Trip is almost over and we have to return the RV and get on the road by 4pm at the latest. We are on the home stretch to Denver after traveling through plains, deserts, along the coast, and up and down many mountains. Coming up the last mountain in the Rockies the RV slows and stops. Eventually we got going but it put us back an hour and a half. Then the person who is supposed to meet us at at 6pm can't get there until 730. We play football in the parking lot and ghost ride the RV to keep us occupied. Finally we are on our way at 8pm but wait!!! the window won't go back up we can't ride 1500 miles home with the passenger side window open the whole way!! Stop at home depot for plexi glass. (Of course we already have duct tape on hand that we used to keep the RV side view mirror attached). We got the "replacement" window in and were on our way by 9:30 sharp. Sounds like the beginning of the trip doesn't it? Paulson did an excellent job of driving through Colorado and much of Nebraska until 3:30am while I kept holding the window from blowing out every time we passed a truck. We had to keep pulling over so put more duct tape on the window. What a pain!!! Then Emily kept us going until we got close to Chicago while Paul baby sat the window Great job! Now we are on our way to Valpo where I went to school and I get to bust my brain trying to remember way back then and where everything is sure to drive everyone else crazy!!!!! Later Bev

Coming Home.

Woke up this morning at 3:30 when one of my favorite siblings opened up the car door and started poking me. So I crawled to the passengers seat, half asleep, as Mom drove through Nebraska, only to stop at a truck stop 15 minutes later to find more tape for the window (the passenger's window rolled all the way down but not back up 2 minutes after getting it back from the RV guys...fishy...so it is temporarily covered with a sheet of plastic and loads of duct tape.) And from there, I took over the wheel and drove through Nebraska and Iowa, powered by Mountain Dew and Peanut M&Ms. 10 hours later, Dad takes over the wheel and drives us into his old hometown and then into Chicago. It brought back memories of our highschool band and orchestra trip senior year and reminded me how much I love Chicago, and that I actually miss band and highschool..loser? maybe. Bucket List Addition: Live in an apartment in Chicago for a year. -Emily

Elmhurst, 60126

So we knew for a while before leaving on vacation that on the return trip we would try to shoot through Chicago on the way. I spent some time online researching the neighborhood that we lived in till the age of nine, and was pretty sure that not much would be left after 40 years. One thing that I wanted to do was to go to Q's pizza in Hillside Ill, which was the favorite takeout place back in the day. It was still there and still as it was then, although the pizza was not as amazing as I remembered....local neighborhood shop has raised the bar.

KInd of by accident, we wound up in the vicinity of the boyhood home, so on a whim I decided to try to find it. We went around the block a few times and then at the last moment found the right area , the right street and YES! the right house. I was wired like a fool and kinda charged the place with camera in hand. It turns out that I met the guy whose parents bought the house from my folks. Thay are refurbing the little place instead of ripping it down and putting up a rich-people house like a lot of the houses on the block. We got to go in and explore the place....the kids got to crawl through tha attic passage from one bedroom to the other just like we did when we were kiddos. How crazy. Sometimes you can go home.....and home is like it should be.-Paul

A Sad Day..

I bought one thing this year that I really really REALLY wanted. Something that would make my life 13 times better than it previously had been. Nike Shocks. White, silver, and baby blue. I loved these shoes so so much. Mostly because they wiped out a paycheck, and I felt obligated to love them. But also, because these shoes were my motivation to go to the gym. Go to the gym, and get to wear the new kicks. Well, I may have gone to the gym 2 times wearing these shoes. Anyways, I took every opportunity to wear them and pretend to look semi-athletic, even though everyone and their brother knows that it is a lie. Well, today, Those shiny white Nikes bit the dust. Literally. Zion National Park in Utah owned my shoes today. So I tried cleaning them off by walking through the river. Probably equally as bad of an idea as hiking miles of sandy, rocky, muddy trails. But all that set aside, I had a really good time! ***Emily

things that go bump in the night

Well as you can tell we haven't anything really funny happen on our trip but there have been a couple interesting things in the middle of the night.

The night we got back from the zoo and bragged about drinking about 10 zoo cups of every kind of soda they have someone wet the bed drenched more like........fortunately the bed had lots of blankets to soak up the filtered pop substance

Allison has been up wandering in her sleep a couple times the night we got into Las Vegas she had been sleeping in the bedroom of the rv and then came up front when she woke up crawled into Paul's lap in the passengers seat but she didn't stop there she kept going and climbed right up onto the dash board( its a mighty big dash board so she could really get up into the windshield) she never woke up

Last night Audrey reported that she got up and sat on the end of their bed for a long time again in her sleep

Paul reports that Paulson said "Dude! You can't go down there" probably dreaming about cliffs of Zion Canyon and Emily reports that the night before he said Duuuude!!! Its good for you!" and then twisted to crack his back again in his sleep.

so I had better go line the dashboard with pillows and lock the door tight nighty night I am becoming sad that our wanderings will soon come to an end. We had such a great day at Zion today We met a couple from Birmingham in the parking lot and hung out with them all day. We had fun together, but they split as soon as we decided it was time to go swimming in the river. That was such a blast. We are going to try to meet up in Bryce Canyon tomorrow. Bev

Intimidating

One of the amazing places we went in Las Vegas was the Louis Vitton store. The interior design was so awesome. Honestly, I am not so terribly impressed with his line but I really tried to look interested for Emily's sake so we could have a mother/daughter bonding moment. I also felt pressured to seem seriously intent for the sales clerks who were stationed at every turn. Of course sales clerks is totally the wrong choice of words but when it comes right down to it that's what they are. Anyways, it seemed like there was one for each item in the store. They were impeccably dressed and poised and they glared with that look in their eye like oh geek as if these low lifes could afford our Louis's Why are they wasting our time. I really tried for a while ....until I looked down at my feet and saw my dirty tennis shoes and knew that I didn't even have to try to pretend they knew they knew So I gave up and just blatantly ogled over the design of the store and pranced outta there!!! If my batteries werent shot I would have whipped out my camera and taken pictures

at Walmart

We went into Walmart. We went to subway and we got some sandwiches and after I asked my mom if I could get new shoes she said "I'm gonna go tell Dad" Then we went to the shoe isle. We looked at some tennis shoes. Mom said that some of the shoes were too heavy. Mom said that we should get $3.oo shoes I got shoes like Mr Rogers i got shoes that are blue. the first time I wore them the bottoms got very dirty. THEYRE DISGUSTING! but I like them they're disgusting but I like them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Vegas was amazing and I touched palm trees ummm We went to a hotel The hotel had 6 pools but 4 of them were regular pools and two were hot tubs one I couldnt really stand in so I had to stand on my tip toes. It was hard to swim. They had a water slide I went down about 50 times.also my dad went down with me a couple times. Sometimes I went down backwards and sometimes I went down forwards The hotel was like a giant mansion but looks like a castle We saw a white lady of liberty I call it lady of liberty's cousin We also saw Eiffel tower there's an elevator inside so you can get up top. We saw the Bellagio fountain it did crazy things....... before that my dad got 2 bottles of ice cold water for only 2 dollars When we got back to the hotel area it was good because there was a flat escalator that went up for a while and then went flat. In our room was a lamp 2 beds a giant tv a safe that was in a dresser, a bathroom a shower a chair that had a foot rest on it, a shelf a window that you look at the pool, one of the pools had 3 big water falls and 20 little tiny water falls in it,,,,,,, allison (as told to mom)

Oh my gosh...I didn;t hate it!

If I'm not careful, one day I will be dragged into that dark recess of my spirit, otherwise known as the world of Disney. This is a moment of introspection the day after visiting Vegas for the first time. I knew that I was gonna hate it.....the problem is that somewhere between the glitzy, noisy surface and the undercurrents of darkness is a thriving world of absolute entertainment. Would you believe that the entire city of Paris is stuffed into the underbelly of a casino.....cool shops, cafes, cobblestones....the Eiffel tower in semi-miniature. How cool. The dancing fountains outside Bellagio were mesmerizing. If I was a little more tech savvy, i'd figure out how to post a video or something. Maybe one of the kids will post one.
Tomorrow we are going to squeeze in a Zion National or Bryce canyon hiking extravaganza. It's gotta be along a river though, because it has been blasting hot the last couple days. Then maybe off to Aspen to bring the voyage in the belly of the whale to a close.-Paul

Vegas

GPS is an amazing tool and has helped us navigate all over the place. However everyone has their story about how relying on it has led them astray. Well things were going so well that we just started plugging in the destinations and that's how we missed the Giant Sequoias. There may have been a prompt but I was entering something and apparently missed a prompt. No problem there are two entrances. Problem!! Construction at the other entrance prevented us from entering the park. As Emily mentioned we never did see them except for just some "regular sized" ones at Yosemite. So off to Vegas. You have to drive during the night to avoid the heat. We arrive at 2:30am and found our way around to see the lights. At 3:30 we are at the local Walmart which I know is a bad idea, but we have nowhere to hang out until time to get a place to stay. These big rigs do have a generator to run electricity when you cant plug in but then there's the exhaust fumes and you can't run the generator more than 3 hours at a time. It was so hot all we could do is lay in puddles of our own sweat and pant. Finally it was time to come up with the plan. Staying at the Excalibur pretty cool place. The pools area with a dj is amazing and everyone is bopping and singing. The casino area stinks of cig smoke and the people at the machines and tables all looked depressed. We had a great time last night walking around and seeing all the amazing sights. Now we are trying to pack and get back down to the pool before we leave for Bryce Canyon. Bev

A String of Failure.

Current Location: Las Vegas. Parked outside the local Starbucks for wifi. yesss

Yesterday we drove to Giant Sequoia National Monument to see some big trees. Fail-13 feet over the max. vehicle limit during construction. Next stop, Giant Sequoia National Forest. You would think by the name that this place would be filled with Giant Sequoias. Major Fail-It consists of mountains, desert, and really strange looking cacti. There's 2 days and a lot of driving wasted. So we stopped at a nasty muddy lake to cool off and then headed into the desert overnight. Reached Vegas around 1:30 and drove through the strip. It really is beautiful at night! Then, Walmart for the night...and here we are! More on Vegas soon! -em

P.S. sitting in a parkinglot in an RV at 99 degrees is just about as fun as it sounds.

what would you wanna be?

beautiful cove on Rt. 1
Elephant Seals on the Beach!

So when we are not staying overnight at Walmart or hanging out in church parking lots, we look for places to stay that having electricity and wifi so we can recharge the p c's, d s's, itouch's, camera's, cell phones, all the important things we need to keep in touch with everyone at home. Of course these things also keep us from connecting with one another. And we have to watch The Office (well the parts that are clean anyways). So although I am the one catering to our "needs" by picking out the campsites I have started to announce that if we don't put the gadgets away we are not going to stay in such accomodating facilities. So now we are on the edge of Yosemite National Park. The drive up here is phenomenal and I drove it myself. Paul only yelped twice!! As soon as we got here the kids piled out and started a fire. We sat around the fire and had some great hang out time. We were disputing some really tough subjects like while did God make certain animals, take the platypus for instance, what purpose could they possibly serve other than for God to show creativity by coming up with bizarre animals that can lay eggs------- Things were starting to heat up when Allison took charge and announced that we were going to go around clockwise and say what animal we would be if we could and why

Paulson had to start: black leopard because they are powerful and strong.

then Paul: a blue whale because they are magnificent and everyone would be trying to get a look at me

Bev: a river otter because they are great swimmers and seem to have some much fun and good personalities .

Allison: a penguin what type? a Macaroni penguin because they like to swim and walk like this and I don't like to eat fish but then I would get to,

Audrey: An elephant because they are really smart and don't forget anything or a gorilla not the crazy one at the zoo that crashed into the glass but a teenaged one since I am. That would be fun

Emily: I would not be an animal because I don't like animals that much when pressed ----said she would be that large rodent a Capybara because when they come out of the water their hair looks "as nice" as when they went in!


The list of animals that we would not want to be a centipede or roach everyone would want to kill you, buffalo because of all the matted hair and flies, mosquito again for obvious reasons, a pig because of all the slop, a molting elephant seal (if you saw them on the beach like we did on Rt 1 you would understand this right away)

Maybe you had to be there but it was pretty funny. And then we went in the rv to watch The Office

Falling Apart.

Paulson invited Audrey to his Grad Party. I didn't get invited. I'm ticked. -Emily

California Squirrels

Greetings loved ones, lets take a journey. Theres this place on Highway 1, where the sand is really whiter. Crisp, clean and wide, the waves crash with icy water. Lookin' at some holes, at the bottom of the sand dunes. Little kids beg their moms, to sneak a peak at the creatures.(rodents)

You could travel the world but nothing comes close to this squirrelly coast. Make sure you bring some snacks and look for the tiny tracks

California squirrels

They're unforgettable
Grey and Brown
Their fur so soft
Watching them eat

Those nuts
Will melt you're little heart
Oooooh oh oooooh

*also there were elephant seals spooning on the beach

-paulson

The Worst Idea Ever!!!!

This morning, about ten minutes ago, Momma Domasky decided that it would be a good idea to let Emily and I cook breakfast. Ok, let me start at the beginning. Emily and I spend the mornings on the same schedule. This includes waking up and showering pretty much. Well today, the rest of the family had a little trick to get us to work. Mother, Father, and Allison woke up and went to the beach without us while we were in the shower. Now they are cleaning up while they put us in charge of breakfast. Sly dogs. This may not sound bad, but Emily and I are not that good at cooking. Sausage is harder to cook than it sounds. Oh good, Pappa just walked in the door. And now Paulson is making fun of us for not being able to cook sausage....what a nice person. -Audrey

Mom, Dad, Emily, Paulson, Audrey, and I went to the San Diego Zoo. We saw flamingos, tigers, bears, ducks, hippos, polar bears, gorillas, bunny, hors. the baby gorilla was crazy .

Walmart and McDonald's, Failing us yet Again..

WELCOME TO CALIFOR-NI-YAYYYYY! First stop: Sandiego to see Russ, Brenda, and their newest little addition, Kiera Giselle! She's freaking adorable! We got the biggest pancakes you've ever seen. literally, twice the size of my face. That night we parked in the church lot across from their apt. and had them over for pizza dinner in the RV! No, probably 3 times. Then, the zoo! It really is HUGE and tons of fun!

The next night we stop at Walmart to shop and spend the night in the parkinglot. We go in and turns out, we're the only non-hispanic family in the place. So naturally, we finish shopping and go back to the parkinglot and turn on The Office while Mom makes chipotle-style burritos mmmmmm. Mid burrito-eating, there's a knock on the door. The man in the Securitas vehicle kicks us out and makes us go behind the shady mexican restraunt. Okay, we're going to die tonight. Kidding. We wake up in the morning and run to Mickey D's to get WiFi. Well, if you're going to advertise WiFi, you'd better actually have WiFi. Vipers. The only good thing left about McDonalds is the Sweet Tea.

-Emmmmm

Here we are in beautiful San Diego!! Well not as sunny as we thought it would be. Yesterday we stood on the beach and waited for the sun to come out. It didn't. The water is beautiful and so is Encinitis. We arrived at Russ and Brenda's church in time for baby Kiera's dedication. So that was really cool especially to see them and meet Russ's parents. Now we are going to the San Diego Zoo. Yeah. Later Gators After while Crocodile Tootaloo Kangaroo.... I was just told I can't write any of that yeah well... Bev

BECOMING A JUNIOR RANGER!!!!!!!

Yesterday, Emily, Paulson, Audrey, and I went to a ranger station. I asked Mom if we could get a ranger book so we got the ranger books(it's a book of nature and stuff about the park we went to called Petrified Forest National Park). We had to do a crossword puzzle and match the animals and write a story. After the packet we went to another ranger station and we gave the desk lady our packets and she looked over them and after she checked them she gave us badges and pins and we had to put our right hand up and it was kindof like a ceremony. Emily said, "This is not real" I was really happy because I get to be a Junior Ranger! So like if people steal wood that belongs to the park, you should say, "Ummm, you should give that back to the park!" -allison

Lies, Deception, and Harry Potter.

Today we drove through the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. There was a lot of driving. Sooooooo I finished reading books 2 and 3 of Harry Potter in the last 2 days. Lame, I know. But when I think Petrified after reading HP, I'm thinking some magical, crazy weird place. But its a bunch of lies. Why do they even call it that? PETRIFIED FOREST my butt. Where is the forest? Nowhere. There's a bunch of sand and pebbles and grass. For miles. Then finally we find the petrified logs. Okay, I will admit they were cool for the first 2.7 minutes. Then you realized that you're really ridiculously hot in the middle of the desert without water. FUN!(If you're a camel or an idiot)

Oh, then on the other hand, there's the Painted Desert surrounding the 'forest'. Maybe Van Gogh's Starry Night is great, and Rembrandt is fantastic, but God deserves a ton more credit for this piece of art. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Yeah, its still freaking hot out, but even driving by it is very refreshing to realize these beautiful mountains in the midst of desert.

Well now we're at a really nice RV park near the Grand Canyon, and headed out there tomorrow morning. So ta ta for now! -Emily

You disappoint me..

Dear Gallup, New Mexico, you are lucky you have so many adorable prairie dogs along the side of the road, or i would say some mean things about your dump of a city.. -paulson

Convenience Kits

cruisin on the edge. ahhhhhh!!!!!

65 mph mac n cheese. extra cheesey.

Rant???!!! Please!! more like keenly observant and eloquently verbal.

When we told some people that we were taking an RV trip out west, some of the guys exclaimed that they have always wanted to do that but that their wives not so much. Well here's some great reasons to take a family trip in an RV.

1. Use your creativity: The RV's are equipped with convenience kits. Ours consists of a few pots and a small skillet. A set of "china" for 6 -with only a few chips in it a tray of silverware, and 3 plastic utensils a ladle, a flipper, and a spaghetti scoop. So you need to be creative to prepare meals for 6 and the dishes need to be "done" up as soon as you use them or that's it. Yes, of course there is disposable but that doesn't work well for steak.

If your bed is an air mattress that you blow up each night and there is no blower upper thingy you can stuff the extra pillows inside of the mattress each night and then unstuff in the a.m.

2. When you need help with something, there's no need to text or search for kids. Everyone is within a couple arms length away. Now you may still have to call a couple times, but that doesn't change no matter what.

3. Cleaning up the RV is very easy and quick there's just not enough space to leave things in so everyone needs to keep their stuff in their own space or there is no where to sit.

4. No more massive loads of laundry remember the 10 I mentioned that I did last Fri just to get out of the house? Well I did three loads today and I am done. No one throws clean clothes in the pile and no one is worrying about wearing items more than once. Now every so often you do need remind certain people to do so.

5. Its so novel to cook and work around the kitchen area that everyone wants to play house.

Well that's a few of the benefits maybe more later. We gots to get outta here and go see the Grand Canyon and Painted Desert. Right now we are in New Mexico at a campground named USA RV park and its the best one we've been to and the cheapest. The desert is the back yard here really cool stuff!!

Celebrating Duct Tape

Though it may seem to be a rant here at the beginning, it is only going to be for a minute. So we get done swimming at the Hot Springs, come out to the parking lot to load up and find that someone has knocked the rear view mirror off the whale. Bev finds a friendly soul to supply us with Duct tape and later at the gas station, "bailin' Warr" to repair the mirror. Of course, for the last two days, all I can see through it is the lines on the road rushing by. Yay duct Tape!!

We came down US 550 yesterday, and it was the most amazing ride. really high mountains, falls, gorges....all the Colorado vacation stuff in 75 miles. I was fascinated by the mining around Red Mountain. I'll have to research that and see what kind of mines...I'm thinking silver tin and lead probably. We are at the Rt 66 USA campground this morning and are headed out shortly for a day of sightseeing. Later, all.-Paul