White Water Rafting

Phoenix, AZ

Larry Fitzgerald visited our campsite today!! A real Arizona/Minnesota connection!! Lots of neat and tasty things happening in Phoenix and throughout Arizona!

WOW, Alex lives in a great place! What a neat place and what wild creatures and plants!! It is like a different world here! We even got to taste the Southwest with some salsa and chips!! It would be great to stay and check out some minor league baseball games!!

What an awesome place! There is so much to do here! I think that I will go golfing at one of the 200 courses here this afternoon. No wonder this has become a major conference center for the US!

Phoenix is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona and the county seat of Maricopa County, as well as being the largest state capital in the U.S. by population. It is located along the banks of the now normally dry Salt River. It was incorporated as a city on February 25, 1881. Residents of Phoenix are known as Phoenicians.

The city's estimated population as of 2006 was 1,512,986, making it the fifth largest city in the United States.

Flagstaff, AZ

We went to the Grand Canyon!! It was very cool. We learned about erosion, sedimentary rocks and the Colorado River. This is an amazing place!

We saw the evidence of erosion all over the place. We saw how erosion works in an erosion pool. It was neat!

Flagstaff (Navajo: Kinłání) is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of July 2006, the city's estimated population was 58,213, with a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 124,953. It is the county seat of Coconino County. In 2005, Men's Journal named Flagstaff as No. 2 on its Best Places to Live list, and National Geographic cited the city in its list of "10 Great Towns That Will Make You Feel Young." The city is named after a Ponderosa Pine flagpole made by a scouting party from Boston (known as the "Flagstaff Tea Party") to celebrate the United States Centennial on July 4, 1876.

Arches National Park

TJ showed us around Arches National Park. He explained how they were formed and it was fascinating! What a beautiful place all created by erosion.

Salt Lake City, UT

Reno, NV

The Mayor showed us around Reno!! It was great! It is known as the biggest little city in the world! It is also the bowling capital of the world!! We saw a hot air balloon race too! We got gold and we were told that they don't give away money at the casinos!

Yellowstone National Park

Did you know that this was the first National Park in the world? What an amazing place with so much to see! We could spend a week here! Briana showed us all around and it was great!

Yellowstone National Park, set aside as a national park on March 1, 1872, is located mostly in the U.S. state of Wyoming, though it also extends into Montana and Idaho. The park was the first of its kind, and is known for its wildlife and geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular areas in the park.

We talked about how "Old Faithful" is an icon of Yellowstone. We watched a video on how geysers work. We also saw the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and a lot of different wild life.





We talked about the rain shadow, the water cycle and The Great Salt Lake.

Missoula, MT

Whitney showed us around town and she brought us some elk to taste! We talked about the food chain and why the DNR has to keep in check with the help of hunters.

This is a great town!! SO much to see and do!! I would have loved to go to college here! They loved bikes too!!

Did you know that Missoula has a city wide read in once a year! This town loves to read and it shops up in their community! The Clark Fork River was filthy, so what did they do? Blame others? No! They cleaned it up as a group. They think on their feet. The river front is beautiful with sculptures and views that warm the heart. What a completely awesome town! They have an International Choral Festival. They are proud of their gardens and want their produce to stay local. This is a progressive place with a college campus that is a "city within a city." I am going to hike up to the "Big M" tonight.

Glacier National Park, MT

What a great time and what a beautiful place. So much to see and learn!! Here is just a little of our visit with Ranger Tony! (We also had a 2EE first today by using Skype as part of the presentation!!)


Grandpa Vic joined us through video too!

Spokane, WA

Bob showed us around his beautiful city. There is a lot to see and do here! I learned so much about Spokane that I didn't know! Every city in the US has so many wonderful secrets! Did you know that Spokane is also call "The Lilac City?"

We also talked about supply and demand today!

The parks here are great and the sculptures bring the city to life. They even have a city clock that is still wound by hand!

Seattle, WA

Jenny showed us around the wonderful city of Seattle! The Fish Market was sooo fun and the Space Needle was really cool!

For all of the coffee drinkers out there, we are in the city where Starbucks started. It even smells like coffee here. It also smells like fish. We went to the fish market today, those guys are crazy. They love there job so much that they made a video about it called "Fish." They were very funny and very nice.

Portland, OR

We saw Crater Lake today.



What a cool place!! So beautiful and you are an hour from Mt. Hood and an hour from the Ocean! Portland has a great light rail system and is surrounded by 32 volcanoes! Thanks goodness none of them are active. We also read about Mt. St. Helens which doesn't seem like it is inactive at all!

Portland was wild! We went mountain biking and through the many rose gardens! The growing conditions are perfect in Portland and they grow giant vegetables.

We experienced a small tremor today!! Plate Tectonics!!

Redding, CA

We panned for gold too!!





We met James Blond today and he showed us around this beautiful part of California!

This is the second sunniest city in the US!! Lumber may have been the biggest industry but it is Tourism now! So much to see and do!!

Redding is a city in Northern California. It is the county seat of Shasta County, California, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 80,865.

Redding is the state's largest city north of Sacramento. It is the fourth largest city in the Sacramento Valley.

In 2004, the Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay was completed. The dramatic pedestrian span was designed by the noted Spanish architect-engineer-artist Santiago Calatrava and links the north and south campuses of the Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The pylon holds up the bridge support cables.

Turtle Bay Exploration Park, located along the banks of the Sacramento River, contains a museum and gardens. The campus features permanent and changing exhibitions hilighting art, history, horticulture, forestry and natural science.

Mt. Shasta seems like an amazing place with a lake and a river to boot! What fun! I think that we should rent a house boat tonight!!