Wild West Pictures!!!

Three Cowboys Found The Wild West!


Cowboy Up!



Cowboys need lots of gear!

The Goldfield Ghost Town

(This was at the end of a long day of pictures...is this the last one, Mom?)

The Town and a Huge Swarrow Cactus

Trev on a tractor, where else?! :)

A tour down into the mine...

Yeehaw!!!

Pictures - Lots o' Rocks...Flinstone's and The Grand Canyon

Yabba-Dabba Do (or, Don't) Cute though, right?


Poor Grammie and Papa! (Great pose, Gmie!)

Fantastic movie but, look at the day we had...even more gorgeous than the movie! :)

The Watchtower

Disneyland Pictures!

The Landon's @ CaLifornia Adventure


The Landon Guys taking a break.

Trevor - "I caught him, guys! Come quick!" :)

"Yes!"

Four REAL boys!

"I can't take my eyes off of him!"

The Magic Kingdom

Ferris Wheel FUN!

Ferris Wheel FEAR!

Place the magic feather on Dumbo's ear and watch him FLY!

Measuring up to Goofy.

Go, go, go...crash! :)

The Shasta Caverns and a Long Drive

*Thursday, April 8*

We packed up the trailer to move on to Harris Beach State Park, today. But, first we stopped at The Shasta Caverns for a tour.

“Three tours in one,” the marketing brochure says. First, a boat ride across Lake Shasta. Then, a steep bus ride up the hill to the mouth of the cavern. Next, a fascinating tour of caverns filled with stalagmites (bottom –up), stalagtites (top – down), and all sorts of amazing formations shaped like peanut brittle, bacon, spaghetti and popcorn. Why did they name them after food, I wonder? Anyway, the caverns are a system of tunnels and open spaces that are bridged by narrow, vertical stairs and walkways. The guide said that we walked about 700 stairs. That seems about right. It was completely amazing. The boys asked lots of questions and were very interested in the formations. It was an awesome morning.

Early morning boat ride

Lots of stairs to and from chambers filled with formations.

'Bacon' formations

'Spaghetti' formation - These names are making me hungry...

Now, we are making the long drive back to Harris Beach in Brookings, OR. As the crow flies, we are not far but, we have to travel up to OR, then back down into CA, then back up HWY 101 into OR. It is a bit out of the way but, the memories of our first days at Harris Beach are wonderful and the weather on the coast is supposed to be clear for a day or two so, we are going back to enjoy it again.

The plan is to stay two days, then up to Florence for a day of tidepooling and maybe some crabbing, then home to Portland. These are the last few days of our vacation. Ugh, I’m sad. The kids will be, too when they figure it out. They are having a blast. I hate to tell them yet. One day at a time…

Shasta Dam - Massive and Beautiful

*Wednesday, April 6*

What a fun day! We visited Shasta Dam, this morning; a beautiful sight! We watched a movie about how the dam was constructed and we talked about Great Grandpa Landon who helped construct Grand Coulee Dam! Grand Coulee Dam is nearly twice the size in mass as Shasta Dam. Grand Coulee, at 11.5 million cu ft of concrete, is the largest dam in the nation and Shasta, at 6 million cu ft, is the second largest.

Papa and Grammie Landon live just up river from Grand Coulee Dam during the summer months. Sounds like a "must-do" summer excursion - a boat ride to the Dam! Put it on your activity list, Grammie! After the movie, we walked along the ridge of the dam and entered an elevator that took us down 500 feet to the 12th floor of 15.

Shasta Dam, Mt. Shasta in background

We got to walk through the massive tunnels and hear our voices return to us in an echo. We walked out onto the grounds surrounding the base of the dam and into the power plant to see the generators. It was very cool. The kids really enjoyed it and the weather was gorgeous so we had a terrific view of Mt. Shasta. What an experience.

After lunch we loaded the bikes and drove to Turtle Bay Exploration Park where the Sundial Bridge crosses the Sacramento River. There is a great bike trail that crosses the glass-bottom bridge and follows the river. We all wore ourselves out walking and biking. Nicholas expertly biked down a pretty steep hill with Paul running after him on 'stand by' to clean up after his impending crash. :) But, he peddled right out of it! I had visions of him repeating my downhill bike accident - over the handlebars and cracking a collarbone. Great job, Nicholas!!

Expert bikers on little wheels!

*911 and a Car Alarm

*Tuesday, April 5*

We had an interesting night, last night...

We were all exhausted and fell asleep before our heads touched the pillows. At 3:30ish, Paul and I were roused by the shaking of our trailer and male voices outside the window. One said to another, “(naughty word), it’s held on by 7 mm bolts…,” and they walked away; presumably to get a 7mm socket. They were trying to steal the stabilizer bars that connect between the trailer and the hitch off of our car. It was kind of scary - my heart rate was definitely elevated!

Paul grabbed the remote for the key saying, “If they come back, I’ll hit the panic button on the remote. That should be enough to scare them away.” The "mom" in me instantly played out that frightening scenario in my head - kids screaming and scared, our next door neighbors with their autistic son trying to make sense of the situation and calm their family, the unknown reaction of the "robbers"...I grabbed the phone and called 911. Two police cars responded quickly, talked to Paul, and patrolled the park for about an hour. Neither of us slept much after that and (as you might imagine) we were packed up and out of the park very early. Whew - thanksgivings for protection!

We drove up the road to Redding and stayed at a quiet, pretty little park. We arrived around 1 pm and had a lovely lunch at our picnic table. Everyone took a long nap. The kids and Paul discovered an Atari game system in the club house while I was cooking dinner. They ALL loved that! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Frogger and Ms PacMan! They liked the idea of Donkey Kong but, couldn’t quite get the hang of it. It was funny to see the antiquated graphics. Remember how cool that seemed 30 years ago?! :) Oh how times change...and, now we are the adults protecting little ones from harm.

The park has a nice playground and the boys are biking a lot. It will be a relaxing place to stay for a couple of days.

Our Detours - God's Hand

*Monday, April 5*

Our plan today was to drive into Yosemite National Forest to spend a few days hiking and sightseeing but, the village got over a foot of snow and the trails got between 17 and 28 inches of snow last night with more scheduled for tonight. I guess that Spring has not quite arrived at Yosemite. :) So, we have regrouped and decided to drive further North. Our target is Redding, CA. It is raining off and on all the way up the West Coast today but, the rest of the week looks like it will clear up. We hope to make as much progress on the road today as possible while the weather is yucky. The kids are enjoying this unexpected "down day."

Everyone is tired and our allergies are acting up. But, the wildflowers are beautiful and the fruit stands are open selling freshly picked asparagus and strawberries. We stopped at a stand and stocked up – delicious. We stopped at a cheese factory and bought some yummy varieties (I taste tested each one just to make sure) along with crackers and a sourdough loaf for snacking later. Oh how I long for a trip to Dairy State Cheese in Rudolph, WI...delicious and inexpensive...only in the "dairy" state!

Everyone is getting weary of driving. We are looking for an excuse to pull over for the night...ahhhh...once again we decide to take a detour to Jelly Belly Factory! Everyone perked up at the idea so, off we turn to get a sugar fix (and another bag of chocolate covered almonds!) and then to find a place to stay tonight.

We keep seeing billboards advertising an olive processor in Corning, CA called, The Olive Pit. "TOURS!" "SAMPLES!" That sounds right up our alley! So, we’ll make a detour there on our way to Redding, tomorrow. Once we reach Redding our "plan" is to spend a couple of days there seeing the sights. But, the beauty of this trip has been the opportunity to take a detour when desired. So, we’ll see where the wind blows tomorrow. :)

Just as sweet the second time around!


I would smile but, my mouth is stuffed full of jelly beans!

**Amazing God - I have to write what just happened to us!**

As we were getting buckled and ready to leave the Jelly Belly factory we noticed a white Toyota Sequoia just like ours with a Thule rocket box on top. Paul said to me, “That could be us without a trailer. We could just haul everything and stay in hotels.” “No thanks,” I replied, "I love having our home travel with us!" And, as we were pointing at them, they were pointing at us.

The wife hopped out of the car and flagged us down. She said that they want to buy a similar sized trailer and wondered if the Toyota would pull it, etc . Her husband was close behind her, along with their young son. As we stood there chatting and laughing about all sorts of things their son said, “We went to church yesterday.” Paul said, “Hey, us too!” And as we visited, we discovered that the church we attended in San Diego, San Carlos United Methodist Church, is only 4 miles from their home! Note: we are now 500 miles North of San Diego!!

We shared with them what a fun service it was, how nice the children’s ministry leader is and how many active young families there seemed to be attending there. She nudged her husband and said quietly, “Maybe that would be a good place for us to check out?”

We don’t know exactly what will come of that meeting for them but, what are the chances of that just happening? We believe NONE! God is amazing. To think that we were led away from our original plans to that very place and time where we would meet someone who lives so close to where we went to Easter services. And to think that we attended there, a 20 minute drive from our RV Park in San Diego, because Paul picked up a local magazine and scanned the ads for an Easter service that would work for our family. Of all the churches, of all the cars, of all the places, of all the snow storms...absolutely incredible, God!

What a living example of His grace. And, what peace that brings us! How much more capable is He of providing for our family, preparing our future and guiding us on His path? Knowing that God can so perfectly orchestrate a meeting between two families traveling in opposite directions bolsters our faith in Him. I believe God to be huge. I believe that He can do what He says he can do – move mountains, heal, restore, forgive, save. YEAH, GOD!!

Christ is Risen!!

*Sunday, April 4*

"The Lord is Risen Indeed" - Amen!


We had a lovely Easter morning! That smart Bunny found us in this 20' trailer in the middle of an RV Park 1100 miles from home! Nicholas said, "God must have told him where we are." :)

The boys found all of the hidden eggs and dug through their baskets to find lots of little treasures including new kites. Those will come in handy at the beach in a few days!! We shared a big Easter breakfast (cooked on an electic skillet at the picnic table - ha!) before heading off to San Carlos United Methodist Church for their annual Easter Children's Service named, "God Rocks!"

It was a fantastic service - interactive, energetic, full of music and dancing, complete with a puppet show and short video clips - all praising God while telling the resurrection story to an audience of children and their parents.


I was so impressed with the idea that I found the children's ministry leader to thank her (first, for advertising it in the local magazine and second, for her hard work - it was a big production!) and to ask some questions about the programming they used and how she organized it, etc. She was so gracious and everyone was so welcoming. What a blessing to experience this church today!!


(Ugghh...seriously Stacie, NO Easter pictures??!! What was I thinking? Trust me, the 4 boys looked super-duper handsome!) :)


Off to Bakersfield. Then, Yosemite National Park.

Sightseeing in San Diego...Pillow Pets!!! :)

**Just a week of posts left to go to finish up the journal of our trip...I am determined to get it complete despite the busy life we are leading right now. To update everyone (briefly) on the happenings here, Paul accepted a job as General Manager with James Ferrell and Co in their Umatilla warehousing and production facilites. He is loving it. We are in the process of moving to the Tri-Cities and are walking through the many transitions with a joyful, peace-filled heart. We are certain that this is God's perfect plan for our life and are excited to see where He is leading us! I'll blog an update soon! :)**

*Saturday, April 3*

Today was a GREAT day! If I could bottle it, I would! :)

This morning, we drove downtown to visit the children’s museum. What a terrific place! I wish that I had taken more pictures…I was just having too much fun! They have a fleet of chariots that you can stand in and maneuver around a course. It was, by far, Zachary’s favorite activity!

The boys painted, sculpted, made music, dressed up like sea creatures and bounced in the rainbow tunnel. They had a blast!

For lunch, we went into Old Town. Most of the buildings are original; it is the first place that settlers homesteaded in San Diego.

There is a lovely remodeled Mission and lots of shops and restaurants. We ate at a fabulous Mexican restaurant where the boys were serenaded by a two-man mariachi band.

Nicholas, you can see, was very polite during their song. Trevor, on the other hand, was a bit indifferent or maybe just confused. To his credit, a speeding train couldn’t stop this kid from eating chips and salsa. The spicier, the faster, the better for T. :)

And, to top it off, the table next to us who was celebrating a birthday, shared their cake with us! Wow – talk about being in the right place at the right time! We were beyond stuffed!!

And now, perhaps the highlight of the trip...ready??...

As we walked through the street fair in Old Town, the boys spotted a vendor selling Pillow Pets. Oh, how frequently we have heard the pleading of 3 boys for a pillow pet. If you are not familiar, they are pillows that Velcro closed to look like an animal. Definitely one of those, "why didn't I think of that?," products.

I thought that they would come out of their shoes when they saw the vast array of pillow pets in the vendor’s booth. They begged (quite politely I should add), we circled the block and returned to the booth to adopt 3 Pillow Pets; an elephant for Trevor, a penguin for Zachary, and after much debate, a monkey with a winning smile for Nicholas. Everyone we passed giggled at their excitement. One gal stopped me and said, “Isn’t it fun to see how something so simple can bring such joy to a child that age? I really miss those days.” So true. I won’t tell you what they cost. (I prefer not to have official record of it.) :) It was worth every penny.

Our day continued at La Jolla Beach where we walked the boardwalk and hung out with the sea lions lounging around on the beach. See the boys’ faces? They were a little taken back by the pungent smell. :) It didn't take long before they were asking if we could leave. "City-boys" for sure. :)

Tired and happy, we returned home, filled plastic eggs with jellybeans (from our Jelly Belly detour) and made Easter Cookies, a tradition in the Landon house at Easter. Unfortunately, w/ no mixer we won't be able to reveal the hollow cookies (empty tombs) tomorrow morning but, the bible verses and memory of past years’ cookies were just as special.

We are all excited to celebrate Easter tomorrow. Paul picked up a local magazine and found a church about 20 miles away that is having a big children's service. It sounds like a perfect place to celebrate the gift of The Risen Christ!