The Great Sand Dunes and The Royal Gorge

September 25, 20151 Comment

September 24, 2015

Today our first stop was at The Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. It took 2 hours to climb up and down them. Although the temperature was nice it was windy. And windy in Minnesota is different than windy on the sand dunes. The wind would blow and it would feel as if a million little needles were constantly stabbing you. And if that doesn’t sound pleasant enough the uphill seemed as if it was vertical. 10 steps of walking felt like you ran 10 miles. But despite all that we made it to the top… Or close enough. And, it was so beautiful!

The second stop of the day was the Royal Gorge Bridge. It is a suspension bridge that is 1,053 feet tall. Although that may not seem like much, for someone who’s afraid of hight, like my dad, it was quite the experience. Not only are people allowed to walk on it but cars are allowed to drive across. And when the cars would drive on it, it would cause the bridge to shake a little, which made my dad very nervous. He would either try to run off the bridge or hang onto one of the two posts that were planted to the ground, just incase today was the day that the bridge would break.

Hannah

This is a picture through two of the boards of the bridge floor.

Colorful Colorado

September 24, 20151 Comment

September 23, 2015

We woke up in Flagstaff, Arizona and headed to the four corners. While we were waiting to get there we worked on school. When we arrived we walked around a lot looking at all the little gift shops. My sisters and I all got a super cool dreamcatcher. Then we took a picture. I thought it was really cool how we could all be in different states at the same time! The four different states are Arizona, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. In the pictures below we are standing in all four states at once.

After the four corners we got back on the road and headed to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. We again worked on some school but it was only about a forty-five minute drive. We drive up the mountain to see the cliff dwellings. It reminded me off the town on the movie Aladdin. We took some pictures of that and moved on to a different spot to see more cliff dwellings.

When we were just about to leave we saw a amazing cloud! It was breath-taking, and the sun was setting so that made it even better. Then we drove to Durango, Colorado to see my moms friend Bobbi. She let us stay at her house for the night and made us root beer floats! Thank you Bobbi.

-Greta

Friendship is a beautiful thing

September 23, 2015Leave a comment

A few months ago, my mom and I went to Ethiopia together with group of 6 people from across the country. We didn’t know each other before we left other than a few conference calls we had together, but it was an amazing trip and God surely knit together that group of people for the purpose of that trip.

Yesterday, we drove from Las Vegas, Nevada to Flagstaff, Arizona. We were greeted in Flagstaff by my friends Carlos and Natalie and their family. Carlos and Natalie were both on the trip to Ethiopia. Yesterday, they drove hours to meet us for dinner and our families got to play together and we were able to enjoy a meal together and visit. I think it’s amazing how God knits relationships together and am so thankful for friendships. He sees no borders and distance is not a barrier.

Here are a few pictures of the time we spent together. We were surrounded by quite a beautiful group of kiddos. Carlos, Natalie and family… you are a blessing. Thank you for taking time to hang out with us! We love you all!

Rachael

Grace and Abby

September 22, 2015September 22, 2015Leave a comment

We spent the weekend in Minnesota with some awesome family and friends watching Gracie and Abby at the State 4H horse show. It was a weekend of learning and growing. It was a weekend loaded with fun! It is amazing to watch my girl and her horse! Here are some things that Grace had to say about the weekend…

It was so fun to be able to ride in the colosseum and meet new people. I can’t wait to have more practice and hopefully get another trip next year. Abby did so good and I am excited to work with her more when we get back. I miss her already. Thanks to everyone who came down to watch us. Special thanks to Jackie, Jamie, and Janelle for getting Abby ready and helping me with my patterns. Also a huge thanks to Grandpa Dennis and Grandma Linda for bringing abby down and to Grandpa Dennis for hanging out and helping me in the barn. Another thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Pete and Virginia for coming down to watch. One last one to all of my siblings for coming and supporting me. – Grace

Nevada

September 18, 2015Leave a comment

September 17, 2015

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD! We can’t wait to see you and celebrate with you tomorrow!

As for today. We entered Nevada and took another classic “sign” photo.

We drove into Las Vegas. And we did what McCleary’s do when you go to Vegas… we went to our banner shop. We hung out with these awesome employees fulfilling orders for our west coast banners.com customers.

Then we did some school work and laundry.

We enjoyed a yummy snack at Carlo’s Bakery and took in some sites of the Vegas strip before we drove to the airport. We get to spend the weekend in MN watching Grace at the 4H horse show. And we say “THANK YOU” to our friends and family who helped get us and Abby to the show. We could not have done it without you.

Huntington Beach

September 17, 2015Leave a comment

Yesterday we spent the day at Huntington Beach, my moms favorite place in the country! It was one of the most fun days that we have had so far. We started out driving there in the van for what seemed to be forever. When we did arrive we went to go eat some pizza. When all of us were full we got to go down to the ocean.

We all changed into our suits and went for a swim! It was so fun watching all of the surfers. Next time I go back I am definitely going to do that! When we where swimming we saw fish riding on top of the waves. After we where done swimming it was starting to get dark so we took a walk along the Pier. We stopped along some shops and got a few bracelets and souvenirs. When we where done on the pier we walked downtown and went shopping a little more. We then got gelato, and made our way back to the car. Because our last video was such a hit I made another one at the beach.

We did not get much school done yesterday so we have extra to do today. We fly out back to Minnesota tonight. We will be there for the weekend because it is the state 4-h horse show. Then we will fly back out Monday night.

If you would like to follow our trips on our instagrams here they are:

Ryan- rjmccleary (he doesn’t post much)

Hannah- hannah_mccleary

Grace- Grace.mcc

Greta- Gretamccleary2

I would also like to say thanks to all of you for nearly 900 followers on our blog.

-Grace

California Continued…

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015Leave a comment

We woke up in redding California. We started our day with beautiful scenery while we were going to Yosemite. When we arrived at Yosemite we first drove to see the El Capitan mountain. It was so amazing to see. We next drove to see the Bridesvail waterfall. When we got there there was just a tiny steam off water at the top. We climbed the rocks where the water is usually flowing. We saw a small pool of water after climbing a little while. The pool of water had a couple fish in it! Hannah, Grace and I kept climbing to another stream while my dad and the boys went back. Then we started to climb back. The rocks were very slippery but no one got hurt.

We got back in the RV and headed to Mcfarland, USA. Mcfarland, USA is a great movie. If you haven’t seen you should watch it. When we drove by we saw the A & M Food Market and the school from the movie! It was really fun to drive around there. We ended the day at Yermo, California.

-Greta

Redding, California

September 15, 2015September 18, 20151 Comment

Monday Sept 14, 2015

We woke up early in Crescent City, California and got ready to journey to our friends’ house in Redding. We thought that it was going to be just a few hours to get there, but we were basing our time off Minnesota miles, not mountainous California miles!

It took a few hours longer and (not to scare grandma) but we were the ones with smoking brakes at one point on the journey. Our amazing “trucker in training” got a lesson from a nice lady who flagged us down to tell us about our smoking brakes. We let them cool a bit and made our way through beautiful mountains with cliffs off the side of our road by slowing down and shifting into lower gears. We used our brakes a lot less and finally ended up in Redding. Rachael and her girls, along with her brother and his family took us in. We had a great visit with friends!

One thing that our family has enjoyed doing on the long road trips from state to state is make videos, here is our latest.

It was great to see the Christensen’s again. We ordered some pizza and then just hung out. Hannah and I went back out to our camper around 1:30 am. So as you could imagine we are pretty tired this morning. But it was totally worth it. Greta and Grace hung out while Alyssa, Hannah, Bekkkah, and I watched a movie. Also Hannah drove Alyssa to Walmart to get some milk. Here are some pictures of us and our friends.

Love, Grace

Oregon and California

September 14, 2015September 14, 20152 Comments

Sunday Sept 13th, 2015

Yesterday we went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where we had the opportunity to see sharks, fish, jellyfish, seals, and much more. My favorite part was watching the seals underwater! We also learned a lot about ship wrecks and fish. There was a part of the Aquarium that you walked through and all around you, including underneath in some spots, was a huge tank all around us. It had many different types of fish, including sharks! There where also some puffins (a type of bird) that had colorful beaks.

Here is a video I took of the Jelly Fish we saw!

After we left the Aquarium we drove Highway 101, the Pacific Coast Highway along the coast. We saw the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. It was beautiful!

Then for the state sign pictures! Here’s what we have folks. We left Oregon in the dark and entered California in the dark.

Love, Grace

Driven by our last name

September 13, 2015September 14, 20152 Comments

Saturday, September 12, 2015

After getting to Boise, Idaho late in the night and finding our parking spot at the local WalMart, we work up early as the employees for the nearby Burger King were arriving for work. We really need to have more appreciation for a Croissan’wich as they get there quite early! We hit the road with our destination being Portland, Oregon for the day. As you’ll see as we entered Oregon, the RV was at max speed (about 68 miles per hour).

As the kids were all still sleeping Rachael and I were able to enjoy the sunrise over the distant hills. Then as we climbed out of the valley and went over a large pass we had a 6 mile 6% decline. We discussed if anyone ever has to use the “run away” truck ramps and if they apply to RV’s as well. I told Rachael my plan was that if the brakes went out we were just going to ride the bumper of the semi in front of us all the way down, however that would have proved to be a bad plan. Shortly after that we could see his brakes were starting to fail as blue smoke was starting to come out from under his truck. The semi was able to stop and pull over to the side so it did not go completely out of control but did make me think that steep inclines need to be taken seriously! This brought us down to drive along the Columbia River which we were able to enjoy for a few hours. The pictures below will not do it justice. It was truly beautiful!

When we got to Portland the kids were starving so we decided to try out a Burgerville. We heard they were known for their milkshakes but after being there we are still fans of Culvers.

After leaving Burgerville and feeling that the kids were content we opted for a “mom” activity and went to the Portland Saturday Market. It was a very cool market that happens every Saturday and Sunday; March – Christmas Eve. There was a booth for every interest from shirts to wood carved utensils, pottery and many types of artwork so unique I have no clue what it was.

After the market we wanted to go to Washington to get a picture by the state sign. Unfortunately where you cross from Portland into Washington it has multiple lanes of traffic on a bridge so it seemed it might be too dangerous for our family to climb the bridge and use our selfie stick to take the photo. We only have the one below.

For the few hours we had to spend in Washington State we had to choose what to do. Some of the places we discussed were Mt. Rainer, the Space Needle, Pungent Sound, Mt. Saint Helens or visit the only rainforest in the continental US on the Olympic Peninsula. BUT, we unanimously decided (or maybe just me) we should drive 5 hours round trip visit McCleary, Washington! We have pictures of our adventure below. The hospitality at the local diner was amazing once they were awe struck with meeting “real” McCleary’s. After being a celebrity for an hour, meeting the mayor and signing the guestbook we left the BEST named small town in America and the kids and I slept while Rachael drove us back to the RV park.

Trucker in training, Ryan

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McCleary Kids

doing life together