I can finally post pictures!!!!

Here are some bits and pieces of the trip. More later of course!!
Can anyone say slide show!!!!

we are oot and aboot in Canada eh?

for real, they talk like that, no joke!

Anyway yes we made it to Canada who knew it would happen, we sure didn't.

First Minnesota.

Minnesota was quite nice! It was nice to eat some food that wasn't cooked over a fire, nice sleep on something that doesn't collect due in the morning, and nice to take a shower!!

It was wonderful to get to see my family! I hadn't been to there home in about 10 years or so and it was really nice to see them even though it was a short visit.

Also i would like to add that i am posting from my resurrected computer! Thanks to relatives from both sides of the family the computer has come back to us.

Although this does not mean that all our machinery are in working order, no no, that would be too easy. We discovered that our car is losing oil quite quickly. Apparently thats just what old cars do. So we bought 4qrts of oil to join us on the rest of our trip and we have just been refilling the oil every time we stop.

At this point it is all starting to get a little ridiculous don't you think??

Second Chicago.

Chi-town, as i do believe its fans lovingly call it, is a really great city. We really enjoyed our time there. We got to see our good friend Betsy who was also on our birthright trip with us. We had such a good time just walking around Chicago and seeing the different areas of the city. We met up with our trip leader for coffee as well. All in all it was just relaxing and enjoyable. Really great to see Betsy. Thanks again sister love for the hospitality. i miss you tons already!

Oh Canada, Oh Canada,

the trip starts with crossing the border. Oh yes, why would crossing the border be easy, there is no fun in that. Let me set the scene for you,

Two young kids, one american, on foreign, drive a rather beat up old car filled, and i mean filled, with suite cases, pillows empty, water bottles, clothes, sleeping bags, sleeping matts, food, etc....
They are asked where are you coming from? California
Where are you going? New York
Where are you stopping in Canada? London Ontarioa and Niagra falls
Is this your car? No (uh oh)
Whos car is this? Jeffery Skollers?
Who is jeffery skoller
and the questions continue......

needless to say we made the canadians very confused. I mean i get it, we borrowed a mans car, who we don't really know and met on line, who is asking us to transport it across the united states. I get it, it sounds weird.

Half an hour later after they pulled everything out of the car, searched all the bags, the cooler, the hood(???), put things through an xray machine (including our dirty clothes), through away our fire wood........they told us to pack the car back up and we are free to go to immigration.
Thanks for the memories Canada border patrol.

Anyway we are in niagra falls after spending our last camping in London Ontario, by the way those Canadians are just bitter they don't live in England, the whole town is fashioned after London, England. Silly Canadians.

We got in to Niagra falls and decided to enjoy our last night in Canada. We went out for a nice dinner, got a nice hotel room, watched fire works from a big tall viewing tower, enjoyed the jecoozy tub in our room, all in all it was a nice romantic evening.

The dinner was great. We were walking by the falls, and these girls came to us and asked if we had a place for dinner yet and gave us a ten dollers off cupon for their restaurant they also made us a reservation by the window so we could see the falls as we dined (too bad they didn't cut the trees down that day) and gave a free desert on top of the 10 dollers off the meal. It was expensive but really nice and good food and service.
The fire works were a little lame but its ok we will forgive the Canadians.

ok so now today, we are going to enjoy the sites of niagra falls before heading to Long Island and then Manhattan!!!!

The trip has been really great, challenging, adventurous, an experience like no other, and very short feeling at this point, it really did fly by.

I guess this will be one of my last posts in the US.

Signing off for now.
See you in Israel.

On the road again....

Things we take for granted:
Flush toilettes
Showers
Warm water

After 7 nights of camping in a row we could definetly use some
civilization. A city with a higher population than 311 people at least.

Its been 4 days since our last shower and I am only admitting this
because we are on our way to my uncles where I know there will be a
nice shower just waiting to clean me.

We are leaving South Dakota now and heading to Minnisota. We noticed
in the past few days just how differnt each state looks from the next.
Its pretty wild. Utah was red and sandy.. Colorado had huge mountains
with snow on the rockys and everything. Wyoming hilly and green. And
now South Dakota is almost totally flat as we drive through. Its
pretty cool to see the drastic changes along the highway. It is also
quite a trip to drive through time zones.

Our time in the rockys was pretty cool. We thought we would
Take the hiking easy but ended up doing 7 miles again. It was nice.
we saw a couple of beautiful water falls and lakes. We also hiked
through some snow which was quite a highlight for Guy. We had a lovely
dinner of pasta and chicken and some baby corn while we watched Ranger
Sue give quite the presentation on squerls, chipmunks, and marmates.

Last night, our first night in South Dakota, we stayed in a very
remote campground that almost no one knew the location of. We spent 2
hours last night looking for the damn place waisting miles in the
darkness of the Black Hills of South Dakota. When we finally found it
we found our selves in the most primitive campground yet. No flushing
toilettes (we are well aquainted i might say with your toilettes
micaela), no showers, and the only running water was freezing and came
from a push-with-one-hand-and-rinse-the-other faucette (have no idea
what they are actually called) which happen to have a nicely written
sign saying Please do not: wash dishes, hair, or brush teeth. WTF is
the water for then???!!! Anyway we made do (ignored the sign
completly) and plan on giving recreation.gov a peice of our minds for
suggesting we book the place without telling us what we were getting
ourselves into.

Dinner was good! We had stopped at a grocery store in the town at the
bottom of the mountain and picked up some real meat! NY steaks and hot
dogs. At first we were kicking ourselves for buying the steaks but in
then end they came out really good.

The next day we hit Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Honestly, for all
you future travelers, if you thought the four leaders of our country
carved in to the side of a mountain would be impressive, the American
Indians have got us beat by far. We made our first itinerary mistake.
We gave ourselves too much time at Mt. R and waisted time (and miles i
might add) we could have spent at Crazy Horse when we decided to eat
at this really aweful german restaurant in town. Last time we take
advice from an old man playing some really lame mini golf in the
middle of nowhere (lesson #4). We got to Crazy Horese too late to take
the bus to the base of the sculpture and missed all the natives making
crafts in the museum. What we did get to see was these two Indians do
some traditional Lakota dances and the "Leagends In Light" show. As
silly as it sounds it was pretty cool. A laser and light show
projected on Crazy Horse Mountain. Let me take a moment to note: the
figure of Crazy Horse is even less done than the presedsnts, just a
face and the outline of a horse head, and we wished we had spent more
time there. Oh well. Next time.

To top off our entire South Dakota experience we slept in our tent as
some pretty rageing thunder lightning and rain stormed outside. Kind
of scary at the time but looking back on it, pretty cool. We got up
this morning to a strangely dry campground (minus the car and tent)
cooked some breakfast and hit the road.

On to Minnisota, Chicago and then our next big adventure, Canada!!

The Colorado sunset as we drive through Denver

That A is exagerating a whole lot.

We're going on an adventure Charlie!

> I just hope no one removes our spleens.... If u don't get the
> reference search "Charlie the unicorn" on u tube.
>
> So the past few days have been one nerve racking yet exciteing
> adventure after another. We are continualy learning about our crises
> resolution skills. And I have to say so far we have bot been beaten
> (please where ever you are give some wood a knock for us. Thanks)
>
> Day 1: Palo Alto to Vegas-545 mil.
>
> A long drive.
>
> We had a lot of fun actually dispite the fact that we learned our
> first hard lesson. #1 Gas guages are not great indicators of how
> much gas you really have. We found our selves on one of those
> stretches of freeway with no services for quite sometime. We were
> switching to nutral in downward slopes, driveing without air
> conditioning, driving at 45 mph with the flashers on, and avoiding
> the gas peddle at all costs.
>
> We finally made it to a gas station before having to use our rocking
> back and forth skills we were worried would be the next step. Guy
> opened the gas tank and you could hear the last of the fumes we were
> running on escape.
>
> Oh and I almost forgot my ipod died shortly after. :( < that was the
> face it was making. So we also had no music. We tried to play the
> aphabet game. That was a little hard for Guy.
>
> Road vs. Guy and Roneet
> Road: 0 G&R: 1
>
> Vegas was great. We stayed with a friend of Guy's from the army. It
> was really nice to see him with his friend for a change and it was a
> really nice evening. We walked around a bit amongst the casinos. Guy
> finally gambled for the first time leagally and won $5!!
>
> Day 2: Vegas to Zion Park-166 mil.
>
> A far shorter drive.
>
> Since this drive was shorter we figured we could spend some time in
> the morning with Guy's friend. Guy was really excited to go bungee
> jumping off a tower at Circus Circus but we found out as we drove by
> that it has been closed for few years now. So no bungee jumping we
> are working on it but so far Colorado and Utah both don't have
> bungee jumping. I thought Wisconsin sounded kind of wild so I'll try
> there next.
>
> The chalange of the day was to find a place to camp the night. We
> knew that the park itself was full so we figured either we would
> find a place to camp near by or we would spend the night in a motel.
> We weren't worried. The first campground we came to we went in to
> ask. Not only did they have availability buy they also had showers
> and flush toilettes, laundry facility, pool and hot tub, and
> wireless Internet. Yes this was an outside camping site. We were
> shocked. We set up camp on our river front property and spent some
> time relaxing in the hot tub before starting dinner. This is where
> it gets rough. All ready to cook ourselves a yummy meal we pull out
> our gas stove that we brought from my house. Guess what was missing?
> Not the three canisters of gas or three burner stove but the tube
> that connects the gas to the stove. So we had to make our mac and
> cheese on an open fire in the dark. That was an experince. As gross
> as craft mac and cheese with canned chicken sounds it wasn't that
> bad. The meal was topped off with some classic s'mores (totally
> foreign to Guy).

The next thing that happened brings me to why I am updateing from my
phone and why I am updateing 4 days at once. It was quite ironic to
have found a place with wireless becuase as soon as I opened my laptop
I got the blue screen of death.

The iPod eventually came back to life but can't say as much I'd the
laptop or the GPS which has also decided to check out in us. Thank god
for my cell phone and nice people in the middle of nowhere, USA (knock
on wood again please)

Day 3: Zion to Bryce Canyon-83 mil.

FYI Bryce-more awesome than Zion but smaller and dustier.

Day 3 was the day we learned another hard lesson.

#2 If the GPS suggests you take an unknown road for 12 miles. Don't do
it!

We got so lost! That's when our GPS first lost reception. We were
driving on a gravel dusty for probably close to 20 miles. But hey we
got up close and personal with Dixie National Forest! Which I found
out later reminded the early Mormon settlers of the south and that's
how it got its name. Great huh!? (sigh)

We finally found our way back to civilization and ended up stopping at
an RV park that was willing to give us a place before night fall for
not too much money. They had a restaurant there so we said screw it
and got ourselves some burgers. And went to bed.

Our second meal attempted over an open fire was not as successful as
the first. Our batch of undercooked rice mixed with scrambled egg
didn't really hit the spot to say the least. But the day got better
from there. I mean really where else could it go....

We got to Bryce got ourselves a camping spot. Hiked amongst the
beautiful rock formations in Bryce Canyon and hit 14 miles of hiking
in two days. After the long hike we came back to camp made dinner of
spaghetti and french fries and sealed the deal again with some
s'mores. All in all day 4 was a pretty good success. Lesson for the
day while not as heavy important none the less.

#3 Do not leave your car doors open in a forest or squerls will eat
your sandwiches.

Day 5: Bryce to Rocky Mountain National Park-640 mil.

So far ok. We woke up to catch the sunrise. Beautiful but not the best
sunrise either of us have seen too be honest. We planned on packing up
and heading out but instead went back to sleep for another hour and
half.

On the way we have learned a few things.
1) Why Starvin' Arvin' is starving.
2) 640 miles is too long a drive.
3) The Dinosaur Museum in Fruita Colorado-not that exciteing but a
nice leg stretch.

Ok well I guess that makes you all caught up now.

Now that I set up the phone I will be updateing whenever I have
reception.

Oh and also "Israel" called to tell me that I will be working at a
theater camp for kids 7-11 in June. Sounds really cool the kids have
yoga in the mornings and then dance and choir and rehearsals for an
abridged version of The Wizard of Oz. In august I will be working for
another camp not sure on those detail yet.

Ok that's really it!
Miss you all tons.

This is a test

If you can read this it means I figured out how to update from my
phone. Woot.

HEY ALLLLLLLL

So i know it's been a while. 

The Update: 

Everything is going great. Things have been really busy visiting friends doing American/Californian things, and just spending time together. 

Seeing friends has been really nice and its been great having everyone meet Guy as overwhelming as it my be. We went played minigolf, enjoyed a long day of fun in San Francisco, saw fish and animals in Monterey and visited tide pools in Half Moon Bay, Raging Waters was a blast (sorry Anna you win), and today we went white water rafting on the American River. It has been a busy fun filled past few days. 

The Plan: 

We are spending the next couple of days making sure we have everything in order to start our drive east. We are planing out the days and stops along the way, making sure we have all the camping gear we need, and i need to make some phone calls to Israel to make sure all is in order so Guy can have a little bit of peace from me during the day while we are there together 

; )

anyway that's kind of it really, in a nutshell, those of you who we will be seeing along the way will be hearing from us soon with dates and stuff, we just have some finalizing to do with dates and milage and stuff. Can't wait to start the trip. I am really excited about it, and i think Guy is too ; )

More soon.....before we hit the road for sure....i promise...

Left you hanging for a bit huh?

Helloooo hello.

SO Guy arrived and i picked him up on time, on the correct date, at the correct airport, in the correct terminal. We spent the day with my family in Orange County which was nice but i am sure pretty over whelming for him, poor pup...but what a trooper...

The next day was spent in LA. We went to the Le Brea Tar Pits park and Museum (Guy officially deemed me a nerd), the LA Automotive Museum- two floors of many different kinds of transportation that all had to do with LA history....interesting....pretty cars, a walk on Hollywood Blvd. - got to see the hand prints, the stars, and the Chinese theater, took Guy to Cold Stone and showed him Build a Bear (because it was there). And then we went to dinner at Benihana's with my cousins. A lot of fun and packed couple of days. Guy surprisingly has had no problem with jet-lag.

Then it was on to Santa Barbara. We visited with my girls (LOVE YOU) , sat on the beach, introduced Guy to American bagels, and ate at a lovely restaurant on the harbor.
It was a lot of fun, wonderful to see the girls, and great have them meet the boy.

Dinner with the fam went well.

Today was a baseball game and tale gate party. The game was surprisingly fun, we won 10-2 GO A's! Guy and I even picked up on how the game is played ; )

So all in all in things are good, great even.....lots of fun. : D

Miss you all tons!!!