We were already two days late and still 700 miles away from home.  Instead of driving straight through my dad said we could camp on the beach or go visit my cousins.  I love the beach, but I chose the cousins because they are so fun and adorable.  We have the best family, I wished I could see them more (hint, hint J-Fly).   We took a scenic route down through Santa Barbara and the wine country and stopped at my Uncle Mitch’s house for the night.  We got there late so we camped out in his front yard. In the morning we got locked out of the house and I had to go pee! So I ended up tree peeing in his yard!  Think of it as fertilizer Mitch.

Then 2 hours later super Dane (my cousin) came to my rescue.  We waited for Laci to wake up and watched 101 Dalmatians.  Q-Daddy woke up and after finishing the movie we went swimming.

Laci, Rangel and Dane

We showered up and then met J-Fly (my other uncle) and his posse for lunch.

Dane, Laci, Rangel, Caroline, David & Jack

We went to Red Robbin and had a great burger.  After lunch we played Rock-Paper-Sissors and said our goodbyes, despite all my efforts to convince my dad to stay one more day.  Now we are heading home! Mixed emotions!

I collected key chains from the areas we visted and am going to attach them to my backpack to remind me of the fun we had.  Here  they are:

Wednesday was the day we were supposed to be back home.  As you have probably noticed, we are 750 miles away.  Thanks to Mom, Tamara (my dad’s assistant) and all his clients for patiently waiting for our return.  We slept in late as it was a foggy morning.  Then we rented a really warm 5/4 wet suit, went to lunch and got hot chocolate!  We came home and Ted and Renee went kite surfing with my dad while Grammy and I went to the beach. I boogie boarded while Grammy watched. Then it was time to go in. We cooked dinner and cheered on team USA at the Olympics.

Today we got up early and went surfing.  Uncle Ted swam next to me and pushed  me into the waves on his long board.  I was able to get up a few times.  It was super wobbly.  On one ride I looked over and saw a sea otter playing in the surf too!  He was just as cute as Uncle Ted in his flippers.

I made pancakes for Ted as a thank you.  Grammy and Auntie Ne went to a farm while my dad, Jazzy and I went to the Boardwalk and rode roller coasters for three hours.  Thanks Jazzy for being such a great tour guide!  After the Boardwalk it was time to hit the beach!  I love playing volleyball in the sand and swimming in the ocean.  After a while Grammy yelled “FINS.”  Three bottle nose dolphins were playing in surf.  It was very cool.

Exhausted, we had dinner and went to sleep.  Tomorrow we finally start our journey home.

Rangel & Q-Daddy.

We stopped at the Tahoe Keys Marina (my dad can’t pass a marina without stopping to look at the boats) and decided to rent a jet ski.We zoomed up the coastline and had lunch in Emerald Bay.  Here we are in the middle of the lake taking turns jumping from Nevada to California.

We got back to our camp site, cooked a delicious dehydrated chicken teriyaki, and rode our bikes down to a general store for a fudgesicle.  It was dark and a little spooky on the trail home.  The forest smelled like Christmas trees.

We were still a little tired so we went to bed early.  I fixed some awesome tasty omelettes in the morning.  We jumped on our bikes and set off to ride the 1960 winter Olympics cross country ski track.  Here is my tribute to Lady Liberty.

It was my Grandmother’s birthday so after a quick shower we drove down the mountain to Santa Cruz to have dinner with her and my Auntie Ne, Uncle Ted and cuz Jasmin.  It was fun to see everyone, tell stories from out trip and hear stories of Ryan’s recent visit with them.  More stories from the beach coming soon.

Rangel & Q-Daddy.

I thought I saw a bear so I made my dad drive the same stretch of road three times.  No bear, oops.  That night we had dinner near Jenny Lake.  I chased squirrels around while my dad cooked dinner.  The campground was full, so we decided to check into a HOTEL in Jackson, Wyoming.  The town square had these cool antler arches.    I was very happy to have a bed to myself and a shower!  I went right to sleep.  The next day went on a ten mile bike ride through the farms south of town.  I was still a little sleepy, but got really excited when my dad said it was time to turn around.  After the ride, I took my first real shower in five days.  Very nice to be clean again.  We stopped at a grocery store and re-stocked our supplies before heading west.  You can never have enough hot chocolate!

Rangel & Q-Daddy

Rangel in Wyoming Grasslands

So yesterday we spent alllllllllll day in the car.  Even slept in it!  See the Logistics page on the top bar for my dad’s description of our moving hotel and restaurant.  The picture is me wearing my grandpa’s hat in the grasslands of Wyoming.   Belive me, there are lot of grasslands, like 10 hours of them.

But today was super exciting!  First we got up and had cheesy scrambled eggs. Then started our day by walking around the one thing I really wanted to see, Mount Rushmore!  It was really big.  We saw a big, white, fuzzy, bighorn sheep with a beard longer than my dad’s.  Did you know Mt. Rushmore is only half done?  Lincoln Borglun (the artist) died and his workers did not get to finish the sculpture.  Here is me with Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.

Rangel at Mt. Rusmore, South Dakota

And here is a different shot of Washington.

Washington in the Crack

Then we had lunch down the road next to a pond with small turltes pushing a fish around the edge.  After a relaxing lunch we went on a nice 2 mile hike on the Centenial Trail.  We saw hundruds of trees all different shapes and a thousand shades of green and splashed ourselves in a small creek next to the trail.

After leaving Mt. Rusmore we drove through the Black Hills National Forest.  It was nice to see trees again after so many hours of empty grasslands in Wyoming.  We had dinner at Humphrey’s Bar and Grill and I had the biggest cookie skillet desert you have ever seen.

A Big Cookie From Humphrey’s

Rangel & Q-Daddy

We drove north most of Saturday passing up the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument and other National parks so we could get to Park City.  We stopped in Scipio, Utah to see a rodeo.  Not many people were wearing t-shirts and flip flops with a bike rack on their car.  My mom pulled off a late night save when our Internet went down and got us a nice room.  We got to the hotel pretty late on the 21st and slept really well.

Then today was a whole different day with no driving.

Rangel and QDaddy putting our moves on the Olympic Ice

1st we went ice-skating and I learned some rad moves from my new friend Midge.  Don’t worry, we are not ready for the Olympics, yet.   Surprisingly I only fell 1 time!!!

2nd we went 4 wheel driving in a Razor in the mountains overlooking Midway, Utah (ok so we did drive a little).  It had great views but was bumpy, dirty, and when we were done we looked like pigs!!  In the picture below you can still see patches of snow in the mountains (and why you should always where a seat belt).

QDaddy getting wild in the Razr

Afterward we had dirt and mud everywhere so we went to a nearby lake for a swim.   We also practiced kite surfing thanks to my Uncle Ted hooking me up with a kite.  Here is me flying it -

Rachel Kiting in Miday, Utah

3rd we had dinner at a little pond in Midway that my family went to last year.  It had a great view of the mountains we were four wheeling in earlier.  We ate a dehydrated meal of chicken fettuccini alfredo which was good, but not close to grammy’s.  We played in the grass as sun set and watched a lady learn to fly fish.  I couldn’t stop laughing when she hooked her husband!

And now we are back at the hotel and it’s pouring rain just as we pulled in!  Very tired.

Rangel & Q-Daddy

After the bike ride we took a short trip to Sunset Crater.
It was super pretty and covered with cinder cone. We also hiked up a crater to get the best view of sunset crater.

-Rangel & Q-Daddy

It’s 10:07pm and we are off on the road.
As all of you have been wondering where we are going or what direction……
We have finally decided to got north up to flagstaff.
Mostly to start our journey out of the heat.

We had planned to leave at 5:00 but my dad got caught up at work.
So for the last 4 hours I have been jumping up and down
watching U.F.C wrestling with my brother.
When my dad got home we quickly packed the Beast.
(still jumping)

-Rangel & Q-Daddy