Our last day:By Briana Freeland

Today was a day let me tell you. We had planned on leaving Las Vegas this morning so we could get back to Arizona on Monday. We had gotton up late and went to eat lunch with Ernie and Larma at the Paradise Cafe in our hotel (which by the way is the Las Vegas Hiton.) Then we were going to go, Ernie wanted to take me to the Stratusphere where they have three rides up on top (which is 128 stories up.) I decided to go on these swings that take you out over the edge and swings you faster and faster, but it was closed. So instead I went on the Big Shot. A large tower that shot you up faster than you could say let me off this thing, then of course it went straight back down again to shoot you straight back up. It was awesome. When we got back to the hotel I saw some guy in a chair that looked a little familier. Than a girl walked up to him and said O my Gosh are you so and so. I did not catch the name, but now I know he is famous. Also staying in our hotel were: Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Chad Micheal Murry there could even be more, but we did not see or hear about those.
I can not believe this trip is coming to an end we have done so much that is hard to wrap our brains around it. We have seen a lot of animals including: moose, elk, sheep, happy cows, deer, antelope, orca whales/killer whales, humpback whales, jelly fish, puffins, ground squirrels, black bear, buffalo, dalls porpoise, bald eagle, brown bear, no grizzly :(, sea otters, baby sea otters, baby bear, baby whales, baby buffalo, baby sheep, baby whales, harbor seals and sea lions porcupine (road kill).
And all the sights: , the Ocean, the Desert, the Rain Forest, Ice Fields, Snow, lots and lots and lots of water falls, Los Angels, the Hollywood sign, the Walk of Fame, Snow, Snow, Redwood trees, the Seattle Space Needle, Snow, the Golden Gate Bridge, Snow, Cannon Beach, Santa Monica Pier, Snow, The Butchart Rose Garden, the Midnight Sun, Snow, Fort Richardson - the army base in Alaska, Mt.McKinley, a Glacier, Snow,Yellowstone, Old Faith Full, the Mormon Temple, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Beaver Hills, the Hoover Dam, Snow, the Las Vegas Strip, Snow, M&M world, Coke-a-Cola World, the San Wan Islands, Snow, Vancoover, Top of the World Highway, California, Oregon, Washington, Canada (British Columbia, the Yukon, and Alberta), Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, and of course Arizona.
Wow! What an Amazing trip this has been. I mean how, many teenagers can say what I can now. Not many I can tell you that!

Days 54 & 55

We drove to Las Vegas and 108 degrees welcomed us back into the desert. I know no one is going to feel sorry for us, but i thought that I would try anyway. Ernie got us a room at the Imperial Palace for one night and at the Las Vegas Hilton for the following 2/3 days. We, of course, hit the slots, but Braina and I headed over to the M&M store and also the Coca Cola store. Floors and floors of anything you could ever want from the 2 companies.
-Jason

Day 53!!

Today we did a few of the things that are boring to talk about. We did laundry, got the oil changed in the car, etc. We did go to look at the capitol buidings. It was one the most beautiful ones we've seen. And the view was amazing. We had a great steak dinner at a very cool steakhouse and then went back to get to bed early because we would have a long drive tomorrow to Las Vegas!!
-Jason
The old Salt Lake City city hall.
The Utah State Capitol Building. The view from the top.
Inside the rotunda.
The Mormon headquarters.

Day 52!!!

We left a wonderful Jackson Hole, Wyoming this morning and headed in the direction of Salt Lake City, Utah. But not without first going through Idaho!! What a beautiful and scenic drive. We arrived into Salt Lake City at about 5pm. I had already checked online and found out that we would be able to see the world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir during their rehearsal which is open to the public. We just had to make sure we were in SLC by 7:30pm at the Latter Day Saints Conference Center. I just hoped that it would be easy to find. Well come to find out downtown SLC is dominated by the Mormons. The huge a wonderfully beautiful Temple and Temple Square are just accross the street from the 21,000 seat conference center. Yeah, it wasn't so hard to find. It also was immaculate. We had some time to kill before we were allowed inside so we decided to look around the Temple Square. The Temple itself is huge. We were not allowed inside however, only members are. We headed over to the center once it was time. We went inside and got our seats. Again beautiful surroundings. Everyone here ( The Mormon Church) takes real pride in their buildings and gardens. Once the choir started singing it was like heaven. What a wonderful spectacle!! About an hour into the rehearsal, the conductor anounced to the choir their special guests to rehearse with them this evening in preperation for the huge concert this coming weekend. And who was it you might ask. Well it was none other than members of the most famous of all the utah based families. That's right..it was the Osmond Brothers!!! What?!?! We didn't really expect (yet secretly hoped) that they would be there. Only Donnie and Marie were not there, but they would be here on Friday. It was awesome and mom was REALLY star-struck. She could not stop smiling!! That made for a really cool evening. And did I mention that it was FREE!!
-Jason
What a gorgeous place!
A really cool town!!
Downtown Jackson Hole.
Our 8th state, Idaho!!
The Paris, Idaho Tabernacle
State number 9!!
The SLC Temple.
The Temple
Around the Temple grounds. The Assembly Hall In Temple Square.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
A couple of the Osmond brothers.

Day 51!!

Another beautiful day here in Yellowstone. We got an early start this morning and headed into the park. We saw beautiful waterfalls, more elk, a black bear, a brown bear and buffalo. All in all a great day for wildlife even though mom has not gotten to see her grizzly bear yet. We were able to see quite a few more hot springs and geysers even Old Faithful!!! It was something to behold. The park is pretty amazing. I'm glad we chose this route to come back. As we left Yellowstone, right away we entered into the Teton National Park. What can I say?? Beautiful as well. I am running out of words to describe all of the sights we've seen, so I guess it is a good thing that we only have abot a week left on the road. We have arrived into Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the night. Looks like a really cool town.
-Jason
The first beautiful sight of the day. The buffalo just laying alongside the road. A black bear marking his territory. The Yellowstone River.
And just around the corner, Tower Falls. Aren't they just beautiful.....and the flowers too?!?
LOOK!!! Pa got rid of his sweatshirt now that it is 90 degrees!!
We were able to walk out onto the walkway you see (upper left. Looks like a black line.) over the hot spring and geyser fields.


More of the amazing colors left by the minerals.
Another herd of elk lounging on an island.

Day 50!!!!

What a great day we've had again!!!! This morning we headed southeast from beautiful Helena, MT towards Bozeman. On our way we were able to see a couple of Pronghorns. We stopped in Bozeman for a quick look around and continued then south towards Gardiner which sits at the north entrance to Yellowstone. It was really a scenic drive. The weather really started heating up too. We got into town at around 4pm and decided to go ahead and take a short drive into Yellowstone and take a look. We went to the Mammoth Visitor Center first and WOW!! Our visit to Yellowstone had already started with a bang! It was more than I thought it would be. And among all of the cars and buildings and people were a couple dozen elk. That's right!! Elk right there in between the crowds!! Amazing. We were allowed to get so close to them. That was was really something to experience. We headed on up through the mountains to the Mammoth Hot Springs. I have never seen anything like them. They were hot bubbling pools of blue and white and red and orange colors which all smelled of sulfur but were just amazing to look at!! We only made it about 10 miles into the park before we drove back to the hotel. We are all so excited about what tomorrow has in store for us.
-Jason
The Pronghorn remind me a bit of antelope.
The north entrance to Yellowstone. These elk just don't seem to care. Almost Bambi.
At the Mammoth Hot Springs. Also at the hot springs. That's not snow!! It all looks like it is from another planet. The awesome coloring left by the mineral deposits.


A little mule deer we spotted on our way out.
What a beautiful ending to a beautiful day!!!!

Day 49!!

Well the weather is perfect today!! We left this morning for Montana and back into the USA. We stopped for a short visit to Fort MacLeod before we left Alberta. We crossed into Montana at around noon. It would be our 6th and hopefully last border crossing of this trip!!! We stopped in Babb, MT for lunch at a really neat place. We went on towards the capital city of Helena. We drove through mountains and beautiful grasslands with rolling hills and barely a tree in sight. The scenery here seemed to change rather quick from mountains to grasslands and back to mountains. We arrived into Helena at about 6 this evening. We got our hotel room and went to take a look around. We were all in agreement. This is one of the most pleasant little cities we've been to. It also helped that it was sunny and 83 degrees when we arrived. We haven't been in that warm of weather since we left Arizona!!
-Jason
Beautiful southern Alberta. Inside the Fort.

As soon as we crossed the border back into the US, we entered the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
The cafe where we had lunch. The toilet at the cafe. I hope you're not shy!!!
Yet even moe beautiful mountains and lakes. It never gets old!!
These yellow fields were everywhere. The Cathedral in Helena.
Montana's State Capitol Building in Helena. We drove hours through the countryside today hoping to see some wildlife and see nothing but cows. But as soon as we get into the city, these guys run out right in front of us. There were actually 2 babies but they caught me off guard.