So our trip had offically come to an end. We returned the RV on Sunday with some tears, as you can see!! We said a fond farewell to Sunny (what we named the RV) and have started planning the next trip!!! Thanks for all your comments and for following along...hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!!!

Our last stop was in Pittsburgh, PA. We decided to take in a Pirates game. It was a really nice stadium, we walked over the bridge to get there and Andrew and Ally posed in front of Roberto Clemente's statue. WE got great seats for SO MUCH cheaper than they would have cost at Yankee Stadium!! And the best part was

the foul ball Rob snagged at the bottom of the 9th inning!! Andrew certainly had a big smile after that (even though the pirates lost...no surprise!) After the game we walked down to the dugout and ANdrew quickly spotted all the sunflower seeds all over the floor!! Needless to say, it was a nice way to end the night!

Rock and Roll!!

Our stop in CLeveland included a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. No pictures were allowed of any of the exhibits but we did take some outside. Andrew and Ally also got to sit in the drivers seat of Johnny Cash's tour bus (thast's ALly taking it for a spin!!)

Afterwards, we had some time to relax at our campsite. It had a lake for swimming, which had a sllide and inflatable rock climbing slide. Andrew, Ally and Rob all swam out and were able to climb up and then slied into the water. It was definitely one of the nicest sites we stayed agt. We had a cookout that night, complete with marshmellow roasting!!

These are pictures from our stop in Louisveille, KY. We visited the Louisville Slugger bat factory and museum. The bat outside is ENORMOUS!! If you look carefully, you can see Andrew and Ally standing in front of it!! They each got to hold a game used Mickey Mantle bat. You whad to put on white gloves before you could hold it and you couldn't swing it but it was cool to hold it!! It was interesting to go through the factory; they were making Dustin Pedroia's bats as we went through. no pictures were allowed in there, just in case we were spies from another bat company!!

I've also posted the picture of BAbe Ruth's bat from the season he hit 60 HRs...you can see the notches he put for each homer!!

Last stops

So we have made it to Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the last campsite and this one have had terrible internet access. The pictures are not loading. But I can tell you we made it to the Louisville Slugger museum and factory in Kentucky. It was really interesting. Andrew and Ally got to hold a game used Mickey Mantle bat and saw bats being made. We saw the difference in how bats looked long ago and today and saw the bat Babe Ruth used the year he hit 60 HRs. It even had the notches he put in it to mark his home runs!

After that, we headed to Cleveland, Ohio. We spent the day at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which is right across from the Browns Satdium. It had a lot of cool stuff, from the Bealtes outfits, to Jimi Hendrix's guitar he hand painted to tons of songs written out by their writers on looseleaf and scrap paper! Probably not as interesting to Andrew and Ally but Ally did like seeing the first car Joan Jett ever had (a Jaguar purchased when she only had a learner's permit!) Andrew was not impressed with some of the Rolling Stones' concert outfits (WHO wore that?!?!) but an interesting place nonetheless.

We went back to our campsite, which had a lake with a slide and an inflatable climbing rock/slide, which Andrew and Ally probably liked more than the museum!!

Which brings us to PA. We are outside of Pittsburgh...everyone is swimming right now (It is HOT!!) and we are heading to a Pirates game tonight. As soon as possible, I'll upload more pics. We are leaving tomorrow and heading back to SI. We will probably be home late evening...that is, if we don't stop somewhere else on our way!!!

Some sights from St. Louis

Here is ANdrew next to William CLark of Lewis and Clark fame, in the Museum of Westward Expansion.

One of the views from the top of the arch...it's over 600 feet high, that's taller than the Washington Monument!

Back on the ground!!

These 2 pictures were taken in Old Abilene Town, Kansas. The train wasn't running but was still neat to look in. That is Andrew and Ally in front of the old schoolhouse.

And...Here they are...ready to go rafting!!!!

Colorado-Kansas-Missouri-Indiana/Kentucky

So we had a little bit of a change in schedule. We were supposed to leave for Kansas early in the morning and our planned stop was Old Abilene, a Wild West town. They have gun fights and can can dancers. But we decided we had done a lot of Wild West things and had seen a gunfight, so we changed the schedule. Instead of leaving for Kansas early, we stayed in COlorado for a bit longer and rafted down some rapids!! I don't think I can post pics of them because we took them with a water proof disposable camera and we bought some from their photographer (think of those places that take your picture when you walk into some toursit place or on a ride and then see it at the end...they had some one on the river bank snapping action shots!) The 4 of us were on a raft with a guide, Andrew and Ally just held on, Rob and I paddled. We were out for about an hour and a half. At one point, we stopped and got to swim ion the water. At anoother point, Andrew got out and floated down part of the river to the raft!! It was definitely one of our favorite parts of the trip!! We were so glad we did it, especially when we got to KAnsas and they had cancelled the can can dancers for the day we were supposed to be there because they were working on the town!! Kansas was actually pretty boring, nothing at all going on in Abilene! We left and made our way to St. Louis, Missouri. We got in late but got up this morning and went to the arch. What a great view!! We took a little car to the top, you could see both Busch Stadium(home of the Cardinals) and Edward JOnes dome (home of the Rams). When we were driving around, we also saw the arena where the Blues play. There is also the Museum of Westward Expansion under the arch. It had a lot on Lewis and Clark and the Louisiana Purchase, and ANdrew and Ally got another Junior Ranger badge!!!! (that makes 4!!) After, we walked around the park and walked to Busch Stadium...we could see inside of it. It's really nice. They had a game tonight and we thought about staying but decided against it. We left St. Louis and are now in Indiana. Because Louisville, Kentucky is right over the bridge, the bat factory is only 3 miles away. We will be touring that tomorrow and then it's on to Ohio!! I will try to post pictures of things tomorrow!!

Sorry!

So I juts looked at the last 3 posts and realized that for some reason, the captions are not matching with the pictures. I don't know why that is, but I'm sorry to say for now, it is going to stay that way!! We are all a bit tired and I'm sure you are all smart enough to figure them out!! I will try to do better next time!! Off to Kansas tomorrow!!

Colorado

Today was a step back in time for the Rainbolt family. We started out at the Ghost Town Museum, which had an old mining town set up, with all sorts of old fashioned objects, like phones, washing machines,and stage coaches to name a few. Andrew and Ally took some shooting practice; Andrew liked it a lot more than Ally!

After that, we drove about an hour away to a place called Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. They had all sorts of things there! They had a wildlife park, where we saw sheep, elk and bison. They also had a wild west area, where there was panning for gold, we saw a gun fight, and Andrew and Ally posed with the cowboys. But the best parts were definitely the bridge, tram and incline railway. The bridge is the highest suspension bridge in the world and goes over the Arkansas river. THe tram takes you from one side to the other. And the incline railway is actually set into the side of the mountain and takes you all the way down to the river and then back up. It was awwesome! And to top it off, we ended the day with a rainbow!! Definitely made up for the day before!

One of the bison we saw and the tram.

View from the bridge

Panning for gold

Andrew locked up...it was

only a matter of time!

One of the incline railways on its way

up the mountain...they are the

steepest in the world!

Down at the bottom, next to the river

Nice ending to the day!

Ups and Downs

Today was the day we left the Grand Canyon. We got up around 5 am, and drove through part on our way out. So nice seeing the sun come up and so many animals were out. Andrew and Ally loved seeing it that early but Ally started too cry; she was so sad to leave!

They went back to sleep and we headed to Colorado, with a stop planned for 4 Corners. What a DISAPPOINTMENT!!! When we got to 4 Corners, we were told they were doing construction and could not stand at the spot but we could take a picture by the fence. It was awful!! The fence was no where near the spot, you couln't even see the marker!! we walked all around to say that we walked through 4 states but the worst aprt was, no one was even working!! They could have put a gate and opened it since there was no work actually being done. So we showed our disappointment through this picture!!

But on the way to Colorado Springs, we added in an extra stop. We decided to stop at Mesa Verde National Park. They have these pueblo ruins there that you can hike down to and walk through, they were so great!! Andrew and Allly were even able to climb down a ladder into an underground room. The only down side was that they were down road work in the park so the one road that runs through was backed up. So, we got to Colorado Springs MUCH later than expected but it was a great stop.

While we were there, Andrew and Ally got their 3rd Junior Ranger pins! Here they are getting sworn in...they are asking where the next national park is so they can get some more!!

Even though it was a long ride, Colorado is beautiful. In terms of drives, it was definitely the most scenic of anywhere we've traveled. The mountains were beautiful and everything was so greeen, a big contrast to where we'd been before.

Grand Canyon-last day

For our last day in the canyon, we decided to bike part of the trail. We rented bikes...Ally got a tagalong. I know, I can hear people already saying, "Poor Rob!" but I actually was going to do it but the guy working there said they recommend hooking it to the person with the most weight, so the decision was made for us!! Ally loved having it, she really did pedal but at one point she felt it necessary to remind Rob, "Hello, I'm on one wheel back here!" Anyway, we biked for 5.6 miles up to a place called Hermit's rest. After that, we hiked down into the canyon again for a little bit.

Hiking down after the ride

We went back up at night, but it wasn't as clear and you couldn't see as many stars as the night before.

Update

Sorry about not posting anything the next few days...a few late nights and no internet...but we are now in Colorado and are in the process of posting new pics!!!

Grand Canyon!!

Here we are: the Grand Canyon!!! The only word that can describe it is: unbelievable! We have seen pictures before and posted pictures here, but nothing can capture the actual sight of it.

On our first day here, we walked along the rim...it is so vast and so deep.

We have seen a ton of wildlife, elks, lizards, squirrels, a mouse, ravens.

On our second day, we hiked down into the canyon. The view looking back up...amazing.


Last night we went back to the canyon at night to see the sunset and watch the stars come out. There were so many!!

These are just a few pictures..we have tons more!!