Today was a full day in Vegas and we spent to morning doing laundry. Steph, our sting ray victim was taking to the hospital today because her foot is a little infected!  Got her some meds and she will be fine in a couple of days. When we got back we had lunch in New York, New York and rode the roller coaster! After a thrilling ride on the coaster we went to Miracle Mile and let the kids shop for an hour or two!  Ran back and showered and then off to dinner in Cesars Palace! Once we got out of there we headed down to the Bellagio and watched two fountain shows there!

Today we rolled out of Newport. And headed to Las Vegas! Along the way some trucker cut us off and wouldn't let us pass. When we finally got around him our bus driver gave him the finger for a minute, it was actually really funny! We cut through the Mojave Desert and stopped in Barstow for lunch. After lunch we passed through Baker and saw the largest thermometer, standing 135 feet and passed by Death Valley. Once we got to Vegas we got stuck at a red light that wouldn't change. So our bus driver decided to pull out around a car, cut in front of that car and cut through the red light and almost got hit!  I think our driver was having a bad day! So once we arrived safely we checked into Planet Hollywood. We went out to Gameworks and played video games for a while and had a dinner at the Cheese berger Factory.

Today was an all day excursion at the beach. We drove from Newport up to Bolsa Chica State Beach. We passed through the surfing mecca of Huntington Beach. As we passed through they we setting up for the U.S. Open Surfing Championships! We spent the day at Bolsa Beach and had surfing lessons with Billabong! I managed to stand up two or three times for a short bit. Our one girl had an encounter with a sting ray, she was stung in the foot! She was rushed out and taken care of as best they could. She seems okay but her foot is throbbing And swollen! After our beach experience we headed back to the hotel for some free time. Once we chilled for a little we went to Wild Animal Park! Its an off rout of the San Diego Zoo. We saw about 50 different types of African animals on a guided tour, and then we walked through the rest of the park.

Today was another travel day, we are leaving L.A. And heading to Newport Beach! Thankfully this is one of our shortest trips. Along the way we stopped in Manhattan beach for lunch and some leisure time at the beach. What we didn't know is that there was an AVP event going on! So for the two hours we were there I got to sit and watch professional volleyball players, play there opening round games.

By the time we got to Newport we were all tired so we sat around by the pool. Finally we headed out and spent the rest of the day and evening walking around Disney Land! At the end of the night we watched the fireworks over the park! What an awesome way to end a day!

Today was an all day excursion to Universal Studios! We spent the entire day there walking around and doing tours! We toured the actual studio lot and saw where many differ movies and shows were shot! We even got a tour of Wisteria Lane, which is the street where Desperate Housewives is shot! After the hour long tour we spent the rest of the time riding 3D rides like the Simpsons and coaster rides like The Mummy, Jurassic Park. We even found time to take in a movie about Shrek and I found some time to flirt with some ladies in a pink cadillac who were dancing! Also I found my favorite character Scooby Doo and had a picture taken with him as well!

By 530 we were rolling out of Universal and driving by the "Hollywood" sign and headed to SpeedZone! At SpeedZone its a full arcade with three different types of Go Cart tracks and it has a drag strip! Dinner was crappy but who doesn't like playing video games and go carts!

Today was a jammed packed day in L.A.! We started off with breakfast at the UCLA dinning hall where some off our meal cards didn't work. Which of course caused many problems because the kids working the desks couldn't find there way out of a paper bag! As soon as we could get out of there we jetted down to do laundry again. Needless to say this time went really smooth at quick, very painless! Except for two of our counselors disappearing for an hour or more and showing up when their laundry was done! Go figure! Anyway, after that was over we headed to the Farmers Market. This is basically an open food court. But the fun part to this was our first celebrity sighting, we saw JK Rollings there! Soon we were on our way to Rodeo Drive where all the people with too much money go to shop! This street is ridiculous and so are the people! But its something to see and experience! After that we stopped by Mann's Chinese Theater to see all the hand prints and walk the stars! Soon after that we were whisked away to the UCLA bookstore for souvenirs and back to the dinning hall for dinner. And if that wasn't enough for the day we headed back into town to the LA Improv for a night of laughs! Over all it was a hectic but fun day around the smoggy city of L.A.

Today was another travel day. We went from San Fran to L.A. Along the way into L.A. We saw wild fires and firefighters working to put them out! Huge production from people on the ground to helicopters in the air dropping water. We arrived at UCLA where we were staying and noticed Bel Air is right across the street! That's were the Fresh Prince came from, the beginnings of Will Smith! Haha. Today was good and easy except it took us three hours to be served at a Chili's downtown. It was the worst service ever and they only comp'd one meal! It was just a bad experience all around. Because we got out so late we didn't have any activity to the kids we just brought them back to get some sleep.

Today we started of with a brisk walk up Lombard Street! This is one of the steepest hills there, which on the other side going down is one of the curvy'est streets! Walking up that hill made my calves feel like someone was sticking a knife in them! After the walk we headed to the Golden Gate bridge. It was still pretty early so we couldn't even see the top of the bridge! We stopped on the Berkeley side of the bridge and took a few pictures before heading down into Salcilito. We had lunch in this small but touristy town and sat by the bay as we ate. It was neat to sit there and watch all the sail boats and there was even one yacht there that had a helicopter sitting on it. We finally made it back to the hotel and I took a stroll down the pier to take some pictures and by the time I got back we were headed to dinner at the Hard Rock on the pier! Finally we headed to "Teen Night" at a local dance club. Very interesting babysitting a dance for 13 to 16 year olds and not that was enough we took them for ice cream at Ghirardelli's. P.S. It was 1030- 11 by the time they had it. Another long day in the books!

Had a buffet breakfast on Pier 39 in San Francisco. After feeding ourselves we took a nice walk down to pier 33 to catch a boat out to Alcatraz. Once we got to Alcatraz we to an audio guided tour of the complex. We heard about attempted escapes and riots during the 30 years it was open! During the tour there were a couple Chinese people speaking amongst themselves and shelby asked chad to translate. Needless to say chad is korean and doesn't even speak that! After Alcatraz we went back and walked around pier 39 and saw sea lions! We headed back to the hotel to change and headed out to see a Giants vs. Padres baseball game! The Giants ballpark is family friendly and extremely comfortable. After the game we caught a trolley back to the hotel and rode the hills of San Francisco! Wow what a day!

Today was another travel day were we headed out of Lake Tahoe. By lunch time we were in Vallejo, Ca. You maybe asking what's special about that place, I'll tell you! Six flags amusement park and discovery kingdom! We had a guided tour with dolphins and sea lions! We got some great pictures and got to pet the animals! After that we had free time to ride rides and go to any shows we wanted to. The counselors ended up going to a tiger show and then a bunch of rides. Either I'm too old for rides or my balance and stomach can't handle cork screw turns very well, ha ha!

When we finished at the park we drove into San Francisco! Bill and I officially drove from the east coast to the west coast on I80. As we came over the Bay bridge into San Fran I80 ended and we traveled the length of the highway! I can now say I traveled coast to coast! We checked into the Raddison about one block off of Pier 39 where all the sea lions stay!

Gave the kids early wake up calls since they had to make themselves breakfast! After that we took a drive over to Lake Tahoe to spend the day. It was an amazing drive around the lake to the beach! Sun was out people everywhere, we couldn't have asked for a better day. We had a choice to go tubing or water sking! I was put with a water sking boat, I haven't ever done any water sports ever. Needless to say they kids all stood up and skied a little, I on the other hand face planted twice and was ready to give up when the instructors convinced me to try again. I got up for about 30 seconds and then fell down again. Yet again something I've never tried, I had the chance to experience. Who gets to say they were water sking in Lake Tahoe! After all the kids had burned because they don't listen, we headed back to Squaw Valley to get ready for dinner and our evening activity. Dinner was at the top of the resort. We needed to take a cable car to climb the 8200 feet mountain! After dinner we went ice skating in the same place and watched the sunset from 8200 feet, it was an amazing experience on the mountain!

While we were having breakfast we heard that a young lady fell out of the alpine coaster in park city where we just were! But we also heard that she is okay and back home with her family. We got out of Elko and headed to Tahoe, Ca. On the way we stopped in Reno, Nv. for lunch at an In & Out Burger! I love that place, but its just a burger place but we don't have them back east!

We finally arrived in Tahoe and checked into the Canyons Resort, this place is absolutely gorgeous! This is the second olympic resort we have stayed and the rooms and views are incredible! Once we were there we walked over to the Squaw Valley Adventure Course. We spent about 3 hours climbing ropes and polls. I hate heights and but I did a couple of the challenges!

Went to a pizza place for dinner and then took the kids grocery shopping at 1030 at night. They were given $70 for five kids and they needed to get enough for two breakfasts' and one packed lunch. Needless to say they all spent about $60 plus! My room spent $13 for all three meals!

We had our second kid at the hospital today, but he just has a common cold. Got him some medication and hopefully he will be better soon! Although before that Erica and Shelby said if he had the swine flu they were packing up and leaving the trip! I actually think they would have if that would have been his diagnosis.

Well one of the funniest things happened this morning. We left the Canyons Resort to get breakfast but WA#2 "western adventure 2" pulled up to the same place right before us. So we pulled our bus right up to the store and our director said " hurry hurry go go go!" We filled 50 people out of the bus and cut their group off. Needless to say they were a little upset by that, but we were hungry!

After breakfast we headed to Salt Lake City to drop off the penske. Once we dropped off our penske we got as far as a place called Wendover, NV. For lunch. Today was the first time I ever saw a Mcdonalds do table side service. They came to the tables took our order and served us! I think that's a Mcdonalds first, hahah. After we finished lunch we passed into the pacific time zone, we are officially in the west! We ended up stopping in Elko, Nevada for the night. There isn't much here but its about mid way to our next destination. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing by the pool and took in dinner at a local casino named "Red Lion Casino" and saw a movie at the local theater!

Well this morning was the first time the guy counselors over slept! It was so nice to be in a hotel for a night! It all worked out the kids slept 15 extra minutes and we still made breakfast on time. So after breakfast we took 38 kids to do there laundry. Let me tell you what a production this was. We took over a laundrymat and had to teach about 30 of them how to separate darks and whites and warm and cold water! Its amazing how many of these kids haven't a clue and have maids do laundry! Jake paid a girl to do his laundry and she ended up shrinking his 100%cotten shirts. That's what u get for letting someone else do something for you Hahaha. After that ordeal it was time to go to lunch. We also had our first illness here, we have a girl who has pink eye so hopefully we get away with no one else catching it! As soon as we finished lunch we headed out to Park City Resort. This place was so much fun, we rode the second longest zip line in the U.S., alpine slides and alpine roller coasters! We spent about 4hours there and I think we all got some color! It was the first day we haven't had a drop of rain. Finally we ended our day by having dinner and going to Coldstone for ice cream. Ended up spending an hour or more listening to Mets Matt, Phil Lee, and Fabio aka Robbie fill me in on everything going on!

This morning we were standing around talking before we woke the kids and we were trying to remember what day of the week it is! That's when you can tell you have been on the road busy for a while! Today is another travel day and I'm back in the penske. Which I was happy about, it gives u peace and quite, and you can enjoy the scenery and take some pictures. I was over joyed because we were leaving the Grand Tetons, I just can't get enough of this place! We passed back through Jackson Hole and crossed over the Snake River. As we were traveling we went through the Targhee National Forest. The combination on the trees and mountains is wonderful. If you ever get a chance you have to come to Wyoming! Although there are some incredible small towns here. We went through Etna, Wyoming population 200, Grover population 120, Smoot population 100. The significance is not only the size but our bus alone could add a 25 percent increase to these places! We ended up stopping in Utah after passing through Idaho for lunch! During the trip after lunch we ended up driving back into Wyoming and the finally into Utah where we ended our trip in Park City, Utah! When we arrived there to my surprise we were staying at a resort named The Canyons! Erica, who was riding in the penske was so excited that she literally fell out of the truck when she opened the door! Our room here is bigger than my apartment back home! There are 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen, laundry, 2 living rooms, 3 full bathrooms, a balcony, and 3 large flat screen tv's. Unfortunally we had to leave and go to dinner at a place named Squatters, but on the way we saw Olympic Park home of the 2002 winter games. Very late night again with meetings and doing my laundry, in bed by 1am.

Well today is the 4th of July! We spent the day hiking in the Grand Tetons. I have to say that this is the most amazing place I have ever been too! The scenery here is indescribable! We went up this trail that went around the lake and headed up one of the mountains. We saw some amazing waterfalls, streams and animals. We reached a point where the elevation was 7500 feet above sea level! While we were there we feed this chipmunk that was climbing on my hand and eating. After that we pushed another 30min up and reached a place where there was some snow on the mountain! Awesome! On the way down we were trying to beat this thunderstorm but needless to say it was faster than us.

Later we traveled into Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It's a cute little ski resort town with the world famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, personally I never heard of it. But we walked around there for a while and watched the fireworks there! We had a pizza place that offered some of our girls alchole and I caught Jake and Matt directing traffic again! All in all it was a great 4th of July!

Seems like everyday we are on the road traveling. Today we left Cody and headed to Yellowstone National Park. We got there just in time to see Old Faithful explode. It was a cool sight, plus there was a lightning storm coming through too! After that we took a long ride through the park and saw a moose and a ton of buffalo!

When we finally got to the Tetons we were told a hail storm was coming with 50 mile an hour winds. We had 20min to set up camp! Lucky for us the storm just missed it, but we could see it on the mountain! After that we had a pretty chill evening. We had dinner and a campfire. A couple of the kids kept us entertained by telling us some stories and we had s'mores to boot! Ended up being a great day!

So we are in Cody, Wyoming! What do you do there, I would say nothing. WRONG! We went white water rafting in the morning and hit some hard waves. It was awesome, we saw deer, Indian paintings and a fox along the way! So what else can u do in Cody? Ill tell you--- you go to the world famous Cody Rodeo! Seeing a rodeo on tv and seeing one in person so different! It was so cool to see what real cowboys and cowgirls do. The difference in culture from the east coast to the west is like a two sided coin. Completely different! After the rodeo we took the kids to Dairy Queen for a treat, to bad it was 1030pm! Needless to say it took awhile to get them to bed!

Last night was a bizarre night! We had this wicked thunderstorm come through and I had three kids waking me up to go to the bathroom! That's enough to keep me from having them myself, ha ha! Mets Matt is 6'2 and was towering over me when he woke me, needless to say he scared me right out of my sleeping bag! Finally the day started and we were traveling again. Today was a long drive again up to Cody, Wyoming. Along the way we stopped at Buffalo, Wyoming. They had a huge pool, 9 lanes a diving well and a zero depth entry! After lunch I was back in the penske driving to Cody. Along the way we went through Bighorn National Park and saw some of the most amazing sites! Between the red rock, the mountains and the plains it was gorgeous!! Once we got to Cody we had to set up camp again and went bowling! Even though I have played in a while I still dominated with a 173! Finally got to bed around 1am. What a day! 

Well today was great we finally got to sleep in till 730 am! But not soon after that we were on the bus driving to the Badlands in South Dakota! I wish I could explain the breath taking scenery we saw. While we were there we did a hike through the mountains and had some amazing views of the plains! After that we drove to this backward hick-cowboy town named Wall. It had the most random shops, but I had an amazing shake there!

When we got back to camp we were greeted by two other teen tours. One of which was my sisters group! Watching here try and teach her princess girls to put a tent up was hilarious! But after that we left and went to Mt. Rushmore and watched a very patriotic movie about the mountain and the US. Both of which reminded me of how far this country has come in such a short time. When that had ended we got to see the lighting of Mt. Rushmore! Awesome, I can't even explain.

Today was an early morning, up at 630. Had to wake all the kiddies and tear down camp after one night there. Had a quick breakfast and we were on the road for a 10 our trip to Rapid City, SD! Very long trip with kids, playing games, sleeping and one movie got us there!!! Once we finally arrived it was all hands on deck! Setting up camp and quick showers. Then we were off to glow in the dark mini golf! This place was the most random place in South Dakota. It is completely lit by black lights and glow in the dark paintings all over the wall. The paintings and music were all based in the 80's and 90's. Brings bake memories of my childhood, ha ha! All in all it turned out to be a fun day, even though we spent most of it in the bus.

So today was an early start. Billy and I got up around 7 had breakfast and ran to walmart to pick up some last minute things! As soon as we got back we drove to Denver to pick up 40 kids and 5 more staff for our trip. When we got back we had to teach our kids how to put up a tent and pray it stayed up. Ours did so I was pleased! As soon as that was done billy and I cooked hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone! I've never seen so much meet on one grill! Finally when that was settled we packed up the kids and went to a place called The Fun Fort. We spent a couple hours riding go carts, laser tag, arcade games and batting cages! Ill tell you I was thrilled to crawl into my sleeping bag and get some sleep!

Today was the last day of our road trip! We drove from York,NE to Chyenne,Wyoming to Loveland,Co. Cover about a 450 miles today. Everyday out here on the road seems like an adventure. There is so much to see and so much natural beauty the we on the east coast rarely get to see.

During todays trip we say an original Pony Express Station, Buffalo Bills Ranch, and passed through the Great Platte River Road Archway! We also passed by Cabelas world headquarters, a huge Budweiser factory (not only coors taps the rockies) and a train that was over a mile long that had 7 engines pulling it!

For the first time in 2 days we saw mounds that resembled hills and when we crossed over into Wyoming we could see a glimpse of the Rocky Mountains! Once here we went shopping for 50 people. Boy do u get looks when you order 12 pounds of sliced meat and have 4 shopping carts filled with food. We spent $794 for 2 and a half days worth of food!

Two funny stories for you though.... We stopped at a Mcdonalds in Nebraska, the kiddie rides we have are cars but they have a saddle hooked up to those mobile devices for kids to ride! What a difference from the east to the west. Secondly we stopped to take pictures of the welcome to Colorado sign. Well when Billy pulled out he was driving on the berm for about a half mile till I asked "if he planed on driving on the road at all?" His response was O I thought this was a third lane!  Hahah pretty funny stuff. Off to bed, early day. We need to head into Denver to pick up 40 kids and 5 counselors and get this trip started!!!!

I don't know where to even begin on this one! We saw so many things the only way to tell u is to list them. Today we drove about 470 some miles and ended up in a place called York,NE. Along the way we officially crossed into the west by going over the Mississippi River into Iowa! We saw the Worlds Largest Truck Stop, the Iowa Hawkeyes Stadium, the birthplace of John Wayne, the Buffalo Bill museum, drove through the official Silos and Smoke Stacks Region, saw the stadium where the College World Series between LSU and Texas was held in Omaha, saw some poor guys house burning down, drove by the Omaha Air and Space Museum and finally wondered around the Cornhuskers stadium in Lincoln, NE before we took refuge at the Super 8 motel in York,NE. But ill tell u this the Super 8 isn't that super, although they do have a hot tub ill be stretching my legs in! Ha ha--- Until tomorrow! Oh I forgot they have these quickie marts out here called "Kum & Go" thought may we should invest and put it by Mustang Sallys!

Today was another great day of driving. We got from Twinsberg,OH all the way to Princeton, IL. About half way we stopped at my favorite place to be. That's right Notre Dame! It was nice to see and visit where I once lived for a while and to see what has changed.

Oh I almost forgot here are some Illini cowboys we saw at dinner!!!! Enjoy

 Day one of many turned out to be a beautiful day. Got up at 6am drove to wayne, NJ where our main office was. Billy and I left NJ and started our trek to the west. Had a great day driving and ended our day in Twinsburg,OH. Tomorrow we will set out with a couple of stops to sight see. Definitely Going to stop at Notre Dame and take some pictures!!! By the way this is our Penske truck we love sooooo much!

I will be leaving the east coast and heading to denver, Co. on wed. June 24th.  A friend and myself will be driving cross country to meet up with the rest of our group. 

We will be doing 28-day combination camping, hotel and dorm tour of the Western United States. The tour starts in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and weaves through the west and ends in the southwest!

Follow the trials and tribulations of JoshHanson's Wild West Adventure!