Journal May 7th - May 9th

May 7, 2010
Today we started to pack up for our little weekend vacation. We packed our camping gear, backpacks, books, drinks and food, and finally clothes. When we were ready, Dad started the car and we were off.

We got mail and also got some fuel (or as Dad calls it, go-go juice) for the van, and we drove to Show Low. It isn’t a terribly long drive from Eagar to Show Low. It’s only a 50-mile drive. For us, that’s short. Then again, we’ve done drives from Eagar to the East Coast. When we got to Show Low, we stopped at a big store called Wal-Mart. Most people I know stop there for food, probably because the local stores charge insane prices for food. Anyways, we got the stuff we needed there: hot dog buns, wieners (The sausage kind, not the dog kind), and condiments. We also got some hair care products, I think because we didn’t pack our shampoo.

Then we drove down to Globe. Sadly, in order to actually get to Globe, you need to pass through my least favorite stretch of land: Salt River Canyon. The reason I hate it so much is that it is all twisty and winding, and the roads are right at the edges of the canyon, so its easy to fall off the guardrail and go into the canyon below. Rule number 1 of travel: If your traveling through Salt River Canyon, never, EVER eat Beefy 5-Layer Burritos from Taco Bell, especially 1 and a half of those burritos. I’m lucky I didn’t barf! You can probably tell what happened. Yes, I got carsick.

When we finished the annoying stretch of Route 60, we made it to Globe, a town with a lot of old brick buildings. We stopped by Frys to get camping chairs. When THEY didn’t have them, we went to Wal-Mart. Sure enough, they had camping chairs. Get this: Their max load was 125 pounds. None of my family is under 125 pounds. Heck, I’m over that weight!

Then we went to Roosevelt Lake. In order to camp there, we needed a Tonto Pass. Sadly, we didn’t have a Tonto Pass. So we couldn’t camp at Roosevelt Lake. We headed west to Phoenix, but on the way we passed by Roosevelt Dam. The bridge just east of it looked like a thing from a sci-fi show my Mom watches called “Stargate”. The thing it looked like was a Supergate. The dam was built incase a flood happened on the banks of the river. It was improved to withstand even bigger floods. While we were there, we met 2 Canadians. They say that the Canadians are the friendliest people in the Americas. If you don’t believe them, just run into those Canadians.

We then headed west on a dirt road. The area was beautiful! it’s a shame they didn’t actually pave the road. I said it would take away from the beauty. It’s so beautiful there you can’t describe it in words! When we got to Apache Junction, we headed north on the Loop 202. We headed to I-17. On the way, we stopped at a buffet called Golden Corral. They got new food, mainly meat, and I could’ve sworn someone was posing as Mom, because Mom ate a little too much meat. Mom isn’t a huge fan of meat, even though most of our dinners have meat in them. When we finished there, we headed north to Cottonwood. Now, at night, I don’t remember a lot, so this will be just a list: Got to Dead Horse Ranch near Cottonwood, looked for a campground, found one, paid, set up tent, made beds, fell asleep, end of day.

May 8, 2010
First thing I hear:
“’Their tent looks just like ours except it has like, a different shape and like, a different color, and like, a different size!’”

I knew it was Dad saying that, and I knew he was re-saying something because he changed his voice tone and he never says “Like, a different color”.

We started to pack up. Dad first deflated the air mattresses and put away the sleeping bags. Then we took down the tent. Finally, we checked out and went east on State Route 260. We passed through the towns of Strawberry and Pine, while making a quick stop in Strawberry to see the log schoolhouse. Strawberry School House is the oldest standing school in Arizona. It was pretty cool. I saw 2 binders: one for Clifton “Tuffy” Peach and one for Edith Peach. When we got out of there, we passed through Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. We went on 3 hikes. The first was on the Pine Creek trail. Sadly, I couldn’t cross on one part of the trail, as it was too dangerous. So we went on the Anna Mae trail. It connects onto the Pine Creek trail, so it was the perfect trail. We went to see the bridge, so we had to jump from boulder to boulder. But when we got there, we actually had to scoot across an edge. But the edge was too dangerous, so we turned back. On the way back, I slipped on a rock and fell into the water. I was yelling “Can’t swim! Can’t swim!”
Dad had to rescue me. I was panicking a little after the unexpected swim. We went back up the Anna Mae trail. At the sign, we saw a Arizona Black rattlesnake. Cool, huh?

We then went on the Waterfall trail. It led us to a waterfall. I got under it and got soaked, again. We headed up to Show Low after that, then we went to Wal-Mart to go meat-and-onion soup-shopping. We headed back home to Eagar. Since we didn’t have hot dogs on Friday, we fired up the barbecue and put on the hot dogs and buns. When that was done, I got drinks and we went inside the living room to eat. I had mine with pretty much everything: relish, ketchup and mustard. Delicious! If you read my blog post “Secret Camera” then you might have an idea of how much I love hot dogs. The only things that can beat it are shrimp, pizza, and steak. After that, I played on my computer a little, took a shower, and went to bed.

May 9, 2010
Today was Mother’s Day, so I had to force myself awake. I got dressed and followed Dad to the kitchen. Dad said we were making scrambled eggs and toast. I made the toast while Dad made the eggs. We do well cooking together. When we finished, I got a table and a Coca-Cola and we went into the bedroom. I was impersonating fanfare, and Mom said, and I quote, “Thank you so much!*takes a bite*Great eggs!*takes a bite of the toast*Mmm. Who made this toast?” I said I made the toast and she said “Wow! It’s actually lightly toasted! Did you mess around with the dial?” I said no, that it was just preset to that. After that, while Dad was making breakfast for us, Mom and I were playing the organ. Both my Mom and my Dad have musical talent, but in different fields. My mom likes to play the organ and the recorder, while my Dad plays guitar. I like the drums and the organ, but I can make a racket with a guitar. A very bad racket, may I add.

After Dad and I had breakfast, we went outside to work on Mom’s “miniature farm”.
Dad had to dig up the ground, and I had to follow him and pick the grass and weeds out of the ground he turned over. I saw a few grubs, and I thought they were maggots. Yuck!
After we did that, Mom and I got some wooden poles and brought them into the backyard. Then we dug holes for the poles to fit in. Afterwards, We put in the poles and filled back in the dirt. Dad got chicken-wire and we tied it to the fence and poles using clothes twine and metal wire. We bound the 2 pieces of chicken wire together, and then we put in extra poles. Mom then finished up a day’s planting, so she watered them.

Since we finished for the day, we went back inside. I called up my best friend Josh, but his dad told me that he had school stuff to do. So I got on my computer and started working on my sprite movie. I have an idea for a Sonic/Mario crossover, and I think it would do well on YouTube. But enough of this. Then we ate dinner. Today on the menu: salad! Then I moved my computer into the living room and watched Stargate with my parents. I took yet another shower and then went to bed.
Well, that’s the end of my journal for this time. I hope you like it!