Grand Canyon and Zion National Park

We went to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was cool, but people said the South Rim is cooler. I would agree because I thought the North Rim was a little disappointing. But it was still cool to go to the biggest canyon in America. We saw lots of lizards and some deer that were really close. When we got back to the campground we all played Pickle.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

These mule deer were super close. They weren't afraid of us at all.

The next day we drove to Zion National Park. The first day we got there, we went swimming at the campground and played in the river by our campsite. The second day we went crack climbing. It’s really hard because there’s not a lot of hand holds. You have to get your hand really deep in the crack, then tense up a fist to pull yourself up. On the third day, we went on a climb that was more interesting. We went on a hike that looked like the moon. It was really cool because we saw frogs in little pools of water with tadpoles. I saw about thirty lizards and also some petroglyphs. Anna didn’t like the climb because you mostly had to use feet and it was windy. But I liked it because we got to go really high. But the shoes squeezed the blood out of my feet. After we got down, we had a snack and headed back to the van. It was fun jumping in the sand on the way down the high cliffs.

Our campsite at Zion was right next to this awesome river.

Dad helped me make a volcano in the sand.

The next day we went crack climbing.

Here's me trying to figure it out.

The third day's climb looked like we were on the moon.

This is me three pitches up. It was really fun.

There were frogs and tadpoles in these pools.

More petroglyphs

Ice cream.....all gone

It was fun in the National Parks. 

California Coast

When we went to California, we started at Mt. San Jacinto. We took a tram up the mountain. We hiked around and looked for lizards. But I didn’t catch any because they’re too fast.

Mt. San Jacinto in Palm Springs

There were some fun rocks to climb on and look for lizards.

When we got to the coast, we went to Hearst Castle. It was cool because it had a giant pool that was decorated with Greek artifacts. The pool was lined with Vermont marble. It had three guest houses and one main house. William Randolf Hearst built it in the 1920’s. He made lots of money publishing newspapers. He collected weird things like walls, ceilings, doors, and stuff from European churches. My favorite thing he collected was an Egyptian statue.

The pool at Hearst Castle was made with Vermont marble.

This is the front door.

After Hearst Castle we went to the beach and saw some elephant seals. They stunk. They were big and loud. But they were really cool to watch. There were only females and subadults. The males were out at sea. We had an awesome campground in the Redwoods. Me and Anna played in the hollow trees with my Pirates of the Caribbean gun and Anna’s sword.

Lots of elephant seals

This is me standing in the hollowed out Redwood tree.

Me pretending to be like Lewis and Clark

The coast was really cool because we were listening to Pirates of the Caribbean music and the water was splashing up against the rocks and disappearing. It was also cool because it was nice and sunny, so the light was good for pictures. The next day we went to the beach. We couldn’t go in the water because it was too cold. The cool thing was, me and Anna found a couple of tide pools. We saw starfish, about six crabs, a bunch of anemones and sea sponges. But when I was down trying to catch a crab, a wave knocked into me and I fell and cut a couple of my fingers. So after I got some bandages, we just played in the sand. I looked like Three-fingered Jack from Zorro.

The waves were really cool.

Looking for crabs

We found this starfish in a tidepool.

Mom says I should keep my hands out of the holes in the rock, but I just can't help it. I saw a crab in there.

Three-fingered Jack!

The next day we went to the Monterrey Aquarium. It was so cool there, because the tanks were so big. I saw a lot of fish. I saw a leopard shark, sting rays, jellyfish, sea horses, octopuses, and more. I got to touch a bat ray and a guitar fish. They look like sting rays but without the stinger.

The kelp forest

Rays

It was very fun on the California Coast.