Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Alamogordo, New Mexico


Pool. Pool. The hotel's got a pool. Life is good again. But we decide not to get in it right away. Dad has been talking about the White Sands National Monument saying that it's this giant park with miles of nothing but white sand. No plants. Giant dunes. OOOOooooo! A giant sand box! Perfect!

So we go out there and instead a giant sand box, it's a SUPER GIANT SAND BOX, with dunes fifty feet high that go on forever. I walked, ran, jumped, fell, rolled, slid down on my stomach, dug, threw sand, threw these weird hard chunks of sand that blew up when they hit Dad (until he got mad)...got lost...it was a BLAST!

As the sun was setting, we went back to the car and there were these kids and their parents playing on the top of the gigantic hill next to where we parked. The kids were sliding down the dunes in plastic saucers and on this really cool thing like a snow board.

At first Dad and I would run as fast as we could down the hill until we couldn't go any faster, then fall and flop and flip until we rolled to the bottom. I had no idea Dad could fall like that and still get up. The other kids thought it was cool and starting doing it too. They tried to talk their parents into trying it but they wouldn't.

Then Dad and I got invited to try the snow board. Very Cool!! We did it until it was too dark to see and the park was closing. Then Dad and I went back to the hotel and, yep, you guessed it, we swam.

Good day.

Tombstone, Arizona


Next morning, Dad and I walked back to the beach to throw the tumbleweed we caught into the ocean. Dad said we'd be bringing desert to the sea. I said I'd get another chance to stick my feet in the waves, which I did.

Then, after breakfast we started driving to Tombstone. The traffic was so stupid again that Dad decided to get off the Interstate and drive down the coast highway. Great idea! Not only was it faster, it was cool scenery. I like the beach. I want to spend my whole next vacation there.

Since we got a late start, we didn't get to our hotel in Tombstone until after 11 at night. It was not like the other hotels we stayed at. Instead it was kinda small and creepy and I felt kinda creeped out. But Dad felt good about it and when I woke up the next morning after sleeping like a log, I felt okay about it too.

Tombstone is booooorrrring! Nothing opened until afternoon -- gunfighter shows, OK Corral, that stuff -- and Dad said we didn't have time to stick around. So we walked through the Boot Hill cemetery (cause it was free and on the way out of town). Lame. Won't go back. Dad said he won't either.

Oceanside, California

After Dad finally dragged me away from Universal, we drove towards Oceanside...slowly. The traffic on the highway barely moved all the way from LA to Oceanside. Fortunately I had plenty of Gameboy games to play. And even Dad didn't get upset (much). He just got bored waiting for the traffic to move faster.

When we got to the hotel at Oceanside, that's what we did...ocean side! Dad and I ran right to the beach and body surfed for what seemed like hours. It was great except for some strange thing that happened to our nipples. Yes, I said nipples. Something about the water or the new shirts we were wearing made our nipples sting so bad that had to laugh. So...we did. A lot! Hard!

At sunset, after Dad ordered me out of the water (see the picture of me pouting...NOT), we walked along the pier and I saw a really weird shark this guy caught. It was flat and looked like a sting ray, but had fins like a regular shark. I talked Dad into turning it over so I could see the bottom but he wouldn't open it's mouth so I could see the teeth. What a wuss.