Rockets, Ufo's and other Flying Things

Here's our lastest update:

While staying at Alamogordo, New Mexico we visited the Space History Museum where we learned more about rockets and missiles. It was most interesting to learn more and see some of the equipment that was used to perform various human reaction tests on G force (and I thought going on a roller coaster was bad). Leah was very interested to learn more about the role of chimpanzees in space training and testing. One popular chimp by the name of Ham was buried there. Ray also feels that he has missed his calling - he seems to be very skilled at landing the space shuttle during a simulation game!!

We then went to Roswell and of course had to visit the UFO Museum and learn more about "the Roswell incident". Roswell has certainly capitalized on the whole alien thing - they even had aliens on the Wallmart!

And to continue on our "flying theme" - today we visited the Carlsbad Caverns a truly amazing underground cavern. It took us about 1 hour to walk all the way down to the "Big Room", on the way we witnessed many spots where the bats like to hang out. These caverns are considered to be some of the most "decorated" (as in have lots of stalactites and stalagmites) in the world.

We are off to Texas tomorrow slowly making our way towards Houston with stops in Fredrickberg and San Marcus.

Way to go Gordie for figuring out why the highway by the White Sands is closed on a regular basis - for missle testing!

Our next question - Last night we experienced some crazy weather - there were extremely strong winds and even a touch of snow. As we were driving yesterday, Ray had to swerve to miss this particular item on the street and then again in the middle of the night, we awoke to a huge bang when 2 of these items crashed together. What are we talking about??

Until Texas.

Tobogganing in New Mexico

Greetings from Alamogordo New Mexico!

Today we visited the White Sands National Monument just out of town. Thanks to Carol & Paul Williams for recommending this spot. This is a really amazing spot - in the middle of nowhere, actually right next door to the White Sands Missle Range, there are miles and miles of white sand and dunes! This sand is very rare and is created from the gypsium in the nearby mountains. (some may say it's radioactive)

There are lots of hikes to explore the sand dunes and the funniest part - tobagganing! It is spring break in this part of the country so the park was packed with families playing in the sand. We borrowed some saucers from our campground and had to use some special wax and we were off (we wished we brought our crazy carpets though). It was just liked tobogganing in the snow except nice and warm!!

Tomorrow we plan to go to the Space Museum here in town and then venture over to Aunty Tracy's hometown of Roswell to learn all about UFO's.

It looks like Mr. Paul Overwater answered our last blog question correctly - at the Casa Grande Ruins there was a rattlesnake warning! YIKES! Ray has the perfect card for you Paully!

The next question - on our way to the White Sands we saw a big sign up on the highway stating that the highway is regularly closed at least 2 days a week for approximately 2 hours for what purpose??

Bye for now.

Sledding in New Mexico

Greetings from Alamogordo New Mexico! We

In the Wild, Wild West

It's been awhile since we have last blogged, we have been back to Yuma trouble shooting a few minor RV problems and visiting with Ray's parents and Aunt, Uncle and cousin Tanya from Langley BC.

We are now back on the road eastbound and have checked out some interesting sites. We have had some really hot weather here recently (I know you are all feeling really sorry for us!) but as we get further east it gets cooler and windier.

Casa Grande Ruins

This is a National Monument south of Phoenix and is home to the "big house" built by prehistoric people called the Hohokom prior to 1350 AD. Around these partial ruins are the remains of a walled village. There was even a a ball court there where the Hohokom appeared to be a fairly competitive bunch - if you lost a game the losers would be given to the Gods.

Every time we visit a National Park or National Monument, the girls take a Junior Ranger program - they basically have to complete a age appropriate booklet and then they get their very own Ranger badge - they are getting quite a collection.

Tombstone

Today we hung out at Boot Hill and the OK Corral at Tombstone, Arizona. The highlights were definately the gun fights, trolly ride, the Tombstone Epitaph Museum and we even got a special family picture taken (Emma and Leah chose to be saloon girls as opposed to prairie girls). Oh yeah, Ray finally got under my skin and I had to take matters in my own hands.

Way to go Pisko's (David, Jane, John, Hannah and Jacob to be specific) for being so quick to answer correctly our last blog question. Yes it was Tyrone who initially had some cactus issues at the Joshua Tree National Park. Ray also ended up getting in on the action rescuing Tyrone!

And for our next question - at the Casa Grande Ruins there was a warning out about an animal recently spotted on the grounds. What was this animal???

We are planning to head into New Mexico tomorrow hoping to get closer to the White Sands National Monument.

Bye for now,

How I Spent My Birthday (and the day before)

Happy St.Patrick's day Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Happy Birthday Carly from Leah and family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone for all the Birthday Wishes! I am glad that you remembered!

On Sunday we visited the Joshua Tree National Park. This is a new park and did you know that U2 even named a record after this park!

We went to 3 different spots. #1 We went to an oasis. In case you didn't know an oasis is, in the middle of the desert all of a sudden there's bright green trees and bushs. And sometimes if your lucky there might even be a stream or something.

#2 Next we went to the most dangerous part of the desert. The Cholla cactuses! Every since then if you ever get hurt really bad, oh I don't know maybe not paying attention and banging your head on the van roof!(Grandpa H!) Instead of swearing say Cholla! Anyway I can't tell what exactly happened because it is our trivia question.

#3 This was my personal favorite. We went to the White Tank campground. Surronding it was big red desert rocks, that were so cool they looked fake! We climbed and we climbed and we climbed. There was one set of rocks called the Arch rock. The Arch rock is a big rock that is in a natural shape of an arch! It was pretty cool. With effort, I climbed up on top of the arch rock, but then I got yelled at by..............MOM AND DAD, so I had to come down. But then an English Lady came up to me and said "is it hard to climb up there". So I said "well yes". But she was determined to climb up and she did.

Now let's get to the importand part................MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well this was the most interesting birthday I've ever had.

First we stoped at an old dirty gas station and I got some gummy Octupuses. Mom told me not to eat them all, because it might be my cake. But I finished them up anyway.

Then after traveling for about an hour in a half, we say the Sultan Sea which is a large salt water sea just like a lake. Tons of different birds like pelicans were there.

Our next stop was a very interesting place called Slab City. This is an old Air Force Base that people camp at. There was moterhomes (from brand new to very, very old ones) scattered all over, and guys had taken old dirty toys, old tires and well just trash and painted it up and make it look artsy. Dad wanted to stay there overnight but mom said NO! Not far from the campground was quite a sight - Salvation Mountain. We stopped there and met the man who made it out of clay, straw, and bright colors and it took him 25 years! So there is a big mountain of colors and paint in the middle of the desert. It was SO cool. And up the mountain he had made a path that went all the way to the top called the yellow brick road. (which of course was yellow.) He was a really cool guy. And for the 25 years of building it he lived in the back of an old white truck and beat up motorhome!

When we got on the road, we stopped at a Mexican market and got Ice cream sandwiches, strawberries, whipcream, and candles. And that was my birthday cake. And for supper, mom made me delicious noodles, and ceaser salad. mmmmmmmmmmmmm................And all and all not a bad birthday. And the best part about is today (now that we are back in Yuma) is that for lunch were going to the Olive Garden for Lunch and shopping for my b-day present!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to be in Yuma for a couple of days and then head east towards Tuscun.

Oh and about the cholla cactus - that is our trivia question - one of the members of the Pilkington/Andrew family had quite an experience with the cactus - who was it??

Bye for now,

Emma

Hanging in Hollywood

We spent Thursday in Hollywood where we toured around and checked out the stars and took in the sights.

We then did our own Celebrity tour and zipped around Beverly Hills and Bel Air looking for the stars but we didn't see anyone (Emma and Leah fully expected to see Tom Cruise or someone else famous cutting thegrass on the front lawn). But we did see a German reality show commerical being filmed, Lots of fancy houses and yards and really shiny cars! Ray was particularly impressed with the Hugh Hefner estate (he thinks he should be a gardener there!).

We then saw the famous Santa Monica Pier and spent some time at Venice Beach - now that is a colourful spot! We then dined at the beautiful Manhatten Beach for supper while watching a gorgeuous sunset.

So some of you may be wondering where Tyrone has been during all this LA excursion. Well Tyrone has been having his own LA experience at Camp Ilene. This is an overnight camp for dogs - there are no kennels (futon beds) and they have a huge backyard (which includes a pool) and tons of room to run, lots of balls,etc.. They even had a live pet cam that we could check on our computer while Tyrone was in camp so we could keep an eye on him. Needless to say, all he has done since we have picked him up is sleep! Here's the link to the Camp Ilene website for you to check out http://www.campilene.com/

It is often referred to as the "Disneyland" for dogs!!

We are heading east out of the LA area and hope to be at the Joshua Tree National Park later today.

About the trivia question - the "snotty princess" from Emma and Leah's perspective was Princess Jasmine! Leah overheard the Princess say to Alladin - I'm hungry - let's split and go for a burgerrrrrrrrrrrr (in a really valleygirl voice)!

Talk to you soon.

Zippidy Do Da.........

Hello from Disneyland - We just spent three action packed days there and have lots of exciting things to share!

FROM LEAH:

The Hollywood Tower Hotel of Terror was very freaky. Dad and I yelled and I was scared. I liked Splash Mountain but we did get really wet. Meeting all the different princesses and characters was great - Micky Mouse liked me so much he asked me for a great big kiss on his cheek! We went to the musical Aladin and it was very exciting.

FROM EMMA:

Disneyland was so much fun - I really liked the Space and Splash Mountain rides, The Tower of Terror, California Screaming ( a really big roller coaster), the princesses (especially Snow White my favorite) and getting called up to dance at the High School Musical Show!

FROM RAY:

I really liked the California Soaring and Splash Mountain but was not a big fan of the California Screaming roller coaster and the Tower of Terror. I was most proud of surviving the drive to Disneyland each morning and evening!

FROM CARMEN:

We had lots of fun in Disneyland! I am proud to say that I survived the Tower of Terror (it was touch and go) and all the other crazy rides like the Indiana Jones adventure. Can you believe on our first day we saw 2 different families from Delburne!!

We are exhausted from all this excitement! We plan to stick around the area for another day to hopefully tackle the traffic one more day and check out Hollywood before we head off towards Palm Springs.

There were lots of great guesses from our last blog about the gorilla's favorite snack. Unfortunately, none of them were correct. Can you believe that the gorillas just loved brocolli??

For the next question - Emma and Leah were quite miffed when they met one of the princesses and felt she was "quite snotty" - can you guess which one??

All for now.

All is Well in San Diego

Well we made it to San Diego yesterday afternoon - we had a slight delay in departure from Yuma as we had the rear rotors and brakes replaced on the motorhome (always a good thing to have functioning brakes!) One of the things we ended up doing in Yuma is some ag tourism by visiting a peanut farm!

San Diego is really beautiful but colder than Yuma (we are wearing capris as opposed to shorts). Last night we were touring around in the late afternoon and we found this wonderful place right on the ocean called Ocean City. It just so happened to be a no leash dog park - so needless to say Tyrone was very happy and thinks he may just become a California dog!

Today we spent the day at the San Diego Zoo - a great place! The highlights included a sky tram ride over the park, up close and personal with pandas, a show boating polar bear, gorillas and tortoises. Here are some of our photos and video clip that we thought you might like.

Tomorrow the plan is to head north to the Los Angeles area (technically around Corona California) for the next few days to be in fairly close proximity to DisneyLand and LA.

Ray has been doing a fabulous job driving in all this crazy traffic - the traffic from Delburne to Red Deer will be pretty boring for him when he gets back.

With the last trivia question - Leah's favorite Mexican dish - We have decided that Jocelyn is the lucky winner - Leah loves fish tacos!

For our new question - the gorillas at the zoo were hungry, hungry and loved a certain snack - What do you think it is??

A big Happy Birthday (from yesterday) goes to Auntie Tracy and Jaydee!

Bye for now.

Hola!!

Today we spent the day in Algodones Mexico which is a short 15 minute drive from Yuma.

Algadones is famous for being a hotbed for cheap dental, medical and eye care services for Canadian and American snowbirds. Everyone drives down to the border and then just walks over for all their medical needs. Many women go down just to get their hair done! Ray's mom got her hair done for $7.

We enjoyed wandering around taking in the sights and sounds, shopping a bit of course (Ray was very excited to buy 1 litre of Kalua for $6.50) and eating Mexican food.

We had to wait in line at the border for about 1 hour since there were so many people heading back to the USA.

Here are some photos from our Mexican excursion:

One more day in Yuma and then we will be heading west to the San Diego area on Thursday.

Congrats to Mr. Adam Overwater who had the closest answer to the last trivia question. The main gates at the Friendly Acres RV Park are locked at 7pm. The gate right by Ray's parents place is actually locked at 5 pm. Those snowbirds need to be locked up early! Adam - we picked up something for you in Mexico today and will send it to you soon.

Our next question.....
Emma and Leah have been sampling many different types of Mexican food in the last few days. Leah is very fond of a particular dish - any guesses??

PS - Not that we want to rub it in, but did you know that the temperature in Yuma has actually been warmer than Hawaii these last few days!!