Ted Sees Old Trees

Ted got his first look at the Petrified Forest in New Mexico. He can't see where there could have ever been any trees there.

This is the largest petrified tree in Geronimo:

• The forest spans about 146 square miles of semi-desert shrub steppe and highly eroded and colorful badlands
• About 600,000 people visit the park each year
• The fallen trees lived during the Late Triassic, about 225 million years ago
• Other fossils have been found in the park including ferns, cycads, ginkgoes, and fauna including giant reptiles called phytosaurs, large amphibians, and early dinosaurs
• The earliest human inhabitants arrived at least 8,000 years ago. They grew corn in the area and built pit houses. Later inhabitants built pueblos
• More than 600 archeological sites have been discovered in the park

Ted visited the 9/11 Remembrance Garden in Winslow, AZ. The people of Winslow were one of the first to request pieces of the World Trade Center tower for theim memorial garden.

These are the two girders given to the people of Winslow by the City of  New York:

Ted tried to visit Meteor Crater on his way home, but the line was too long!

Instead, Ted pretended he was rubble from the meteor!

Ted finally reached Nevada, the last state between him and his home driveway!

 Ted got to see the bright lights of Vegas for a little while before he found out that the Electric Daisy Carnival patrons had booked every single room in the city! So he headed on to Barstow...

Ted got an early start this morning for home and arrived just after 1pm! Now he is home safe and sound and resting up for his next adventure:

In the first week of August, Ted will be traveling to the OC Fair to see Weezer in concert. He will also be going to the beach and taking a much needed vacation! Stay tuned!

Ted is Almost Home

 Ted is almost at the end of his first cross-country journey! He crossed into New Mexico yesterday and is ambling towards home today. Tomorrow he should be back in his own driveway!

I hear Ted wanted to see the buffalo at the Cherokee Trading Post, but this was all that's left:

Ted passed back into Texas! Check out a previous post for some fun Texas facts.

Ted visited the Leaning Water Tower in Groom, TX. The water tower no longer functions, and is purely decorative now. Ralph Britten bought it after it was slated for demolition and used it as a sign for his truck stop and tourist info center. For Christmas, the town of Groom lights up a large star on the top of the tower.

 Here is Ted at the New Mexico Border:

•  The Rio Grande in New Mexico is the longest river in the US
• Yucca, New Mexico's state flower, is used to make rope
• The world's first atomic bomb was detonated on the White Sands testing range outside of Alamogordo
• The "white sand" is actually composed of gypsum crystals
• New Mexico records the highest number of Catholics in any western state
• New Mexico's area is around 121,665 square miles, but has only 225 square miles of surface water area
• In Carrizozo it is forbidden for a female to appear unshaven in public
• More than 500, 100-million year old dinosaur footprints have been identified in Clayton Lake State Park
• At Lake Valley, miners discovered silver in veins so pure that the metal could be sawn off in blocks, instead of having to be dug out by traditional methods
•  In New Mexico, it is against the law to dance around a Sombrero
•  The town of Deming is known for its annual duck races

Ted found the famed Bates Motel, but he will NOT be staying there, no matter how much hot water they have!

Home again, home again!

Ted Says Goodbye To SkillsUSA

Although Ted didn't make it onto the Skills floor on the last day of competition, he was there in spirit!

Here is the carpentry competition, an old favorite for us because my grandpa was a carpenter and a wood shop teacher.

Masonry is one of my (Julie's) favorite competitions to watch. Some of the students handle their mortar with such grace, its mesmerizing!

Ted made a stop at the Knute Rockne memorial in KC. I am told that someone we are related to knew him!

The sight of this Kansas rainbow had Ted singing "Somewhere...over the rainbow...way up hiiiigh!"

Ted stopped for ice cream at Braum's. You can read more about Braum's history and even get recipes at http://braums.com

As Ted left KC for home, he stopped to pay his respects at the Oklahoma City National Memorial

• The memorial honors those who lost their lives in the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19,1995
• The Memorial features eleven different segments:
• The Gates of Time: Twin bronze gates frame the moment of destruction (9:02) and mark the formal entrances to the Outdoor Memorial. 9:01, on the eastern gate represents the last moments of peace and 9:03 on the western gate represents the first moments of recovery
• The Reflecting Pool: Visitors seeing their reflections are seeing "someone changed forever by what happened here"
• The Field of Empty Chairs (pictured below): 168 empty chairs made of glass, bronze, and stone represent those who lost their lives, with a name etched into the glass base of each. The chairs represent empty chairs at the dinner tables of the victim's families. They are arranged in nine rose for the nine floors of the building, with each person's chair on the row(floor) on which the person worked or was located when the bomb went off. The five westernmost chairs represent five people who died but were not in the actual building. 19 small chairs represent children who died. Three unborn children died with their mothers and their names are listed beneath their mothers on their chairs.
• The Survivors Wall (also pictured below): The only remaining portions of the building are the southeast corner and part of the south wall. The wall includes several panels of granite salvaged from the building itself, inscribed with the names of more than 600 survivors from the building and surrounding area, many of whom were injured in the blast.
• The Survivor Tree: an American elm on the north side of the Memorial was the onyl shade tree in the parking lot across the street from the building. commuters arrived early to get a spot under its branches. The tree is over 100 years old and survived not only the blast, which ripped most of its branches off, but also the investigation, when workers wanted to chop it down for evidence. Seeds from the tree are planted and the saplings are distributed each year on the anniversary of the bombing.
• The Memorial Fence: A chain link fence was erected around the Reflecting Pool and Field of Empty Chairs to protect them from damage. Mementos left by visitors at the fence are periodically collected, cataloged, and stored.
• Rescuers' Orchard: A grove of Oklahoma redbuds, Amur Maple, Chinese Pistache, and Bosque Elm trees are planted around the Survivor Tree
• Children's Area: 5,000 hand painted tiles form all over the US and Canada were made by children and sent to Oklahoma City after the bombing. Most of the tiles are stored in the archive, but a sampling is on the wall in the Children's Area. Chalkboards are provided where children can express their feelings.
• And Jesus Wept: St. Joseph's Catholic Church erected a sculpture of Jesus weeping on a corner adjacent to the memorial. The church, one of the first brick-and-mortar churches, was almost destroyed by the blast.
• Journal Record Building: North of the memorial is the Journal Record building, which used to house the offices of The Journal Record. It now houses the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum. Staff of the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism work here to spread knowledge of terrorism and its prevention.
• ALfred P. Murrah Federal Building Plaza: The plaza is an original part of the federal building which includes a garden and seating areas and a playground for the daycare center. The original flagpole is still used for the American flag.

Ted is almost home! I am almost caught up, so bear with me!

Ted Visits Worlds of Fun

Worlds of Fun is a amusement park in Kansas City, MO. Every year, the kids competing in SkillsUSA get the opportunity to spend an evening in the park, hanging out, riding rides, and trading their state pins.

• Worlds of Fun (WOF) opened in 1973 and was originally built by Lamar Hunt and Jack Steadman
• During the park's early days its mascots were Sam Panda, Grrrtrude the Loveable Gorilla, and Dan'l Coon
• In 2003, park favorite the Orient Express is removed four years after two of its seven cars derailed; it was replaced the following year with the Spinning Dragons (pictured later)
• In 2006 the Patriot roller coaster (pictured later) took over the land that formerly belonged to Beat Street
•  On February 25, 2010, Worlds of Fun announced a new light show attraction, Snoopy's Hot Summer Lights (pictured later), which began operating that summer.
•  The park is themes around the Jules Verne book Around the World in Eighty Days and is divided into five major sections: Scandinavia, Africa, Europa, the Orient, and Americana

Here is Ted riding the Grand Carousel:

And in front of the Carousel's plaque:

A detailed view of the plaque:

Ted rides the Mamba, Worlds of Fun's hyper-coaster!

Ted visits Snoopy's Hot Summer Lights!

And plays in the bubbles:

Ted rode WOF's other high thrill coaster, the Patriot. He still thought the Mamba was better.

Ted just had to hit the Go Karts:

And he took a spin on the Spinning Dragons!

Dizzy and exhausted, Ted left WOF ready to finish out his time in Kansas City the next day, with the final day of SkillsUSA competition!

(On a side note, I am super behind on the blog...Ted is actually on his way home as we speak/write/read! No worries, we will get caught up!)

Ted Starts to Experience KC

Kansas City, MO. The climax of Ted's trip. Ted went on his little half-country adventure to get to KC. In Kansas City, Jenny, Ted's chaperon, and B&T, Jenny's parents run the Job Interview Competition for SkillsUSA, an international job skills competition organization for high school and college students of all trades.


Here is Ted checking in before the competition begins:

Ted helps Jenny put contestants in the right order for competition and sets up the individual rooms for them:

After everything is set up for the official start to the competition tomorrow, Ted visits the show floor where competitions like Masonry, Diesel Truck Repair, Welding, AutoCAD, Hair Styling, Nail Artistry, and more are held.

Ted visits the Quaff Bar and Grill for some lunch. This restaurant is located in what once was both the garment district and the financial district of Kansas City, MO.

You can still see the safe in the wall!

Ted visited the historic St. Mary's Church:

 This historical marker reads: "Father Donnelly came to Jackson County in 1845 to serve zealously for thirty five years as frontier pastor at St. Mary's Church, Independence and Immaculate Conception Church, Kansas City. On this site of the first church property purchased in Kansas City he replaced the log church with the original Immaculate Conception Church in 1856. He was universally respected as a religious and civic leader, and as a friend to all, regardless of creed or color."

Ted only got this close to a KC Royals game. Historically, whenever a member of our family attends a Royals game, they lose. Although this could be attributed to their habit of losing almost every game anyway. Who knows?

Ted got to visit a Bass Pro Shop. There are no Bass Pro Shops on the West Coast so the last time we visited one we loaded up on great fishing gear to being home to our dad.

For dinner Ted hit one of his favorite restaurants: The Salty Iguana. You can read the Iguana's tale below.

Bare with me as I play catch-up! Ted is having so much fun, I am receiving up to 15 photos a day! Coming up next: Ted goes to WORLDS OF FUN!

Ted Finally Reaches Missouri

Yesterday Ted made it through all of Kansas and got to Kansas City, MO in the evening! Ted and Sarge (the car) will have a much needed break while Ted's chaperons run the SkillsUSA competition in Kansas City.

Jamie missed the Kansas state line, so she got him at the Kansas turnpike instead.

• The Kansas Turnpike is 236 miles long and runs through Wichita, Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City
• It was built from 1954 to 1956 and was incorporated into the Interstate system in late 1956
• On opening, there was no fixed speed limit on the highway; drivers were merely asked to keep to a "reasonable and proper" limit
• The Turnpike handles 120,000 drivers a day
• The turnpike is self-sustaining, deriving its entire revenue from the tolls collected and requiring no tax money for maintenance or administration

Now that Ted is in Kansas, I thought I should put in a little bit about the Sunflower State

• The name Kansas comes from the Konza (or Kansa) Indians who lived in the area
• The state insect is the honeybee
• Kansas grows wheat, corn, sorghum, oats, barley, soybeans, and potatoes; it also produces petroleum and mines zinc, coal, salt, and lead. It is the nation's leading producer of helium
• Wichita is one of the nation's leading aircraft-manufacturing centers

Ted stopped in Towanda, KS and remembers one of his favorite movies: Fried Green Tomatoes.

•  The full text of the sign:
• "The town and township lie tucked in the pleasant valley of the Whitewater River, and take their name from the Osage Indian term "many waters." First settler was C. L. Chandler, a returning '49er from the California gold fields who built his cabin in 1858. Towanda township was one of the first four in the makeup of Butler County--the largest in Kansas.
  In 1870, Rev. Isaac Mooney, frontier preacher and community builder, platted ten acres for a townsite. The village quickly became a trade center on the Emporia-Wichita wagon road and a division point for two stage lines. Towanda gained wide fame in 1919, when giant oil gushers were drilled on rockey Shumway land at the town's eastern doorstep by Gypsy Oil Company and the Trapshooters group.
  
  Close neighbor is El Dorado, the county seat on the east, since pioneer days a prime adjunct to the Flint Hills cattle country and for more than 50 years the focal point of vast petroleum development in south-central Kansas. Its largest industries are modern oil refineries of Skelly Oil Company and American Petrofina, while the Butler County Community Junior College tops its cultural institutions."
  
  

Ted slipped into Missouri yesterday afternoon where he will be for the next week:

• The Brothel Law in Missouri makes it illegal for more than four unrelated people to occupy the same dwelling
• The ice cream cone was invented in St. Louis
• It is illegal to "worry squirrels" in Missouri
• Anyone under the age of 21 who takes out household trash with even one empty alcohol beverage can be charged with illegal possession of alcohol
• The Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Lewis, MO is the larget beer-producing plant in the nation
• The official state rock is Mozarkite
• Installation of bathtubs with four legs resembling animal paws is prohibited

In Missouri, Ted got to visit his grandparents who are in KC to help with SkillsUSA also. They live in an RV that has been renames "The Whale", possibly due to their recent brush with the overflowing Missouri River.

Ted's favorite BBQ in Missouri is Bandana's. Here he has a grand time with the waiter, Jordan.

•  Bandana's opened in 1996 in Arnold, MO
• The meat requires 11-14 hours in a smoker to produce the signature Bandana's taste
• Bandana's does not serve hamburgers, fish, or pasta
• The potato salad and cole slaw are handmade fresh every day

This week Ted is sticking around in Missouri for the SkillsUSA national competition. Stay tuned for an exciting look at this amazing event!

(facts via: infoplease.com, stoppingpoints.com, legendsofamerica.com, bandanasbbq.com)

Ted is a Texan! (for the day)

Ted made it all the way through New Mexico and into Texas. Here he is almost at the state line:

• The Alamo, in San Antonio, is where Texas defenders fell to Mexican General Santa Anna.
• Texas is the only state to have the flags of six different nations fly over it: Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, Confederate States, and the U.S.
• The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than Rhode Island
• More wool comes from Texas than any other U.S. state
• The capitol building in Austin, TX is made of Texas pink granite

A favorite pit stop for Ted's family is Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, TX

•  Cadillac Ranch was created by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez, and Doug Michels who were part of an organization called Ant Farm
• The cars are old running used or junk Cadillacs in a progression representing the evolution of the car line and set half-buried at an angle corresponding to the angle of the pyramid of Giza in Egypt
• The cars were quietly relocated two miles the west in 1997 in order to place it further from the growing city limits
• The cars are periodically repainted: once white for a movie filming, once pink for one of the patron's wife's birthday, once flat black for the passing of artist Doug Michels
• As a birthday present for Marsh, Stanley Marsh's brother had a Volkswagen beetle mounted on a skid with wheels in a manner similar to the cadillacs being buried in the ground and presented it as a "Volkswagen ranchette."

Texas is apparently very windy this time of year:

Ted and friends had lunch at McAlister's Deli. A sandwich and sweet tea could revitalize even the most weary hearts.

When I made my trip across the country, I found that us Californians take good sweet tea for granted. It's hard to find real sweet tea anywhere other than the South, where they use real sugar cane and brew the tea fresh every day. In fact, when my grandma orders sweet tea, she makes sure they use real sugar cane, otherwise she won't drink it. McAlister's sweet tea is brewed daily using rain forest certified black tea and pure cane sugar. Totally jealous of this one!

Even though Ted is pretty small, he looked (and felt) even smaller against the world's largest freestanding cross in Groom Texas.

• The cross is 19 stories tall and weighs 1,250 tons or 2 1/2  million pounds
• It took more than 100 welders and was erected in July 1995
• Two million people pass by each year and one thousand people stop by every day
• The construction took 8 months

Ted made it all the way to Oklahoma tonight!

•  The U.S. acquired most the Oklahoma in 1803 in the Louisiana Purchase from France, the panhandle region was acquired in the annexation of Texas in 1845
• Homesteading was first permitted on April 22, 1889; 50,000 people swarmed the area that day. Those who tried to jump the noon starting gun were called "Sooners"
• The aerosol can, parking meter, and the shopping cart were all invented in Oklahoma
• Oklahoma's state capitol building is the only capitol in the world with an oil well under it
•  Clinton Riggs designed the YIELD sign. It was first used on a trial basis in Tulsa
•  The official State Meal of Oklahoma is chicken fried steak, fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecue pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, strawberries, black eyed peas and pecan pie

Until tomorrow, we wish Ted a good night in good ol' Ooooooooooooooooooooooooklahoma!

(facts via: qsl.net,wikipedia.org, mcalistersdeli.com, crossministries.net, infoplease.com, awesomeamerica.com)