Lila's Trip

Before starting our trip, we filed up the gas tank in Cranberry. Thanks to Giant Eagle, the tank of gas was free! Dad seemed quite happy about that!

Wow, we've already driven through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Dad seemed happy to be leaving Ohio, something about football and the color brown. I don't understand.

Into Illinois(e) we go!!!

Did you know that flying horses are allowed to drive in Indiana? Yep, it's true!

Ok, no more driving... But I did help watch the road for awhile.

Man, this is getting boring... what's it going to be like in Kansas?

It's been a long day. I think I'll take a little nap now. Good night...

Dad needed a break. I took some time to play. Boy, this slide sure is high!

We made it to St Louis. Time to sleep.

Hey look, it's the Misouri River!

Kansas is BORING!!!! But, I think I saw Pa and Laura Ingles over there!

They have the world's LARGEST PRAIRIE DOG here!!! But, Dad is boring and won't stop to let me see it! :(

Look at all of those windmills!

We finally made it through Kansas. I don't think I like the look of Colorado's weather!

It's only 17 degrees outside and everything is frozen. Brrrr

The weather finally cleared up. Look at the AMAZING sunset we were treated to!

Ah, after 12 hours of driving, we are in Fort Collins, CO and we are beat! Time to relax.

YUMMY!!! We're having waffles for breakfast!!

Dad noticed that the front tire had some weird wet lines on it. We went to Pedersen's Toyota in Ft Collins. They said the front brake caliper thingy was leaking. Dad wasn't too happy because that is the one he had replaced last year. Bob (in the picture) and the guys in Parts department were VERY helpful. After six hours, we were back on the road again. Thanks!

Even more wind mills

There are snow fences EVERYWHERE. Dad's been quite happy with the weather so far!

The weather has been nice, but the sun was hurting my eyes. Thanks Dad!

LOOK! MOUNTAINS!

I thought Pittsburgh was hilly!

Up and up we go...

It's a good thing that Mr. Shaffer and Mr. Wilcox aren't here. They would be racing Dad up these hills (AND LOSING)!

Dad doesn't like the music on the radio anymore. They have boths kinds of music in Wyoming - "Country" and "Western"!

WOW, this stuff is GREAT!!!! I'M AWAKE NOW!!!!!!

NUCOR Steel? Dad, why are you gritting your teeth? (Dad told me later they he had to deal with NUCOR when he worked at Instron)

Um... where did the road go?

The Snake River. If you look closely enough, you can see "Evel Knievel"

Dad, I think you better stop talking to Mr. Shaffer and Mrs. Hartzell and pay attention to the gas!

Good thing Daddy was a Boy Scout and was prepared with that two gallon gas can in the trunk!

Horses, big deal! Can they fly like me? No... I don't think so!

Snack Time! This will be the last thing I eat from Giant Eagle until I'm back in Pittsburgh.

Oregon is so beautiful!

Help! Dad is getting bored... Now he is playing with the camera to see how moving objects get distored. He is SO weird! I am NOT related to him!

Lunch at DQ! A strawberry shake - YUMMY! And it's pink too, my FAVORITE color!

Um... do we REALLY want to stop here?

Oregon has tons of signs!!!

And more signs...

Even more signs...

Did I mention the signs? Dad didn't get a picture of the "Game Crossing" signs, but I kept kept looking for some Yahtzee or Scrabbles - but no luck...

Can we PLEASE make a snowman?

Wow! What a view!

Oh man... I left my luge back in Cranberry Township

For some reason, Dad won't let me wear his sunglasses today.

There's the Columbia River with two helicopters. I wanted to strech my wings and fly with them for a while, but DAD wouldn't let me!

Our room in the Dalles. You can see the Columbia River from here!

We made it to Vancouver! It looks like Costco sells lots of juce here in Washington

I think our stuff is having lunch at McDonalds!

We spent the night in Battle Ground. Our room is huge!

Now we can eat! TACO BELL!!!! YEAH!!!

Dad won't let me in the hot tub, sniff, sniff...

But... some nice girls from Vancouver let me go swimming with them! It was GREAT!

I thought I'd help Dad clean up a bit. I started out folding the map. Um... I think I need a little help!

Time to do some unpacking... I told Dad that he'll have to redo everything because Mom won't like what he did.

Shhh... Please don't tell Dad where I'm hiding.

I LOVE FRUIT LOOPS!!!

Battle Ground State Park is less than five miles away...

...and it's beautiful!! Molly will be happy because it is dog friendly!

A quick walk from our house puts you at Kait's new school.

The left side - it was SO sunny that the picture didn't work out very well

The right side - again, it was quite sunny (but that's better than SNOW!)

Our new neighbors are very nice and invited us over for Easter dinner