Badgers are Adorable, but Don't Play with Them, Man. (Part 7)

So, Yellowstone National Park is absolutely gorgeous.  There's so many different parts and types of wildlife and things there it's ridiculous.  Sadly we didn't camp out there, but we did stay in a little town just outside of Yellowstone...close enough, right?

The first day in Yellowstone we went horseback riding again:

(My horse, Frank and dad's horse, Boomer)

I hate Western saddles.  I absolutely despise them with a consuming passion that burns forever deep in  my soul. They're uncomfortable, and my thighs were bruised for a couple days to prove it.

We went white water rafting afterward, and there will be pictures of that up as soon as we can get them up on a computer (they were professionally taken since we couldn't take any, and they're all on a CD....which we can't put into this NetBook)

Driving through the park, we saw the Mammoth Hot Springs:

...and some Elk:

...and Bison:

Lots of Elk and Bison. Of course we also saw Old Faithful, which my dad has a video of on his blog (go read it, it's probably more entertaining than mine is...more information, too)

We also saw a badger, which neither of us has ever seen before:

Yeah, I thought he was cute too.  When we were no longer in Yellowstone, we saw some moosen in the woodsen (if you don't understand the reference, go listen to this)

While we were in the middle of another National Forest, we came across a mess of cows in the middle of the road because it was an open range, or no fences.  All of the cows moved as we approached, except for this one:

Needless to say, we went around him.

We then drove through a canyon, which had waterfalls and signs pointing to things of rock saying just how many hundreds of millions of years old said rock was, along with signs pointing to things such as dinosaur footprints....which my dad decided wasn't amazingly awesome enough to stop for...needless to say, I protested.  A lot.

On our way to Grand Forks, ND we stopped in Rapid City, SD so I could see Mount Rushmore:

Pretty cool place, I gotta admit.  I'm just glad I got to see it before a nose fell off or something.  The rest of the drive to Grand Forks, ND was rather uneventful, and filled with nothing but fields and fields of plains of vegetation.  Omnomnom? No. I didn't get to nom on any of it...sad day.

Yesterday and today we visited my dads family, his grandmother, aunt/uncle/cousins etc., and I learned he did some interesting (stupid) stuff when he was a kid...and that his grandfather was incredibly patient.  I'm just saying.

Then we went to Lake Itasca, which (for those unedumacated people) is the headwaters of the Mississippi river:

So now we're in Minneapolis, and I'm going to the Mall of America tomorrow, which my dad thinks will only take 2 hours...silly man.

Sadly, this will probably be my lost post of the trip until I get home, as most of the rest of it is really just driving, with a couple stops.

Yay Mall of America!! (and shoes, simply for Becca's happiness)

-Panda:)

Mountains and Starfish and Part 6, Oh My!

Alright, so today we went to Mount Rainier, which was awesome. Mainly because there was a lot more snow than Crater Lake, and I actually got to *really* play in it, rather than just kind of prance around because my feet were freezing (I was a little more prepared in my hiking boots this time around)

Yes, that would indeed be me sitting on snow.  On purpose.  You can kind of make out my snow-angel.  I was awesomely deep snow for the first time that I can actually remember, it was pretty decently clean, and I was actually allowed on it this time, I was going to make a snow angel whether people liked it or not.


I missed most of the drive over, but I got a good look at it on the way back, because in order to get on the highway we needed to be on we had to go back to Tacoma and turn around...seriously annoying.  But we had a fabulous lunch at this little Nepalese restaurant...they had huckleberry pie.  Omnomnom.  I've been wanting to try huckleberries since I saw they existed in the Grand Canyon gift shops, and I finally got to try them.  In pie, so it's even better.  I also got huckleberry jelly beans and huckleberry coffee...the jelly beans don't taste like huckleberries...we'll see how the coffee tastes when I get back home and over to Dylan's house, because I refuse to try strange coffee without her.

Anyway, Mount Rainier is gorgeous.  I walked up about half a mile in ridiculously deep snow:

(Yes, that's a sign...that's supposed to be eye level...)

I turned around at that point, because walking uphill in deep snow is really hard, even in hiking boots, and my knees couldn't take it, dangit.  Turns out walking downhill without falling is even harder.  Then I got lost, because I missed the little sign that was as deep as the one up there telling me where the visitor center was, so I ended up on some trail in the middle of nowhere, where I couldn't see any buildings or anything besides trees and snow.  No fences, no buildings, no people, not very many footprints, and giant, steep hill of snow in front of me.  Needless to say, I was very confused.  My dad had gone up the trail a little more, and took some pictures while he was there:

Mountains and glaciers and snow, oh my!

Eventually I made my way back through my spell of being lost and found the visitor center, like the genius teenager I am.

Then we went back to Tacoma, turned around, and got all the way to Spokane before winding up at the hotel we're currently in.  On to Yellowstone tomorrow!!

...so, I just realized I forgot all about yesterday....which was kayaking to go see some orca-whales.

We didn't actually see any whales...they weren't coming out to play with me, which made me sad :(

We did see some seals, and I took a couple of awesome underwater pictures, including one of two starfish, without even looking where I was pointing the camera (because I'm a boss, duh)

Another one I took:

The mountains you can kind of see behind the haze are part of the Canadian Olympic range (I saw Canada!!) and apparently when the haze isn't there you can make out the top of Mount Olympus:

I just look so thrilled on the ferry boat back over to our car, don't I?

 And of course, part of the coastline we paddled along:

So there's that.  

Next up: Yellowstone!!

-Panda:)

There's Snow in Part 5

California.

That's all I should have to say, but I'm going to continue anyway.  

We drove up the PCH (pacific coast highway) for a good portion of our trip, and most of it looked like this on one side:

...and this on the other:

Oh, and we saw elephant seals:

We ended up in Monterey Bay for a while, where we went to the aquarium and then found an otter themed shop, where I found both of these two things:

Yes, I got the t-shirt....I couldn't not get it.

So then we continued up, stopped somewhere near San Luis Obispo, and then made our way up to San Francisco, where I got an awesome new leather jacket AND I got to dance.  Yay dancing!  I ran into someone I met at Lindy Focus too, so that was cool.  There are some amazing dancers there.  

We went to The Legion of Honor museum in SF, where we looked at a lot of portraits of people and biblical scenes, a Van Gogh and some Monet's, and the Rodin statues, which I have to admit were pretty cool (but the Monet's were still my favorite).

After that, we were going to go to Telegraph Hill, but for some reason the GPS couldn't find it, so we just drove around and found a place that does horseback riding. Now, I have always loved horses and have always wanted one.  I think it's in my blood, since my mother had a horse when she was my age she absolutely adored, and I'm pretty naturally decent at riding horses.  So we went on these trails down a cliff on the beach on horses.  Mine was named Ginger..which I thought was appropriate, given what I am (a ginger, duh). They let me canter a little bit on the beach, but since I was the only one besides the wranglers who could *really* handle a horse without freaking out, they didn't let me go fast for very long.  I was sad...so was Ginger.  But seriously, the other people on this ride freaked out if the horse started walking too fast or if it turned a little bit.  One girl screamed, another started freaking out, and the rest kept a tight reign on their horses. Meanwhile, Ginger bucked and kicked at a horse behind her and tried to throw me off and then took off galloping and I'm just like "-_- no *reign*" without freaking out, and the other people were just like "O_O is she okay?! How is she not freaking out?!" Poor horses. Also, they were Western saddles, so there's no way I could have purposefully gone into a gallop without getting a pommel in my stomach.  I hate Western saddles.  

(It was windy)

We were staying by Fisherman's Wharf, so we went down there to do a little bit of shopping and look at the big boats:

I definitely said "Hehe, I'm on a pirate ship!!" I wasn't actually (it's an old carrier boat) but it looked like one. 

It was awesome.

So then we were on our way up to Seattle after all the awesomeness of SF.  We drove through some regular pine-covered mountains when all of a sudden we turn a corner and BAM:

Mt. Shasta became the first real, snow-covered mountain I have ever seen.  I thought it was pretty awesome.

So then we went and saw some lava beds:

Then, my favorite part.  We went to Crater Lake, which is gorgeous:

But that's not my favorite part.  On the way too and from Crater Lake, there was snow.  All over the place.  I kid you not:

I played in it a little bit, and threw some snowballs at my dad:

.....in flip flops.  Not my smartest decision ever.  Snow is cold.

So then the next day we *finally* made it to Seattle, which is really cool.  Not really any pictures yet, but tomorrow I'm hoping there will be some awesome ones.  I got to meet my dads grandmother, aunt and cousin at the Cheesecake Factory up here. Awesome family. A little bit quirky, but that's what makes me fit in....even if I am the youngest by 8-ish years....

Tomorrow: kayaking to go orca watching!! 

-Panda:)

The show-y-ness of part 4

Vegas, baby!!

So Saturday after leaving the Econolodge, we headed off to Vegas with a stop at the Hoover Dam for pictures and to get my national "park" passport stamped.

We also found this:

(All I have to say is....WANT)

When we got to Vegas, we drove down the Strip before heading to our hotel, Vdara. Now, I thought we were staying in another 2-3 star hotel, but turns out this is a 5-star...and we got a suite.  My dad went all out for Vegas.

(That's just the sleeping area, never mind the bathroom, office/sitting area and kitchen)

Then we went and found the Tix4Tonight stand near our hotel, and got tickets to see Ka Saturday night.  Ka is pretty much the only Cirque du Soleil show with a story line, and it was amazing.  The stage moved all around, flipped, spun and did all sorts of other stuff.  It was incredible. Oh, and I made a new friend:

He was very gay, and wouldn't stop commenting on my jacket and the shoes I was wearing (my aqua-sparkly flip flops)

We ate at Paris...omnomnom yummy...crepes and stuff =D

Sunday we got up rather early, and went and had breakfast at the Imperial Palace, which wasn't nearly as yummy.  After that we went back to the Tix4Tonight stand and got my dad a Penn and Teller ticket (he got 6th row, I don't know where) while I opted for Celine Dion...y'know, more sophisticated and pretty and stuff...and also I love her.

Then we wandered around, saw some more hotels, went back to Vdara so I could take a nap because it's hot here...really, really hot.  Then we had dinner at the Flamingo, and proceeded on to our shows, mine at 7:30 and dads at 9.  

...Celine Dion is amazing...stunning, beautiful, classy, funny, and of course...ridiculously talented.  There was one thing that was strange though....the dress she opened with? Only two differences from my prom dress: she had a plunge neckline, and her dress was silver. That's it. Only two differences.  I have mixed feelings about this. 

Alright, today (Monday) we woke up, went back to Paris because it was just too good not to (it's the only one where it's not cafeteria style, and it is absolutely fantastic) and then went on to the Venetian, where they have a canal with gondolas going through the middle of it:

Then we took a cab to the Stratosphere, where I took some pictures from eight hundred and sixty-something feet up:

I rode a couple of the rides at the top, which you can see on my dads blog (link in top right of page)

Then we went back to the hotel where I could take a nap...again...because seriously, the dry heat takes it all out of me.  We went BACK to Paris for dinner, and then went to see Mystere at Treasure Island...that was interesting.  They had a lot of cool tricks, and it was absolutely hysterical, but it made no sense.  It was very random and scattered, and they had a lot going on at once pretty much all the time.  If you were looking at one place, you missed something interesting happening in another, no matter how far back you sat.  In the program we got from Ka, it also said that they had two new aerial acts, one of them being the Silks (or "Tissu", as they called it)....there was no Silks. At all. Anywhere in the show.  We were very confused.  

It was still awesomely Cirque though.

Next up: California!

-Panda:)

The Picture-Perfect part 3.

My dad said a quote to me the other day, and I didn't understand it until today. The quote was "Some things are better for one to have done than to do" ...I didn't get it, I was confused (of course), but now I understand.

Hiking 7000 feet into the Grand Canyon is HARD. Actually, let me correct that. Hiking 7000 feet into the Grand Canyon isn't hard, but hiking 7000 feet OUT of the Grand Canyon is brutal, especially on a steep trail.  We did it, but it was hard.  The rest of this post is going to be pictures, because they're pretty self explanatory, so enjoy the view =)

 Rock in a tree

 Appropriately named, in my opinion

 SQUIRREL

I felt meditative up there

Anybody know what kind of tree this is?

 Rather graphic, don't you think?

They actually sold this in the book store

Next stop: Vegas!!

-Panda:)