Beach life🐬🧜🏻‍♀️🐊🐠🦜🐚

Since our last blog we have moved from our holiday home in Orlando to exploring the coast. First we travelled to Sarasota. We took the scenic route as you can see where I have drawn it on the map.

We stopped at a shopping mall on the way so it was quite late when we got to the hotel. We went for a Chinese and we got to use chopsticks to eat our dinner. It was really fun but it took ages 😂

When we got up we decided to go to the beach but there’s loads of beaches so we picked the first one we came to. There was a sign to tell you about what the different coloured flags mean and if it is safe to swim. The flag was green so it was ok to swim but if it’s blue it means there might be sharks in the water 🦈 It was really fun and wet. I liked body surfing on the waves but it wasn’t deep enough to swim very well. The sand was white with lots of shells and it went on for miles and miles and miles and I thought it went on forever.

Then we went to get a drink because it was getting really hot.

Mum had found somewhere on her phone that was good for spotting Manatee’s so we walked there but we didn’t see any. We went along the coast a bit further to a nature reserve and found a park so Eliza and I had a play.

After this we we went on a walk through the nature reserve. We still didn’t see any manatees but we did see lots of geckos 🦎, some little burrows but we don’t know what lives in them and lots of other cool things like a giant seed or fruit and big tortoise burrows.

Just as as we were getting back to the car we saw 2 cheeky raccoons scavenging in the bins. One was eating a packet of crisps and the other got a Burger King.

Tonight we went for a swim in the pool at the hotel then went to a local restaurant on the beach for dinner. Mum says it’s a fisherman’s shack. There was a sign in the car park to look out for alligators but we didn’t see any. I’m really tired now so goodnight xxx

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Clearwater beach,swimming and a boat trip!

Today we started with a swim in the pool. We tested out my underwater camera and it was really good fun. Then we drove to Clearwater but the traffic was terrible so we went to the aquarium before the beach. This is where the Winter the dolphin from the film Dolphin Tale lives. She has a prosthetic tail that helps her to swim. We saw lots of animals and I touched a stingray and a sea urchin. It was really cool and the sea urchin felt like the tips of a hairbrush. After that we went on a boat trip to see if we could find dolphins in the wild. We didn’t see any but we saw lots of pelicans and an osprey nest and it was still fun because we got to play games too. We played bingo to find the things we could spot and I won a prize. We went to the beach and we couldn’t find anywhere to park because of all of the traffic. Eliza and I jumped out with Mum and had a play in the beach. We were still on the beach on the dark playing in the sand and it was sooo much fuuuuuun! There was lots going on at the beach when it got dark. There was a street market on the pier and lots of singers. We saw Elivis singing but it wasn’t the real one because Elivis Presley died on the toilet. Epic!

Our first wild Aligator and the snow moon.

We travelled to Florida but it was really long and now we are in Davenport near Orlando.

Today was a brilliant day! We were walking around Celebration and whilst we were walking I saw some people looking at something and one of them said that they saw an alligator or a snake. I had a look and saw an aligator. It was a baby aligator. I went to tell Mummy and Daddy and Eliza. Mummy took a epic picture but there was lots of rubbish in the water ☹️ We carried on around the lake and saw lots of birds, some turtles in the water and there were 3 baby turtles climbing on a log. After our walk we went to the cafe, I had a chocolate chip cookie, Eliza had a chocolate brownie. It tasted a bit sickly. Next we went back by the lake where there is a splash pad. I’ve been pestering to go there all day because I went there last time when I was 4 1/2. I got straight in with my clothes on 🤣 Eliza put her swimming costume on. When I came out I was drenched. On the way home we went to the shops to buy some food which was boring but then we got to go to the toy section. We got some blow up things for our swimming pool. When we got home we went in the pool. It was getting dark and the moon was super bright. Mum said she heard on the news that tonight is the snow moon. It’s the brightest moon on the year here in America.

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Chocolate Moose!

Today we went to explore the Tetons. We took a road through the woods and saw a bear and a moose.  It was amazing!

We went to Jenny Lake but we couldn’t get a canoe because the water is still too cold so we went on a boat trip.  I made a new friend on the boat and she gave me some of her Grizzly bear biscuit.  The boat was cool and I liked it when we went fast.

Then we went to Jackson and had a drink in the Cowboy cafe.  We had a look around and went in some of the shops.  In the middle there are 4 big arches made from real antlers.  Mummy bought me some flip-flops because I’ve been pestering for some for ages and they are really nice.

We had a Chinese for dinner and I used chopsticks.  I ate all of Mummy’s prawns (they call them shrimp here) and lots of Daddy’s beef.  At the end we all got a fortune cookie.

On the way home we went to look for more animals and we found a bald eagle.

 

Tesco

Yellowstone to Tetons

Today we headed off through Yellowstone and out of the south entrance. We stopped at Grand Prismatic Spring as we haven’t seen that yet. It was amazing. There were lots of colours, reds, oranges, browns, blues and lots of steam. The colours are made from different coloured bacteria called thermophiles. You are not allowed to throw anything in because it will block the geysers and spoil it for everyone else.

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On our way we saw a frozen lake. We looked on the map and it was called Lewis lake. We stopped to take a photo and I threw a snowball at daddy and put one up his t-shirt.

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Into the Tetons and Jackson lake

We stopped at Jackson lake for a picnic lunch. It was beautiful. I threw some stones in the lake.

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We got to the hotel in Driggs which is in a new state, Idaho and it has a pool so we all went swimming. We went to a pub for dinner and I made two new friends.

Goldilocks and the 3 bears!

Today when we stopped I realised I had my shoes on the wrong feet and my trousers on back to front. Mummy said that was typical Martha and took a picture.

We went to the Lower Falls again but the road is open now so I saw it from the other side. We walked down a very big, steep hill and got to stand right next to the waterfall. It was amazing.

We went to look at more Geysers at Mammoth and we saw a black bear on the way. It was a long way away but we could see it on mummy’s camera. There were some Bison in the road and it was a traffic jam.

The geysers at Mammoth were cool. It was like being on another planet.

We saw some Elk lying in a field.

We walked down another big hill and Mummy and Eliza saw some bear hair. Daddy and I saw a ground squirrel. Daddy said it was a chipmunk but I said it was a ground squirrel. Daddy didn’t believe me until I showed him my book. I was right!

We stopped again to look at the view and saw a man with a spotting scope. We asked what he was looking at and there was some pronghorn on the cliff and they had just had a baby.

We stopped at the north entrance. It’s called the Roosevelt entrance. We stopped at the 45th parallel. This is half way between the equator and the North Pole. It was by a cool river with lots of rapids.

There were lots of nice views today because we did the upper ring road where there are less people. It was a long day and Mummy said you see lots of wildlife as it gets to the evening. Then we saw 2 coyote more Elk and a grizzly bear with 2 cubs. It was amazing and then best bit so far. I was so excited!

Geyser girls!

Today we went to look at Geysers on the West side of Yellowstone.  We went to look at Old Faithful again and did a very long walk around all the other Geysers around there.  I saw lots of different poo so I took pictures of lots of it so I could check what animal did it.  You aren’t allowed to go off the paths in case the ground is on fire but some animals had and we saw their tracks on the ground.  The Geysers were lots of different colours like a rainbow.  We went to look at a waterfall and we all had a picture.  I don’t want to write any more tonight because I’m very tired.

Oh and I took a picture of a Bison and it stated to do a poo so I checked the camera and I took a picture of it.

Each night we upload the pictures from Martha’s camera and there are lots of funny videos she has taken of herself whilst sitting in the back of the car.  Unfortunately at the moment our wifi signal isn’t strong enough to upload video but we hope to add some later on in the trip.

Dinosaur Grrrr!

Today we went to the Museum of the Rockies. It was brilliant because we got to look at dinosaurs and crocodiles. There was a crocodile part with real crocodiles, an olden days part, a dinosaurs part and a geology part. I went in the gift shop and bought some pretty rocks, one was a crystal, one a peacock stone and one a geode. Eliza bought some dinosaur shaped rocks. We went into the planetarium to watch a programme about space and time and gravity. My favourite part of the museum was when I got my rocks.

After that we went to a cool cafe that had a bison head on the wall. I had soup and some homemade bread and I got a cake to take with me.

We drove back to West Yellowstone and we are staying in a new wooden cabin. It has a toilet and shower, not like the other one. We have sent Daddy out for Cheesy Pizza and we are playing outside.

On our way here we stopped because Daddy thought he saw a bear but it was just a monument. We also stopped to see people white water rafting on the rapids. I really want to have a go but Mummy and Daddy said we’ll have to see as the rivers are really high with all the snow melting and going into them. They said I might have to go on a gentle river but I told them I would be fine on the river we saw the grown ups on.

West Yellowstone is at about 2000m above sea level and almost exactly halfway between the equator and the North Pole. The coldest it’s ever been here is -54 degrees Celsius.

 

Old Faithful (Daddy’s new nickname!)

We left Cody to go to Bozeman today but we decided to go through Yellowstone rather than the boring way.  First we went to a big waterfall it was very epic. It’s called The Lower Falls and the place we watched it from is called Artists point. We couldn’t go to the other side of the waterfall as they are digging up the road. Eliza thought this was very funny as they dig up the road in Peppa Pig and she keeps doing the voice where it says ‘we’re digging up the road’ ‘it will take as long as it takes’. She does this in a funny voice like Mr Bull.

On our way around we saw lots of animals. Lots more Bison, a fox but mummy couldn’t get a picture before it ran away, a bird of Prey (we need to look it up in a book) and big horn sheep.

We saw lots of geysers and stopped at old faithful in case it was about to go off. We got there just in time and saw it explode. A geyser works from under the ground water is on hot rocks. The rocks get hot from the volcanos lava. When it gets too hot lots of water and steam shoots out of the little hole like a big fountain.  On our way back to the car Mummy said to let go of her hand as I was messing about and she had Eliza on her back. I said to Daddy ‘can I hold your hand Old Faithful’ and everyone laughed very hard. So Mummy said that can be Daddy’s new nickname.

We stopped at the continental divide. The continent is split in half like a cake and if you pour water on one side it runs to the Pacific Ocean and the other to the Gulf of Mexico. In Yellowstone there is a bit of the divide that goes in a bit of a circle and the water flows around and then goes out in the opposite side.

We’ve moved into another state now called Montana and it’s really nice with lots of mountains. Mummy is going to tell you about it.

Oh I forgot. I’ve been having big waffles for breakfast with lots of syrup on them and they are very yummy.

Montana facts from Mummy

• Montana is at the top of America and shares a border with Canada.
• The highest point is Granite peak 3905m.
• The animal of Montana is the Grizzly Bear.
• It’s slogan is ‘Big Sky Country’.
• Montana has the largest migratory Elk herd in America.
• Montana has the largest grizzly bear population in the lower 48 states.
• The Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman gained fame through the work of its chief paleontologist, Jack Horner. Horner was the prototype for the character Dr. Alan Grant in the best selling novel/movie, “Jurassic Park.”
• Just south of Billings, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his troops made their last stand. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument features the Plains Indians and United States military involved in the historic battle.
• Montana’s name comes from the Spanish word mountain.
• The most visited place in Montana is Glacier National Park, known as the crown jewel of the continent. It lies along Montana’s northern border and adjoins Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada, forming the world’s first International Peace Park.

Old Faithful has a webcam where you can watch it live. Here’s the link! https://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldfaithfulstreaming.html