Huntsville AL, Nashville TN, Ft. Campbell, KY

Space camp was amazing. We only got to do a day tour though. The first thing we did was we went to the Space Shot. It goes from zero to 264 feet in the blink of an eye! Next we wandered around the museum for an hour or two, and then we went to the Gravitron. The Gravitron is a ride where you stand in front of a board and it starts spinning so fast you flip upside down and you wouldn’t fall! We walked around a little more, ate lunch, and left.


The next day we arrived at one of my dad’s Alaskan friend’s named Mr. Scott Campbell, who just happened to be in Huntsville, visiting his wife, Mrs. Faye Campbell. They brought us to their summer cottage, (which is the coolest ever) and started out by jumping into a 60 ft. deep lake. It was very warm and we could be in there for hours without getting cold, so we had a fun time. We then ate lunch, jumped off the neighbor’s 20 ft drop into the lake, and then went on a very long boat ride. We stopped at a marina and got to feed crackers to some fish the size of my arm.

After that we went back and everyone got off the boat except my dad, mom and me. We drove out into the lake, and I slipped into the water with a slalom ski on. I got up, and it felt so good to slalom ski again! When I finished, we packed up, said goodbyes, and left.



We drove up and met Mr. Armstrong. We met him in our SUV while he drove up in a convertible Mustang! I got to sit shotgun in it even! It was awesome! We drove down to a swampy lake to have dinner together. Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong have two very nice kids named Trevor and Robert. We caught lots of little minnows and tried to use them as bait, though we didn’t get anything. We roamed around the area for a while, then raced the cars through lots of mud and left.
The next day we pulled up to more friends, the Gargulinski’s. They are very nice people who had the coolest house ever. They are right in front of a forest. Their sons, Tony and Chris have the coolest airsoft guns. My favorite was his C02 semiautomatic pistol. I shot my 22, and then went in and played halo with everyone else.
That night we went to a bar for my birthday. It is called The Wild Horse Saloon. I learned this really strange “cowboy” dance, and played darts and pool.

We walked around Nashville a little, then went home and ate cake and I got a rip stick, which is like a skateboard! That night was the last night Tucker would be with us. The next day I played outside with Tucker, Ben and Sam. It was very fun, but soon dad pulled up in the SUV and we had to say goodbye to Tuck.

We pulled up into a campground called Fort Campbell, KY and did three days of school. But it sure wasn’t as boring as it sounds. I, in fact got my own Co2 semiautomatic pistol. I also got to shoot a 20 gage at a skeet range.

Florida, Tennessee, and Alabama

April 15, 2009

After Dry Tortugas we drove and drove and drove. We finally came to Mr. Pascal’s and Mrs. Judy’s house. They were the nice people who I met at South Beach. We swam in their pool, used their wifi, and played with their children, Luc and Lea. We stayed there for one day, then, even when we didn’t want to, we left the house, and then Miami. We drove a little west, and then hit the Everglades. We went on a wind boat tour, which was very cool. We saw alligators, painted turtles and egrets. It was very cool, and I got to hold an alligator named Larry!

After that we went into Brandon to go house- hunting. We looked and looked, and I got to tell you, Florida is not my state. It is too warm and crowded. That evening we stopped at Mrs. Ann and Mr. Jim’s house. They have a pool with a water slide, and that sure kept me busy for a while. Then we ate dinner, watched a movie and had some wonderful Key Lime Pie. The next day we went to an ice rink in Brandon. It wasn’t bad, but I still like Alaska more.

We stopped at the Yogi Bear Campground in Northern Florida. It had a pool, a movie theater, and a water slide 60 ft. high! We stayed there for a while, celebrating Easter Sunday, going to an outside church, then going to the airport to get my cousin Tucker!

We drove a long way, and then finally saw Tucker again! It was awesome! He came back with us and we stopped at another campground for two days. We went to Look Out Mountain.

That is another place where people fought for freedom in the Civil War. We got to hike up it, and broke some rules and went off the trail. I even climbed in a cave and crawled through a tiny cavern, through the mountain, and reappeared on the other side. After that we went and got some dinner at a restaurant in Chattanooga, and went home. Now we are in Huntsville Alabama, and tomorrow we are going to Space Camp! Bye!

Dry Tortugas and Key West

Guess what I’ve been doing? That’s right, school! But we did have fun going rollerblading around town. Then my dad found something on the internet called the Dry Tortugas. The Dry Tortugas is a deserted island 70 miles away from America. So we went there, on a catamaran called the Yankee Freedom ll. It was a long journey, but I managed. We eventually came to an island where we docked. This wasn’t any other island either. This was abandoned by Americans after they built Fort Jefferson, a huge fort where they imprisoned Dr. Mudd, a doctor who cured the person’s ankle when he assassinated Lincoln. But the yellow fever got out and eventually everyone either died or left. So we walked around, and even got a souvenir, a Magic Kingdom hat that washed up on shore touching a dead pelican and next to a dead Sea Urchin.

We got our tent set up and then headed for the wind and wave with our snorkel gear. I saw a Barracuda, Stoplight Parrotfish, Spotted Blowfish, Blue Striped Grunt, a Yellowtail Snapper, School Masters, conchs, coral, sea cucumbers, lobsters and more. It was so cool!

Then we explored the fort. You could go up three floors in the walls and we could even go to Dr. Mudd’s fort! The next day I went straight for the water. There were some pilings that you weren’t supposed to swim in, so of course I was drawn to swimming there. I got on my fins and snorkel, and then went out to dive. At the bottom of the pilings there are hundreds of Sailor’s Choice. I even spotted a Queen Angelfish. I also saw a school of Silver Side minnows, and eating them were a bunch of Sergeant Majors. I hit some Fire Coral pretty bad and now I know why it is named that way.

After that some friends told us about the best snorkeling spot. We went out there and on our way we saw a puffer fish and a variety of other sea animals. When we got to the coral reef we could see lots of things from cleaning fish the size of my thumb to barracudas the size of Sam. We went back, and on the way there, I saw a Scrawled Filefish. It was vertical to blend in with its environment better, and it did.

When we got to the beach, we weren’t done. We’ve been looking over a fishing pier for a while and almost every time we saw a Jew Fish bigger than dad. Also it was off limits for snorkeling, so naturally, I was drawn to it. We got in, a little edgy because the Jew fish could be anywhere, then turned around and a dozen feet away was the giant Jew Fish! Now the scariest two things about a Jew Fish are that it stares right into your eyes, and its mouth is wider than my leg and taller than my arm. When it came at us its mouth was wide open, and I’ve heard stories about one swallowing a scuba diver to his shoulders. So I didn’t chicken out too much, but I also didn’t take any chances. I stayed a dozen feet or so away from it.

After that the boat came, we went around the island for our last time, then left. Now I’m back in Sigsbee (Key West). By the way this is my birthday month! Yeah! I’ll tell you what I do next later. See ‘ya!