Mesa Verde and Moab, UT

When we went to Mesa Verde we saw a lot of cool cliff dwellings and artifacts. Mesa Verde means “green table” in Spanish. The Ancient Pueblo Indians lived there in  1200 A.D.  They had all different kinds of temples. We saw the Sun Temple and the Fire Temple. Where they had their religious ceremonies is called a kiva. A kiva is a big hole in the cliff dwelling that has an air vent with a big stone in front of it to keep air drafts out. They also had a firepit that had a smoke hole in the top, which is also how they got in and out of the kiva.

There was also a museum there that had artifacts. We got to go into one of the cliff dwellings called Balcony House. We climbed up a big ladder to get inside. We had to crawl through tunnels and use the footholds in the rock. Everything was original, even the wood. My favorite part was going through Balcony House because it was really adventurous. I had a really fun time.

The big ladder leading us up into Balcony House

Dad and me standing inside Balcony House

This is a view of Balcony House from across the canyon

Dad standing next to the grinding stones where they made cornmeal.

The kiva where they had their religious ceremonies.

The ladder on the way out

A cool tunnel they had to crawl through.

This is Cliff House, the largest cliff dwelling. Over 100 people lived here.

This is a dwelling called the Sun Temple.

In Moab, we got to stay in a really cool campground with teepees and a really big see saw. But my favorite part was when me, Anna, Mom and Dad went to Arches National Park. We saw all kinds of cool arches and petrified dunes. Arches are formed by wind leaving big holes in the rock. My favorite arch is Delicate Arch and it’s one of the most famous arches. We went climbing and me and Anna played on the rocks. We drew our own petroglyphs on the rock. The difference between a petroglyph and a hieroglyph is that hieroglyphs are like sentences with symbols and petroglyphs are telling a story with drawings.

It was really fun being in Moab because there was really cool sandstone and lots of lizards. The lizards are really fast and I tried to catch them. There was one really big one. Mom and Dad wouldn’t let me because they keep saying to keep my hands out of the holes and places where lizards hide. They say the snakes are poisonous here and we’re not in Vermont anymore. In Vermont I catch snakes all the time.

I would like to go back there some day and spend more time. I want to catch the lizards with better gear. 

Climbing up to Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch

Me and Delicate Arch

Having a rest after our hike up to Delicate Arch

Me and Anna getting fossilized

Those are petrified sand dunes behind me.

Petroglyphs

Double Arch

Exploring the canyon

There was this cool tee pee at our campsite.

Disney

The first day in Florida was Easter. We had our Easter morning looking for chocolate. I got 2 Lego sets. I got a Tie Fighter and a monster truck. Thanks to my Grammy we got to stay in a hotel and it felt like a meat locker which was cool because it was sweating hot outside. We went swimming at the hotel pool called River Island.

Easter morning and Legos.

The slide at River Island.

We got to spend 4 days at Disney. We went to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach and Hollywood Studios. My favorite rides were Mount Everest, Tower of Terror and the Rockin’ Rollercoaster. I like those things because they’re really big rides and you go fast and twisty and upside down. My favorite water park ride was a 120 foot drop called the Summit Plunge. When I went down it was so steep and fast I couldn’t breathe. You had to cross your feet because your bathing suit went really far up you know where. The ride was awesome.

My favorite show was the Indiana Jones stunt show. I liked it because there wre all kinds of explosions and they showed how they fake fight in the movies and make it look real. We also saw a 4D bug show that had giant spiders and scorpions. At the end of the show they  made the seat move so it felt like bugs were crawling on you.

When we went to the Animal Kingdom we saw lots of cool animals like Nile crocodiles, lions, hippos, tigers, and giant bats. I also like the shooting gallery and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. I had a really fun time at Disney. Now we have a long drive through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico to get to Mesa Verde where the Pueblo Indians lived.

Dad, Anna and me in front of the castle.

Uh-oh, they got me!

I felt bad for this alligator. I wanted to call Animal Control because I thought the water looked polluted. It made me really mad. But Mom and Dad said they thought he was fine. 

Gettin' bit!

The bats were really big. My dad said he saw bats like that in Katmandu.

Nile crocodiles, my favorite.

Star Wars stuff was cool!

This was outside the Dinosaur ride. The ride was really fun, but my sister didn't like it because the dinosaurs were kind of scary.

Me trying to pull the sword out of the stone. Guess I won't be king.

North Carolina and Savannah, GA

 My favorite part in NC was going in caves and climbing. Me and my sister were playing in caves and looking at rocks pretending we were excavating Native American remains. Mom and Dad were climbing next to us. There were three different caves. One looked like it was going to collapse. We were at a place in the Blue Ridge Mountains called Table Rock. We tried to get cleaned up because we were going to have dinner with my mom’s cousin, Sam and his girlfriend, Alicia. They go to Appalacian State University.  But we couldn’t find a campground that was open for the season yet, so we went to dinner dirty. We had fun anyway.

                                       Here I am in the first cave. It was really hot.

                                      Here we are pretending to be archeologists 

The next day we went mining and we found a lot of cool crystals and gems. My favorite one was one with white swirlies and tan on the outside. We had help identifying many of the gems that we found. We found emeralds, rubies, quartz, and aventurine. I also got to do a really cool climb at a place called Ship Rock. I got to the very top of the pitch. I got to do it twice. The second time I had to do it fast because a storm was coming. But we got off the mountain in time.

                                                Mining for gems in Boone, NC

                                                     Picking out the coolest rocks

                                                         Top of the climb

On our way to Savannah that night our car broke down in the middle of the night and I was very grumpy because I was sleeping. But we got it fixed in Winnsboro, SC and went to Savannah the next day.

                                       Getting towed in the middle of the night 

When we went to Savannah we went to my mom’s friend’s house and got to play with Foster, Rowan and Riley. We played War Ball and soccer. The next day we had an Easter egg hunt and went swimming. Me and my dad went under water for half a minute. After we said goodbye, we drove to Florida.

                                  My friends in Savannah - Rowan, Foster and Riley

                                     Me and Rowan before the Easter egg hunt

                                                Swimming with Dad

Richmond

My favorite thing in Richmond was the Petersburg Battlefield because they had a lot of cool sites. My favorite site was a defensive fortification because it showed you the captain's cabin, the soldiers cabin, trenches and canons. Jackson Sargent is my great-great-great-grandfather. He fought there in 1865 and won the medal of honor for carrying the VT flag in the charge.

                                                     Firing the canon

                                                        Loading my weapon

                                                  Playing Confederate soldier

                           Playing Union soldier, trying not to get shot as I charge

My second favorite thing was seeing the Museum of the Confederacy. I liked all the weapons they had there. There were guns and cool swords. I learned that more people died of disease than from bullets. I also learned that in one battle, the Battle of Gettysburg, more soldiers died than have died in the last ten years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. I also saw two bullets, one from the North, one from the South that collided in mid-air. It is called a rosette because it kind of looks like a rose.

I had dinner with my cousins on two nights. We played with my cousin's iPad. Richmond had lots of history.

  
                                          My cousins, Gwen, Max and Josh

Seneca Rocks

The first day at Seneca Rocks was ok. I didn’t like the bathroom at the campsite because there were a lot of wasps and bugs. When we went climbing I was even more scared because we went to the top of the Gun Site and the rock was very slippery. It was also very thin. The rock was sandstone.

                                       See how thin the rock is

                                                 The Gunsight

                                On top, scared out of my mind

                                         Glad to be down with my stick 

The second day was very fun because we went toproping. Top roping is when one person goes up at a time. You go as far as you want, then you can get lowered down. The first climb was not as fun as the last because I kept getting stuck on the same ledge every time. The cool thing about it was there were very deep caves. The biggest cave was the coolest because it had water coming out of the walls. The second climb was fun because I got to the top of the climb and we were really high up.

                                                 Playing Jurassic Park

                                              Having a great time

                                                Way up high!!

When we got back, me and my sister started playing with sticks and I had tomato soup for dinner. Then we all went to get ice cream. The second day was very very fun. Now we’re headed back into Virginia.