4 Wheels 4 Girls

May 12th, I sat up front with Dad. Jean was gone again so I got to spend more alone time with Dad. Except Ana kept staring over my shoulder. I think she was trying to look at Dad’s phone, which is what I was holding. Dad had asked me to navigate him around the city of San Francisco, and the best navigation system was his phone. Well, Ana just kept staring over my shoulder and it got really annoying. I decided she was trying to stare at the phone because that’s what she does when there’s an electronic device around. She, for some reason, thinks electronics are extremely interesting, which is really strange, because she types on the computer almost every day to do posts, and it’s ESPECIALLY odd that she’d think Dad’s phone was interesting because all it is is a little blue dot that slowly moves down a long purple line… pretty boring. Well anyway, her eyes just stayed glued, and I decided I would have to deal with it. Oh well.

So we drove down the confusing little streets, and when earlier, Dad told us San Francisco was EXTREMELY hilly, I had just thought, ookay…? Every place has hills… But now that I was there, I knew EXACTLY what he meant. Man, that place was hilly… When Dad had said hilly, he’d meant it. We didn’t get any pictures of any of the hills, but… oh, man, I’ll just have to tell you.

We were driving down a not-too-steep hill, although when we had come up on it, I had barely been able to see the bottom, or at ALL where the road went because it was so steep, but still, it was one of the more level roads. That’s crazy, isn’t it? But that’s not the story I’m gonna tell. And for what I’m about to write, please understand that I mean exactly what I say, got it? Alright, here I go…

Okay, so we drove down the not-too-steep hill, and by now I was getting pretty freaked. We had gone up and down horrifying roads and– we got to the bottom of this hill. I sighed, and kind of relaxed. But when I realized what we were gonna have to do… oooh, should I tell you? Maybe I shouldn’t. Okay, The End. No, I’m joking. Alright, here’s the ACTUAL story with no pauses or fake The Ends. Here it is.

When I realized what we were gonna have to do, I tensed up again. ( Hey! Maybe that’s why my neck was hurting a few days after!) Hahaha! Just joking! Okay, so when we got down to the intersection, I was – was – horrified!!! To the left was a hill that went almost STRAIGHT up. I decided we were NOT going on that one… I looked to the right. It was pretty flat, but that was exactly the OPPOSITE of the way we were supposed to be going. Then I looked in front of us, because that was the way we were supposed to go. But I looked and… there was nothing there! Oh wait, maybe there was! Oh, great, there WAS! Oh, no! It was awful! Holy guacamole! Okay, I’ll be quiet now. So anyway, the road in front of us was the steepest I’d seen in the WHOLE TOWN!!! The reason why I said there wasn’t anything there was because it was so incredibly steep that I just couldn’t see anything! To me, it actually looked like the road just ended there. And then I couldn’t believe what was happening. Dad started to drive toward it!!! “Dad, no!” I said it quietly so he wasn’t really listening. I was sooo relieved when a tour bus came from the right. The driver started giving Dad signals that said, Noooo!!! Back up and go left!! Dad asked the two teenage girls standing on the sidewalk if he was clear behind him. They said yes and told him he was fine. So he started backing up. (Hey! Who says he needs to listen to a bus driver and two teenage girls but not his own daughter! Not fair!) So we went to the left ( which was the hill that went straight up, which is a little better than straight down but was horrifying anyway) and we went to look at the Golden Gate Bridge. We did and it was really cool. Dad said it was hung by the red suspension cords on it and that it was the biggest suspension bridge in the U.S.A., maybe even the world. We didn’t go over it yet, we’re saving it for when Jean gets back, but it was pretty cool just to see it, and I’m looking forward to going on it. But for then, we’d just have to enjoy the view. So that was my story. Did you like it? You’ll have to comment to let me know how you feel, and I would also like to know if you have stories about steep hills or anything like that. I’d love to hear them!

May 9, we came into San Francisco. As we kept driving down the street, the Pacific Ocean came into view. It was bluish green and really, really big. It was so big that when I looked out on it I could see the curve of the earth, and when it seemed that the ocean ended I couldn’t tell the ocean from the sky. I could hear the waves crashing into the sandy shoreline, even through the windows.

We drove along the beach for a couple minutes, then pulled into a parking lot to go check it out. When I got out, (and I was first AGAIN!) I was kinda cold because I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and flip-flops, but I had purposely worn Summer clothing. I wore such little clothing so I would get such little clothing wet. I was planning to splash around and play in the enormous waves for a while. When I stepped onto the warm black sand, I slipped my shoes off and bolted for the green-blue waters. Ellie, Greta, Ana and I played, “outrun the waves” while Jean and Dad watched from far back. Once, Jean stepped up too close and the waves drenched her ankles and feet before she could even try to outrun it.

My sisters and I kept having a blast. We would try to jump up onto this big, long pole that went out into the water before the water could snatch us in. Greta decided she’d start taking pictures so she told us to line up on the pole, and when a big wave came, to jump in. She got ready to take a picture and then a huge wave came. I was about to jump in but when I saw what happened to Ana after she jumped in, I decided I’d better not. Ana had jumped in and fallen over onto her side. Here’s the picture Greta took when Ana was in mid-air. Doesn’t it look pretty cool, though?

Our first encounter with the Pacific Ocean. It took us almost three months to get here!

She wasn’t hurt, just soaked, but Jean and Dad said we had to go back to the RV. What a ruin of fun.

The view from our RV

That night we found a campground, and it’s the one I’m at now. It’s pretty much an extremely nice parking lot, (with really nice bathrooms) and our slot that we’re supposed to be spending two nights in is about ten feet from the edge of a drop-off. There’s a sign right in front of the RV that I’ll write for you: WARNING!!!!! SHARP DROP-OFF SUBJECT TO EROSION! PROHIBITED AREA! San Francisco RV Resort. Isn’t that kind of a severe sign? I’d think so.

Sunset on the Pacific Ocean

Anyway, we had a lot of fun at the beach. I really hope we can go again!

May 5th, we drove into Sequoia National Park. I really liked this park because of all the awesome trees… But I didn’t know about the Giant Sequoias on the first day. Well, I saw one Giant Sequoia that was only about 30 feet around the bottom, plus a giant stump, but that’s all we saw before we made it to our campground. But before the campground…

I was surprised when we came to a sudden stop. Dad told us to get our shoes on and hop out, so I did. I was the first one out (again) and I walked along the the sidewalk until I spotted the giant stump Dad had told us about. I walked over to it and stood by it, waiting for the rest of my family to come. Finally they came out and we got ready for a picture. Dad said, “Who can touch the top?” None of us could. It was at least 10 feet tall, maybe higher. I tried to kinda climb up it a little, but of course that didn’t work. It was just a giant stump with no branches and nothing to grab hold onto except the woodpecker holes. But we walked around back and there were way more woodpecker holes, bigger ones too. Greta tried to climb up and made it, so I decided I could make it, too. I did. When I stood up on top and walked to the end so I could see the family on the other side, Dad asked, “Could you camp up there? I mean, with a tent and everything?” I answered, “Oh, yeah, definitely.” And Greta agreed. It really was huge up there, but we didn’t have a camera up there to take a picture, and we were too high up to have Jean or Dad hand us one.

The Big Stump

The campground we stayed at was a pretty nice one, at least I thought, but it didn’t have showers, water, electricity, or any other hook-ups. We left early in the morning, and headed towards the Visitor Center. We made it to the Visitor Center and I was the first one out of the– (AGAIN!!!)–RV. I went down the street to the building and went inside. There was a cool museum in there. The parents didn’t give us enough time in there, but I guess I got a good enough look.

Later, we headed off to the Grant’s Grove Trail. I liked the Grant’s Trail. It was really cool ’cause of all the HUGE trees, and I do mean huge when I say it.

That's Jean and Ellie at the bottom of those giant trees.

There was this one tree that was 107 feet around the base. Now do you think I mean HUGE??! I know I was actually there, so even right now, when I’m writing about it, it’s easy to picture, but try to picture a tree that huge… Here’s a picture to help you out.

The giant sequoia behind us is called General Grant, and it is the second largest living creature in the world.

In Grant’s Grove, there were also two FALLEN Giant Sequoia trees, and they were definitely my favorite things on the trail. They were at least 250 feet long, and were hollow inside so you could walk all the way through them. It was awesome!!! There was one flat on the ground, and the other was laying on tilted ground, so if you wanted to go through it, you had to climb up-hill the whole way. When we went in that one, we climbed all the way up to the other end. When everyone else made it up, Ellie, Greta, and Ana threw pinecones down. It was really funny to see how far they would make it. And they had fun doing it too.

Inside a giant sequoia

Everything at Sequoia National Park was fun. You should go there someday too!

May 4th, we were driving down the road. Suddenly we appeared in a forest of Joshua Trees. Dad and I had been looking for one since Tuzigoot and suddenly we were surrounded by them. I just wanted to let you know, Joshua, that I took a picture with one for you.

Me and the Joshua Tree

May 1st, we got ready for our last day at the awesome Zion National Park. It really was awesome, especially that last day. We went on two hikes, and we were planning to do four and a half miles of hiking. But of all the walking in the whole day, we walked about five or five and a half miles. It wasn’t hard, though, actually, it was quite easy, but doesn’t it sound like a lot of walking to you? Five miles? Sounds like quite a lot to me. ( Although we did six miles yesterday so easily that I thought we did only four.)

So anyway, the first hike we did was two miles, (and these were extremely easy miles that were all paved and flat) one mile in, one mile back. The hike went to the beginning of the Narrows, a hike where the only path is the Virgin River. It goes through narrow valleys and it’s one of the most advanced hikes in the country. Since it flows through thin and narrow valleys, it is called the Narrows.

We walked the first trail, down to the Narrows, and it was pretty fun. It was also pretty horrifying, though, because of all the squirrels. People in Atlanta, you might be thinking, squirrels? There are tons of squirrels here! And they aren’t scary at all! They’re just little furry animals with bushy tails that don’t even come anywhere near you! And hey! Don’t say squirrels are mean or scary because I like these squirrels and I’m very protective of them! Well, I feel the same way about the Atlanta squirrels, but the squirrels here in Zion give me nightmares. I might sound ridiculous but they were SO SCARY!! They kept on running across the hiking path, right in front of me. Sometimes they were so close that I almost stepped on them. They were really scary in that way. But also, they were really aggressive because humans feed them. When humans feed wild animals, the animals forget how to live on their own.

But anyway, the squirrels. The squirrels were really aggressive because they have been fed their whole lives.

On the way back from the entrance to the Narrows, there was this one woman who was trying to get her picture taken with the pretty, colorful rocks in the backround, and she sat on a colorful stone or rock or whatever you want to call it with a second one right next to it, almost touching, and a squirrel came up to her, thinking she was sitting there, waiting for the squirrel to come up to her (which it did) and get some delicious, yummy food. When it came up, at first it only came up to the bottom of the rock right next to the one she was sitting on, but pretty soon it decided that wasn’t enough. He jumped up on the rock and sat up there watching her. Then he stuck his paw out and scratched at her sleeve… If I were that lady I would have given up my picture, screamed, peed, and ran! I really was scared of those squirrels…

On the way to the second hike, we got off the shuttle at the Zion Lodge. When we stopped to pick up litter, Ana spotted a gray fox. It was awesome! It was so awesome, I almost forgot to add it in the post!

Ana spotted this gray fox near the Zion Lodge

The second hike was to the Emerald Pools. The Emerald Pools are these seep springs coming from the top of the mountains and making pools when they had to go onto flat land. There was a lower pool, a few middle pools,(which were closed) and an upper pool. We were planning to hike all the way up to the upper pool, which we did, but you have to pass by the lower pool to get to the upper pool.

There were three mule deer along the Emerald Pools trail

Once we made it up to the upper pool, we got to have our peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches that we had packed. Right when we were getting finished with our food, a squirrel came close, so close that I… Can you guess what I did? You’re probably thinking, Screamed, peed, and ran! And you’re very close… I screamed, leapt and ran! And man, I leapt far! I shreiked and took off for the trail!

We headed back down the trail to the bottom and we made it back safe and dry.

That day was pretty fun… I’ll have more tomorrow!

On Tuesday night, April 26, we drove from Bryce Canyon back toward Kodachrome. Dad said it was going to be so cold at Bryce that we needed to drive down to Cannonville for the night so our pipes wouldn’t freeze. We stayed at a KOA campground that night and this is what I wrote the following morning:

This morning I woke up from a good dream about school and my friends because of the sun. It was SO bright and it even kinda hurt my eyes. I opened up my curtain/blinds and I saw lots–and I mean lots– of birds. They were on the grass next to our camping spot, probably searching for worms or something. I saw one that plucked a worm out of the grassy soil, and it was pretty cool. Then another bird landed with the others, and it was definitely the prettiest of all. All the others were black and brown like normal birds, but this one was pretty amazing. First of all, it was pretty big. All of it was black like the other birds except for the head. At first I thought my eyes were tricking me, but when I concentrated a little more, I was sure it had a yellow head. I even took a picture to make sure, and here it is.

Here is the bird with the yellow head

Well anyway, then I went to take a shower and I silently sang about being a cowgirl, (which I REALLY want to be) and stood in there for at least 20 minutes. It was so hot, and it felt so good. When I finally finished, I hopped out and headed back to the RV.

Later, when we were leaving the KOA, Ellie, Greta, and I decided to go over to the playground. It looked pretty boring to me but we’d find a way to make it fun–somehow. ( I was the first one out, of course, ’cause I don’t think I need to look extremely nice just to go to the playground, and by the way, I was wearing jean-shorts and a t-shirt that said “No more school, see you at the pool” which is funny because I had just told Ellie and Greta to meet me at the pool; it was right next to where the RV was parked. ) I stood by the pool as it was being filled up. I thought I was going to be bored waiting for my sisters but nooo, I glanced at the pool and I saw, like, a 20-foot-long drunk snake that looked like it was having a seizure. I got interested and looked closer. Oh my gosh – it was not – it was – a hose!! A hose that was supposed to be filling up the pool! I guess it kinda was, but all it looked like it was doing to me was spraying water out of the pool! And it kept wiggling around like – like it was drunk! It would shoot up into the air, almost spraying me, even though I was outside the fence, and then flop back down into the, like, inch of water it had filled! It was just – so — *sigh*

Ellie and Greta finally came out, and I showed them the drunk snake/hose. Ellie laughed but Greta cracked up, and she thought it was so funny that she said, ” Hold on!” , and dashed back inside the RV. When she came out, guess what she was holding? Her camera! She took a video of it and we stood there, watching it for a long time. Dad says I can’t post Greta’s video because it takes up a lot of space on the computer and website, so hopefully I described it well enough.

Anyway, after we got bored with the hose, ( which took a really long time) we decided to check out the General Store at the entrance to the KOA on the way to the playground. I looked around at the magnets, postcards, little packs of candy, bags of Trail Mix, bottles of water, homemade Navajo jewelry, Guatemalan weaved bracelets, tennis and ping-pong balls, sports equipment, dish-soap, t-shirts, sweatshirts, other items of clothing, Birthday and Get Well cards, soap containers, and other items of interest. In the back of the room, I spotted something that made my eyes light up…. a cowboy hat!!! Oh my gosh! I ran over there and tried one of them on. It was too big. I tried another one on. It was too small. Oh, no, I thought, I hope this one fits! And I really did; it was the only one left, plus, I really loved it! I tried it on and…. IT FIT!!! I was so excited! But I still didn’t know if Jean and Dad would allow me to get it. Greta looked over. ” Ooo, that looks good on you! ” I smiled. ” Thanks.” Ellie looked over, too. ” Oh, yeah, that looks really good!” I kept smiling. I hoped it did. But I really hoped I could get it!

I showed it to Jean and Dad and I recieved the exciting news. It’s mine!

Anyway, now it is the day I am submitting this post. You will see a picture of my hat in the next post. I wear my hat every day. I love it so much, I even wear it when it’s 110 degrees outside! ( Okay, okay, Daddy made me wear it, but it really was 110 degrees!) I’m inside right now and I’m wearing it! I thank that KOA so much and I’m glad we got to stay.

Tuesday, April 26, we hopped out of the RV, realizing how cold it was. I had stepped out in jeans, a sweatshirt, and almost completely bare feet except my brown and pink-flowered flip-flops. Man, my feet were as cold as ice! I can’t even describe how freezing they were! ( You know what I wish I could do? I wish I could take a video, I mean, like, not a video, but…. I guess a video, where if I posted it on this website, and you played it, you would feel freezing cold wind blowing out of your computer, just as cold as it was for us, as we were standing there. Wouldn’t that be so cool?! ) Well anyway, I really can’t describe how freezing it was, especially since I don’t know how many degrees it was. (Dad says it got down to 15 degrees that night.)

So, as you should know, I was really cold, and we had to go on a hike. Well, not really a hike, but a short walk down to the lookout. I had been groaning and moaning about having to go out in the cold, but really, it was…. I guess worth it.

We began walking to Bryce Canyon Lookout, and I wanted so bad to complain about my feet being cold, not to be annoying, but because they hurt from the cold, but I was afraid I’d just get yelled at. So I didn’t say anything. I wanted to run or at least jog down the trail to the lookout, ’cause I was freezing, but Jean and Dad said no way, that’s very dangerous. I guess that was true. I looked around me and thought, Yeah, I don’t really want to run. When we finally made it down to the end of the lookout, I stared over the edge. I really did think this hike would be boring, but…. It looked like a soft pink and white castle with shiny white pearls and stony pink walls that would block any water that would come near….

Dad writes: The pink and white hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. And I write: I don't think this is the right picture, because, in real life, it looked really pink and really white.

“Wow, this is awesome…” I whispered to myself and I kept staring over the edge. After I had seen it all I said, ” Can we go now? I mean, back to the camper? ” Dad kept looking over the railing and Jean nodded and said, ” You can start heading back, but take your sisters with you. ” So I collected my sisters and I jogged back up the hill.

April 24, we drove through Dixie National Forest. We were on our way from Capitol Reef to the Grand Staircase National Monument. Me, Greta, and Ellie were hanging out on Greta’s bed. We stopped at the top of a mountain and Jean said, “Girls come out, it’s time for dinner.” I came out and asked, “Are we at our campground?,” but looked outside and didn’t need an answer. I had been watching out the window along the drive and saw patches of snow on the ground. But, I didn’t realize that it was actually snowing. Hard. It was kinda cool, because it felt like were eating in a blizzard. Which we kinda were.

Aspen trees in the snow

I felt so safe inside the RV. The view was amazing. There were white, snowy mountains with tall evergreen trees. It felt like we could see all the world below us. Dad said it made him feel so small. Down below and across the world, it seemed, stood the Capitol Dome. It looked so tiny and far away, when just that morning it towered over us.

The only thing better would be if there were bighorn sheep.

Dad on the hill where we ate dinner, but after it snowed. Capitol Reef is down below him on the left.

We drove from Dead Horse Point to Canyonlands National Monument, a different part of Canyonlands from the other day. From the Canyonlands Visitor Center, it was 12 miles further up the mesa, also known as Island in the Sky, which is 2000 feet high from the bottom of the canyon, where the Colorado and Green rivers come together. We hiked a mile along the rim to get to the Grand View, a place where you could lookout over both sides of the Island in the Sky.

Along the rim trail of the Island in the Sky

Everywhere you look, canyons

Jean was really scared about the steep cliff drops along the hike, but she was brave and took pictures with us along the edge. I thought the cliffs were pretty cool, though. Along the hike we saw a bunch of nooks in the sandstone rocks that, if I were a mini-person, I would definitely live in them.

Nooks in the sandstone make a fairyland

At the Grand View, we climbed up a big boulder to the point of the mesa. On one side was the Colorado River canyon and the other was the Green River canyon. We sat up there for a while.

The Grand View of the Island in the Sky

The hike back was more exciting than the hike out. We talked more, and also I was more excited about getting back to the RV than getting to the “Grand View” because it sounded pretty boring to me before I got there. Once we got back to the RV I was happy but couldn’t think about anything but the bathroom. I headed towards it, used it, and then went back to the RV. There wasn’t much to the hike, but it was kinda fun anyway.

Chatting about boys at the Grand View

Yeah, the singers were great! But Greta took my milkshake…

On April 21st, we went to Milt’s Eat and Go for dinner. We had a great time. I know I did, but I’m not sure if the rest of us did… I’ll ask them. [Guys, did you have fun at Milt’s?] Yup. They did. All of them. We ordered our food at a window and ate outside at a picnic table.

(Ellie wants me to tell you that she ordered a plain hamburger with just lettuce and tomatoes. She got it ordered correctly but it wasn’t enough for her. So she ordered another one. Lettuce and tomato were the “plain” ingredients on the normal hamburger, so again she ordered a burger. But she didn’t realize that when the orderer guy asked, “All?” and she said, “Yes, all, please.” , that “all” meant cheese, too. Whoops, that was a mistake. She really didn’t like the cheeseburger. I’m like, what the heck, she ordered a hamburger, not a cheeseburger! But whatever, she was hungry, so she ate it anyway.)

Well anyway, the first things we got were the milkshakes. I ordered chocolate, because I LOVE chocolate. So when I picked up my milkshake, (by the way, it was all heavy and cold and perfect…), I took a sip and realized it wasn’t my milkshake at all! I was so mad–and I mean, SOOO MAD–when I told Greta I had her milkshake, (reeses, by the way) and when she handed me back a stinky, dinky, light, warm, and very imperfect “barely-a-milkshake” milkshake that had WAY less than the reeses one that was actually good. UUGGHHH! I really was extremely mad. Right now, just WRITING about this makes me mad. I felt like stealing that milkshake back. Ohhh, it was so annoying…

I reluctantly (actually kind of gladly, because I hardly ever get milkshakes and it was still a tiny bit good) drank my milkshake but still pretended to hesitate before picking it up to drink, just to show I was still mad about it. It worked. And sometimes I even looked at it like it was disgusting and didn’t even touch it. I know I was kind of overreacting, but it was still kind of… fun. I guess.

It was kinda cold that night. But our milkshakes were really good anyway.

Milt's inspired this drawing

So anyway, we were eating our dinner and suddenly, three kids, a girl about 14, another girl about 12, and a boy about 10 or 11 appeared from the back of the building. I could tell they were all siblings and when they stood next to each other, held a tambourine, and put out a tip jar, I could also tell we were about to have a show. I watched them set up, which they barely did because all they had was a tambourine, and once they were ready, the oldest girl announced that they were going to sing for us. We weren’t the only ones at Milt’s, but there weren’t many others. The three kids still sang great, and I’m not joking. They seemed to love to sing as much as me, maybe even more. They all were really good, but the boy especially, he sang out so deep but so loud, I thought he was going to explode! He really was awesome though; you should’ve heard him sing!

We had an awesome time at Milt’s. If you ever go to Moab, Utah, definitely look out for Milt’s Eat and Go!