I learned how to surf at Launeupoco beach in Lahaina, Maui. I learned how to surf by watching surf movies and from friends. The way I surf is; when you see a big wave close to you, start paddling, when your start getting pushed by the wave stand up and when you fall, fall flat because you could step on a sea urchin or coral. When I catch a wave it feels amazing. When I miss a wave I feel sorta mad. I love surfing so much because it is so fun that I could definitely do it all weekend. My favorite thing about surfing is when I stand up.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Photos from the Arizona parks:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/101238042997102842287/albums/5674623645630458401
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Hawaii so far
Aloha,
We are in Hawaii, it is beautiful here. I miss my friends at home, but, I am having a lot of fun with these two dogs, Ti and Kamea . We went to Haleakea N.P. on Maui . Haleakea is a National Park on the crater of a volcano it is on Maui. There is a goose called a nene and they are only found in Hawaii there also is a plant called a silversword fern and it is only found in Haleakea N.P. I was happy when saw it because it was beautiful and interesting. It looked weird because there were cinder cones inside the shield volcano.
Did you know that Maui is made of two islands, the islands are made from under water volcanoes. We are 2,400 miles away from any other land .
Halloween was really fun, how about yours? There was a guy in a spider man suit who had a can of silly string and was playing with the kids. He was shooting silly string at us kids and we were picking it up and throwing it back at him. In the parade I was on this tape because I was saying hi to the camera. There were a lot of costumes, I was in the newspaper again. This time I was in a band made up of a bunch of people that could just come up and play on the drums if they wanted.
We also went snorkeling to see green sea turtles. One green sea turtle came right up under us and if I kicked twice I would have been able to touch it but I didn't because you shouldn't touch them because it could take off their slime. I was soooooo happy to swim with the sea turtles. I was so excited when I saw them.
Here's a video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rYJ1fQWLKw
My mom put pictures about Zion, Bryce, Hwy 12 and Capitol Reef on her blog if you want to see them.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Grand Tetons
On Sunday I got to see moose, a pack of wolves, bison,elk, red tailed hawk, bald eagle, mule deer, and prong horn. I saw them because I woke up at 6:45 when it was so cold outside. The sun was very beautiful when it was coming up. The Tetons were formed from earthquakes that still make the mountains go up and the valley go down along the fault line.
The same day we hiked to Amphitheater Lake and it was crazy hard, you would not want to do it. It was 10 miles but it was worth it because of the beauty, and my mom and friends Jen and Tim did it with me.
~Conner
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Grand Tetons and Yellowstone - https://plus.google.com/photos/101238042997102842287/albums/5657837867757998513
Sequoia and Kings Canyon Photos - https://plus.google.com/photos/101238042997102842287/albums/5657816578417146705
How I earn my ranger badges
Mrs I asked me how I get my ranger badges, here is what I told her.
Oh Wow, I had a lot of people ask me that. I have to fill out the special book and then do a special pledge with my right hand up. The booklet is different in every park. After the pledge they give me a patch and badge or in some places only the badge and in other places only the patch.
Sequioa and Kings Canyon
When we went to Sequioa N.P. the sequioas were amazing.
One day we went for a hike during the hike we saw a black bear eating berrys close to the trail and he/she was minding her/his business .
I found a grasshopper in the bathroom and when I picked him up he would not let me to take him off my hand.
I thought the place was so amazing I did not want to leave.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Yosemite
We went to Yosemite. It was cool because we had a neat campsite, it's name was White Wolf and I thought that was a really neat name. Our campsite had rocks good enough for me to climb on. One was so hard I had to figure out how to get up there. I got a new friend that couldn't get up there. He was at the campsite next to me. My friend Caitlin came up from San Francisco to Yosemite and we all shared a campsite.
While we were there Caitlin, my new friend, and I all played on the rocks. I also went on a 15 mile hike from White Wolf all the way to the valley of Yosemite. I swam in Yosemite Creek that goes to Yosemite Falls, we fed trout live ants and watched them pop up and eat them. On the last part, my mom fell. It was windy and steep and slippery. I felt scared because there was a cliff and I was really worried because it looked like her head went off the cliff edge but the real thing was she hit her head on a rock instead. We finished the hike at night time.
When Caitlin left we moved our camp to the valley and it was warmer there. Next we drove up to Glacier point and hiked a little to Illilouette Falls. At Illilouette Falls I thought it was neat because the river was pretty and fast. When we started hiking back up I had to jump from rock to rock and when my mom was about to do the rock she saw a dead deer between two rocks in the river. I think it got there because it was scared from an animal chasing it.
I swam in the rivers we went to. The rivers were cold but pretty and I had a lot of fun. I watched my mom paint in a meadow three times. I thought her art was nice. It was fun watching and I did homework.
When we left we went to Bishop to go backpacking.
I carried more than half the weight of my own self in my backpack. I carried food, clothes, my sleeping pad and bag. I also carried my headlamp, my stuffed otter and other stuff. The hike was 7 miles but it felt like it was 20 miles. It went up and we went by a lot of trees, lakes and bushes. I saw a bald eagle landing in a tree. I learned how to fly fish from my pal Doug. Five us went on that trip and we camped at Dingleberry Lake in the Eastern Sierras.
On the trip I earned my pocket knife, it's a real Swiss army knife. I can only use it when my mom is watching. I made tent stakes out of sticks. On the second night it rained and on the way up to the campsite, it hailed. When we hiked back down it rained a little bit.
Then we went back to Yosemite but on the way back I got a ranger booklet at Mono Lake. We stayed in Yosemite three more days and then we went to Kings Canyon and Sequioa National Park. I will talk about it next time.
While we were there Caitlin, my new friend, and I all played on the rocks. I also went on a 15 mile hike from White Wolf all the way to the valley of Yosemite. I swam in Yosemite Creek that goes to Yosemite Falls, we fed trout live ants and watched them pop up and eat them. On the last part, my mom fell. It was windy and steep and slippery. I felt scared because there was a cliff and I was really worried because it looked like her head went off the cliff edge but the real thing was she hit her head on a rock instead. We finished the hike at night time.
When Caitlin left we moved our camp to the valley and it was warmer there. Next we drove up to Glacier point and hiked a little to Illilouette Falls. At Illilouette Falls I thought it was neat because the river was pretty and fast. When we started hiking back up I had to jump from rock to rock and when my mom was about to do the rock she saw a dead deer between two rocks in the river. I think it got there because it was scared from an animal chasing it.
I swam in the rivers we went to. The rivers were cold but pretty and I had a lot of fun. I watched my mom paint in a meadow three times. I thought her art was nice. It was fun watching and I did homework.
When we left we went to Bishop to go backpacking.
I carried more than half the weight of my own self in my backpack. I carried food, clothes, my sleeping pad and bag. I also carried my headlamp, my stuffed otter and other stuff. The hike was 7 miles but it felt like it was 20 miles. It went up and we went by a lot of trees, lakes and bushes. I saw a bald eagle landing in a tree. I learned how to fly fish from my pal Doug. Five us went on that trip and we camped at Dingleberry Lake in the Eastern Sierras.
On the trip I earned my pocket knife, it's a real Swiss army knife. I can only use it when my mom is watching. I made tent stakes out of sticks. On the second night it rained and on the way up to the campsite, it hailed. When we hiked back down it rained a little bit.
Then we went back to Yosemite but on the way back I got a ranger booklet at Mono Lake. We stayed in Yosemite three more days and then we went to Kings Canyon and Sequioa National Park. I will talk about it next time.
Monday, August 29, 2011
All About San Francisco
We are finally in San Francisco. I earned two more badges, the first badge was with a friend named Caitlin at Marin Headlands. Marin Headlands is over the Golden Gate Bridge. The second badge was from the Maritime Museum with 4 more friends. They were Caitlin, Jillian, Miles, and Olivia. The Maritime Museum is in the city down at the wharf.
The next place we are going to is Yosemite and we are going to meet Caitlin and her family there again with other friends. After Yosemite we will be backpacking out in the Eastern Sierras. We have to hike for 6 miles to set up camp.
I feel pretty bad for the town of Middleburgh because it was a really nice place to live. It had a flood because so much rain going down the river. It got so big that it hit another town where my great grandpa lives. I feel pretty bad for them. I hope the horses and cows and dogs and cats are O.K.
The next place we are going to is Yosemite and we are going to meet Caitlin and her family there again with other friends. After Yosemite we will be backpacking out in the Eastern Sierras. We have to hike for 6 miles to set up camp.
I feel pretty bad for the town of Middleburgh because it was a really nice place to live. It had a flood because so much rain going down the river. It got so big that it hit another town where my great grandpa lives. I feel pretty bad for them. I hope the horses and cows and dogs and cats are O.K.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Olympia and Mount Rainier
When we went to Washington we stayed with my cousins named Stacy and Paul in Shelton, WA. While we were there I helped their garden grow by giving it water. We went Kayaking on Puget Sound and we loved it. We liked it so much that we wanted to go again but I was freaked out because I kept going farther out in the current. Stacy and my mom told me to paddle my right paddle to come back in and I did but to help me turn even more I had to put my left side in to help me turn left all the way back to shore.
We also went hiking to Staircase Rapids, in Olympic National Park. We went on a ranger led hike with Ranger Jeff. He taught me about spittle bugs, banana slugs, caterpillars and showed us baby Osprey's trying to flap their wings. He told us that banana slugs can get 2 feet long. We also learned that people came here and hunted down elk for just four teeth to use in jewelry for the Elks Club. I said if I was in the Elks club I would want to have that jewelry but not kill the animal. It's not good to kill an animal just for it's teeth. They left piles of dead elk everywhere because they didn't use the rest of the body. It would be better to find a dead animal and use those teeth instead of killing an animal. It made me feel very bad because they killed them for no reason and wasted their body. I think that is part of the reason why this area became a national park.
While we were there we went to our friends wedding. Jen and Timmy were married in Olympia on a farm. I played games at the wedding and I took a tractor tour, it was so fun. When my mom went on the tour there were a lot of other grownups that went on too. When she came on I started talking on the speaker because I had gone on the tour before. I told everybody about one baby cow and how he was a year old. The tractor was green and the trailer was wooden brown. It went through trails in the woods where there were a lot of cows. Some of them followed the tractor. After the tour we went to go dance, we took pictures in the photo booth with a lot of my friends, my mom, and Jennifer and Timmy.
We left Stacy and Pauls and went to Mt. Rainier. We saw two foxes at a lookout on the snow. One was sitting looking at the people, one was behind the tree on the snow. People fed these foxes so now they sit and keep waiting for food and they could die because these people fed them and they forget how to hunt. The signs say a fed animal is a dead animal. When the foxes were begging the people were looking at them and taking pictures.
When we went to the first visitors center at Paradise, there were no animals. It was really foggy so we couldn't see Mt. Rainier. There was a lot of snow on the ground. I started playing snow ball fight with my Mom and some other kids. In the visitors center we watched a movie about Mt. Rainier, and went to a ranger program on climate change. After the ranger program a ranger gave me my Junior Ranger Booklet to work on and we explored the visitors center. When we left Paradise we drove down the mountain and then we started seeing Mt. Rainier. We headed to the Ohanapecosh visitors center to turn in my Junior Ranger Booklet and receive my badge. I also always get to keep my booklet.
After I received my badge we went hiking behind the visitors center, then we drove to go see Mt. Rainier at the Sunrise Visitors Center. Oh my gosh it was so beautiful because we got to see Mt. Rainier and it was humongous and we even got to see the top of Mt. Rainier. I took some pictures with my moms camera.
When we were driving down we were worried that we would run out of gas, but luckily we survived and we didn't run out of gas. We finally got gas at the gas station in the second town. When we saw Mt. Rainier from the town we saw this brown horse chasing this black horse to play with him. We started taking pictures of those horses and the brown horse was being a really great poser for my mom. Mt. Rainier was behind them so we got them both with Mt. Rainier behind them, YEAH!
When we saw those horses we remembered we had to get gas so we went and bought gas and came back to take pictures. Then we had to go to a friends house named Tyler. I'll write more about that later. Bye, Bye.
We also went hiking to Staircase Rapids, in Olympic National Park. We went on a ranger led hike with Ranger Jeff. He taught me about spittle bugs, banana slugs, caterpillars and showed us baby Osprey's trying to flap their wings. He told us that banana slugs can get 2 feet long. We also learned that people came here and hunted down elk for just four teeth to use in jewelry for the Elks Club. I said if I was in the Elks club I would want to have that jewelry but not kill the animal. It's not good to kill an animal just for it's teeth. They left piles of dead elk everywhere because they didn't use the rest of the body. It would be better to find a dead animal and use those teeth instead of killing an animal. It made me feel very bad because they killed them for no reason and wasted their body. I think that is part of the reason why this area became a national park.
While we were there we went to our friends wedding. Jen and Timmy were married in Olympia on a farm. I played games at the wedding and I took a tractor tour, it was so fun. When my mom went on the tour there were a lot of other grownups that went on too. When she came on I started talking on the speaker because I had gone on the tour before. I told everybody about one baby cow and how he was a year old. The tractor was green and the trailer was wooden brown. It went through trails in the woods where there were a lot of cows. Some of them followed the tractor. After the tour we went to go dance, we took pictures in the photo booth with a lot of my friends, my mom, and Jennifer and Timmy.
We left Stacy and Pauls and went to Mt. Rainier. We saw two foxes at a lookout on the snow. One was sitting looking at the people, one was behind the tree on the snow. People fed these foxes so now they sit and keep waiting for food and they could die because these people fed them and they forget how to hunt. The signs say a fed animal is a dead animal. When the foxes were begging the people were looking at them and taking pictures.
When we went to the first visitors center at Paradise, there were no animals. It was really foggy so we couldn't see Mt. Rainier. There was a lot of snow on the ground. I started playing snow ball fight with my Mom and some other kids. In the visitors center we watched a movie about Mt. Rainier, and went to a ranger program on climate change. After the ranger program a ranger gave me my Junior Ranger Booklet to work on and we explored the visitors center. When we left Paradise we drove down the mountain and then we started seeing Mt. Rainier. We headed to the Ohanapecosh visitors center to turn in my Junior Ranger Booklet and receive my badge. I also always get to keep my booklet.
After I received my badge we went hiking behind the visitors center, then we drove to go see Mt. Rainier at the Sunrise Visitors Center. Oh my gosh it was so beautiful because we got to see Mt. Rainier and it was humongous and we even got to see the top of Mt. Rainier. I took some pictures with my moms camera.
When we were driving down we were worried that we would run out of gas, but luckily we survived and we didn't run out of gas. We finally got gas at the gas station in the second town. When we saw Mt. Rainier from the town we saw this brown horse chasing this black horse to play with him. We started taking pictures of those horses and the brown horse was being a really great poser for my mom. Mt. Rainier was behind them so we got them both with Mt. Rainier behind them, YEAH!
When we saw those horses we remembered we had to get gas so we went and bought gas and came back to take pictures. Then we had to go to a friends house named Tyler. I'll write more about that later. Bye, Bye.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Our first 3 weeks on the road
Teddy Roosevelt National Park, ND
Prarie Dogs
Bison
The Maltese Cross Cabin with Ranger Nate
Teddy Bear Picnic
Getting my Badge in Theodore Roosevelt National Park with Ranger Phil
At Teddy Roosevelt it was really hot and we were supposed to stay there for four nights but it was too hot for us so we stayed for 3 nights instead. The park was great because I got to see a lot of bison, hear rattlesnakes, and go around this loop that had Bison, prairie dogs that were so cute who live in teeny holes that they stick there heads out of and squeak at you. We also saw wild horses and deer. Oh, did you know that prairie dogs have 4 toes in the front and 5 toes in the back? We met two rangers named Phil and Nate. Phil tought me about boyscouts and Theodore Roosevelt, and Nate taught me about a cabin that Theodore Roosevelt had built and he lived in North Dakota. Nate also dressed up as Smokey the Bear and even though there are no bears in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, he taught us about forest fires and we went to a teddy bear picnic.
We also went to a musical called the Medora Musical and all these people came to watch, we took a tour around the set and their dressing rooms are underneath the stage. We saw elk and singers and dancers and horse back riders and did you know that they used treats to herd the two elk up on the mountain for the beginning of the show.
We went horse back riding, and I met a new friend that went with us. She was second in line on the ride and I was first. I talked with the guide on the whole ride and my horse was named dynomite and he was really fast and he ran to catch up and slowed down without me making him. He was a bay. My mom was riding on a paint named thunder. He did not want to break the rules. But my horse kept eating when we stopped.
When we left North Dakota, we went to Montana. Driving through Montana was really beautiful and warm. There weren't very many cars and most of the cars we saw were trucks. It took 2 days to get to Glacier National Park.
Glacier National Park, MT
We started in East Glacier and we stayed in a cabin behind a restaurant, that day we went to Two Medicine on a boat ride and a hike to Twin Falls. I learned about plants and bears and porcupines and bear spray. She taught us a lot of signs of animals so that you know if a bear is close by.
The next day we went to our campsite in Rising Sun. The ranger told us that in our campground we have a mamma mountain lion with 2 baby cubs and a mamma grizzly bear with 2 cubs. My mom was worried because she is scared of mountain lions. We never saw them. That same day we took a bus to a place called Logan Pass and I was so happy to go there because it was covered with snow and I played with new friends again, playing snowball fights with their dad. My mom took me inside to look around and we saw a stuffed pica and a some other stuffed animals. On the way back to our campground, we saw a baby grizzly bear on the side of the road and I was happy and my mom took a picture. Then we went back and we made a new friend named Maureen who lives in Washington and she said that we can come over when we get to Washington. That day we said it's okay it's fine we can come she also said she has Orca's near her house in Washington state and you have to take a Ferry to the Orca watching place from her house. It makes me excited because I want to see Orca's!
The next day we went hiking in Many Glacier with Maureen and tried to go to Grinell Glacier, but someone said there was a grizzly bear on the trail so, we turned around and went back because it's the smart thing to do. That night we went to the ranger talk in our campground and it was a singer that was a Blackfeet Indian named Jack Gladstone. We went to a lot ranger talks there and my four favorite ones were about, Wolverines, Beavers, Osprey's, and Mountain Goats. We also saw an astronomy thing about the starts, something about traders and trappers in the olden days.
We went on a hike with a ranger named Ellie Bash. In the beginning of the hike she made me lead the group and she was in the back because I am a Junior ranger in Glacier National Park. She wanted me to lead the group because I had to be loud and warn the bears that we were coming. After that we got on another boat to our trailhead and we hiked as far as we could go to Grinell Glacier. There was a sign that said caution because there was a snow hazard with a picture of a guy falling off of a cliff. We stopped at that sign and had lunch. We saw three people go past us with ice axes and all prepared for snow climbing. But, when we were heading down someone near us told the ranger and me that one of the guys fell. The ranger went to help him and I led the group back down. The next day we found out that the man did not survive. It made me feel sad for him. Ellie was the ranger that gave me my badge and she showed us two glaciers on the trail and I said that it looked like a monster. Their names were Gem Glacier (the monster) and Salamander Glacier was the one that looked like a salamander.
We're in Washington now and I'll write more later.
Grinell Glacier Hike
Snow Snow Snow
Getting my badge in Glacier
Big Horn Sheep
Grizzly Bear!
At Teddy Roosevelt it was really hot and we were supposed to stay there for four nights but it was too hot for us so we stayed for 3 nights instead. The park was great because I got to see a lot of bison, hear rattlesnakes, and go around this loop that had Bison, prairie dogs that were so cute who live in teeny holes that they stick there heads out of and squeak at you. We also saw wild horses and deer. Oh, did you know that prairie dogs have 4 toes in the front and 5 toes in the back? We met two rangers named Phil and Nate. Phil tought me about boyscouts and Theodore Roosevelt, and Nate taught me about a cabin that Theodore Roosevelt had built and he lived in North Dakota. Nate also dressed up as Smokey the Bear and even though there are no bears in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, he taught us about forest fires and we went to a teddy bear picnic.
We also went to a musical called the Medora Musical and all these people came to watch, we took a tour around the set and their dressing rooms are underneath the stage. We saw elk and singers and dancers and horse back riders and did you know that they used treats to herd the two elk up on the mountain for the beginning of the show.
We went horse back riding, and I met a new friend that went with us. She was second in line on the ride and I was first. I talked with the guide on the whole ride and my horse was named dynomite and he was really fast and he ran to catch up and slowed down without me making him. He was a bay. My mom was riding on a paint named thunder. He did not want to break the rules. But my horse kept eating when we stopped.
When we left North Dakota, we went to Montana. Driving through Montana was really beautiful and warm. There weren't very many cars and most of the cars we saw were trucks. It took 2 days to get to Glacier National Park.
Glacier National Park, MT
We started in East Glacier and we stayed in a cabin behind a restaurant, that day we went to Two Medicine on a boat ride and a hike to Twin Falls. I learned about plants and bears and porcupines and bear spray. She taught us a lot of signs of animals so that you know if a bear is close by.
The next day we went to our campsite in Rising Sun. The ranger told us that in our campground we have a mamma mountain lion with 2 baby cubs and a mamma grizzly bear with 2 cubs. My mom was worried because she is scared of mountain lions. We never saw them. That same day we took a bus to a place called Logan Pass and I was so happy to go there because it was covered with snow and I played with new friends again, playing snowball fights with their dad. My mom took me inside to look around and we saw a stuffed pica and a some other stuffed animals. On the way back to our campground, we saw a baby grizzly bear on the side of the road and I was happy and my mom took a picture. Then we went back and we made a new friend named Maureen who lives in Washington and she said that we can come over when we get to Washington. That day we said it's okay it's fine we can come she also said she has Orca's near her house in Washington state and you have to take a Ferry to the Orca watching place from her house. It makes me excited because I want to see Orca's!
The next day we went hiking in Many Glacier with Maureen and tried to go to Grinell Glacier, but someone said there was a grizzly bear on the trail so, we turned around and went back because it's the smart thing to do. That night we went to the ranger talk in our campground and it was a singer that was a Blackfeet Indian named Jack Gladstone. We went to a lot ranger talks there and my four favorite ones were about, Wolverines, Beavers, Osprey's, and Mountain Goats. We also saw an astronomy thing about the starts, something about traders and trappers in the olden days.
We went on a hike with a ranger named Ellie Bash. In the beginning of the hike she made me lead the group and she was in the back because I am a Junior ranger in Glacier National Park. She wanted me to lead the group because I had to be loud and warn the bears that we were coming. After that we got on another boat to our trailhead and we hiked as far as we could go to Grinell Glacier. There was a sign that said caution because there was a snow hazard with a picture of a guy falling off of a cliff. We stopped at that sign and had lunch. We saw three people go past us with ice axes and all prepared for snow climbing. But, when we were heading down someone near us told the ranger and me that one of the guys fell. The ranger went to help him and I led the group back down. The next day we found out that the man did not survive. It made me feel sad for him. Ellie was the ranger that gave me my badge and she showed us two glaciers on the trail and I said that it looked like a monster. Their names were Gem Glacier (the monster) and Salamander Glacier was the one that looked like a salamander.
We're in Washington now and I'll write more later.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
We've started our trip
We started at NY, then we went through Pennsylvania, then we went through Ohio and Indiana. Now we're in Chicago, Illinois visiting relatives. The first sleeping time we slept in our car at Walmart in Ohio then we woke up got out and went to the rest area to go to the restroom and get changed. I was very comfortable on our backpacks and sleeping bags. It felt so comfortable I want to sleep that way again. We are at the library and I found some dinosaur books and the librarian let me borrow one of his dragon books that's not allowed to be taken out. I really like them.
My favorite part of the trip was when we slept in the car and seeing our cousin that I never met before.
I can't till I get to Teddy Roosevelt National Park... whoo whoo
~Conner
My favorite part of the trip was when we slept in the car and seeing our cousin that I never met before.
I can't till I get to Teddy Roosevelt National Park... whoo whoo
~Conner
Thursday, June 23, 2011
I Am So Excited
We are leaving in two weeks. I can`t wait till I go horseback riding without someone leading the horse in Teddy Roosevelt N.P., our first stop. We will be there for four or five days. I am so excited and can`t wait till I go on this trip.
~Conner Ockert
~Conner Ockert
Sunday, May 15, 2011
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