Giving Thanks in Huntsville, AL

We made it to Huntsville, AL to enjoy Thanksgiving with Tracee's sister Michele, brother-in-law Ed, cousins Emelia and Mark, and friends Phillip and Ryan.  This trip reminds us of how much we have to be thankful for - including this amazing country we get to call home...

Chef Inspired Locales & The Big Easy

We fell in love with Jon Favreau's awesome culinary movie, Chef, before our trip.  It was a great experience to get to see the location where they made the amazing beef brisket (Franklin BBQ in Austin - we even got to chat with Aaron who was loading the meat in the smokers) and to have our Beignet's at Café Du Monde in New Orleans...I think Chef is still at the Red Box, but make sure you don't watch it on an empty stomach!

 

The Big Easy - full of great food and very interesting people...

 

 

 

 

San Antonio

Well, we thought San Antonio would be a little town in Texas with the Alamo and a souvenir stand...boy were we surprised!  Seventh largest city in the country, booming economy, amazing food - what an awesome city!  Of course, we watched the Disney Davy Crocket movie before arriving and have been singing..."born on a mountain top in Tennessee..." ad nauseam:

Giant Cinnamon roll

Dad went to LuLu's and got us a giant 3 pound cinnamon roll in San Antonio, Texas. Mmmm, so flaky and delicous. It's the size of a cake and would last me forever. Hana

King's View

King gazing at the pigeons on our balcony...how cute!

King of the Canyon

    King visiting the Grand Canyon...he wasn't really sure about this photo op

The Grand Canyon (Sam)

I took a nice panorama of the grand canyon and we had a great time in the helicopter later it was amazing. 

 

Truly Grand Canyon

Kids hiking on the Bright Angel Trail into the Grand Canyon:

 

 

Getting ready to fly high over the Canyon:

 

 

Roger Hana, check the vector, Sam:

 

 

Nothing quite prepares you for the moment the helicopter breaches the edge of the Canyon and you are instantly an extra mile above the canyon floor!

 

Viva Las Vegas!

We made it to Vegas baby!  Thank you to Hooter's casino for their generosity at the blackjack table allowing us to pay for our stay.  Math teachers - please note that 21 (or blackjack) is a very useful teaching tool for the children...we are surprised it isn't represented more in the common core...

 

The kids got to see where their MeMaw and PapPap got married (world famous Chapel of the Bells):

 

 

Stopped by to say hi to Rick, Big Hoss, The Old Man, and Chumlee:

 

 

 

This has been a very educational trip - especially with respect to engineering marvels.  Yes, we took the dam tour (Hoover Dam tour that is)...

 

 

Somewhere Near Death Valley

World's Tallest Thermometer...enough said...

Yosemite Reflections

God built a cathedral and it is called Yosemite!

 

Our hearts are a little heavy as we heard about the passing of a dear friend.  We joked about smuggling him on our trip with us - he would be loving every minute of it.  Our life on earth is so short and that is exactly why we took our kids out of school to go on this trip.  Rest in peace Jeff. 

Yosemite Falls



Another great hike today to Yosemite Falls...

 

Amazing how a 6 mile hike takes a lot longer when you have to ascend 2,000 feet!

 

They tried to leave me behind yesterday, but I held on tight:

 

 

Panorama from Tracee's phone...

 

 

 

 

King is Enjoying Yosemite Too! (Hana)

Well, the blog IS called King and the Kids - about time he gets a picture.  We are staying at a hotel near Yosemite national park with a river beside it.  King stayed in this picture, so that's why he's in it!

 

 

 

Yosemite Sam

It's Yosemite Sam skating in Yosemite we had a great time hiking too. 

San Francisco

Awesome to spend time with cousins!  Emily, Gideon, and baby Cyrus have been amazing hosts, tour guides, and hoteliers...beautiful day in San Fran.

Marine Science - Taking Samples at Lands End (Hana)

Taking water and temperature samples from the Pacific ocean in San Francisco at Lands End beach.  Working hard on my service learning project.

 

 

 

Traffic Jam (Hana)

We were driving through Yellowstone national park when a buffalo herd blocks the road. 

Yellowstone skating (Sam)

The secret life of Walter Mitty doesn't have anything on me 

Yellowstone Coyote (Hana)

Had a great time at Yellowstone national park,lots of wild animals including the coyote. I went on a little hike with my brother and we saw a huge bison on the hill. We started heading back and heard my parents yelling wolf,wolf! We freaked out and started running for our lives. Later on we met a man in Yellowstone who explained to us that it was just a coyote. Wolves are much larger and have a few other features that are different than Coyote's.

Making Yellowstone Memories! (Dad)

Making memories in Yellowstone...we hit 19 degrees below zero to start our day, but it didn't stop the wildlife: bison, elk, deer, coyote, and even a bald eagle!

 

 

Here is a link to a pretty funny video - kind of shaky and not super clear, but fun anyway (especially the audio).  We thought we were filming a wolf (turned out it was a coyote) as it ran past a bison.  Only after we started filming did we realize that it was heading to the same spot that the kids had just ventured off to explore...parenting at its best...

 

 

 

Yellowstone (Sam)

I was wondering if I should do the State Farm jingle in Yellowstone - the wildlife was amazing and we had a great time today!

 

Off to Explore Yellowstone - Brrrrrr

Seriously cold this morning....

Mt. Rushmore - Sorry Folks, Park is Closed

After a long, snowy drive through a winter storm in the badlands, we reached Mt. Rushmore!  Although the Internet says the park closes at 5pm, everything was buttoned up, cones and piles of snow blocked the entrance, etc. by well before 4pm.  After coming all this way, we were not to be deterred.  We backed-up the van through the snow piles at the exit and found a great parking place (empty parking deck).  We snapped a few photos and were ready to explore, but the park rangers found us and explained that the park had been closed all day due to the weather..."sorry folks, park is closed."  They weren't very pleased that we had found a way in and insisted that we leave.  Sam thinks we should "visit the sporting goods store" and return - kid watches too many movies...

 

Photo of the park rangers that swooped in to keep Mt. Rushmore safe from visitors from the beach that sneak into the park illegally when it is closed due to bad weather.

 

 

 

Hooligans from the beach enjoying the 13 degree weather.

 

 

Totally worth the treacherous drive - takes your breath away...



 

On the snowy road...

Corn palace, Mitchell, SD (Hana)

Leaving Sioux Falls and heading to Mt.Rushmore. We stopped at a corn palace and they had pictures made out of corn. At the corn palace we ate popcorn and it began to snow outside.brrrrrrr

Sioux Falls (sam)

It smells so bad in Sioux Falls we almost threw up but the falls were nice (editor/dad's note: Falls Park is right next to a hog processing plant - sorry for the bad press Sioux Falls)...

Eating & Running in St. Louis

We think it is important that we also provide the children with a quality culinary experience (very unselfish of us).  No visit to St. Louis is complete without pizza from Imo's and Gooey Butter Cake from Kaldi's!  Fun running history tour helped us to stretch our legs and learn about the fascinating history of this awesome city (thank you to Joe from St. Louis Running Tours for an outstanding history and running experience).

 

 

We lucked into a hotel that was located on "The Hill" - St. Louis' version of Little Italy.  Amazing dinner at Zia's and Gelato and coffees at Gelato Di Riso.

Nashville (sam)

Getting good family photos

Snuggled Up in Knoxville

Ch-ch-ch-chilly. All bundled up with my sister. My own family left me shivering in the car while they got breakfast. Thankfully they came back and warmed me up. We are now driving to Nashville,Tennessee and then to Saint Louis.  (Hana)

Geocaching in Knoxville

So finding geocaches ain't no bull but got the first one of the trip (sam)

Knoxville sunrise

We got up early in Knoxville to see this nice sunrise (Sam)

Hitting the Road

No turning back now...mom and dad are picking us up a little early from school and we are off on an adventure of a lifetime - three weeks stuck in a mini-van with two parents, a sibling, and a dog.  Reminds us of that National Lampoon Vacation movie that mom and dad keep making us watch and find so funny (probably because they grew up in the 80's).  Move over Griswalds, the Hagestroms are about to make our way across the country!  Here is a map of where we are planning to go...

According to our calculations, we are going to be traveling over 7,000 miles.  Some highlights we plan to see include the St. Louis Arch, Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, Yellowstone, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Yosemite, Las Vegas, The Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, The Alamo, Louisiana Swamps, New Orleans, Huntsville, a Cross Country race in Charlotte, and back home to Carolina Beach.