Yesterday mom and I left Florida..before we did, we took a selfie with grandpa and Ron:

Grandpa cried when we got in the car to leave, awww. :( Goodbyes are always sad (except to Florida, bleh). I think in June Ron and Teresa are driving up to South Dakota, where Stephanie works..it would be cool to visit them there!

This time when flying into DFW, I saw Lewisville and Grapevine lakes and Grapevine Mills mall..cool! Grapevine Lake seemed bigger than I remember..weird. Also weird was that the terminal we flew into this time was more like how I remembered the airport, and definitely not as "modern" and plush as the other terminal. There were storms flying out of Texas..it was cool seeing the lightning from the air!

I'm really enjoying how cool Santa Fe feels compared to Florida. I felt kind of wrecked when I woke up though..I think I'm travel weary :P

( may 9-11 )

Today mom and Cindy and I went to Bandelier National Monument (23 miles from Santa Fe)..Ancestral Pueblo lived there thousands of years ago. You can see the foundations of their homes and caves and petroglyphs carved into the walls (a lot of the walls are made up from volcanic ash from the Valles Caldera, which erupted 1.14 million years ago). A couple caves have ladders you can climb up and go into them (there was a third, but someone vandalized it, so it was closed..what is wrong with people??). There were a lot of ponderosa pines around too, which smelled SO good. There was a place called Alcove House where you had to climb four ladders and a bunch of stairs and very narrow trails to get to the top..mom wouldn't go to the top because she's scared of heights and has been having problems with her shoulder, so it was just Cindy and I (Cindy's been before, but she was still somewhat scared too). It was just tiring to me lol. A lot of the alcove was closed off because of damage or something, which was disappointing, but it was a fun adventure anyway. :P It was SUPER windy all day, so we left dusty and tired, but it was a cool place to see!

( here are pics! )

The drive back from Kansas seemed longer than going there..the middle of nowhere corner of the Oklahoma panhandle was especially boring..it killed everyone's souls a little bit LOL

Tomorrow mom and I are flying to Florida to visit grandpa and Aunt Teresa and Uncle Ron (they recently retired and sold their house in Wisconsin, and are staying at a campground near grandpa's house). We're only staying like three days, but at least we're going to be able to see them! I hope Florida won't be too hot :P

2 – Bike Month: Do you cycle? If yes, do you do it mostly for fun/occasional outings, or is it your main mode of transportation? Does your municipality have good cycling infrastructure? Do you cycle year-round, even in winter (and in the snow if you get snow where you live)? I do not, but I think Fairbanks has good biking trails

3 – Write a Review Day: Do you write reviews for products or services (e.g. reviews on Amazon, or on a restaurant's or shop's website)? Do you do this regularly, or only if you're particularly happy or dissatisfied with the product or service? Whether or not you write reviews, do you read reviews left by others to help your decision-making process? Do you find negative reviews more helpful than positive ones? Only if I absolutely HATED a book will I review it on Goodreads, other than that I don't. It can help me make a decision, though sometimes I ignore it and enjoy the book or whatever anyway. Positive ones are nicer :P

4 – Petite and Proud Day: Petite is used to describe a person about or under 162 cm/5'4". Are you petite? Do you think petite women maybe have an easier time of it than short men? Would you (or have you) dated someone shorter than you? Yeah, I'm 5'1. I don't know..?? Sure, if I liked him lol

5 – Space Day: Ever wondered what lies beyond our skies? Do you think we'll ever have permanent human settlements on the moon, or on Mars? Sure. It seems unlikely at this point

Teresa, Ron and Stephanie left this morning. :( I always hate having to say goodbye to them, they're so easygoing and happy and fun. Last night we played Scattergories..everyone is always surprised at how good I am at that game haha. Like I said "welwitschia" for a plant that starts with "w" (it's a tree that grows in the desert and can live for thousands of years. It only has two leaves its entire life!). Everyone was like "...yeah, that was my next answer" LOL. Hopefully they can come to Alaska soon, that would be fun!

After they left grandpa took us to his neighbor's house that has a chicken coop and we got some fresh eggs! Their chickens were beautiful and well taken care of. They also had quail and a nice kitty hehe. We hung out for a couple hours and then went back to grandpa's house. I think his cats are relieved they don't have to worry about a dog anymore :P

( more pics, including more old family photos! )

November 25 - What’s your favorite dinosaur? Blue from Jurassic World is pretty cool, and of course Littlefoot from The Land Before Time lol

On Sunday night we got on the first flight to Seattle..I just wanted to sleep, but this baby in the row next to me wouldn't stop crying!! He eventually quieted down, but every time he woke up he started crying..ughh. The lady next to mom REEKED of smoke..she did have a cat though, which we got to pet hehe. We arrived in Seattle at 4 something, ew..I couldn't believe how many people were awake at that hour lol. We had a couple hours there..I got a vanilla bean frappuccino at Starbucks, which tasted like a vanilla milkshake, yum! We left Seattle at 7 something, and I drooled at Mt. Rainier, St. Helens, Adams and all the rest in the sun lol. I watched Tangled (finally!) and Happy Feet (because..Cherry? Haha) too. Around 5 hours later, we arrived in Tampa..grandpa picked us up and drove us the 80 miles back to his house (thanks!). Mom and I were so tired lol..I felt like time had been stolen from us after going through multiple time zones haha. After dinner grandpa got his genealogy file out, and I finally got to see that my research was all correct, right up to John Hopkins of Hartford!!! OMG so happy lol. There were a bunch of copies of some Day Book that was in the family for over 150 years, but grandpa doesn't know what happened to it. I hope there is more than one book, or somehow it can be found, because that's the proof I need to become a member of the Mayflower Society! Grandpa also showed me old family pics..his parents, grandparents, etc..I love being able to put faces to names and I'm excited to share them here! Going to bed was awesome, and slept very well. :P Teresa and Ron and Stephanie arrive tomorrow, yay!

Before the family pics, a new Cherry sighting!!!

I've seen this pic before, but this one was big enough to spot Cherry, holding his glasses! (That's a total giveaway. :P) Aww yay, look at him shyly peeking out hehe <3

( mt. rainier and family pics )

November 19 - If you could only watch one TV show for the rest of your life, which would it be? Ummm..I'm not sure! Maybe Game of Thrones?

November 20 - If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, which would it be? Does The Worst Journey in the World count? Haha

1. What is your paper towel consumption like? Uhh..normal??
2. What condiment do you use most often? Ketchup
3. What is your sticky note consumption like? I use a lot at work
4. What’s your coin jar setup? I have one on top of the fridge
5. What’s something you’ve purchased recently that was lower in price than usual? Books that were on sale

Grandpa and his house are ok, phew..there were just a bunch of branches that needed to be cleaned up. Luckily the hurricane lost power when it got that far. Speaking of Crystal River, today I checked out a customer that just moved here from Florida..I asked where and she said "about 100 miles north of Tampa." I told her my grandpa lives in Crystal River, a she looked at me in astonishment and said, "that's where I moved from!! I was born and raised there!" Haha wow..it's such a small world :P

( September 14: Sweet Tooth )

1. How tidy are your kitchen cabinets? Depends..some are stuffed, some are pretty organized lol
2. What’s an art project you did in school that you remember fondly? Making a model castle was pretty cool
3. What’s the best thing you ate on your most recent trip? Pasta, pretty much the best scrambled eggs I've ever had, etc
4. What’s the dumbest non-political thing you’ve seen lately? *shrugs*
5. What’s something in your home that’s lasted longer than you expected? Some of the lightbulbs have lasted a long time..

I heard from grandpa's neighbor in Florida that they're under a mandatory evacuation..I hope his nice house doesn't get destroyed! Scary how many hurricanes there have been this year D:

( September 8: Currently Loving )

Haha! Grandpa showed mom and I this video when we visited..his cat Simba can open doors, which was amusing to watch haha

( Day 4- An Animal you think is the Cutest )

Would you rather be able to walk on water forever or fly for three hours on three different occasions in your life? Walk on water

Today's trivia: Apples are a member of the rose family

We finally made it to the Keys! We left Monday morning..it was storming somewhat! It had been a long time since I'd seen a "real" storm! We kinda hurried cause we wanted to get ahead of the weather. We were about to stop at a rest stop when we heard this weird noise..like something under grandpa's feet was shredding. We stopped at the rest stop and figured it was the flap hitting the tire. Well..a mile down the road grandpa was like "uh oh, I lost the brakes and steering!" He did manage to pull over on the side of the road..he looked under the RV and said the serpentine belt was shredded (it controls everything..the brakes, steering, etc). He said it happened a year and a half before too..he couldn't believe it happened again! So began the day of calling. We were gonna get it towed, but then we called a truck repair place and they said they'd drive over and repair it for us, so we canceled the tow. By then the weather was catching up with us again and it was raining and storming. The cars going by kept shaking the RV..annoyingg. The mechanic came and looked in the engine area..then he said he couldn't fix it there cause the belt was wrapped around a fan and some other part was locked up (that's why the belt broke). Soo then we had to call the towing people all over again. Before they came grandpa went out in the rain to unhook the car..he came back in with fire ants all over his shoes..he was standing in a fire ant nest! We kept killing the ants he brought in..jeez haha. The tow truck came..and the guy said his truck wasn't big enough to tow the RV. Ughhhh. We called yet more people..but everyone seemed to be busy with accidents from the weather. Eventually someone said they could be there in an hour or two. We were SO happy when it eventually came..I had never been so happy to see a tow truck haha. In all, we were stuck there for SEVEN HOURS!!! Yeah, not a good day haha. The truck towed the RV to Bradenton, 15 or 20 miles away, to the place that would fix the camper (it was 7 something, so they were closed by then). They said we could park on the strip of grass by the fence. Not the greatest spot, but better than the side of the road. We all just wanted to go to bed after that stressful day haha..not the greatest sleeping night though..with all the traffic and street lights and the pouring rain and howling wind. I was so relieved when morning came haha

In the morning, the repair people said it would take a few hours to fix, so we got breakfast and checked out a beach real quick (and found a quick geocache haha). The weather was much nicer this day. They were done fixing it when we got back, so we finally continued our journey to the Keys. I don't think grandpa wanted to drive much..he stopped for the day at a state park in the Everglades with plenty of daylight to spare. It was a nice place, except for not having wi-fi. We tried to find a couple geocaches, but mom and I are completely freaked out by having to poke around in the woods. I'd rather not find it than get bitten by snakes and stuff (we don't like caching in Florida haha). We had dinner at Naples, 15 miles away, then went back to the camper and went to bed

Today we drove through the Everglades to get to the Keys..cool, I'd never been there before! We saw lots of birds, some alligators and lots of creepy spider webs. D: Haha. It was cool finally getting to the bridge that would take us to the Keys. The water was gorgeous! I was so relieved when we got to grandpa's friend's house (in Marathon, on Grassy Key), where we're staying for the time we're gonna be here. I was tired and bored and was having Internet withdrawals haha. His friends are nice and their house looks out on water..nicee. They have definite Boston accents hehe. ;) It's so nice to just relax online now! Adventuring out will just have to wait ;)

I am in Florida, at grandpa's house! We arrived last night. That was a LOT of flying..we left Fairbanks at 1:30 AM and got to Tampa at 8 something I think (and there were three time changes!). It was really bumpy flying out of Fairbanks..probably cause there was a Chinook. We had to rush to the next flight in Settle, with 10 minutes before the doors closed haha. It was so weird seeing DFW again! As we flew in I thought I saw my old high school..it looked very similar anyway. I also saw Grapevine Lake and dad's old work..so weirdd haha. We had a little time there so we got food from Dickey's Barbeque Pit..mmm Texas barbeque! The last two flights were on US Airways..I don't think I'd flown with them before! Charlotte wasn't super exciting, though the airport was crazyy. There were tons of people and like 3 or 4 flights going out at the same time in the same area and ours was delayed..eesh. Eventually we boarded and made it to Tampa. We still had an hour and a half to get to Crystal River, but thankfully grandpa picked us up and drove us back. I got Wendy's along the way cause I was SO hungry..unless you buy something, US Airways doesn't feed you at all..ugh! At least Alaska gives you snacks. It was nice to get to grandpa's house and take a shower (eww, travel grime) and finally sleep. We might go to the grocery store today, but I'm fine with just relaxing haha

Next month mom and I are going to Florida to visit grandpa (and to get away from winter haha). We leave the 11th and come back April 2nd. I always feel somewhat guilty being away from the bookstore that long, but they'll manage. :P I love that place haha. We might travel around with grandpa in his camper, but I'm not sure yet. One of our layovers is gonna be at DFW! OMG that's gonna be weird haha (I used to live in Texas). Yay..I love having vacations planned hehe :D

I didn't see them, but Facebook was going crazy over the awesome Northern Lights last night (though I might have seen them if I went to the laundry room and shut the door and turned off the lights..I was too lazy though :P). Here's one of my favorite pics that I saw:


So prettyy <3

( Day 17: Five pet peeves )

Would you rather have a baby that cries twice as loud and often as other babies or one that goes to the bathroom twice as often but is very quiet and well behaved? Ugh..I guess the second one

Today's trivia: Doramad radioactive toothpaste was sold in Germany during World War II to kill germs and whiten teeth