Do you know the way to San Jose? Do do do do do do do you?

This trip we're going to visit Grandma and Grandpa in California!  I like Grandpa, because he lets me taste his beer. We got to start out by driving over one of my favorite bridges in Portland!  The St. John's Bridge is beautiful and green.  Mommy said we were going to see an orange bridge in San Francisco called the Golden Gate Bridge.  I am very excited about that.  I like to imagine swinging from cables on these kind of bridges.

When we got to the airport, we got to take a bus.  It stopped a lot, and I just wanted to get going to go see Grandma and Grandpa!  

We rode past the control tower and I imagined being the person in charge of watching all the planes take off and land.  That sounds very exciting.  

When we got to the airport, there was a new crew filming!!  I started dancing around and playing, because I thought maybe I could get famous on the news!  Mommy could not stop laughing and got a picture.

We went through what Daddy called "security."  Mommy and Daddy and Lissy went through a machine that they had to stand still, but I got to go on the conveyor belt machine.  I danced in there too, and the security people stopped it, popped their heads in, and said "please sit still."  They were very serious, so I sat very still the second time they sent me through.

Everybody was hungry, and there was a Mo's at the airport!  Mommy, Daddy, and I shared the fish and chips.  They were SO yummy!

 Our plane was boarding when we finished eating, so we took a quick carpet picture on our way to the flight.

Once on the plane, I got settled to catch up on blogging.  We've had so many adventures recently, I got behind!  

I love the part where the airplane takes off.... You go faster and faster and faster until suddenly, the plane lifts into the air, and my belly did too!  It is so much fun!  I didn't think it felt faster than Mommy's motorcycle, but daddy showed me the speedometer, and it said we were going 429 miles per hour!  That's fast!

Of course, on the airplane, you have to look out the window and see the clouds.  It's amazing to me that we were above the clouds!  You could see the farms and hills, but you couldn't see any people or cars. Mommy told me that sometimes people jump out of airplanes for fun.  I hopped over to the window to think about that.  Mommy and Daddy think it sounds fun, I like the idea of swinging from tall bridges and trees more than jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

When we got to the airport, you could tell we were in a new city because they had different sports wear!  Mommy said that the 49ers were the best!

I got to sit all the way up front while grandpa drove us home.  San Jose is sunny and has a lot of different kinds of palm trees!  Lissy liked those too, so we oooed and aaaahed all the way to Grandma and Grandpa's.  

This is mommy's old bedroom.  She was really into drama and 50's when she was growing up.

Grandma has a special lamp that drips oil, and you can watch the teeny tiny drip from the top to the bottom.  Casi and I sat for hours and hours watching the oil lamp.  Grandma's house also has lots of mirrors, so I played a lot of silly mirror games.  Mommy called me a goofy monkey.

The next day, we headed to San Francisco!  This was the view of a rest stop on the way.  The freeways here are very wide, and get even wider in the bigger cities.  

 When we got to San Francisco, Casi and Lissy were hungry.  I looked at the map over Mommy's shoulder, and spotted In and Out!  Once I said that out loud, we made quick business of getting over to this fabulous burger joint.  

You can see how excited the family was by this idea!  Daddy said I should marry someone from the In and Out family and bring In and Out to Portland.  I don't like to think about getting married.  That sounds very grown up.

We walked along the waterfront, and in the distance, we spotted Ghirardelli! I didn't know much about Ghirardelli except that I like their chocolate, so I was into this idea.  

On our way, we found these HUGE boat propellers!  I imagined being under the water, swimming while they spun in circles around and around and around.... This sounded fun, until Mommy told me it would be quite dangerous and I might get chopped to bits.  I decided they were better to play on like this, on dry land.  

Mommy liked the cool boats in the distance, so we went and played on the beach and took a picture.  I got wiggly because I wanted to go play in the waves.

We wanted to climb the cool towers with the spiral staircases, but they said No Trespassing.  I told Mommy that I could sneak through the bars and go check it out for everyone, and she said that unless I wanted to be talked to by scary government people, I should just get a picture at the bottom.

We made it to Ghirardelli and had amazing ice cream with toppings!  I tried everyone's out!  Mommy had vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, and Lissy just had chocolate ice cream.  Casi had Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream with hot fudge.  Hot fudge is my favorite.  Grandma and Grandpa shared a banana split, with pineapple, strawberry, and hot fudge topping, and that was amazing!  Casi and Mommy stole whipped cream from Grandma and Grandpa. It was very yummy and very good, and I think this is my favorite part of San Francisco.  

While we were wandering around, we found some Motorcycles that were almost small enough for me to ride!  I love riding on Mommy and Daddy's motorcycle, but someday I dream of getting my own.

Then they found me a car to drive, and I drove it right through the wall!  Just kidding.  But it was a cool car.

There was a pretty fountain of nursing mermaids.  I was hot, so I splashed and played in the water for a while.  It cooled me right down.

We stopped an enjoyed the view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, with the San Francisco fog rolling in.  It was beautiful.  

We stopped and looked at the Trolley Cars, but the line was very long and they didn't seem to be working.  We decided to walk up to Lombard Street.  Mommy said it is the crookedest street in the world.  

This was a VERY steep walk.  I ran ahead and looked down at Mommy and Daddy and then back down and then back up, because I have a lot of energy.  It was so steep, it was like climbing a wall!  

This is near the top of Lombard Street!  It was very very twisty!

This is from the bottom of Lombard Street.  It was so pretty; the houses had beautiful plants and fun colors, and the street had dozens of hydrangeas. 

After this, everyone was way too tired to do any more sight seeing.  We headed to a restaurant called The Smoking Pig which had silly pictures of pigs smoking cigarettes all around, and we had REALLY good BBQ.

I asked Mommy and Daddy what we were going to do tomorrow, and Daddy said we were going to a haunted mansion!  That sounds really scary to me, but Daddy said he would protect me.  I'm going to try to go to sleep now, but I hope I don't have nightmares.

Buh Bye!

The Orygun Run!

Last weekend, Moto and I BOTH got to go on an adventure with Mommy, Daddy, Moto’s other Mommy Tahnee, and more friends!  It was called the Orygun Run.  I got scared that it might be about guns, but Mommy assured me that it was about Motorcycles, and so I was ok.  We were all packed and ready to go!  I got to ride on the front.  From here, I can see everything!

When we got to the first check point, they gave us these cool Bandanna's.  Moto became instantly famous when she put it on.  Here I’ve been wanting practically my whole life to be famous, and all Moto had to do was put on a bandanna. 

This ride was called a “gypsy style ride.”  This meant we got to go all over, and do whatever we wanted, and then camp.  Mama Tahnee picked out LOTS of curvy roads, and we went swish, swish, swish, swish, swish back and forth for hours.  It was AMAZING! 

We found a really beautiful place to have lunch called Summit Lake.

This was our travel party for day 1.  Mommy, Daddy, Mama Tahnee, and Marissa.  I liked Marissa.  She was a lot of personality in a little body.  She was super positive and upbeat.

Summit Lake was really pretty, but I was ready to get back on the motorcycles and go swish swish swish swish again!  I think Mommy has gotten to be a better rider.  We are going much faster than we used to.  I’m glad she got me goggles too, because sometimes I wiggle out from behind the windshield and fly in the wind!

Camping was fun too.  We hung out by the campfire all night.

 In the morning, I was up with the sun. I ran around and pretended to be a farmer until everyone got up.  Then, everyone packed up their tents, and started another day of riding!

We picked up another couple riders this day.  A boy from California named Joshua, and a guy from Portland named Fox.  Moto and I liked Fox.  

Matter of fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Moto like anyone that quickly.  She became a monkey and hopped on his shoulder, and was happy as a clam.  That’s a strange saying.  How do you know clams are happy?  Maybe because they poop pearls. 

Anyway, Fox told us Joshua was a dawdle-bucket, and we agreed.  Joshua decided to ride a different way, and we headed for our curves!

Anyway, we made our own adventure, again with Mama Tahnee choosing the curviest roads for us to ride on.  Moto laid down on the map. I think she got tired of everyone looking at it and not at her. I thought Mommy would tell her to get off the map, but instead Mommy took a picture.  I think Mommy lets Moto get away with too many antics.  

While Mommy was riding, she suddenly saw wings!  A bird flew right out and hit the side of our motorcycle!  Mommy joked that she had gotten her Pokemon for the day, and her friends high fived her. I don’t know what that’s all about.  I don’t understand why a bird would fly into a motorcycle.  I mean, they have little brains, but the birds I met are pretty smart. I guess they get confused about things like motorcycles.

That night, we stayed near a place called Fort Rock.  It was a HUGE rock shaped like a fort.  Not terribly creative, but really cool.

The next day, we did even more curvy roads, and went to a place with LOTS of LAVA!  It was even cooler than Craters of the Moon, because the road was cut through the lava, and instead of 20 miles per hour, you could go 100 miles per hour!  (Mommy says that isn’t legal, but you can go pretty quick.)  It was curvy and pretty and pretty much Monkey Motorcycling Heaven.

That’s it for this trip!  The next time you see me, I’m going to be going to San Jose!  Do you know the way to San Jose? Hahahahahahhahaah! Buh bye!

The Utah Adventure part two!

After Bryce Canyon, I thought the trip was too amazing and probably almost over, but Mommy said we were just getting started.  We rode a beautiful highway WAY high above the clouds, then a dirt road that went back and forth and back and forth… Mommy said we were going to ride a Bullfrog Ferry, and I couldn’t wait to see what that was! 

When we got there, I looked and looked for Bullfrogs.  Mommy asked me what I was doing, and when I told her, she giggled.  She explained that we were in a town called Bullfrog, and there was a ferry across Lake Powell.  I felt a little silly, but then I got excited about the idea of riding the motorcycle onto a boat!

There it was!  It was a very small boat, and I was a little nervous being on Mommy’s bike getting onto it.  There was a ramp, but you could see right down to the water.

Once we were on the boat, I hopped off the bike to explore.  I wanted to go up and meet the captain, but Mommy said that I couldn’t while she was working.  I waved to her and took a selfie!

The land next to the ferry was so cool.  It reminded me of a story Daddy told me called Dune about a place with lots and lots and lots of sand.

That night, we camped in a cool place.  Mommy hung up all the motorcycle clothes to air out, and she said that stinky monkeys should air out in the tree too.  I told her I wasn’t a stinky monkey, but I climbed the tree anyway.  Then…. I spotted a cave!

 

While Mommy and Daddy cooked dinner, I went off to explore.  I climbed and climbed and climbed, but I still didn’t make it up to the cave.  It was way higher than the trees.  I wondered what lived in there… Bears?  Lions?  I got scared, and ran home.  I curled up in Daddy’s motorcycle boot and fell asleep.

The next morning, we went to a place called Natural Bridges.  There were huge bridges that glaciers and erosion had carved out of stone. 

 I took a view from way up high in a tree. 

Then Mommy and Daddy took me to a part where we could see old clay ruins where people had lived.  They farmed way  up high, and carried the grain down to the protected areas to store. I thought about how much work that sounded like, and was very curios how they farmed, because the land was pretty dry and rocky.  I started wishing I could build a time machine, and go back in time so I could see how the people farmed.  Maybe when I grow up I’ll be a physicist and build a time machine!

After the park, we rode a SUPER CURVY road.  See that curve?  We went from way up high to way down low very quickly, into a super amazing road called “Valley of the Gods.” 

Valley of the Gods had so much red dirt!  Mommy loves red dirt and so do I.  Daddy went very very fast down this road, even though sometimes there were big campers coming the other direction!  He had some exciting moments.  I liked all the cool rock formations. 

While Mommy and Daddy had lunch, I hung out with this cool dog.  I never learned her name, because she was surprisingly quiet for a dog.  I told her all about Moto, our puppy at home, and how Moto will sometimes think I am not a travel monkey but one of her toys and will try to carry me off with her teeth, and how Mommy has to rescue me. Then I told her about Utah, and how pretty it is and how big it is.  She didn’t say a word the whole time, but I think she was a pretty good friend.  It kind of made me miss Moto, but it was nice to hang out with a dog that didn’t try to carry me in her teeth.

Moto’s in Moab was a lesson in contrasts.  This was the beautiful, serene, idyllic view from our tent.

This was closer to the reality: Quirky bikes, 850 people, lots of noise.  I kind of liked it. I wondered what it would be like to ride in a side car, or on one of those really really really loud bikes that don’t even seem to have a muffler at all. 

In the evening, the organizers lit the BIGGEST bonfire I’d ever seen.  They used blow torches to light it!  It was huge and amazing! 

Then people got their motorcycle and started riding around the bonfire.  Mommy, Daddy, and I didn’t want to miss out on that, so we got our motorcycles too!  It was fun, but very hot.  

The next day, Mommy and Daddy went exploring, but I decided to rest.  They told me their next big adventure was a place called the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands.  I woke up early that morning, excited for an adventure on a famous road. 

The White Rim trail was very pretty, but I wasn’t sure why it was called the White Rim.  We rode on all different colors of dirt and rock.  But I sure understood why the park was called Canyonlands.  There was canyon after canyon after canyon.  It was beautiful.

 After this, we had some bike things to do.  We went to a garage, and met this goofy dog.  I hung out with him for a while, but he fell asleep every time I started talking.  I liked my other girl dog better.

We headed out of Moab, and into Ashley National Forest.  It was nice to be in the peaceful forest again.

I went off and played in all of the trees.  Mommy followed me around with the camera. 

In this tree, I pretended I was a lumberjack and sang “I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok.  I work all night and I sleep all day.” 

  

Then I spotted this tree and yelled “Timber!”  Mommy laughed and said well, it’s good there’s no one around.

Then we gathered as a family to watch a peaceful sunset.

Something I have been meaning to tell you about was  a chat I had with Mommy.  I had a lot of time to watch the scenery and animals and everything on the trip.  And I noticed something.  There’s a pretty big difference between cows and horses.  See, we took some adventure cuts and had to turn around a few times to stay on our route.  The horses, they’re pretty with it.  They look at you the first time and are like “cool, a motorcycle.”  Then, the second time they think “hm.  They’re back.”  The third time they shake their head.  “silly humans.”  Cows, on the other hand…. Well, they’re just cows.  They watch you go by, their head bobbing, and then when they see you again, their brains have been wiped clean.  They just watch you go by again, heads bobbing.   It must be interesting to be a cow, and see everything as brand new every single time.  But I think I’d rather stay a travel monkey.

The next few days were a really big adventure!  We followed something Mommy and Daddy called the Backroads Discovery Route. 

When we stopped in Wyoming (isn’t it strange that Wyoming is part of the Utah Backroads Discovery Route?) we saw a bar called “Spanky’s!”  We had to stop and have a coke.

The next day, I think we had our biggest adventure ever.  We were headed to bear lake for yummy raspberry milkshakes.  We were still taking the backroads discovery route, but some parts had snow.  To get around them, Daddy used something called Google Maps.  It found us a road that only the local farmers had used before… We ended up in a field, with the Google Map saying “Turn left” and the only spot to turn left was up a rain runoff.  Satellite technology thought it was a road, and so did our motorcycles!  It took us up out of that field, over the hills and through the woods!

Until we got to MORE SNOW!  We played in the snow for hours, trying to get through, before Mommy and Daddy discovered a snow bank snow big, we couldn’t make it.  So we found another way, but eventually got our raspberry milkshakes.

When we got to Bear Lake, it was BEAUTIFUL! For a few minutes, I forgot all about Raspberry Milkshakes and stared at the deep blue green lake in front of me.  It was worth all of the crazy adventure from the last few days. I almost couldn’t imagine anything more beautiful.

 

Our last stop was Craters of the Moon National Monument.  The earth changed from dirt to rock lava.  Lots of different types of Rock Lava, so it really felt like you were on the moon.  I took a picture of Daddy because it made him look like a cool space astronaut.  I wonder if I’d look that cool if I was an astronaut.  Mommy said I always look cool. 

When we got home, I got to talk to Moto.  She didn’t even try to carry me in her teeth.  I told her all about the trip. She told me all about her other Mommy Tahnee.  Tahnee sounded like a very nice person.  Moto got to have her own adventure and go to Seattle to play for a while with another puppy!  I was happy for Moto.    Eventually we hopped over to her bed, and we both fell asleep.  I could hear Mommy saying “Good night tired monkey’s.”