Guess who's in Argentina?

Before you start reading this, you need to know that Argentina is one of the coolest places on earth. It's so magical, even more magical than San Francisco. First Eleanore and I checked out the

big city, and when I say big, I mean BIG. On more than one occasion we took a wrong turn and had to ask for directions.We then went to check out the cool tropical area, we went and looked at a

humongous waterfall called: Iguazu Falls.In the tropics we also took a tour of ( what I think was a

jungle), we were barely able to get a picture of a bird called the Misiones Forest trail toucan.Then

(after a narrow escape from a big snake, however, my shoe was not so lucky)we took a train to

a petrified forest, that was cool.Our final stop is the mountains, I'm hoping there is enough snow to ski.I wonder how things are back in Truckee, I wonder if we have anymore snow.

have fun in all of your places!

-Anna

Egypt, week two

This week Mia and I traveled down the Nile (by camel!! Talk about sore butt!) to Hatshepsut's temple......lemme just say it was amazing!!!! We got a privet tour, as well as the chance to meet a Priestess of Isis, who is the goddess of fertility and motherhood. When we met her I was asking the guide if Hatshepsut had any children (we have had the same guide the whole trip), when she started ranting on in Arabic, something about never question the kings and queens on their ability to have children. After she calmed down she introduced herself. Her name was Khepri, which means morning sun (which really fit because she was gorgeous!). I think Egyptian names are pretty cool.

After we saw Hatshepsut's temple we took a bus (nice change after 3 days on a camel) to the valley of the kings. We saw King Tut's tomb, which was SUPER cool. They say that there is a curse on Tut's tomb, "Death comes on wings to he who enters the tomb of a pharaoh." A lot of the first people who entered Tut's tomb died by a strange illness, although those who don't believe say it was from the mold and old dust inside the tomb. What do you think? Is the curse real??

Next week Mia and I are going to Verona, Italy, the home of Romeo and Juliette. I can't wait, we get to see Juliette's house, and eat some really great Italian food (including gelato [gel-ah-toe], an ice cream like dessert). I am also thinking about taking a short trip to France for the beautiful architecture and shopping, and Germany for the Chocolate.

Kelsey

P.S- The first picture is of King Tut's treasures and such found in his tomb, and the second is of Queen Hatshepsut's temple

Hold Your Horses! And boats and planes and trains!

Before you travel to your next destination, let's dedicate a few posts to the yesterday's incredible stories. I will post some of the things I remember...and I'll leave lots for you to post! Just one story or one image you remember would be great...or more!  I will always remember...

A girl crossing the border by herself, scared but determined (at 12!) to have a different life than her mother's. That same girl picking tomatoes all night long in Sacramento. That same girl returning home to a father who was, all these years later, proud of her and whose opinion of women had changed.

A boy noticing on the street a sort of "ghost town / tumbleweed" effect and then came the tanks! That same boy demanding water so his apartment complex could drink. That same boy taking the Koran that used to sit on his father's dashboard to America.

A girl wondering why she was so "dumb" that she couldn't speak at meals as all the Americans did. That same girl, as a woman, wondering if she should go "home" to Korea to retire ... only as long as her family comes!

A young woman listening to her grandmother to travel with her ears and eyes OPEN! That same young woman missing her long table full of food and family.

Okay, your turn! There are so many images, so many words! If you want to expand on something I mentioned, go for it!

Thank you all again for showing such maturity and sensitivity. You are great kids.
Thank you! 

Carolyn

Venice is F-U-N fun!!

Listen readers, I don't have much time for typing this so we have to make a deal, if I type this fast

you have to read it fast.Deal? Well to start off let's just say Eleanore and I are having the time of our lives.We tried out for swim team there and we had to explain to everyone (in Italian) that we were from America and we just wanted to see what their swimming techniques were like.Of course

they didn't understand.I have to go now for two reasons, #1, I'm almost out of charge,#2, Eleanore

and I are at a really fun party right now.Gotta go cause it's time to limbo!!!!!!!!

see you when we get back!!!

-anna

INTERESTING EGYPT

P.S. (don't know why they got so big i said small...er)

when we were on are way to the red sea we we had to take many things to get there buses taxis and of course walking..... as we walked we walked on many different roads one of which was a valley road, as we walked across the valley road we noticed a little bump every now and then one time it moved and it freaked me out, its like in cartoons you're so paranoid that you feel like its moving when your not looking and not moving when you are looking (yea get it?) ... anyway one last time i saw it moved and Niki and i both screamed the realized it was just a tortoise we laughed at how silly we had been and I said to Nikimouse "hey I know this species on tortoise it is its the ...the.. OH!!! the African spurred tortoise!, and she said "yeah they are endangered aren't they." " yup I'm pretty sure they are!" so we called the the zoo and they said that they'd keep the spot protected. after that we were on are way:)

When we got to the red sea I was so surprised that it was no actually red (hahahaeheheh just kidding) it was very pretty i think and made for great pictures and yes how could i not of course i did go SURFING!!!!! it was great, didn't have to where a wetsuit which i was glad for cause they are a pain to put on and take off when wet.... anyway Egypt is wonderful having a great time!

Skiing rocks again!!!

We are having another sweet time SKIING!!! So fun, and tons of ........................................................ SHEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!!!!!!

We were driving along the road sipping hot cocoa, (pretty good, but not as good as yours, Eleanore) when we saw them, tons of them, all of them staring at us, some merely chewing grass, some just, well, STARING at us.

Oh, "Logan's bad crash."

Sorry Logan. Just had to put it on.(Ha Ha Ha) We also went to the forest to see New Zealand's oldest tree:

The trunk was 45 feet around! Walking thru the forest was pretty cool, except that (get this) if a hairy spider jumped on your face, the guide said not to scream! Fortunately,we didn't run into any "big hairy spiders" on our little "excursion" into the forest.

Anyway, it's been fun!

Jacob

From Morocco and Now in Thailand

Finally, we arrived in Bangkok. We took a tuk-tuk, which is a three-wheeled taxi with a long seat in the back that can hold two people and one seat in the front, which is in the middle of the tuk-tuk, for the driver. It dropped Keegan off at his Muay Thai match and me at the floating market.

At the floating market I was looking at some particularly interesting looking fruits, which are called the mangosteen, and I was taking such a good look at them that I leaned a little to far over... and you know what happened then? I fell into the canal!!! A few mangosteens went over, too. But, the people just ignored me and kept selling their food and flowers and other random stuff. I barely got a hand on the plank of the boardwalk. I hoisted myself up and all was okay - right then, anyway.

I got a few of the mangosteens, and they were really good. I think they're my favorite fruit now. Well, at least I bought ten pounds of them to last me a while.

Then, I went to see the Reclining Buddha. It was ENORMOUS! I was about one-toe high. The statue is 49 feet high and 150 feet long. Now that's what I call big! I just had to touch it. I looked around. Nobody was looking. Of course, there were cameras in the corners of the building, but I reached out, and I touched the enormous toe. I quickly walked away and acted like I hadn't done a thing.

I went back to pick up Keegan in a tuk-tuk. Have a good time, everyone!

Nicholas

POWDER IN CANADA

Canada's awesome!  The skiing's amazing and the views are breath taking.  I knew the snow in BC would be good, just not how good.  Yesterday I got some of the best turns of my life in waist deep POW! 

Today Thomas and I did some awesome tree skiing, and I jumped of a 20 foot cliff and stomped the landing.   This place is great!   

A couple days ago while we were hiking for fresh lines in the back country we saw a herd of Wapiti (which means American elk) feeding on tree leaves. There is a lot of wildlife here. Similar to Truckee, except here there are grizzly and polar bears. And the fishing is great, I've been eating lots of salmon.

It's time to go 

down to the marina, and meet with the port captain to see if our paper work has been cleared for the boat to leave the county. I hope it is!  Then all we have to do is get our provisions, let go of the lines and point the boat south...or east...or       

I guess Thomas and I still need to decide where we are going next. -CODY

Hiding out in Croatia

After breaking Cody out of jail with my ginormous camel we found a sail boat and sailed Northwest to Croatia

We sailed by Greece into the Adriatic sea.

There are a lot of cool islands

They call it the Dalmation coast.  I wonder why.

We landed in Dubrovnik where we were met by my second cousins.  After a tour of the city we went to the house where my Great-grandfather was born in the town of Hotanj.

He came to America when he was 15 because his family couldn't grow enough food to feed him.

He worked as a coal miner in Montana and sent money back to Croatia so his family could have a tile roof instead of straw. Some of my relatives still live in this house.

It is beautiful in Croatia but I am ready to keep traveling.  

From Frances Joy

The Great Escape

FRANCES BUSTED ME OUT OF JAIL!!! You wouldn't believe it, she showed up with a huge, strong, mighty camel she named Lumpy. It was the middle of the night when I saw a tiny light shining outside and then I started getting pelted by little rocks through the bars of my window. I started to get mad, but then I heard Frances whisper "zip it Cody!" and I knew help had arrived. She quickly tied one end of a rope to the bars of the window and the other end to Lumpy's hump. Then she held out a handful of figs in front of Lumpy's nose and he followed her, without even realizing it, he bent the bars of the window just enough for me to squeeze out! Frances and I hopped on Lumpy's back and headed for the Nile.

It was still really dark when we got to the Nile River and we had a hard time finding a boat big enough to fit Lumpy. We finally found a huge catamaran and talked the tour guide into giving us a midnight ride. The hippos and crocodiles scared Lumpy pretty bad. I had a few dates left over from my brief stay in the clinker so I decided to feed them to Lumpy to try to calm him down. Once we got into the Mediterranean Sea, Lumpy started to calm down. The next day the winds picked up and the sea got pretty windy. Just as we were heading into the Adriatic Sea this boat said they would take us to Dubrovnik. The boat was named the Argosy and Lumpy was stoked to have a room to himself.

Dubrovnik has a giant wall that goes around the entire city. They put this wall up during the 14th century to protect their city from bad guys. Dubrovnik has a lot of oak trees "Dub" means oak in Croatian. Frances and I got to walk through all these awesome waterfalls with oak trees surrounding them.

Frances and I haven't decided where to go next, but I am just happy to be out of jail. THANKS FRANCES, YOU ROCK!!

CODY

Look at the cool mutant baby crocodiles,isn't it saweet!

Which head do you think swallowed this meal?

Isn't amazing how many monkeys there are in the town of Lopburi.

I got to hold one of those little cutie petutie monkeys, don't they look so cute. There is a tradition that is 21 years old of feeding the monkeys an annual feast, at the local temple.

OHHHH MYYYY GOOOSSSHHHH!!!!!!!!!

while we were at the sphinx we met up with Kelsey and Mia and it was amazing! i wanted to climb up and ride the sphinx all the way to the cool water of the red sea, and I can not hold my excitement to go to the valley of the kings! did you know that the valley of the kings was found by accident a mans donkey wondered off in the night and early that morning he found his donkey standing at the top of a giant hole in the desert "the valley of the kings". the sphinx is a very interesting place hopefully these pictures are helpful to you all:)

From the jungle, to the mountains, to the desert!

Hi everyone! It's me Niki! Ellie and I just arrived in Egypt, and met up with Kelsey and Mia at the Great Sphinx, and let me tell ya, that is one BIG. . . . . .uh. . .creature. Now let me spin you a tale, of the many travels of Niki Mouse, and her secret accomplice ELMO!!!:)

Madagascar was really awesome! We landed in Antanariva (I hope I spelled that right), the capital of Madagascar, stayed in the "Sunny Hotel"-also in the capital. And then explored the jungle! I went to Mantadia National Park, it was unbelievable, it was like being in a zoo, except no enclosures. I don't have many pictures, because, while on a tour of a colony of Silky Sifakas, I met a Sifaka they are tracking, for scientific purposes; his name is Gerald. He was climbing all over me, and I thought he was so cute, until he unzipped, and climbed in my backpack, grabbed my camera, and ran off, the little thief!

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/Silky-sifaka-picture-5.jpg

Since I can't use my own pics(cough cough Gerald), this is a picture that they have of Gerald, who is actually a six year old female. Don't ask me why they named her Gerald. Silky Sifakas live to be about eighteen years old, and weigh eleven to sixteen pounds. Unlike most species the female is actually the dominant gender over the males. Due to habitat loss, they are becoming endangered, I guess it isn't only people being pushed and pulled from places, the silky sifakas are being pushed out of their natural habitat. Luckily, people are taking action to rescue this adorable docile little creature. And yes LZ, they are very fuzzy.

After Madagascar, we went to Kenya, and climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro with a Maasai guide. It was tough work, and we had some close calls with bandits, but all in all it was really awesome! We stayed with a young woman named Namelok, which means, the sweet one. She was very nice, and had great hospitality, she told us all about her people, and that they have been living on the land since ancient times, and once again, since I didn't have my camera thanks to my little friend, I had to ask someone else to take a picture for me, this is Namelok's brother, his namd is Koinet, meaning, the tall one

http://www.glpinc.org/Classroom%20Activities/Kenya%20Articles/Generic%20People/Massai-man.jpg

He is very tall actually, so it is a good name for him.

I haven't bothered with a picture from Egypt, I am just going to buy a new camera sometime, Gerald. So far we have only gone to the Sphinx, and we just got back from that, and I am boiling to death! I think I am going to go swim in the hotel pool, see ya!

Niki Mouse :)

Fancy Footwork

New Zealand is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!! The skiing here is great, even though it is either really icy or really slushy. The landscape is breathtaking! The town we are staying in, Wanaka, has one of the best lakes on the southern island, Lake Wanaka. When Jacob and I were driving to our cabin we saw this HUGE, white-tailed buck in the middle of a field covered with purple with flowers. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen! Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me:-( Lake Wanaka

Wanaka is also home to one of the best freeskiers and skateboarders in the world, Jossi Wells. He has three younger siblings Byron,Beau-James,and Jackson Wells. They all ski at their hometown resort, Snowpark. Jacob got a great shot of me in the park learning a broken. Jacob also did this sweet 270 disaster on to a rail and stomped it! The bad part is I didn't get it on film!

Honestly I don't think I can ever get bored here. There is climbing,beaches,mountain biking,skiing, pretty much everything you can imagine! It is like my personal wonder world "New Bearland", yeah, that sounds pretty good.


After a great day at Snowpark, Jacob and I were driving back from the hill and we saw a big flock of sheep. I had a perfect idea, we can go sheep chasing! I caught my first sheep and I named him Sheepster. The farmer got kind of mad at us, but then he tried to catch a sheep and thought it was pretty fun too! Being the friendly Kiwi that he was, he forgave us.

Now I know where the New Zealanders got there nick name "Kiwi". In New Zealand there is this round, little bird that is about the size of a chicken. Kiwis are flightless birds with a long, sharp beak with nostrils at the tip. They use this strange beak to eat yummy fruit like the kiwi and dig in the ground for worms and crayfish. There are five different species of kiwi birds and they are all endangered because of deforestation. The New Zealanders are kind like the bird and sweet like the fruit.

There is too much fun to be had in New Zealand. On the northern island there is a ton of surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving and all sorts of crazy wildlife. Jacob and I are at dinner right now I am trying to convince him to go to the north island next week with me because I just can't get enough of Kiwiland. I'm crossing my fingers!

Logybear

Thailand

I just fought in a traditional Muay Thai fight! It was cool.

I've seen lots of snakes in Thailand, there were king cobras, coral snakes, and a Malayan pit viper!

One of the good things about Thailand is that there is no snow! This means I don't have to be as cold, and I don't have to shovel.

Here in Thailand there is a palace where once a year tourists come and give a big feast to the monkeys.

Here's what each picture is of:

the first picture is of my Muay Thai fight, that's me with the red gear.

the second picture is of the monkeys I saw, pretty cute huh?

the third picture is of a Coral Snake, cute but deadly.

the fourth picture is of a Malayan Pit Viper, they are super poisonous.

the fifth picture is of a King Cobra, it has a really cool hood thing that it shows when threatened.

Keegan

MAD FOR MADAGASCAR

Madagascar is amazing I don't want to leave this beautiful place!!!!! the animals are insane! its crazy how big the trees are, Speaking of trees today I took my camera up in to the trees and got some awesome pics! and even a video (down below i posted it) of i can't believe I'm gonna say it its so cool RING TAILED LEMURS!!!!!!! these animals only live on Madagascar and are very interesting creatures, there are many types of lemurs but i found out that this one type of lemur the Silky Sifakas happen to be an endangered species of lemur there are only a few 1000 left, but they are very pretty they are white except there face so i say that you one, research it, and see how beautiful they are, and last but not least SAVE THE SILKY SIFAKAS!!!!!!

My mistake......

Turns out I miss heard our guide...darn those accents. He said our hotel is called the Cataract Pyramid Hotel, and I thought he said Built on Cleopatra's palace (not sure how I messed that one up...). Silly me!! It is beautiful though, just look at the picture!

The Julian Alps--Totally My Thing

Ciao a tutti! Sto avendo il miglior tempo mai in Italia. Lo sci è eccezionale! Ognuno è così gentile e affettuoso. In questo momento siamo in Valbruna ...

Oh fine. I will write in English. But Italian is so fun and dramatic!

 Here is what I said above: 

Hi everybody! I am having the best time EVER in Italy. The skiing here is amazing! Everybody is so kind and loving. Right now we are in Valbruna...
 

See, you weren't missing out on that much.

Yes, presently we are in a small village called Valbruna right where Austria, Solvenia and Italy meet. Valbruna is in the Julian Alps. And so you know what that means?? Rad skiing!! 

 

This is a map of where Valbruna is.

Last night we drove here from Venice. We had a spectacular time there too. We exploared the canals, we stayed away from all the tourists (which was really hard because there are so many of them!), we spoke Italian, we went to wonderful museums, we ate at excellent restaurants, and we did many more exciting things! Anna will tell you more about Venice. 

So here in Valbruna, we are skiing, drinking the worlds second-best hot chocolate, and I am reading many wonderful books about Valbruna's history. The book I am reading now is called: Traders not Traitors!  It is about the trading between the Italians, Austrians, and the Solvenians. This has been a trading place since ancient roman times. When traders could only travel by foot, the Alps' geography guided them into this valley.  It was the largest open valley where the Germanic tribes and Slavic tribes could get into Italy. 

The book is really interesting, but it is pretty hard to understand because it is in Italian.

 Here, Anna and I are asking a kind lady to tell us where we are exactly.

This is a map of the Alps. The Alps were formed when the African and European tectonic plates collided. The Alps touch France, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, and Montenegro. They end in Albania by the Adriatic Sea. 

Is anyone else touching the Alps?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. A warm espresso after a long wonderful ski. 

Totally my thing!

Isn't this view just spectacular! Don't you just want to stare at it all day? I do. This photo calms me. But, ironically, it also puts me on edge!

When Anna and I were here yesterday, we rolled down this hill! It was the BEST THING EVER!!!!!!!

Well,  I hope you all are having a fab time traveling!

LZ

Egypt, week one

This week Mia and I are in Egypt! It's super hot, but it's worth it. This week we saw the pyramids of Giza, and even found out what they were made of! Our tour guide seemed a little bored...I'm guessing he has told this info many times. Anyway, all of the pyramids were made of limestone with granite burial chambers, but the biggest one had this beautiful white limestone outercseing. In fact it was so beautiful people actually came and took it off the pyramid!!! Not cool. I've heard of tomb robbers, you know people who break into tombs and steal all the valuable gold stuff, but stealing the pyramid itself (haha)?!?!?! That's just wrong.

We also saw the Sphinx, which sits in front of the second largest pyramid. It was missing its nose and its beard..I guess when it decided to get rid of the beard the razor ran wild and shaved his nose off too......

All of these monuments were gorgeous, and so historical. Wanna know what else is gorgeous and historical?? Our hotel. It's on the banks of the Nile and built on the sight where Cleopatra's palace once stood. Our room has a gorgeous view, and, we have water beds!!! The room is themed like what Cleopatra's palace might have looked like. Although I doubt she had a water bed.

We decided to stay in Egypt for another week, so we could go see Queen Hatshepsut's temple. I managed to get us a privet tour!!!! It's amazing what giving someone homemade New York style cheesecake will do. Mia decided we should take a camel from Giza to Hatshepsut's temple....my estimation is it will take about 3 days to get there...which means about 3 days worth of sore butt. Oh well, we get to ride along the Nile so it should be pretty and the guide said

we can also take a quick (veerrrryyy quick) dip if we get to hot. Who cares about the Hippos and Crocodiles that could possible eat me? Oh and we get to meet a priestess of Isis, the queen goddess. She's going to tell us the legends of Isis, Orisis, his evil brother Set, and all the other gods and goddesses. But mostly those three. Well all for now, I'm going to go the the market and get some food, hopefully they have some chicken or something.....I heard a rumor they have rockin' desert.

Kelsey

No TP

Thailand is awesome accept for the fact that they don't use toilet paper. Keegan

Cody's Computer Finally Works!

Just a quick note that I have internet now.  This is the boat that Thomas and I will be traveling on. It's called the Hibiscus. We're picking it up in Canada. Cody