Travelog for: Vanilla

Hello mom!  It was fun to spend Independence Day in America!  We had an eventful day, though not many photos to show for it.  Mel and her mom helped to thwart a shoplifter and called 911 for someones lost camping gear blocking the highway, though! *L*



We only went downtown with the tourists to take her nephew Tyler some dinner, and there ere SO many people in town for the fireworks.  Mel's migraine and lack of love for tourists have us staying home to watch from here, though.  We don't mind much, we found more fun way to celebrate!  It started when Mel realized we had two Brits, and two Americans visiting, and a German too... She couldn't resist....

We toyvoyagers present to you all the story of the American Revolution (as Mel remembers it from school)!!!

At first, the people in what would be America were mostly British and fine with that.



But over time, the distance and other problems made the colonists more and more upset with the British ruling them, and the Army had to keep order more and more often.



Finally the colonist just felt SO misunderstood and put-upon that they decided they could take care of their own people better, and they told Britain to go away and leave them alone!  This happened around the Fourth of July, which is why that day was picked for the holiday. 



Well, the British king didn't like that at all, so he sent more Army over to keep the noisy colonists in line and protect the loyal ones, and to protect his interests there.  So there were two sides, and the advantages went back and forth a bit.



The British were spending a lot to fight that far from home, and the war didn't end nearly as quickly and neatly as they'd hoped, so they called in backups - Mercenaries from Germany, the Hessians! 



The British sent the Hessians after the rebel Americans, and things looked pretty bad for the colonist's independence plans!



But luckily America could pull in some back-up too, they sent men over to Europe to convince England's old foe the French to come in on their side!  (Einstein enjoyed playing Franklin very much)



So the French and the Americans turned and won back some momentum against the English and Germans.



There was still a lot of fighting and hardships on both sides and many soldiers lost, but finally the British started to lose steam, as the money and distance made things harder and harder.



In the end the English king was forced to leave the rebels to themselves, at least for a while.  Most of the armies that were left were called home or sent to Canada.



And the leaders of the United States were free to make their own government, for better or worse.  And they did, and today is the day they celebrate taking that stand against the king (by not working, waving flags, having picnics, and being far too loud.)



(The French mostly went home, but a lot of the Hessians stayed, and we don't blame them.)



The End!  Starring:

The English Troops!  Quentin Ducky  & Alex_Lion from the UK!
The American Troops!  Vanilla & Einstein Pig from the USA!
The Hessian!  Cilly from Germany!
The French! Uhh... they don't have names yet, they are Buzz's evil cousins or something.  But we needed more toys.    From Mel's room!

It is getting dark, so we will probably go out on the porch soon and see the big fireworks!  Happy 4th everyone, however you celebrate it!

We went to the beach again, this time on a lovely summer evening.  We wanted to go after most of the tourists were gone, and also wait until mom got off work.  We picked up Mel's niece Madison and we got there just as it started to rain!  It was funny, because the sun was still out, but we didn't let it scare us off, it only lasted a few minutes and left a gorgeous rainbow for us to enjoy until after the sun went down.

We sat on the beach enjoying the sunset while everyone else went swimming.





When they were done and drying off, we got to play with Madison for a little while!  Look at all of those seagulls in the background!  Some kids were having fun running at them and making them all fly. 



Mel took this photo special for me, after the sun set the clouds were still beautiful, and I enjoyed watching the moon and stars come out! 

Hello Mom!  Boy, is it hot here!  Is it hot at home, too?  We had a fun week, Mel is still trying to catch up! 

On Sunday, e took Mel's neice Madison and her cousn Krista to the Silver Leaf Renn Faire!  Madison had gone before, but it the first trip for Krista and for us!

Madison carried me around again, so I was with her when Queen Brianna knighted her!  She is Lady Madison!



And then Queen Brianna asked MY name and knighted me too!  I am Lady Vanilla! 



We all went to see some shows.  These were the performers for a magic show!  We also saw a funny pirate show. 



We wanted to pose with this brave Knight in Shining Armor.  Well, he didn't shine much.  Plus, we found out there as no one in the suit, just the armor!  So we really just posed with some not-shiny armor. 



Then we went to see a music show!  We sat on the side so the girls could dance.  The music was very good, by The Rogues!  We danced a bit too but the girls had way more energy than us!



In the car on the way home e all played in the back seat while Mel drove.  We all had a lot of fun!

Hello Mom!  We are still trying to catch up with our travellogs!  After Mel spent the weekend with Madison, she spent the next two days with her nephew Tyler.  He wanted to go to the Detroit area to practice in some indoor skate parks.  Mel's bargain was she would take him if he went to a museum with her.

While we were waiting for Tyler, we drove a little ways to see Lake St Clair, the smallest Great Lake.  Just to say we did!  So I'm up to three lakes now.



Then we picked Tyler up, had a good dinner, and a good night's sleep.  The next day was the museum, which was more to my liking than the skate park, for sure!
We started with a t-rex! 



There was a whole hall full of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals!



This is a model of a mastadon that was found right near where we were standing!




What's this?  A show?  Oh!  It's a planetarium!  Yippee!  



We all settled in to watch a show about the wonders of the world.  I made sure I got a good seat!  Mom, do you see the little crown pin on my bow?  It is my royal seal that says that I am a Knight of Good Queen Brianna!  I don't want to take it off! 



Later after the show we watched this big globe go around and and talked about all of the placed we'd been and were all we wanted to still go.  I said "Everywhere!"



In another part of the museum, we learned about the native cultures of North America.



I think they were very talented artists, I learned a lot!



Guess what, Mom?  There was even an observatory there!  Mel asked if we could go in, since it is one of my life goals, but they will only let people in on certain days.    But I did get to see the dome and take a photo with it!

Hello Mum!  This weekend Grand Haven hosted the Michigan Pirate Festival!  Mel dressed up and took us all! 

Saturday the highlight was the kids parade and costume contest!  Mel and Madison were in it.  Weren't the kids all so cute?  Mel took second place for adults - I will tell you a secret though, there were only three ladies competing.  





We sat and watched some shows!  These ladies danced with fire!    I would never do that!



I saw these pirates chatting and asked Mel to take their picture for me.



They saw me though, and offered to pose with me!  They thought I was a dog at first, but Mel set them straight.  Silly Pirates!  They said that they never sail the Arctic Ocean.



But then they saw my badge of honor from Queen Brianna, and they recognized it, and thought I was there to stop them!  I don't remember this being a part of my knighthood agreement!  I didn't even have a sword!  I charmed them though with stories of my travels, and explained toy voyaging to them.  They started telling stories about how they sent a gnome to military bases around the world for a little boy, and I escaped while they were distracted, even though I wanted to hear about the gnome.



The festival was hosted by the local library.  The library was a nice place to rest after the fun of the festival, while the kids were looking for books.



Mel says summer is almost over here in Michigan, but there is still plenty of fun things for us to do.  Yippee!

Hello!  This weekend Mel used her one day off to take us to a Civil War muster in Jackson, Michigan!  The American Civil War started 150 years ago. 

We wandered through some shops which had historical costume supplies and other interesting things.  The boys were talking about uniforms while us girls admired the hoop skirts and hats.  We took a break at a lovely flower bed while they were admiring guns an knives.  Boys.



We also saw some of the security for the event, sheriff deputies on horses, to fit with the theme!



The big event of the day was a reenactment of the Battle of Bethel Church which happened in Virginia in June of 1861. 

The Union troops lined up right in front of us! 



Then they marched over the hill to attack the southern troops.  There were canons also, that were really loud.



We missed a lot of the battle because it happened over that hill, but all of the good seats were taken. 

The Union troops were attacking a fortified Rebel position with half as many men.



Despite having the advantage of numbers, the Union ended up having to retreat, mostly because of confusion between units, it seems.  At one point in the real battle, some of the Union troops were shooting at each other!



Here the Union is trying to regroup for one last charge, but it didn't succeed and they retreated all the way back to the city. The Rebels only lost one soldier in the fight.



On the way out, Mel walked over to another part of the park to see if the big fountain was running, for BineHH, but it wasn't.    But we did find a 9-11 memorial with an actual part of one of the World Trade Center buildings.  We decided it would be a good place for group shot!

Since BineHH had to leave the next day, Mel took us all downtown to see the World's Largest Musical Fountain!  It was across the river from where we sat and was still as tall at the whole hillside!  They played fun music and the water 'danced' to it, and the colors changed to fit the music and the dance, too!  I've never seen anything quite like it. 

BineHH was most excited to see, so I offered her the best seat in the house, on me!  She was so small it didn't bother me at all.

(updating map )

Wow, mum!  Where has the autumn gone??  I don't feel like we've been so busy, but the time sure has flown! 

So that is my excuse for not sending this letter sooner.  We've been enjoying the fall color and not being good and editting vacation photos like we should have! 

So here is the first part of our trip to New York state!  We decided to go through Canada again on the way there.  But before we went across the bridge, mel's mom wanted to stop for lunch, so we went to a Coney Island place for sandwhiches.  And them mel decided that since it had stopped raining for a short while, we would go down to the waterfront to look for a certain statue she had heard about.



See, there is the bridge that we went over in May!  Canada is on the other side.  Port Huron, Mi has a nice riverfront.
It was for Eistein that we went looking for the statue of one of the most famous scientists, thomas Edison.  I guess he lived here for a while when he was a kid?  Once we found the statue though, we all wonted to pose with it!



This one was just for me!  This is Lake Huron behind me - the only Great Lake I am missing now is Superior, which you have already seen! 



Customs either getting into or leaving Canada was no problem at all, I was the only toy in our group who had done it before, so I could explain to the rest what was going on.  It rained the whole time we were in Canda, so i was glad i'd already been there and seen what there was to see, because we didn't get to see much besides the windshield wipers this time! 

We crossed the border again in Niagara Falls, but the weather was too bad to justify going to see the falls again.   So then we were in New York, and I got another state off my list!   We stayed that night in Rochester, NY, and then went sight seeing there the next day.

Out first stop was the Middle Falls, right in the middle of downtown.  The city actually grew up around the falls, which powered mills for all kinds if industries in the young city before other types of power because cheaper and more reliable.



Then we went to tour a huge mansion that was built my George Eastman, the man who pretty much invented film and founded the Kodak company.  This is his conservatory.  The elephant head is real.  Eww.



And this is his library, which was also interesting.  I wonder if he read ALL of these books?  he was quite a world traveller, just like _I_ am going to be someday! 



Then we joined a tour group that was visiting all of the gardens.  The lady in the hat was guilding the tour.



My love for astronomy made this combination armillary and sundial my favorite!  You can see the mansion in the background.



After the Eastman house, we got back on the road and headed for our hotel for the next two nights in Geneva, NY.  But first we couldn't resist stopping to peek at this historical spot - it's the Erie Canal!  This is one of the many many locks that raise and lower ships and barges so that they can take the shortcut from NYC to Lake Erie. 



Once we settled in Geneva we went for icecream and them went to bed, since we had a lot of hiking planned for the next day!   More on that soon!  I hope. 

Well, let's see if I can get caught up today!  Mel is determined! 

On Friday of our vacation, we woke up early and drove all the way down Seneca Lake to the town of Watkins Glen, to visit Watkins Glen State Park.  Mel brought out the big camera equipment and Mom carried us n a bag so we didn't get wet an dirty.  The day was gray and kinda chilly, but Mel said those were good days for shooting waterfalls.

This is the Entrance falls.  We were planning to walk all the way up this narrow gorge, because there are falls all along the way!  First we went into a small cave, and then over that bridge.


There were too many falls to stop and take pictures at every one!  Mel used her tripod and spacial filters to get the water to blur.  Luckily I am very god at holding still!


This was the tallest waterfall in the park.  We walked right behind it!  It kind of wet but worth it!  Not as wet as Niagara Falls, though.  But still fun.


After a very long hike with lots and lots of stairs, we took a flatter path back to the car.  Then we had a good lunch and headed to Corning, New York, to visit the Corning Glass Museum. 

First though, we got lost and ended up stuck in construction in Elmira.  The good part there was seeing where Mark Twain is buried.  We found it by accident! 

But we finally got to the museum after finding a very pretty road in the right direction.  The museum was so much better than even we expected!   It was all about glass, but who knew glass could be so fascinating?

This man is making a glass turtle for a little girl.  She suggested it and they picked her drawing to challenge the glass artist with.  We could see the whole process!


It's got more shape here I think the is making the flippers.  It will be green when it cools, but it glowing red from being so hot!


Then we went to see the displays of glass artwork.  Wow!  They had things I never would have expected to see out of glass.  All of us toys had different things we wanted our photos with, if you want to see more.


Look at this!  Even the table it is sitting on is made of glass.  Who has that much time??   


There were other learning displays, too, that we got to play with.  Look, I found a telescope!  The lenses are glass of course, so it fits here.


By the time we left there, we were VERY tired and sick of walking!  So we got a quick dinner and drove all the way back to the hotel and crashed for a good night's sleep!  But more plans for the next day were already made....

Today was Mel's Birthday!  So she got to pick what to do.  She made plans for the afternoon, but that left the morning free, so she decided that we would drive over to Seneca Falls, just to see if there was anything interesting there.

And there was!  Seneca Falls is famous for being where the first Women's Rights Convention was held, and where a lot of the women who led that movement met to plan.  So it is the home of the Nation Women' Hall of Fame and the Women's Rights National Park.  We went to both!

This is me in the Hall of Fame.  Each poster on the wall is an American woman who made a big contribution to the world.  They are raising money to move to a bigger building soon so they won't be so crowded!


In the National Park, we wandered through the exhibits.  This one we thought was funny!  You could look through and see yourself in a mirror as whatever you wanted to be.  I chose to be a park ranger!  I think all of our choices fit us very well!  Willy W. is a carpenter, Cilly is an astronaut, Einstein is a doctor and Alex_Lion is a fireman!  Good fits for us all! 


Mel also bought TONS of postcards there.  Her postcrossing friends will enjoy them!  But then it was time to move on, because there was a living history event in another town in the afternoon, and you know how Mel loves those! 

So we were off to the Ganondagan Historical Site which was a Seneca village long ago.  The tribe still owns the land and use it to teach about their history.  Today they were holding an all day event!  The biggest was a reenactment of the explored LaSalle coming to ask the Seneca for help in his explorations of the Great Lakes.  But first I watched some lovely ladies show us how to make eel catching baskets.  Eels??  Eww. 


We explored a longhouse, but it was so full of people, and smokey, that we didn't stay to take many photos.
Finally it was time for the reenactment, and we got seats on the lawn.


I learned a lot, and liked the costumes.


We had an ok dinner that night, but then got a NICE hotel room with a pool!  So it was a fun day overall. The next day we would start home, but we had two days to get there, so there was still plenty to see and do!

So Mel had a good birthday, and the next day was her mom's birthday!  We needed to head back towards the west, but we had time to do some  more sightseeing first.  So we went to Letchworth State Park, still in New York, not sure what we would find there, just that we knew that they had some more falls.

It was a long drive through the park from the east side, but well worth it!  A very pretty valley and a nice drive.


Then when we got to the falls, wow!  There were three, upper, middle and lower.  Any of them would have been a sight to see on their own!  This is the upper falls.


The middle falls were my favorite, but Mel couldn't find any good way to get us in the pics.
After lunch, We got to Pennsylvania, another state for my collection! 


I took another picture looking back towards New York, as we were leaving.


Mel let us stop at a tiny beach so that I could get a photo with Lake Erie.  Only one more Great Lake, mom!


We drove through Erie and saw the Oliver Hazard Perry statue, but Alex_Lion is the only on who had the energy to go out to get a photo.  We stayed in a very cheap hotel that night to make up for the fancy one the night before. And then it was just driving home to Michigan, but since we had all day, we took all day!  *L*

Here is the lighthouse at Marblehead, Ohio.  From behind the lighthouse you can see across Sandusky Bay to see Cedar Point, a huge amusement park!  I saw it, but the day was so gray and blah that I didn't take many photos.  We did climb around on the rocks for a bit though.  They are really marble, of course, and have fossil corals in them if you know what to look for.


We also stopped at Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, but didn't see much for wildlife.  It's not migration season for the birds yet, which is their biggest reason for being there.

Then it was home, though really late!  We slept most of the way back through Michigan, I admit. 

It took us a while to cover from that vacation, but we managed, finally! 

Madison was sad that I was leaving, but I promised to post lots of pictures for her to see that I was having fun.  But she decided to take me along for some errand running, and I'm glad I went, because we didn't know that the local grocery store was hosting a special event!

First though was a stop at the used book store.  Madison is doing very good with her reading!  I remember when she was just starting! 


We got a couple of books for her, and a few for meema too.


Then we went to the library to drop some books off, and then to the post office to pick out my envelope!  I got a pretty one.  And then off to the store for just a few things, we thought...

But the township had fire trucks there!  Not because there was a fire, but for kids to see and learn about!  Then even had a little house set up that we could learn about fire safely in.  So Madison  and I went for a quick lesson!


Here we are learning how to get out of a smoke filled room.  You crawl on the floor!  Did you know that, mom? 


Then we took turns climbing out the window and down a ladder.  There was a fireman at the bottom to catch us.


Then we got to explore the biggest fire engine!


These are the firemen's breathing packs.


I even got to try driving.


The fireman asked Madison if she wanted to grow up and be a firewoman, but she said no, she was going to be a teacher. 

On the way out of the store, while Mel and Meema were paying for our groceries, Madison and I got a ride on the penny pony.  I costs one penny for a ride.


The next day was Halloween!  I dressed up with all of the other toys. We were all Star Wars characters.  Mel had found me this amazing fur, so I got to be Chewbacca!


We were one of the winners of the Halloween contest in the forums, how exciting!

But Then it was time to start packing up.  Madison had to go back home and back to school, and it is time for me to travel to Germany for the holidays!  I am so excited!  I am bringing a postcard from my vacation with me, I hope everyone likes it!  Do you like the pretty envelope I picked out?


OK,  admit, I'm stalling.  But this is only my second trip!  I'm sure I will be fine though.  Mel says I have a treat for the trip...  I'll see you when I get there, Mom!

Hey,

just wanted to let you know that I arrived safe. Photos will follow. BlackCat is still really sad as one of her budgies died today...her first own budgie. So she doesn't have the mood to make photos. But as soon as she feels better, she will make photos.

Love,
Vanilla

So here are finally the photos of my arrival. I hope BlackCat will be more happy in the next days so we can go out. But she already told us that she has a lot prepartions to be done because on Saturday is her birthday. So I guess we will help her with that.