gravy, smothered up and down giving your pupils the heart burn plate of beauty.

Well, as we found out today, Glacier’s signs are easily misinterpreted. We decided to ride the bus, so we thought we would stand around waiting for a couple of minutes until it arrived. But when we read the sign that said that busses come every couple of minutes, it really meant a couple of hours. At least the view was interesting…for a couple of minutes. I was looking forward to the bus ride back when it finally did come, so I could complain to the second bus driver about the first one’s absence. But we had the same bus driver both ways, which hit me like a 5 year old Twinkie, interrupting the thanksgiving feast in my bowels.

Along with the inside of crammed buses, I saw mountain goats, big horn sheep, an aggressive granny, deer, and a sign in the bathroom stall which said, “Please flush twice.” The people who made the bus signs could learn from that sign; short, blunt, and short. Though I’m not quite sure why they have a sign that says that. Is it for the courtesy of others, or the janitor? Either case, the sign can’t really be misinterpreted. And just incase it was too direct, it even says, “please.”

We are now on the other side of Glacier, at a nice little campground. And trust me, after a full day of thanksgiving feasting, the bathroom is the first place I want to stop at. One…two…this is for you, janitor.

Three s'things

Continuation of the journal I took on my Epic Annual Family Summer Road Trip-Tacular.

Aug. 3, 2010, Day 4:

The day has now been completed, consisting of three words that all begin with the letter “s”; Staring, Sustenance, and Jeremiah.

Most, if not every activity, applied the use of Staring today. I am surprised that so quickly in the trip I have nearly perfected the art of Staring. Staring, as defined by me, is the act of using one’s eyes to see everything but the back of one’s eyelids. Similar to the Look, Gaze, Glance, and Observation, the Stare usually first appears when one first wakes up, and terminates when they go to sleep.

Today I occupied the Stare while on the drive. My mom got her Bachelors in Observation and quickly graduated with a Doctorate in the Stare on the section where I was at the wheel. Not only did my parents give me the hardest part to drive, with construction on hilly roads, big semis, and passing lanes were present, but also some of the most beautiful drives to torture me as I attempted to attend the community college of Stare looking at the pavement.

To continue the trend of fast food on road trips, I filled up with this Sustenance. And how full I am! While my dad and I worked our Stare at Pizza Hut (which was a $6 buffet), we realized that living in California had made us accustom to different sorts of peoples and ethnic groups. We felt like the minority when only caucasion people present. Not to mention we were the only two sitting at the longest table in the entire restaurant, and we were the skinniest people in there; probably by 200 pounds. That’s including the children. We also ate at 5 Guys. In combination of both places I have eaten, I have been stinkin’ up everywhere I go. Thank the red meats!

And last but not least, Jeremiah. A friend I haven’t seen in a whole week! Now that he has a job here in Montana, we decided to come and visit him. After showing us around Missoula, he, the fam. and I went to go see an aurora, which supposedly was/is happening tonight. Well, at most that was a waste of time. And at least I got to work on my Stare, looking at absolutely nothing.

Well, bed is looking tasty. Oh yeah, we decided that we would overstay our welcome at Jeremiah’s and spend the night. It is now twelve’ two. Happy Wednesday! Alright, Tuesday is over - shut up.

Oh give me a home...

Here is Day 3 of the journal I took on the trip. And you can find the first two by just scrolling down or clicking here and here.

Aug. 2, 2010, Day 3:

What did the buffalo say to his kid going off to college? “Bi-son.” Well, that’s the word of the day, bison,…or tired. Unlike my previous visit to Yellowstone where we saw buffalo at a distance, and that only on the last day, this time we have been within 15 feet of bison, and have seen them in several places. I love buffalo, so majestic, so wooly, so fat headed. Nothing beats a buffalo, literally, they are massive, and yet so gentle looking. Amazing.

Along with bison we saw plenty of Elk, deer, antelope, geysers, waterfalls, and people stopped to look at a speck which they claimed was a bear. I guess they must have seen out license plate and rallied their cousins and uncles to pull a fast one on us. Silly hicks, tricks are for kids!

Although I didn’t think it possible, we had more stops today than we had yesterday. Seeing geysers and mud pots, and geysers and waterfalls, and geysers and geysers, in and out, and in and out of the car made me tired. Not to mention standing around waiting for Old Faithful to blow. Speaking of tricks, that guy-zer faked us out more than any uncle, looking like it was going to blow a dozen times. It made the camera run out of batteries, but thankfully it’s my mom’s camera, not mine. Again, ‘Ol Faithy must’ve seen the license plate.

We are now right outside of Yellowstone, at a KOAish R.V. Park, which Zac observed isn’t park like “grass and field,” but like “park your car.” RV, duh.

Well, I gotta’ go shower now, even though I have been bathing in bug spray, sunscreen, and sulfur mist all day. Not to mention sweat.

I am now convinced that the invention of bug spray was some guy who was going mad from the heat lathered himself with his wife’s hairspray, and noticed that the bugs didn’t bite him as much as his prankster uncle. Now they use the left over hairspray at the factories and replace the original label with one that says, “Bug Spray.”

I am also convinced that the spray does absolutely nothing, with the exception of annoying us all. Maybe it is another trick. The only thing mosquitoes are warded off by is the smell of the stuff, consequently so is the rest of the world. Funny how the one place we don’t put the old hairspray nowadays is our hair. Perhaps going mad from the heat is how most entrepreneurs start. Perhaps like the inventor of sunscreen.

Still Trippin'

Below is the next part of the journal that I made on my family's long summer road trip. You can read the first day's entry here.

Now on with the show!

August 1, 2010, Day 2:

Today is the first day of camping. Driving today, we passed through three states, two national parks, and what seems like 300 visitor centers from various places. The worst one was in Utah about the Oregon Trail. Half of it was paintings made for the museum, the other half was quilts. Quilts. Quilts? Who cares about quilts?! They may have been interesting had they actually been made by people traveling to Oregon, but they were made just to fill the other half of the visitor center.

The third half didn’t even have its lights on, even though that looked like the most interesting part. I guess they decided no to pay the electric bill on Sunday mornings because everyone in Utah a Mormon. So there are plenty of crew cuts, bicycles, and carefully planned brick communities around their tabernacles (which everyone would be at on Sunday mornings).

The rest of the drive was way more exciting consisting of beautiful forests, open plains, and The Tetons. And what Grand Tetons they were; spectacular mountains we spent most of the day looking at.

Following twisty, barfy roads, we found our way to Yellowstone. After our recovery, we ate dinner. Thankfully it was my mom’s cooking so we only got a little sick from eating the meal. We went to the lake to see some bugs, and we ended up seeing some geysers as well. We went to a spot we went to the last time we were here, and the mosquito bites hurt then too.

Coming back to the campsite we saw some Elk. It doesn’t take one long here to realize that you can’t see stuff from the road, all you have to do is to look for people stopped by the side of the road acting like they are pointing and taking pictures. Joey finally saw something.

Now I am writing by the light of the flashlight, I hope we have enough batteries. A few moments ago I saw a bat, or a big bird, or a small bird depending on how big you think a bat is.

Alright, I need to go to sleep, but here is my Yellowstone song, sung to the tune of the Hawaii Chair commercial, “Yellowstone, it’s a great place, don’t ya’ know! Saw some geysers like ‘Ol Faithful. You really outta’ go!”

Oh yeah! I had my first heart attack of the trip today when Matt nearly stepped on a snack and I was standing right behind him. Until tomorrow, if the mosquitoes allow. Good Night.

Day 1

This is the first journal entry of the trip. I am hoping to put all of them up here eventually while I work on learning Photoshop. I usually wrote each entry any time from late afternoon to midnight, and that usually by the light of a flashlight or while we were eating dinner, so I didn't spend a whole lot of time on any of the entries; just free writing. In typing it up I tried to fix most of the mistakes, but left a few in their for its vintage quality.

And just so you guys would have no idea what we did on the trip, I was sure to fill each time I wrote in the journal with inside jokes that were made on the trip, and sarcastic extremities. If you didn't know me, you might say I didn't like the trip, but that's why I am putting this on the internet, where anyone can see, people who have no idea who I am, who could totally misinterpret what I say... Um well, here you go:

July 31, 2010,

Epic Annual Family Summer Road Trip-tacular Day 1:

Today we started out epic trip north similar to birds in summer. My family and I, a couple of bird-brains, are questing on another summer travel. But if you are reading this you probably know all that already.

We didn’t leave too early this morning which was kind of a bummer because then none of us got any sleep in the car. The drive today was smooth with just a few 30 foot potholes, 30 billion pit stops, small fights, cliffs, rocks, and the occasional thunder storm. Yeah, it’s going pretty smooth. Today is the longest day of driving, or so my parents make me believe, but thankfully video games saved the day. And I actually won a few times on Mario Kart. We saw many exciting sights today such as Kolob Canyons (a part of Zion National Park), which was beautiful, sunsets, double rainbows, and Joey didn’t see any cows. We stopped and ate lunch today in a Carl’s Jr., in a gas station, in Las Vegas…yeah triple sketch.

Seems like a long time since we waved goodbye to Mark, Tawnie, and The Cimino, since we have gone through four states today. And yet after all that traveling I still can’t sleep because my body is on Pacific Time, while reality is in Mountain Time.

Well, I will try to keep these things short since not only am I penning down this even with journal and comic, but Matt is documenting via video, Zac through facebook, and Joey is doing absolutely nothing. (Sorry for all the disses Joey.) So the trip should be well remembered.

Shutter Shades in the Shadows, Ben.

Well, I'm Back

A long, fun, filling, and tiring three week Epic Annual Family Summer Road Trip-tacular has finally come to the end. I kept a journal of just about everyday of the trip, so hopefully soon I will get those up here. And keep hoping, I'm hittn' the showers!