4 Wheels 4 Girls

July 30th, we stopped at a pond in Yellowstone National Park. Dad said that we were on the Continental Divide. Which we were, because I spotted a sign. As Dad always does, he told us about how the water on the Continental Divide goes to both oceans, the Pacific and the Atlantic. And he said this spot on the continental divide was extra special, because the pond itself rested on the divide and drained to both sides!

On the continental divide once again

When we stepped out of the RV, I saw a beautiful pond filled with lily pads. I saw the lily pads and went back inside to grab my camera, and my fairy doll that I made, Lily. I took lots of pictures of her, and I even got a really good one. But I couldn’t reach a lily pad to put Lily on so I just took a picture of her next to them. Dad got a picture of me taking a picture of Lily, and that’s the picture here.

Taking a picture of Lily in the lily pads

Lily on the lily pads!

I had fun at that rest stop. If we could turn around and go back, I would!

And here is a picture of Daisy in the daisies!

July 28th, we went to a ranger talk. It was about a mystery animal that we didn’t know about until we got there. It was about wolves! The ranger was really nice, and she let us touch everything on the display table. There was a coyote skin and a wolf skin with the skull still in it, and you could touch the claws and the teeth and everything. We sat down on the amphitheater and the ranger began her talk.

My favorite part that she told us is that you can tell everything by tracking. You can tell if it’s a female or male, or if it’s pregnant or not, and if it was running or walking. You can even tell if it was stalking something, and if it was stalking, you can tell what it is stalking! The ranger said that once, when she was out tracking with her boss, when they had been out there a while, suddenly her boss said, “I think you have to use the bathroom now.” And the ranger said, “Well, how do you know!” And the boss said, “Well, I was tracking you!” I thought that was really cool.

We had fun at the ranger talk.

Grand Teton National Park

July 28th, we entered Jackson Hole. We were all looking forward to it because in a book that we read, the main characters were from there. So when we came in, the first thing I saw was the square. There were five entrances to the square and they were all bridges made out of elk antlers. It was amazing. The town was filled with stores and people. There wasn’t much to it, but it was cool!

Coming over Teton Pass into Jackson

Square ice cream?
Yes.
Like, shaped like a square?
Yes. Square ice cream.

July 28th, I spotted a sign. It said World Famous Square Ice Cream! Square ice cream, huh? It was hard to believe. To my surprise, Dad said, “Hey, girls, I’m gonna go check it out. You coming?”. And we all screamed, “YES!!!” So we went inside to check it out. Once we were inside, we went up to the counter. I was like, whoa! I’m going to eat square ice cream! It was cool to see the lady scoop up the biggest chunk of ice cream in a cake cone I’d ever had with a square scooper. I got huckleberry, and so did Dad. Jean didn’t get anything, which I thought she was crazy for. Ellie and Ana both got moose tracks, and Greta got licorice. She said, “It tastes slightly like nail polish remover, but I like it.” Which Dad cracked up at.

We ate our ice cream as we drove along to our next destination.

Enjoying square ice cream on a hot day in Swan Valley, ID

July 25th, I was suddenly awoken and rushed out the door and out into what was supposed to be a parking lot but was complete whiteness. I could barely even tell where Dad and my sisters were! I finally spotted them and ran to catch up. Where on Earth were we going? I asked where the visitor center was, and I didn’t get an answer, but two seconds later, I almost ran in to the building. All of us were freezing until we finally we were in the visitor center. We were walking in a cloud!

Can you see Mt. Rainier behind us? Neither could we.

From the visitor center, we couldn’t see anything because of the fog. But once we got a little down the mountain, it was clear and I could see Mount Rainier. I found out that Mount Rainier is a giant volcano. I also learned that when the volcano erupts, sometimes something called a lahar. A lahar is when the volcano erupts when there is a ton of ice on top, so the lava melts the ice and it turns it into lava-y water and mud. All that weight pushes everything out of the way which sends all the trees, rocks, and rubble down with it. When that happens, it can spread all the way down to Seattle, which is about 60 miles away from Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier was pretty cool!

Checking out a waterfall on the way down Mt. Rainier

July 20, we were on the two day ferry. My sisters and I requested that we see Secretariat since it was a good kids movie so it would be appropriate for all ages. We told the purser that we’d like to see it, and they said okay. But when it didn’t play that day, I was disappointed. Why would they do that? But the next day, they played Secretariat. And I was especially excited about this movie over any other because my grandad (or Dindy, as I would call him) is in it. Greta saved a spot for me and I waved to Ellie at the other side of the room. I got all comfy and ready to watch Secretariat for the third time. I love you, Dindy!

July 17th, we went to Sitka National Historical site. There were tons of totem poles with old designs and symbols. They varied in sizes, but most were about thirty to forty feet. We did our junior ranger packets, (but Greta skipped it this once) and we went on a ranger-lead hike. I have to admit it wasn’t very interesting, but the lady leading it was so nice that I didn’t care. When we finished the hike, we went back to the visitor center and got the badges for the junior ranger packets. We had to do the pledge, (like always) and this time, unlike all the rest of the pledges we did, it was made up by the same ranger who lead the hike. And it was the longest pledge in history.

We said our Jr. Ranger oath wearing a sea otter fur.

And then we even did extra work to be an Adventure Ranger, and the reward for that was a lined-inside lunch bag. It was actually pretty cool. When we were all done with everything, we left Sitka National Historical site.

July 15th, we decided to leave the Oceanside View campground for a short while on a 20 mile bike ride. None of the kids wanted to go. We were having fun on the beach and we didn’t even want to bike at all. But once we got started, it was okay. The only problem was that we were really hungry.

So after we’d gone down mostly down-hills, (which is bad because they’re up-hills on the way back) it got pretty flat. Once we were at the river, we got to see some men and women fishing. One woman caught a little silver fishy, and she said it was called a Dolly Varden. Her husband gave us some “Cheesies”, which are, according to him, only made in Canada, but they’re like the same thing as Cheese Puffs. (And by the way, we were in Haines, Alaska, but he was from Whitehorse, Canada.)

After a few minutes of watching them fish, we started the up-hill ride back home.

Riding along the Chilkoot river, north of Haines

July 12th, we arrived at the campground before I knew it. Ellie looked out the window and spotted a beach– just what we’d been looking for for the whole trip! So Ellie and I asked Jean if we could go check it out while Dad and Ana went to check in to the Oceanside RV Park. We asked Greta if she wanted to come and she answered, “Sure.”

Here we are, down on the shore in Haines, Alaska

We hopped out and stepped up to the edge of the 15-to-20-feet-high cliff. I searched for a path down, but couldn’t find one so I just decided I’d follow Ellie, who was leading. But then I spotted a place where the rocks had been pushed aside and there was a little path. And that lead to our adventure.

We explored everything, first the bog. There wasn’t actually a bog, we just called it that. There was tons, and I mean TONS, of kelp, seaweed, and other slimy ocean plants. We were really grossed out at first, but got over it as we realized that it was just like walking on wet grass, only it was a little slimier.

We met some little girls named Ava and Brooke. Ana finally joined us and we all played with our new friends. We played with kelp that was shaped like an onion-sized bulb with a really long tail, and more kelp that was like a sheet of gooey paper. We used the bulby kelp with the tail to surround a dead fish that we found and named Jake. We had a fake funeral service and we held hands around Pilot Jake’s “grave” and said things like, “We’ll miss you, Jakie!” and, “We love you!” ,and cracked up afterwards.

We had a great time. Today I’m going to collect my sisters, Ava, and Brooke, and go out and do the same!

Haines!

July 12th, we drove to Haines. During the drive, we spotted two trumpeter swans and what we thought were six signets (baby swans). But it turned out that the “signets” were actually baby wood ducks! They were ADORABLE! We didn’t get any pictures of them, but I took a picture of one of the swans.

We think this is the gander

We stopped in a pullover just outside of Haines. It was along a river where tons of salmon run, so that means lots of bears. We didn’t see any, but Dad got this picture of Ana.

Along a big river near Haines, Alaska

That was our last stop until Haines.