Here is my picture essay:
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| Our journey began in Santa Monica |
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| at the end of Route 66 |
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| Seeing my sister tomorrow! |
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| Though the excitement is a bit too much for both of us |
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| Lots of ghost towns on the old Route 66 |
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| With ghost hotels |
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| and ghost water towers |
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| and wide open spaces |
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| But it is still pretty cool |
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| Unlike Amboy Crater which was incredibly hot |
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| Family Selfie - outside Needles CA |
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| Oatman AZ |
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| Where the burros are king |
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| and wanted to poke their heads into our car |
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| Perhaps this driver got too distracted by the burros? |
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| These "Cars" in Seligman AZ are better preserved and inspired a movie |
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| The ice cream in Seligman is also pretty good |
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| First glimpse of the Grand Canyon |
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| Mummy and me at the Canyon's edge |
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| Cherryella got even closer to the edge (Gulp!) |
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| View of the Canyon from the village |
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| Getting ready for our fossil walk |
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| Family Selfie - Grand Canyon AZ |
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| Glen Canyon Dam |
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| Cherry as we start our boat ride inside Glen Canyon |
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| It was beautiful |
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| And there were petroglyphs |
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| Family Selfie - Glen Canyon - trying to fit in under Mummy's hat |
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| Dad's highlight of the trip - taking a dip in the Colorado River (8 degrees Fahrenheit brrr!) |
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| Don't know what made us decide not to eat here? |
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| Daddy and Cherry ready for a bit of crazy 4 wheel driving in the Utah Desert |
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| I am not so keen |
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| Though I perked up when we found dinosaur footprints |
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| The fresh mountain lion prints were slightly more alarming |
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| I want to see the Eiffel tower but this fake one in Vegas will do for the time being |
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| and they had flamingos for Mummy |
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| Family Selfie including my 'Blobby' drawing - Welcome to Vegas sign NV |
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| Still hanging with Blobby - Calico Ghost Town CA |
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| This must be the town Doc went back to in Back to the Future III |
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| No beer for us at the saloon but the Blue Raspberry slurpees were good |
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| Disneyland |
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| Family selfie - Sleeping Beauty's castle Disneyland (the mcmansion version is in Orlando) |
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| Riding in a submarine and listening to bad Australian accents on the Nemo ride |
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| Daddy got trapped on Tom Sawyer's Island |
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| No point even window shopping on Rodeo Drive |
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| Collection of Dire Wolf skulls at La Brea Tar Pits |
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| and condor legs |
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| and a general mishmash of Ice Age animals |
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| Love my sister! |
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| Hollywood Blvd |
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| Where the cool kids like me hang out |
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| 90210 |
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| Welcome to Hollywood |
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| Chilling with Cherry - on our last night |
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| Then off on the train |
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| Our train journey covered lots of different terrain - desert |
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| Freight train passageways |
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| the sea |
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| strawberry fields |
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| forrest |
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| snow capped mountains |
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| lakes |
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| denser forrests |
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| and the long train trip meant plenty of time to read my new Goosebumps book |
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| before we arrived in Portland |
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| where even the characters in public service announcements are hipsters |
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| Mummy and I enjoyed an Elephant Ear in the sun |
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| and celebrated Mummy and Daddy's 5 year wedding anniversary |
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| This store had 1.6 acres of books! |
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| Trying to crowd Daddy out of the family selfie |
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| Portland is also a brewing capital |
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| I learnt to properly tie my shoelaces on this trip |
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| and checked out the Seattle Space Needle |
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| and the monorail |
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| We popped down to the Pike Place Markets |
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| and played with some of the locals |
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| and generally had a great time being together |
