Day 7

**Sorry I did not post last night, we got in late.**

Thursday, July 1:

We stayed in Austin, Minnesota for the night and just about a mile from where we stayed was a Spam museum. So, we went. It was actually kind of cool. The factory was right across the street from it. It was interesting, but kinda random too. Haha!

We thought we would be to my great-grandpa's around 5:00. But it took us a longer to get there then we thought. So, we ended up getting there around 7:00. It was nice to have that visit. He was so happy we were there! We also went to my great uncle Neil's house with great-grandpa. Their house is right on Swan Lake, there house is small but cozy too.

That's just about all we did. We forgot to bring to camera connector into the hotel, so either tonight or tomorrow night I will post pictures.

States: Minnesota

Miles: around 390

~Amy

Day 6

Wednesday, June 30th:

Today... we drove. Not much other than the view from the car windows, thats where the pictures are from. We played the license plate game, watched 2 movies, and uh...ya ... thats just about it. lol!

Oh, I was excited because we went through De Moines, Iowa and that is where Shawn Johnson lives! LOL!

States we were in: Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota

Miles: just over 600

~Amy

A cute house in the middle of a huge field.

Thats not normal where I live!!! Haha!

Another house in the middle of a field.

Pretty Sky.

Pretty sky... with truck.

Day 5

Tuesday, June 29th:

Today was very fun! We were at Silver Dollar City the whole day! We did so much, there was a ride that had 1 big drop and 5 loops, some with corkscrews, that is called Wildfire! Adam, Zach, Becca, and I went on that one 4 times, my mom went on it with us twice. There was another roller coaster that we liked a lot. There were 2 carts that were faced backwards, so you could do the ride backwards if you wanted to, that one is called Thunderation. There was also water rides that we liked a lot!

We saw a magic show at Silver Dollar City too. The magician was pretty good, and funny too! Ally was chosen to go on stage and he made her float! That was really fun for Ally and all of us to see! Then we got some magic things to keep.

After Silver Dollar City, we went to Chili's and had dinner. We were there for a while just talking too. When we were done we had to say goodbye. :(

We had a great time with the Benders and will miss them!

States: Missoiri

Miles: like 25

~Amy

Oh, I forgot. My dad and Uncle Jeff saw Karl Malone, ex-NBA star, at Silver Dollar City!

They asked him for a picture. Haha!

Here is Ally walking up with the magician.

At Silver Dollar City, there was a shop that was called Becca's House. So, Becca wanted a picture in front of it!

This is the front of a ride called Fire in the Whole. It was an inside ride.

Day 4

Monday, June 28th:

Today was very fun! In the morning we saw Uncle Jeff, Aunt Tina, Zach, Rebecca, Josiah, and Ian. We went to a buffet breakfast together in Branson. Then we went to a Fish Hatchery with trout. That was really cool! We walked around and fed the fish for a while, and then there was a information room that we went through afterwards.

After that we went to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. That was very cool too!! There was optical illusions, Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang Inventions, world record breakers (like the largest ball of yarn), and just crazy, random things too. Things like, A person made out of matches, a dragon made out of shredded money, and paintings on tiny things like a coin (that had the Lord's Supper on it), A grain of Rice (The Beatles was on that one), A fly (I could not tell what was on that), and a sunflower seed, (I don't remember what was on that one). But that was very cool to see!

Then, we got to go on a tour of Sight and Sound Theatre. We went backstage, to the dressing rooms, saw that costumes, the animals, where all the tech people sit during the show, the storage room, and a lot more! That was VERY cool!!

A last, but probably best... We got to see Noah at Sight and Sound! It was so amazing, I loved it!!!

States: Missouri

Miles: like 10. LOL

~Amy

Ripley's Believe it or Not had a deep sea diving helmet.

Some trout and the Hatchery.

This is the front of Sight and Sound Theatre

These are musicians made out of junk that someone collected. Josiah and Ian are in front of them. :)

Sunday, June 27th:

This morning we did not have to leave as early so, my dad, Ally, and I went swimming. Then we left and went to a memorial for the first terrorist attack in the United States. It was a bomb that blew up the federal building in Oklahoma. There were 168 that died, 19 were kids because there was a daycare center. That was cool, but sad too. One really interesting thing is, there was a pool of remembrance and on either side of that was to walls one said 9:01 and the other said 9:03.

The bombing happened at 9:02 so, 9:01 stood for innocence, and 9:03 stood for when the world would never be the same. Then we drove through Tulsa into Arkansas and into Missouri

We are in Branson, Missouri, for the night.

We also went to an outlet mall to get something really quick in Branson and Ally really wanted to get Buzz Lightyear, so we walked over to the Disney Store and she bought it with her own money. But, then we ended up getting stuck in the store because it was pouring rain!!

That is really all we went to... Oh Wait! We went to McDonald's! Haha! Ally really wanted to go there so we thought it was a good day.

P.S. At our hotel there are a bunch of fireflies!!!

Miles: 385

States went through: Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri.

In 3 days we have been in 7 states!!!

~Amy

A wall at the memorial.

"And Jesus Wept"

A gate were people pay their respects at the memorial.

Random... There was a turkey farm in Arkansas, in the Ozark Mountains.

The Pool of Remembrance

Each Chair represents 1 person who died.

Day 2

Hey everyone!

Sorry I did not post last night... the hotel did not have a good internet connection.

Saturday, June 26th: When we stopped at our hotel there was an original 50's diner in the parking lot so we ate dinner there. The next morning when we left not very far from the hotel we stayed at there was a route 66 car museum and gift shop kinda thing and there was a display of a bunch of 1950's cars; which I am recently very interested in so I loved that! The one I wanted was a 1957 light blue Chevy. It was $50,000, I've got $49,850 to go!!! I also bought dice to hang off the mirror when I get it!

Then we drove for a while and just outside of Amarillo TX we saw random graffiti painted cars, which turned out to be so cool! It was a car grave. An artist stuck junk cars in the ground and made it legal to do graffiti there! That was really cool! I think it was called car-henge.

We had lunch in Amarillo, TX, at an original route 66 restaurant called Smokin' Joes. That was pretty cool!!

We also went to a rest stop that was really nice and it had a lot of things about route 66. And a museum that was a reenactment of when route 66 was original. We walked around the grounds and buildings outside as the museum had just closed for the night.

We stopped in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for the night.

Miles: 460 Miles

States went through: New Mexico, Texas (Amarillo) , and Oklahoma

~Amy

This is the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere.

It was something like 190 ft. Im not exactly sure though.

Day 1

Friday June 25,

Today was probably the most boring day that we will have. We wanted to get as far as we could today so that the rest of the trip could be just a few hours. We went 890 miles and are in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. We also have already seen a lot of what we saw today, but we did go to a cool Route 66 diner, those are where the pictures are from.

Tomorrow should be more route 66 and a little more fun.

Sates went through: California (obviously), Arizona, and New Mexico

Now we are off to the pool!!

Thanks for all the comments,

Amy