Summer Vacation Time in Alaska!

This summer, my family and I went on a vacation to Alaska. Our vacation started with a plane trip from Los Angeles, California to Anchorage, Alaska. I always thought that Alaska would be icy and cold, but it wasn't during the summer. We took a long bus ride to a city in Alaska called, Whittier. Whittier wasn't much of a city, just a small port. The bus driver told us that all of the people who lived there, lived in one building.  Docked in the port of Whittier, was a huge cruise ship, and I couldn't wait to get in it and start sailing.  My family was booked for a seven day cruise down the inside passage of Alaska, which stops in the cities of Hoonah, Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan.  

"The Norwegian Sun" photo by : my Dad

Once we got inside the ship, I was amazed at how big it was.  I was most impressed by how many activities the ship had on it. The ship was so big, it even had a basketball court! They had a kid's club, a teen club, two pools, basketball courts, shuffleboard, golf areas, ping pong, (table tennis) and last but not least the ship had shows every night for seven nights. My favorite city in Alaska would probably be Hoonah. I really liked Hoonah because it was an island, and there was a lot of wildlife. I also liked it because the population was only 700 people. I've always wanted to live somewhere where its not too crowded. The people of Hoonah live modestly and the live off of the land. The natives of Hoonah are from the Clinket Indian tribe.

The City Of Hoonah

The next city we stopped in was Juneau, which is the capital of Alaska. In Juneau we saw the Governor's mansion (which was not really a mansion in my opinion). In Juneau our bus driver told us that Alaska has the second largest rain forest in the world ( The largest is the Amazon in Brazil ). In my opinion, the most important fact from my Alaska trip was that the Russians owned Alaska, but then the Americans bought it from them. Our last stop in Juneau was to the Mendenhall Glacier. When I first saw the glacier, I noticed the blue color of the ice. It almost looked like a giant crystal. The ice turns blue because of the many compressed layers of ice. I thought the glacier was going to be smaller, but it was huge!

 The Huge Mendenhall Glacier

Governor's Mansion in Juneau Photo by : Me

The next city was Skagway. In Skagway we took a long drive to the Yukon, which is actually in Canada. My absolute favorite thing from our trip was going to the Musher's camp! We saw the trainers training the adult husky breed to eventually run in the Iditarod race! Then we got into a cart, and the trainers had the husky's pull us on a trail! I was so impressed, because the dogs knew exactly where to go. I loved the part when we got to play with the husky puppies. They were so cute!

Alaskan Husky Pup

Our final stop in Alaska was Ketchikan. One thing I remember about Ketchikan was all the shops. We also took a nature tour. We looked for bears... sadly we didn't find any, but we did see a lot of bald eagles. In Ketchikan, I was introduced to the Salmonberry bush, which is a common berry used to make Salmonberry jam (no, it's not actually made of salmon). When I tried the Salmonberry jam, I was blown away. I have to say it is now one of my favorites. If you ever get a chance to try it, do not hesitate.

Alaskan Salmonberry Bush

Bald Eagle

Alaska was a great experience and I am so glad I went. I got to see and try a lot of new things. I hope I get to go back to Alaska again.

 Have you ever been to Alaska?

Have you ever seen any wildlife creatures up close?

Would you like to try the Salmonberry jam?

Whale Watching!

I am finally doing another post after a long break! On February 9th, our family went on a whale watching boat trip, from Long Beach. It was amazing! The wait to get on the boat was about 10-15 minutes. On the boat, we sat next to a man from London, who told us everything, and anything we wanted to know about the sea. We also saw the Queen Mary, (which I believe is now a hotel), Spruce Goose hangar, and many cargo ships loaded with containers.

The Queen Mary. Photo by: me

The boat went all the way around the Palos Verdes peninsula, (peninsula: A strip of land surrounded by three sides of water, attached to a larger body of land.) into the ocean.

It was a two hour trip, but it was worth it! I strongly recommend going whale watching.

The Whale's first and best sighting. Photo by my Mom

We saw many sea creatures like, sea lions, dolphins, fish, and even some shy whales. 

California Sea Lions tanning!  Photo by my Dad

I hope you like the collage we made with some of the pictures from the trip.

Have you ever been on a boat? Have you ever seen any sea creatures?

My Cherry Tomato

Hello everyone,

You probably remember my garden post and I am writing to update everyone on my favorite plant in my garden, the cherry tomato plant.   My tomato plant has grown a lot since my last garden post. 

 There are many types of tomato plants, but out of all of those plant, I choose to plant the cherry tomato, which is my favorite.   I love going to my garden, watering my plant, and then picking my little cherry tomatos.   I have got to gloat that my cherry tomatoes are the best tomatoes I have every tasted in my whole life.   I really enjoy picking my own fruits and vegetables, and I recommend that everyone should try to grow a garden, especially a garden with cherry tomato plants.  

Have you ever tried a cherry tomato?

Recycle Bot

Today at my camp I decided to draw a robot that recycles, I call it Carlito, the Recycle Bot.

Carlito the Recycle Bot

     I drew him from scratch, using only my imagination. I hope you like Carlito, because I spent a whole lot of time making him.

What is your favorite thing to draw?

Have you ever drawn anything like Carlito?

Sequoia National Park

     A week ago my family went on a family vacation to Sequoia National Park, located in Tulare County, which is about five hours away from where I live.  I slept and watched movies during the car ride. I was hoping to watch TinTin again, but I could not find the DVD.

     When we got to Sequoia, spent a lot of time at Hume Lake. The water was cold, but satisfying. When we were there, we found a giant floating log in the middle of the lake, so we decided to get on it. My Dad also bought us a plastic raft, which we really enjoyed.  It was difficult to paddle and steer the raft, but after much practicing, I managed to handle it.

Next, we went canoeing and kayaking. The first day, I went canoeing with my Dad,  who helped me row when I needed to take some breaks.    

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My Dad and I canoeing. ( Photo by Mom )

The following day, my older sister and I went kayaking, which was a very tiring but, worth it. Kayaking was fun for me because I love to be on the water. 

We also got to see the giant Sequoia trees, which are only found in a few places.  We saw the huge General Sherman tree, which is the largest tree in the world.

                                                                     General Sherman Tree 
                                                                                     (  Photo by Mom  )


                           The General Sherman Tree is twenty-one hundred years old. Wow!

                       Can you guess which pine cone belongs to the General Sherman Tree?

                                                                               
                                                          Photo idea by my older sister
                                                                       
                                                             
 If you picked the bigger pine cone as your answer, you are wrong.  Many people confuse the Giant Sequoia pine cone ( smaller pine cone ) with the Sugar Pine Tree pine cone ( bigger pine cone ).  The Giant Sequoia tree is a rare tree, and although the tree may have thousands of small pine cones,  the chances that the seeds will ever become a full grown tree are very small.

                                               
                         
                                                                               

 Have you ever been to Sequoia National Park?                                                    Have you ever seen the General Sherman Tree?

Fruits and Vegetables

Recently, my mother suggested I grow a fruit and vegetable garden.  My sister and I each planted our own small garden.

Here is a picture of my garden. (photo by me)

 I was so excited that I felt like boasting to my sister "I'm going to take care of my garden better than you are!"  I suddenly realized that would be too presumptuous, so I kept my mouth shut.  It was really fun to start my garden.

 First, I woke up early in the morning, and my mom and I went to Home Depot to buy plants and mulch      ( mulch is a protective covering placed over soil to maintain moisture and improve the soil ).  I decided to plant cucumber, strawberries, pumpkin, corn, and artichoke. My favorite fruit is the strawberry, and my favorite vegetable is the cucumber.  Daily, I have to water all of  the fruits and vegetables in my garden.                                                              

                                          Here is a picture of me watering my garden. (photo by my mom)                                  

I can't wait to eat the fresh and organic food from my garden.

Do you have a garden, if so what are the fruits or vegetables in it? 

Do you like fruits and vegetables?

My Glen Canyon River Run

After my wonderful trip to the Grand Canyon, we drove to Page, Arizona, to visit the gorgeous Glen Canyon. My family and I took a boat tour of Glen Canyon on the Colorado River.

The color and shape of the canyon walls were absolutely spectacular, because they  were so red and smooth. It looked so much like a painting.  Traveling through Glen Canyon felt like being in a miniature version of Grand Canyon.

(Smooth and red canyon walls)

Our boat was big, blue, and made out of rubber. It held lots of people as you can see in the picture below. Sitting on the boat, felt like I was sitting on a yoga exercise ball. Our guide, T. J., was very entertaining. He told a lot of hilarious jokes, interesting stories, and relevant historical facts. He even played his Navajo flute, and I almost fell asleep to the relaxing Native American music.

(Our river raft on the Colorado River)

Later on, we stopped at a little river bank to eat our lunches. We were allowed to see some petroglyphs (also called rock engravings) made by Native Americans many hundreds of years ago. 

(Me going to see the petroglyphs)

To me the petroglyphs looked like drawings of goats on a trail. I was able to stand really close to the carvings, but not close enough to touch them. They do this to protect them from getting damaged.

(These are the petroglyphs)

My favorite part of going to Arizona was going to Glenn Canyon and seeing the petroglyphs, because  I was able to learn a lot and had fun at the same time.

Have you ever been on a boat tour, if so where have you been?

Have you ever visited Glenn Canyon, if so have you seen the petroglyphs?