We are the champions...or in the City of Champions...

I took over driving later at a rest stop in Ohio. I got to drive through the rest of the state, then got gas in West Virginia and finally made it to my friend's place. She and her husband live right outside of Pittsburgh. They have a cute little house in a really nice neighborhood. We hung out here with them once they got home from church. My friend Jon Harbuck and his wife also stopped by and visited with us also.

I didn't know Pittsburgh is now considered the city of champions. I guess they are cuz their football team won something big and so did their hockey team. Yeah, you can tell I don't follow any of this at all…but I'm glad Pittsburgers are happy about it.

Today we had a nice chill, relaxed morning. We finally were all ready for the day at about 11:30 or so. Our plan was to go check out some of the thrift stores. Alyona loves them and has found some really cute clothes and shoes at some of them. We decided to investigate for ourselves. At the first store Mandie and I found skirt and dress respectively. So we were happy. At the second store, we weren't really into buying anything else, so we had fun with some nice blazers…hello shoulder pads!



We took Alyona out to lunch at Boston Market (Mmmm, their cornbread is sooo good) and then have been chillin' at the house since then. Matt, Alyona's husband, suggested going mini-golfing tonight. We ended up at a nice, Christian mini golf place. They had nice Bible quotes all over.

Luckily none of us got too into the game, so we didn't have to take this scripture to heart.

Alas, I came in dead last. Mandie and Alyona tied for first. Matt was in a close second. He was our dilligent score keeper. It didn't rain, though you can see from the sky that it was gettin' close. But we had a good time. Matt and Alyona are serious golfers. I'm more of a point and go, with minimal thought and planning. Maybe that's why I came in last...'eh! We had a fun time.

The Journey-Don't Stop Believin'

So from St. Joseph Saturday, we decided to take a route that cut right across the state, rather than go all the way back down to I-70. The route we were on ended in Hannibal, MO, right along the Mississippi. According to our atlas, it said Mark Twain's boyhood home was there. Since we had left St. Joe about 2.30 and Pittsburgh was about 14 hours away, we decided to stop.



Wow, I was quite surprised at how big of a deal this was. All of downtown Hannibal has something to do with Mark Twain and his stories (mainly Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer). I guess it was there that Mark Twain, then Sam Clemens, got his inspiration for those stories. He had a crush on the girl across the street, Becky Thatcher, who was in the book. There was a tall plank wood fence in front of his house, which gave him the idea for the part where Tom Sawyer convinces that group of boys to whitewash it for him.


Yeah, all kinds of stuff like that. The river wasn't too far from the house. I guess there's also a cave nearby, now called Mark Twain Caves, but that also found a way into his stories.


It was pretty neat to see…and we would've enjoyed it more if it hadn't been soooo stinkin' hot. When I say stinkin' hot, I mean it literally, it was soooo hot and muggy…we were sweatin' up a storm. It was the type of humid that the air feels heavy and it's a chore to breathe. Mandie said it was like walking around being covered in a big blanket. Gross.


We got there about 6 or so, so everything was pretty much closed. But it was fun to walk around and take pictures. I guess it gets pretty Mark Twain-ey during the day with impersonators walking the streets and horse drawn buggies…It was something I'd never seen or even heard of. I guess I'm not that much of a hard core Mark Twain fan. I have heard that he didn't like Mormons though…and he travelled a lot…that's all I know about the guy.



After our literary respite, we drove and drove and drove. I shouldn't say we, I should say Mandie drove and drove and drove. At about 8 or 9 or so, I hit the wall and didn't want to drive. I was willing to just pull over at a Rest Stop and sleep, but Mandie is the kind to keep going. And she did until about 3am in Ohio. She drove all through Illinois and the lightning storm, she drove through Indiana and then finally stopped in Ohio. This video is from somewhere inbetween Missouri and Ohio. We got to see some early fireworks while listening to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on cd. So you get to hear some of that while watching pretty fireworks!




Mandie said she had to force herself to stop and sleep for 3 whole hours. While I, on the other hand, slept about twice that. Mandie then woke up and then pressed on.

St. Joseph-where the west officially started getting wild

Our night at the Motel 6 was restful. It was nice to sleep in big, comfy beds and watch The Tonight Show. In the morning we waited way too long for breakfast at Denny's, and then made our way to the Glore Psychiatric Museum. I was all pumped about this museum since realizing that I had already seen part of a show about it on the History Channel or on Discovery or something. The museum shows all the different ways mental illness has been treated throughout the years, namely the St. Joseph Lunatic Asylum No.2. Like I said, I was all pumped. I've been to weird, slightly creepy museums before (Mutter Museum for an example) but after 20 minutes in Glore, and especially after seeing this display…

So in the early days they used physical force, and all kinds of crazy contraptions...when nowadays we get better results with itty bitty pills...needless to say, I had had enough. It's just so depressing to me that we treated people that poorly. There were numerous boxes and cages and wheels and chairs…blah.



Part of the museum was cool though, where they showed all the artwork and different projects the patients had done. Those were neat, slightly more positive. Sorry, no pictures of those. You can read more about the museum and see other pictures here.

So we left there, slightly more depressed, at least I did. I had a major case of the grumpies. But then we found our way over to the Pony Express Museum, and my mood improved.


That was a fun, well put together museum. We got to see a lot of life size models? I'm not sure what you would call it, but there was a guy on a horse and stuff, it looked like he was ready to leave the stable for a mail delivering adventure.

Then we got to swap mochilas from one saddle to another. Mochilas are the leather thing that goes over the saddle that holds about 20 pounds of mail. Overall there was a lot of art, a lot of maps…I enjoyed it, it was fun.

Me and Russell. Yes, I'm wearing my Pony Express shirt I got last summer in Nebraska


My focus on Russell is mainly for my aunt who lives on Russell Road, in a neighborhood with streets Majors and Waddel. together these guys were the super team that created the Pony Express

I liked this cuz of the part saying they won't use profane language and they won't quarrel or fight

Kansas-Carry on my wayward son...

Mandie and I started out driving Friday morning. We drove all through scenic Eastern Colorado with its green, rolling hills…it was really pretty. Then we got into Kansas…it was pretty…and flat. Luckily we made a stop halfway through the state, which made the 9 hour drive seem a little shorter. The stop we made was in Hays. That's where the Sternberg Natural History Museum is.

They have all kinds of AWESOME fossils. Really cool, detailed ones. BIG ones too. They had some interesting cultural items from all over the world…

A giant turtle's gonna attack Mandie!

These guys, Morasaurs are super big and aquatic

Shocked by the goings on

Sternburg, the dude the museum is named after, is really famous for this fossil specifically

How cute and petite! What's the latin basis for Bambiraptor anyway?

A fictional baby deer? Nice, very scientific

Mandie, in Colorado 70 million years ago...yes, there's time travel in Kansas

Fun stencil-ey art projects...Mandie got a bit carried away

Mandie and I had fun looking around…we kinda got into it. The exhibit in the dome was cool.


There was this big T-Rex, and Mandie and I were walking my, taking pictures, when all of a sudden Mandie's running ahead of me, startled. I was confused and looked up and the T-Rex had turned it's head and roared at us. We didn't know it was on a motion sensor thing. Mandie thought it was falling on her. :)


When we were done, I looked at my cell phone for the time, and it was 4:30. We got there close to 2…I was floored that we spent that much time there. But when got to the car, we realized that our cell phones had already gone ahead an hour…so we were only in there for an hour and a half, not 2 and a half. There was a lot to see…but not 2 and a half hours worth.
But after the museum we kept on driving. Our destination was St. Joseph, Missouri. It was about 45 minutes north of Kansas City. We spent the night in a crummy Motel 6 to rest up for our next big adventure!

Colorado Rocky Mountain High

Yeah, I was really high…elevation wise that is.

The drive from Utah to Castle Rock, Colorado where my friend Cassie lives was a steep one. I don't know exact elevation…but I was up there. I passed through some really pretty ski resort towns. All the condos looked kinda weird all surrounded by luscious green grass. It must be super crowded in the winter.

But I got to Castle Rock with no problems. My friend Cassie has a little boy Jacob who is 18 months and just starting to talk. His favorite word is aff, short for giraffe …but he replaces the f sounds with s's…yeah, it was pretty funny. Once he pointed at his mom and said it…hehe.

We had a nice visit. I spent 2 nights there and one full day. On that day, I utilized Mandie and Cassie's superior fashion skills and got a dress and a skirt. They're super cute! Thanks girls! The Elders came over for dinner on my second night there. Cassie made pizza--I helped. I squished the dough all over the pan…She had one regular pizza and one deep dish, Chicago style, which she baked in a dutch oven. It was really good. I loved it. Later that night we painted our toes. Jacob was studying us so intently that Mandie decided to paint his too. He now has metallic blue toes!

Camille's Dance Performance

This is of Camille's performance, but the whole show had a lot of different groups performing, such as various hip hop groups. The coolest were teeny little kids dancing hip hop. They were the Mini Squad and the Kid Squad. The boys in the Kid Squad, the second half of the video were great!

Now these videos are actually of Camille, singing with the group and by herself...eventually. I can't get it uploaded yet.

Jurassic Park--Ogden Style

The second stop on our free Tuesday was the Eccles Dinosaur Park also in Ogden. It had a small museum indoors...

This little furry beast is a Wooly Rhino, ain't he a beauty?

Then we went outside to the garden area where all the model dinosaurs are, the Jurassic Park area...

I really liked how birds would be just chillin' out on the dinosaurs. It made them seem less ferocious.

And then Rashel and I did a prehistoric rodeo!

And then we had some additional fun...