"Not at the table Carlos"

So after LA was LAS VEGAS!!! We were so excited to go to Sin City and see all the AMAZING hotels and maybe even try our luck on the tables:)

We didn't get into town until around 3am and went straight to the hotel. We were extremely tired and so we slept really late the next day. After updating the blog and getting ready we hopped into the van and took off to the strip! We parked the van at the Paris hotel and casino and were awestruck by the inside of the hotel. It was like we were outside in the streets of Paris! After Paris we walked along the strip and decided to eat at Cabo Wabo. We just decided to have fun and went ahead and ordered HUGE margarita and practically everything else on the menu. We were sitting outside on the nice, sunny deck and by the end of lunch Sarah's whole right side was sunburned.

After lunch we wandered around the strip and went into all of the different hotels/casinos. Our favorite hotels were the Bellagio and Caesars Palace. It is definitely not that we didn't like the other ones...those 2 were just our favorites! The Bellagio was cool because it looked like a huge garden inside......it seemed like it was from "Honey I shrunk the kids."

After we wandered around (and through them filming Midi Mafia's new Music Video) we went back to the hotel and got ready to go out!


That night we went out to the "Moon Bar" and the "Playboy Club" at the Palms Hotel.....

CALIFORNIA!!!

After our time in Washington, we decided to head to California. We were really really really sad to leave Washington, however; there were other places that we really wanted to see so we got back in the van and got back on the road.

Although the plan had been to lazily make our way down the coast of Oregon and California, the sun soon set and we were not able to see anything :( So to try to make up time that we had lost we put the pedal to the metal and headed for San Francisco. We were very sad that we were not able to see many of the remarkable places we had been told were along the coast but we figure it gave us an excuse for another road trip!

San Francisco was a very cool city to visit. The Golden Gate Bridge was a sight to see. We were slightly upset that we had to spend $4 the first time we crossed and $6 the second time we crossed....after Debbie started yelling at us that we had gone the wrong way! The only person who may not have been as excited to see all the wonderful things in San Francisco was Sarah, who due to sleep deprivation, had to be forcefully woken up. She was excited to see the Golden Gate Bridge but was also just as excited to go back to sleep!

After San Francisco we headed to LA! We were all very excited to go to Hollywood. We drove up and down Hollywood Blvd and took pictures of all of the famous theaters. We then decided that we couldn't just drive by it....we had to walk it. So we parked the car, after Kayla shakily drove around looking for a parking spot that is. We the walked all along the Walk of Stars and took pictures of the hand prints in front of the chinese theater :) We went and got hot chocolate at the Coffee Bean and wandered around not only looking at the interesting sites but also the interesting people! There were people dressed as Michael Jackson, Superman, Batman, etc. One woman in a Wonderwoman outfit definitely needed to practice walking in her 6in hooker heels before setting off down the street. It was rather embarrassing and dangerous looking! After wondering around for awhile we went and drove down Rodeo drive, reliving "Pretty Woman" It was definitely an Amazing experience. We will have to go back someday to walk along the beach and maybe do some shopping!

Forks & LaPush...yes this side trip was Twilight inspired

Being able to stay with Laura's family has been by far one of the best parts of this trip! There is nothing like waking up in a bed after 3 days of sleeping in the back of a van. So after a good night's sleep and a homemade breakfast, omelets compliments of Laura, we were back on the road!

Since we were in Seattle, and you know that is really close to Forks, and we wanted to go along the coast anyways.......ok ok ok we went to Forks because we liked the Twilight series! So we left Seattle all excited to get to Forks. Needless to say the expectations were very high. Possibly a little too high. We were so excited when we went around a bend in the road and there was the "Welcome to Forks" sign. It looked exactly like the sign they used in the movie so that got us even more excited. Even though we knew we were going to look like those girls that went to see the movie in "Team Edward" or "Team Jacob" shirts, we jumped out of the car to take a picture. The first moment we realized that Forks may not be all that we hoped for was the moment we pulled into the main part of town...and from there things just kept getting worse. We drove all over town and couldn't find anything that resembled anything that was in the movie. We finally found Forks High School and drove around it multiple times looking for any part that looked familiar but we couldn't find anything. The closest thing we found was the local Quiluete High School and even then the only similarity was the red brick. Finally, we decided to go to the local Twilight fan store and ask the clerk. When we arrived there was a "Twilight Tour" about to leave. While Allie and Kayla used the restroom Sarah ran to get into the van, and watch where the tour bus went. Allie and Kayla ran back out and we took off after the bus. However, Sarah and Kayla got cold feet and began thinking that following the bus around would be considered stealing. At the first stop the bus made Allie jumped out and asked the driver if it was ok if we followed them and he said it was fine. Unfortunately, the first stop was the Forks Town Hall and inside were pictures of where the bus was going to go. This would not have been a bad thing but when we went in and took a look we realized that the pictures of what were supposedly Bella's house, Jacob's house, and Edward's house looked nothing like the ones in the movies. So, we decided to skip the tour and just head out to La Push.

On our way we stopped to get gas and Allie asked the cashier about the weird houses. The lady informed us that they did not shoot any part of the movie in the actual town of Forks and that the only thing they made a replica of was the sign on the way into town. The town of Forks was too far off the interstate for them to film. It would have been too expensive to house all of the cast and crew and move all the equipment, so they had a replica of the sign made and filmed in Canada :(

Forks was a huge disappointment......La Push was not. La Push was AMAZING. Well not only LaPush but also the drive out to LaPush. "It's LaPush baby, LaPush" By the time we were on Quiluete land we were in love. The area is incredible. We were ready to pull the van over and build a house with our bare hands! Most of the land we had been driving through on the first leg of our trip and been mostly farmland, just expanses of rolling fields. The Western coast of Washington however was filled with mountains covered in the tallest trees we had ever seen. They literally just cut roads barely wide enough for cars to drive through. Even though you are cut off from civilization and out in the middle of nowhere it did not cause any lonely feelings. It was just different if that makes any sense at all.

The forest was alive and green. It was raining slightly on the day we went, which we have been told is the norm. It added to the majestic effect. We would be driving along these twisting, turning roads, surrounded by these huge trees and then all of a sudden the mist would disappear and we would be looking off the side of a huge cliff at the water crashing against the rocks. It was definitely not hard to understand why an author would choose this area as the setting in their novel. Really it is hard to describe, the words don't do it justice. It is simply amazing and we would encourage anyone to go and visit.

But back to LaPush. It was a beach unlike anything we have ever seen. We were used to the type of beach that was sand and random shells. This beach however, was not like that. It was an expanse of beach tucked in between cliffs. All along the beach, about 10 to 15 yards from the water were hills of logs. In order to get to the water you had to climb down off of the cliff and find your way through the mounds of logs. The beach itself was not even really made up of sand, it was mostly little rocks. On the right side of the beach was a long "pier" made up of more logs and boulders. We spent hours walking along the beach and climbing to the end of the "pier." Another thing that was really cool about LaPush was that we had the opportunity to meet a local. He was out at the beach because he had been surfing....even though it was like 50 something degrees outside...and was selling homemade bracelets. Sarah and Kayla, being suckers, had to buy one. While going through the bracelets we had the opportunity to talk to him. He was very nice and really knowledgeable about the surrounding area. Overall LaPush was an experience we will never forget!

We LOVE Seattle!

We have to say that Seattle was one of our favorite places to visit on this trip. If you have never been you need to go. As soon as we entered the city the van was filled with Allie's "oohs" and "ahhs." We quickly ignored Debbie's directions and just started exploring the city. We traveled all through some of the little neighborhoods around the city and Sarah and Allie started searching for their new house. When we started this trip Allie and Sarah decided that part of the purpose of the trip was going to find a place to live and work. Well much to probably our parents and Michael's dismay that place may be at the northwest tip of the country. Despite Allie's love of sunny weather, the drizzle and gray skies only added to the appeal.

Once in the main part of the city we went to Pike Place Market. We were really sad that we were not able to experience it in the early morning, when the fish were being thrown and the fresh produce was laid out. By the time we got there most of the little booths were closed. However, we did meet some very nice men that were working a crab/oyster booth and a few Valets (yes we Valet parked the car.) Despite stuff closing down we had a very nice walk around the city. We all liked how there were little bars and shops tucked away in random buildings. We also had the opportunity to go into a little chocolate shop and buy some chocolate covered strawberries and "cricket bark." It was AMAZING.

The only problem we had in Seattle was that Kayla's debit card was turned off. I guess the bank thought someone had stolen her card and was using it to buy gas and chocolate across the U.S. Hopefully we will get that turned back on soon! Otherwise you might see us on the side of the road with a sign that says, "Mom and Dad please send money." We are not really sure what talent we would use to try to lure money out of strangers on street corners. We could try having Kayla tell jokes but I am afraid people would just think we were challenged.

Now luckily our AMAZING friend Laura Coyne and her family are going to let us stay at their house for the night. Let me tell you, after 3 days on the road we definitely could use a shower and a warm bed!

Welcome to Washington

After our encounter with customs all we wanted was food. Typical of the girls in the van. We soon found this cool little Irish pub called Glynn's. We pulled in and were the only females in the place. Most of the other patrons were up at the bar having a beer. Soon someone brought us menus and we realized it was Glynn himself! (This was discovered from looking at the pic on the front of the menu.) We looked over the menu which was filled with items that we had no idea what they were. However, Glynn was very nice and the food was really good! We even ordered a pizza for the road. We were able to sit and eat and blog :) While we were eating another group of people came in and sat right behind us. When we heard them order a "jug" of beer Allie asked them if they were Canadian. They said yes and after some chit chat they told us that we should go visit Canada. We told them about our Canada adventure and they laughed at us....we were once again the dumb girls.

After getting the bill ready we left the money on the table and got up to leave. I guess this is not how things are done in Washington because all of a sudden Glynn appeared and loudly said, "Hey aren't you going to pay me??" That had the whole place looking at us. We told him that we had left the money on the table and he asked us if that was how we did things in Texas. Luckily he was very nice about it. While we fetched the money Glynn disappeared behind the bar. All of a sudden we heard, "Hey everyone these girls are on a roadtrip from Texas." He was speaking through a microphone! He then told everyone that we were going to have a chance to win $100! He told us that we could spin the wheel and if it landed on a 4 leaf clover we would wind the money. Sarah was up to spin first.....FAIL. Then he said we could spin for $50. Allie was up......FAIL. Finally he said he would give us one more chance to win $25! Kayla's turn.....FAIL. So, no money but it was still a lot of fun!

We got kicked out of Canada!

So the last thing we posted was that we were so excited to go to Canada....well let's just say that Canada was not that happy to see us! Let us start by saying that we had been informed (well misinformed) that we could cross the border and see Canada with only our drivers license. We knew that there was a chance that things had changed but we figured "what the heck, how many times are we going to be within hours of the Canadian border?" So we turned the van North and started the treck. We were so excited when we saw the signs for the Canadian customs.

Sarah pulled into the Canadian customs line and handed the lady her drivers license. Then the lady looked at Sarah like she was crazy. We informed the lady that we were from Texas and that someone (Cody) had told us that all we needed to enter Canada was our ID. She told us that we were right and that we were actually already in Canada....but that we would not be allowed back into the U.S. without a passport. So technically we were going to be stranded in Canada! Then the nice lady, seeing the panic in our eyes, told us to pull into the parking lot and to go see the people inside.

We walked into the Canadian Customs office feeling like the biggest idiots on the planet. However, Allie was all smiles as she approached the man behind the desk (the desk that reached Sarah's chin.) It seemed to us like everyone in the office already knew what had happened and were coming to see the stupid girls that thought they didn't have to have a passport. When he realized that we were from Texas he informed us that it was " the same up here as is it down on that border." Then Kayla responded with, "ya but this is only Canada!" WRONG ANSWER! It appeared that that comment offended the nice Canadian people and all went silent. The man finally told us that there were going to deny our entrance into Canada and fill out a form that forced the U.S. to take us back. There is nothing like being stuck in a limbo in between 2 countries and be told that basically neither of them wanted you.

However, the form was the way to go. We were informed that he could technically enter our names into the system and that FOREVER, for the rest of our lives, any time that we wanted to enter Canada there would be a symbol by our name that would mean we would have to go into the customs office and get checked out. The form was definitely the way to go!

After he explained everything that the form said he let us run out and take pics in Canada while he filled it out. Once we came back he walked us out to our car and then made the huge line of traffic waiting to get into the U.S. let us in. We thought at first that he was just being nice, letting us skip the line, but really he just didnt want us to escape into Canada.

Since we got to skip the line we did not have to wait very long to make it to the U.S. customs side of the building. While Sarah waited to move up Allie was busy filming everything with the flip camera. Finally it was our turn and Sarah slowly moved the van forward. As she was driving she decided she was going to try and count all of the cameras, since there were so many. As she was doing this her eyes scanned over a sign that got her attention. It had a picture of a person holding their ID up next to their face so that the camera could take their picture.....she saw this right as the camera flashed. Strike 2.

Embarrassed she slowly moved forward and then started apologizing to the man waiting to check our passports. She handed them all of the IDs and the A-45 form. He looked at it, looked back at us, and looked at it again. We were once again the stupid girls. At first he gave us a hard time and Allie was worried that he was gonna be mean. However, we soon realized he was kidding and started to joke back. Sarah informed him that we had been doing things wrong all day and he said, "Ya I bet you all are trying to smuggle stuff in as well!" Sarah then replied with, "Oh ya we have a body in the back!"

KAYLA ALMOST DIED. She squealed, "Sarah don't say that." Luckily the guy knew Sarah was kidding, or was just swayed by all of our good looks :)

All the while Allie was still filming the customs guy flirt with us. At one point another customs guy walked awkwardly in front of the van and Allie followed him with the camera. That is when he turned around and headed right to our booth. Our customs guy was finishing up with us and after talking to awkward guy asked us if we were filming because that would be illegal. Sarah quickly spurted out some lie about how Allie was simply taking a picture of the "cool sign with arrows pointing to the U.S. and Canada." This seemed to work and then the guy informed us that, "It's always the ones in the backseat that you have to worry about!" We all cracked up and got our butts back on U.S. soil as fast as we could......oh but not before we reversed back down the highway to take a picture of the "Welcome to Washington" sign.

Watch out Canada here we come!!!

Once we made it into Washington we turned North and started making our way towards Canada. Although this was not part of our original plan we decided that we could not pass up the opportunity to visit another country on our roadtrip. Washington is amazing! It is one of the most beautiful places that we have seen.

We are so excited to see Canada!

Way to go Idaho

After we finally made it out of Montana we arrived in Idaho. At 7am central time we crossed into the Pacific Standard time which meant it was now 5am. Idaho was beautiful.....but cold. It was 30 something degrees and there was still snow on the sides of the mountains. There was a HUGE lake that Allie really, really, really liked. That's about it for Idaho.

"we were going to be attacked by inbred hillbillies"

We left Mount Rushmore and planned to drive straight through to Seattle Washington. However, it did not go as smoothly as we had planned....

Leaving South Dakota we quickly cut across Wyoming and then entered Montana, a state that we did not realize we would be traveling through! We were very excited that we would be adding another state to our "roster." When approaching the Montana border it started to rain heavily. We decided to brave the weather and jump out of Sacajawea to get a quick picture with the "Welcome to Montana" sign. Sarah, in rain boots, was well prepared. Allie and Kayla on the other hand were not! We all wanted to be in the picture and in order to achieve this the camera had to be balanced on the hood of the van. Allie and Sarah prepared for the picture while Kayla set up the camera (luckily it had stopped raining at this point.) Kayla, realizing she would have to run in order to get in the picture, pushed the button and took off in a dead sprint towards the sign, without looking where she was going. She barreled through a ditch full of water and lost her flip flops somewhere in the process. Allie and Sarah, realizing that this was probably going to happen, stood and video taped it. Yes, we know we were mean for not saying anything to her before she ran but I mean come on....it was REALLY funny!! So then it was time for take #2. Allie decided that she would run this time.....and she ran into Sarah and Kayla and caused us to fall on to the ground. This incident made us all check our pants because we were pretty sure we had peed in them. Once the laughing was over the search for Kayla's shoes began. Sarah was forced to do the search while Kay and Allie watched because she was the only one in rain boots (lame excuse ladies!) Finally the shoes were found, one buried a foot in the mud!

Then we drove across Montana, and drove, and drove, and drove across Montana. Saturday morning, while still driving across Montana, Sarah realized that if a gas station was not found quickly then we would all be stranded in the middle of nowhere. She quickly informed Kayla of this and the frenzy started. We passed exit after exit without ever seeing a gas station. Finally after 10 mins of trying to decide if we should speed to find a gas station quicker or to go 60 and save gas, we saw a sign for a gas station at an exit coming up. Even though we couldn't see the gas station from the highway we trusted the Montana sign department and headed up the exit. Then the sign directed us to turn left and drive down this dark, creepy street. Once again being trusting and desperate we followed the signs. This would soon prove to be a HORRIBLE decision! It only took about 2 mins for us to realize this was not a street we would want to ever be stranded on in the dark. Imagine a scene from "The Hills Have Eyes'" "Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and "Wrong Turn" and that is where we were at 3am! All of a sudden the regular road turned into a dirt road. Sarah slammed on the brakes and we skidded to a stop. Once again Allie was woken up by frantic squeals and gasps. Sarah quickly through the van into reverse and started back up down the dirt road because it was not wide enough to turn around. Finally, reaching the point that we were back on pavement, Sarah started turning the car around. As the lights swept across the forest we got our first real view of a version of Montana's own shanty town. We were expecting a man in overalls and a banjo to pop out at any time. Soon all we could think was that we were going to be attacked by inbred hillbillies and disappear forever! What made it all even worse was that we had absolutely NO service on any of our phones. Sarah in a panic, NASCARed that van back to the highway and as soon as we had service again the lady from AAA saved us by helping to find the closest gas station.

We looked up Washington's Nose

We finally made it to Mount Rushmore! We were a little worried when we first arrived because there was ALOT of fog and the Presidents had vanished. We decided we were going to try and wait out the fog and walk along the Presidents' Trail. Patience paid off and by the time we were at the bottom of the mountain the fog disappeared and we had a straight shot up good old George's nose! Mount Rushmore is really amazing. It is crazy to walk around and see how big those faces really are. Sarah liked Teddy's glasses the best and we all agreed that Jefferson's nose was HUGE! One thing we didn't realize was how detailed the carvings would be. Lincoln's eyes were crazy, they were so detailed it was like looking at a picture.....not a carving on the side of a mountain.

While walking on the trail we decided to do a little detouring, photo shoot, and "friendly" stalking. There were trails marked by railings on either side and when no one was looking we hopped over and took some pictures on a massive boulder. Kayla decided to reenact the Little Mermaid by posing on the tip of the boulder. If there had been water it would have been a pretty good likeness...minus the cowboy boots and sweats that is! Soon we were arguing over who could be which Disney Princess. The final result is:

Kayla= Arielle

Sarah= Belle

Allie= Pulan (A Pocahontas and Mulan mixbreed)

While taking a million pictures we decided to creep on this cute guy (the only one seen so far on the trip.) Soon Kayla just asked him to take a pic of all three of us and then took a pic of his back when he wasn't looking.

Now we are sitting in a little Pizza Joint in Keystone, SD eating ice cream! We will be making the 17hr drive to Seattle tonight and then who knows!

Laura Coyne.... ready or not, here we come!!!!

Night Night Nebraska

So after making it through the storm we were way too tired to continue on. After hours of driving through NOTHING we finally found some excuse for civilization. We pulled into Red Cloud National Park and decided to take a "quick power nap." That soon turned into sleeping for over 3 hrs. The next morning Sarah awoke to a nice surprise. It is crazy to fall asleep while driving through a flat expanse and then to wake up deep in a rich forest.

More for the bucket list:

sleeping in a van in a National Park: Check

peeing in a National Park in Nebraska: Check (hopefully there weren't any hikers watching)

Then we set off to South Dakota.....IF we make it in decent time that will be 6 states in 36hrs!

Creepy Colorado

After Kansas we decided to just power through Nebraska and make it to Mount Rushmore. However, after plugging the destination into Debbie we realized that we would also be going through part of Colorado. At first we were excited..... until the sun set.

Kayla, who was driving at this point, started getting creeped out on the random back roads that Debbie made us go down. Soon she was practically hyperventilating. Sarah, trying to be the mature older sister, tried to calm her down and prove that there was nothing to be afraid of. Soon Allie was awoken by Kayla's fearful gasps as a random guy was spotted under the only street light for miles. Sacajawea had to take a detour because the roads were under construction and we were soon forced down a street that had walls on either side- there was no way out!

Then not only was Kayla scared of what lay outside the car but also of the inside. She began panicking as she thought she saw someone in the backseat with Allie. Soon she had Sarah freaking out and Allie breaking out in a cold sweat. To make matters worse, and the environment even more frightful, lightning started streaking through the sky. Soon the rain broke through the clouds and it appeared like Kayla's worse nightmare was coming true!

Stay tuned to see if the girls can make it through the storm!

Emerald City, Cows, and Truck Stops… Kansas Stinks

It seemed to take us forever to get to Kansas. It seemed like the road was never ending. We went to Dorothy’s house in Liberal, Kansas. Super Lame. It was made in the 1980s and didn’t look like it had been remodeled since then. There was a building that we went in that was filled with mannequins. Mannequins that told the story of the Wizard of Oz. Kinda creepy, kinda cool.

Scratch that.. Major creepy.

After the emerald city, we were back on the road heading towards Nebraska. One thing we quickly noticed, was there were cows… EVERYWHERE!!!! Their stench made it hard to breathe. There was one ranch/pasture thing that had, literally, thousands of cows. Super stinky.

We finally had the opportunity to stop at a truck stop in Garden City, Kansas to take a shower. Check that one of the bucket list!

“Hitchhikers may be escaped convicts” –Sign on the side of the road near the William S. Key Correctional Center

Lions and Tigers and Bears... Oh My!

We left College Station at 1:15 am on May 20, 2010 and started our trek across the country. We relied on our trusty friends, Sacajawea (our super cool minivan) and Deborah (our tempermental GPS) to lead us in the right direction and get us safely to our first stop.

We were the creepers outside of the wildlife refuge in Oklahoma at 7:15 am... that is until all the "Hills have Eyes" people started showing up. Once they finally let us in, we trudged our way through the ankle deep water to explore the lion, tiger and bear exhibits. They warned us beforehand, that the male cats had a tendency to "spray" people walking by their cage. Despite this warning and Sarah yelling, Kayla was still the victim of not only one, but multiple spraying incidents. Kayla must have seemed rather appealing to the animals because on top of getting sprayed, several animals attempted to attack her through the fence!

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to hold an itty bitty baby tiger. She was only 2 weeks old and weighed three pounds. We had the opportunity to play with her and to feed her out of the bottle.

By 10:15, we were on the road again, headed to Oklahoma City to meet Michael for lunch.

"We've got a full van, and a full bladder back here... Cool it Nascar"

-Kayla

"You are going to pee behind the Oklahoma sign? Isn't that like peeing on the Alamo?"

-Kayla

14 States in 10 Days?

Texas

Oklahoma

Kansas

Nebraska

South Dakota

Wyoming

Idaho

Washington

Oregon

California

Nevada

Utah

Colorado

New Mexico

Wednesday 9:48pm - 20 miles into Road Trip

Keys to a successful roadtrip:

Kids Meal: Check

Diet Coke for Allie: Check

Coloring Books: Check

Music: Check

We are ready for a relaxing, adventure filled trip across the great U.S. We aren't really sure where we are going to end up, as of now, but Forks, Washington is a potential destination. Maybe Allie and Sarah will find a place to live and work next year!

Ready or Not, Here We Go!!