Home!

After we had packed we set off for the very last time and were on our way to the airport. We drove down the windy road and parked near the airport. I heaved my backpack on my back and walked next to Granny to the entrance. I dumped my suitcase on the X-ray board it gobbled the case up and went through to the other side, no problems.

Granny and I said goodbye to Ben, then headed off to the section where we take off for the plane. I sat down and plugged my headphones into my ears with music singing away. 2 hours later, time to go, I got up and walked with Granny then stopped in the queue of people lined up ready to take off to L.A.

I hopped on the plane and sat myself down. I looked out of the window thinking this might be my last time seeing Utah. The plane rumbled and we took off into the air. We flew along but at about half way a spectacular sight came into veiw I quickly got out the camera and soon was clicking some photos. The fire made a path up into the clouds leaving only smoke. The sun was shining behind the smoke which made it jump out more than anything else. The fire I had seen
from the helicopter with Ben the previous day, still burning.

We passed the smoke and I settled down into my seat and in about 2 hours we had made it to the next airport, LA. We unloaded I grabbed all my stuff and headed off the plane, then Granny and I headed for our bags we soon had to go through security, then away we went again. We dumped the bags again on the X-ray machine. Then left and made our way to the 2nd security where I dumped my backpack down. I walked through an arch then looked at the people looking at the X-ray. In about 20 seconds all the security people had gathered around looking at the X-ray. What's wrong with bags? My question was soon answered when my bag came out. They asked me if the bag was mine and I nodded. They opened my bag and looked inside. And brought out all the fossils, unwrapped them then wrapped them up again.

Granny had caught up with me and we went to the number 23 A, where I seated myself down. The backpack was killing my back so I took it off. 11kg on my back for almost 11 hours now arrgghh but I guess it's worth it to get my fossils home.

We waited and waited for our plane until finally it had arrived we boarded on moving with the flow of the crowd. Then made ourselves comfy and put our bags under the seat. We had soon settled in and got ourselves ready for the trip.

After about 40 minutes the plane took off and away we went into the air awaiting our arrival at New Zealand. I put my headphones on then settled in to watch a movie. Scrolling through the movies to find a good one then clicked on one called EPIC! It was Epic! At around 10:00 I had to go to sleep, so I closed my eyes then drifted off. I was soon awakened by a screaming baby then tried to go back to sleep but very time I did it woke me up. I decided to ignore it and watched a movie.

In about 3 hours we had arrived. I got all my stuff and waited in line for everyone to hop out of the plane. We walked with everyone and I looked at the city it felt amazing we were finally in New Zealand.

I set my watch back to the exact time and then saw that it was 5:00am then I remembered its a different time zone. So another 3 hours of waiting until the next plane. YAY!

I sat down and started on my blog. But was soon so hungry so ate some MC. We walked to the next airport then again set off to the plane. We had made it onto the very last plane and took off for home!

We arrived at Taupo and waited to see mum. After a while she came and we greeted each other and hugged. Max and jenna came to meet me too. We decided to have lunch at burger fuel. Yum. We chatted about everything then after our tummies were full drove to Napier. On the way we chatted about all that happened until we got to home.

It's good to be back! I love Utah but I think I love home best!

Last day in Park City and Night flight to watch the Fires Burn

I woke up in the morning drowsy like a frog with a sore throat. I knew what we were going to do today. So off I went downstairs to find breakfast again awaiting me. I popped outside to see Granny and asked her if she had a good sleep,"yes" she said. We sat in the morning sun warming our bodies till I finally I got up and went out to the car. 

I waited for Granny and sure enough she came out with the car keys. I opened the boot and we began digging through our pile of rocks and fossilised findings, to decide which ones we could take home. 

Ben came out and helped us trim some of the weight off the rocks. He was very helpful and probably cut loose almost a bucketful of rock. We chipped away and soon were face to face with our selection of fossils. Then the packing began with a box of bubble wrap and a roll of tape, each one getting its own blanket of bubble wrap.

When we worked out how much we were able to take home, we packed our bags and took time out for the very last swim at the school pool. It was a very relaxing dip until some screaming children came in. Granny who was reading on her iPad, quickly covered her ears and blocked out the sound, and as for me I was under water most of the time jumping off the diving board.

About an hour later we headed down town to find "THE CAR WASH!" The car was usually white but we had some problems up at Yellowstone and the car was now a bit brown. We ordered an Ultra Clean, the full works. First the guy hosed us down with a water blaster then we moved on towards the BRUSHES! Scary! We then were rinsed off and moved towards the roomful of dryers, for a blast of hot air. The door then lifted and we were clean to go.

We headed off to the Park City Alpine Slide when suddenly Granny looked behind her and saw clouds of billowing smoke rising over the hills. The fire had made its way towards houses and was really burning fast but there was nothing we could do.

As we were driving towards the Alpine Slide a line of 8 Porsche Panamera S cars pulled up beside us at the lights. They were really fancy and must have been worth trillions of dollars!

Away we went to the Alpine Slide, got our tickets and went up the chairlift. We saw people on zip lines and all sorts of other things but we were going on the slide! At the top we had to drag our sleds over to the start of the slide. I looked at the track and soon was away down the slide, leaving Granny far behind. I zoomed round the corners and up and down dips and in no time at all we were at the bottom!

We made our way back home for dinner and found that Ben was going back to work to cover the fires again, this time for the 10:00pm News. He asked if I would like to come too. You bet! This will be my first night flight and to a fire. At the hanger we met the photographer and set out for the fire. We took off downtown and up over the mountains to Park City.

We could see the redness of the sky and as we got closer we could see the flames. Ben quickly shushed me up and was soon doing an interview live on the News! After that we returned back to the hanger and were soon back on the road home. My eyes were sleepy and I fell fast asleep after an exciting day!

Snow Basin

Monday morning, only 3 more days until we go home, better make the most of it. We set off to visit Snow Basin, where Ben, Jess and Grandad had worked at the 2002 Winter Olympics. On the way there we went through a valley that was an earthquake fault where the tectonic plates pushed the land up in different directions. It looked very dramatic!

As we drove up the road to Snow Basin we could see some of the trails where the skiers raced the Downhill and Super G, it was very steep. Along we went up the road until we came across the fancy buildings where the Cafes and service area for the Olympics, we also saw the workshop where Ben and Grandad worked. After had a good look around we decided to go and see the Hill Air Force Museum down they  valley in Ogden.

Off we went down the mountain road, I looked back and the mountain looked amazing we quickly stopped and got some good photos, then set off again towards the planes. We came up to the entrance of the museum but when I saw the sign saying it was closed, that was disappointing, so i pulled out a fantastic face! To my disappointment we weren't going to be able to come back here so we took a few pictures through the fence of the planes and then drove on to Salt Lake City.

We stopped at the Apple store where Granny wanted to go and see if she could get help by some people. I used one of the computers to register for Mathletics and was soon punching in answers. It was so awesome to be back on to Mathletics on such a fancy computer!

After about an hour we made our way quickly back to the car because we had to be home at 5:00 to see Jess's boss Tanner Hall who was coming to dinner. We rushed to our car and tried to get out of the parking lot! We finally found the exit and zoomed along the highway that's when we got a call from Ben. Granny chatted away to Ben about his day and he said " you don't need to hurry home because Tanner's plans have changed and he can't come to dinner."  Sadly I didn't get to meet him, but I did see two movies about him, he is an awesome skier.

So we went home and I got onto Ben's computer and did some more Mathletics, it felt really good. After a delicious dinner I plonked myself  down to watch a movie,  called James Bond Sky Fall, it was a fantastic movie and when we had finished it was already bed time. So I climbed up stairs and went off to sleep, with my mind counting the days till we leave.

2!

Tour of Utah.

My eyes fluttered open, trying to push the sleep out of them, but then I fell back to sleep. Again my eyes opened and this time I got up. I yawned then looked at my watch, 9:30am, that's a bit later than usual. I walk down stairs and eat some delicious breakfast that Granny had quickly made. 

Ben asked me if I would like to fly in the helicopter with him to see all the final stage of the Tour of Utah, America's toughest stage race for cyclists. I instantly said "yes". So at 10:00am we went to his hanger. Once we had got there he got out the helicopter with a machine called a dolly and filled up the tank. Soon afterwards James, the cameraman for KSL TV, came along to do some filming of the cyclists for the news. We all got ready then hopped in and set off to find the cyclists. We flew down to the town of Midway at the bottom of Empire Pass which is where we found the leaders of the bike race.

We hovered over them about 500 feet in the air getting some pictures. We soon had to land and get out of the way of another helicopter. We waited for 15 minutes then took off again. The first person had made it to the top of the and was then going down but the others came up and were faster on the downhill and passed the first place guy. Zooming down hill, at a speed of 110 km an hour, would have been a bit scary, al least I couldn't do that! 

The hill came to an end and a very sharp corner was at the bottom, they sped around the corner and were heading straight for the finish. Giving it their all they had soon crossed the line and over drawings on the road the race was 125 km long.

After we had got some footage of the cyclists we headed back towards the hanger. After a while of flying we landed and I hopped out then stretched and walked over to some cool shade. I waited for Ben and after we had packed up we set off on the road to Park City. When we got home I was hot and bothered and plonked myself right in front of the fan.

It had been a great day and after dinner, had to have a shower and then went straight off to bed. A good cycling day!

This is the Tour Of Utah!

Big catch!

After breakfast in Pinedale, I had a dip in the hotel pool and then we set out for Kemmerer. It was a long boring drive through high desert with nothing much to see. Just outside of Kemmerer we visited the Fossil Butte National Monument Museum. We saw lots of fish fossils and a crocodilian fossil as well as fossil plants. 

We decided to go look for fossils ourselves and we drove around to the other side of the Butte. The last part was on a very bumpy dirt road and then down a very steep hill. We arrived at Warfield Fossils quarry at 2:00. 

We paid our money, they gave us special chisel point hammers and very thin chisel's and off we went to the quarry face. I started smacking away the rocks at a 90 degree angle. The type of rock had been compressed down over millions of years was very soft and at the top of the sedimentary layers the rock was powdery. I started at the bottom where the rock was harder and had caught a fish within about 20 minutes. I only had part of the fish the rest was in the other layer of rock.

The fish were very fragile and we broke a lot of them. Still smacking our way through the different rock moving up the face of the quarry. I soon found out they most of the fish were on the bottom because at the top was the most recent layer and the fish had been covered by rock on the lake bed. I found some ribs of a fish that was huge!

After some hard work under the heat of the sun, smacking the fish, with sweat running down our faces, we loaded up. And set off with our fossilised fish  jiggling around in the back trying to get out. 

Granny and I made our way back home and hopped out. I looked at the car. Dirt everywhere! We got the rocks and gently put them in our room with newspaper wrapped around them. 

We went down for dinner and munched away at some corn. Yum! After watching a science movie called CSI Miami I closed my eyes and went out like a light.

A good day of fossilised fishing.

He(a)rd Of Bison

We headed off on the road, full of breakfast and ready for another new adventure in Yellowstone. The morning brought a new day of exciting things. Along the road we went leaving only our footprints behind on trails that we walked.

We saw some amazing sights that startled our eyes but had to keep moving going as there was so much to see and do. The geysers burst out of the ground exploding high into the air and drifting off into the wind. The tallest geyser in the world is Steamboat geyser which erupted to 300 Feet high on the 31st of July with a huge roar. The sun sucked up the water and the water vapour drifted into the air with the gasses. Smelly rotten egg! Yuck! But it does remind me of the thermal places in New Zealand. 

At the Morning Glory pool we walked past bubbling water that was coloured deep blue, by minerals. It was a fantastic sight. We walked through forest that had been burnt by fires, some made by lightening others by humans. Fires are very good in this place for these Lodgepole pines because the fire melts gum on the pinecones allowing them to release their seed.

We drove on to Mammoth Hot Springs and saw a vast white terrace. The steam was erupting from the ground everywhere you looked, we got some amazing photos. We finished the walk then hopped back into the car.

On we went along the road until the traffic suddenly slowed. We crawled along for a bit, then as we went round the next bend we saw a herd of bison on both side of the road. Huge fury animals were taking no notice of the traffic staring at them. They came so close and were on the road holding up the traffic and were even trotting through the parking lot! We spent some time looking at these great beasts roaming freely wherever they want. They just stood staring at the traffic and then soon turned their backs not caring.

Slowly but gradually we moved down the road taking photos along the way. Then, after we had passed most of the bison the traffic sped up and away we went down the road into the evening light. The aspen trees quivered in the sunlight. Granny and I passed the huge cold  Yellowstone Lake making our way slowly to the south exit.

I looked out the window at the last of the landscape but soon it had vanished behind the trees. We zoomed around the corner and soon were at the exit. We had made it out of Yellowstone National Park and were finally on the road to south to Jackson Hole and then on to Pinedale for the night.

The evening sun slowly disappeared behind the Grand Tetons which are huge high jagged mountains. After a long drive through the fading light and into the dark we had made it to the hotel  about 10.00 pm and collapsed into bed.

This was our journey around Yellowstone!

Big geysers

We set off once more, this time for Yellowstone. Another long drive through the hot desert and then onto the high mountain plains, and made our way to West Yellowstone while making and eating lunch. Again I was the navigator and we made our way slowly to Yellowstone National Park. We drove into the park and saw a cellphone tower so called the hotel and confirmed that we were staying in it for the night. Once we had made it to the hotel we unpacked the car. Then headed back on the road to Old Faithful geyser. Along the road their were geysers blowing out everywhere it was incredible, there were also mud pots bubbling out of the ground.

After an amazing view of the different land we arrived at Old Faithful. Granny and I went into a cinema about the national park, it was very interesting and learnt some different things that I hadn't known before. About 30 minutes later we were out of the cinema and outside waiting for the Old Faithful geyser to blow.still nothing. How about now? Nope. Nothing! We're waiting! Finally the geyser blew and the crowd erupted and cheered as the geyser pushed the water and steam into the air.

Granny had the camera on burst and got thousands of photos! It erupted for about 3 minutes then died down to its usual poof of steam. The people took off in a flash as soon as it died out and soon there were only a few people scattered around waiting for it to blow again. We were in the crowd flowing with people in front of us and behind us. 

After we had made it out of the crowd that was flowing over us we quickly walked to the car and set off back to the lodge. We saw a bison and some other animals on the way back in the cooler evening temperature. 

We returned to our hotel and after Granny had made a long phone call back to New Zealand, she asked if I would like a swim?  I of course said "yes" even though it was 9:30pm. Granny and I went to the pool. As soon as I saw what was inside a smile was forced to my face, they had an indoor water slide.

 I climbed the ladder and was soon at the top of the slide, it may seem like it wasn't that fast but it was. Up and down up and down I went. Fun. Awesome. Fantastic. Until Granny said 2 more. I looked at her and soon nodded my head. But after the 2nd one I kept on going and soon she figured out that I'd had more than she said. So I climbed out and headed off to Granny, "I could've stayed thee the whole night!" I said in my most pleasing voice. She said "I know" she said "but it's 10:30". So I followed her out the door, my wet feet slapping the carpet as I trod down the hallway back to our room. I hid myself under the covers and went fast to sleep. Another busy day but the days are getting fewer and soon we will be flying back to New Zealand.