We kept him busy and made sure he wrote in his travel log daily. He was very good about posing for pictures and gathering local brochures.
Here is a copy of Flat Tyler's journal:
Flat Tyler’s Travel Log
I arrived safely into the mailbox of my cousins, The
Schumacher Family, in California.
Uncle Keith (who is actually my grandma’s cousin) is a middle
school teacher and he teaches college.
Aunt Mary is the mom of the family and the kids are my cousins, Gracie and
Libby. Gracie is 7 years old and in the first grade. Libby is 4 ½ years old and
will be in Kindergarten next year. Gracie goes to school part-time and does
homeschool part-time.
They also have a dog
named Sandy.
She’s 12 years old and very sweet.
While I was visiting, The Schumachers had company. I met Uncle
Ed from Las Vegas, Grandma Helen from Wyoming, Aunt
Patty from Montana
and cousin Jennifer also from Montana. They drove to California to spend a
weekend with me and the Schumachers. Mostly, they wanted to meet Baby Alfred, my newest cousin.
The Schumachers took me to lots of places to see the local
sites and experience California
culture. Gracie and Libby taught me to
say “Chaw” and “Dude” like a Californian. I never needed my jacket or hat
because it’s nice and warm there. I told
them about Colorado;
they’ve never been there. The girls didn’t know what skiing is, but they have
seen snow and pine trees when they took a winter vacation to Wyoming
and South Dakota
last year.
Western Science Center
- Hemet,
CA: Gracie, Libby, Henry and I went to a dinosaur museum. It
was a lot of fun! We saw the bones from a mammoth and a sloth. We got to see a
short movie about dinosaurs in the Inland Empire (that’s what they call this
area of California)
and we got to make a fossil out of clay .
Busker Festival at Seaport Village: We went to San Diego
to the Busker Festival. A Busker is a street performer. Seaport
Village is a shopping and eatery
center along the edge of the San
Diego Bay. We saw lots of different street
performers and artists. There were musicians, dancers, acrobats and magicians.
We also saw an escape artist and a couple of unicycle riding jugglers.
Duck Pond – Temecula,
CA: One day we went to a city park called the Duck Pond. All it has is a pond
and a walking path around it. It was
nice and there were a lot of ducks! I
had to be careful not to flutter in the wind or I’d end up swimming with the
ducks.
San Diego Air and Space
Museum: We set out for an adventurous day at the San Diego Zoo. When
we got there, the parking lot was packed solid and so was the overflow parking
and every parking lot in the area. Aunt Mary finally found a parking spot but
it was pretty far from the zoo. Conveniently, she discovered that we parked
close to the Air and Space
Museum. Gracie and I
thought that was a better idea anyway!
The Air and Space
Museum has a special
Ripley’s Believe It or Not exhibit and we were able to see the museum and the
Ripley’s exhibit too. It was a lot of
fun. We came home with coloring pages and paper airplane origami pages for fun
at home. I got to see Bumblebee there!
Cabrillo
National Monument: We drove out to Point Loma which is a Navel Base at the
tippy end of a peninsula. It was really cool!
From the point, you can see the San Diego
Bay, the harbor, and the Pacific Ocean in the other direction.
Cabrillo was a European explorer and he is the first
European to set foot on the west coast of what is now the United States. This monument recognizes his adventures. He’s
just like me: an adventurer discovering amazing places! Cha!
(I’m really getting a hang of the California
language).
There is also an old lighthouse at the National Park and you
can go down to the shore to the tidepools and caves. There are small caves in
the sides of the cliffs that were made by erosion. The land is very interesting
and goes from shrub covered hills on one side of the peninsula to sand covered
eroded cliffs on the other.
Coronado Island, San Diego: We drove across a huge bridge over the San Diego Bay to Coronado Island. We played in the sand on the beach by the Ferry landing where I met a friend, another Flat Stanley! He didn't speak English, but we played and had a good time anyway.
Balboa
Park: Balboa Park is in the middle of San Diego. It houses the San Diego Zoo, a couple
of playgrounds, numerous museums and gardens. The day we went, we just strolled on the walkways and
enjoyed the local artists, played in the fountains, and admired the
architecture. Luckily, the bird rescue
group was at Balboa
Park so we got to see the
birds again. We saw them at the Busker Festival too! They save abandoned pet
parrots and exotic birds and readopt them to new homes. We didn’t adopt a bird,
but we did get to hold a few. Libby doesn’t like to hold them because she
thinks they will poop on her. She finally decided to try it and it was a lot of
fun.
Easter: I celebrated Easter with the Schumacher family. We went to
an Easter Egg Hunt party at a friend’s house. He name is Justin and he’s 5
years old like me. His back yard is landscaped with natural California grasses and plants, so it was a
lot of fun. They have the best back yard for an egg hunt!
Science
Center: This is a museum in Balboa Park.
The girls love this place. When we entered the museum the employee
who greeted us at the entrance said, “Have fun and touch everything.” Awesome! We had a great time playing with all of the
science center exhibits. There is a part of the museum that looks like a city
and we played there for a while too.
Montessori School: One day I went to school with Gracie. She is in Ms. Andria’s
class. Gracie is in a mixed class of 1st – 3rd grade.
They have lunch outside on picnic tables. Their parking lot is also the
playground and the gym. Most elementary schools have a playground but they do
not have a cafeteria or a gym. They eat and play outside every day. Gracie and
her classmates have never had a snow day.
Disneyland and Cars
Land: On my last day in California,
I went with the Schumacher girls to Disneyland
and California Adventure. Gracie and
Libby go to Disneyland often because it isn’t
very far away. We left after school and got home a little after bedtime.
First we went into Disneyland.
It was very exciting! We saw Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy right away. Our
first stop was the first aid station because Gracie’s tooth was falling out and
she wanted an envelope or something to put it in when it fell out. They were
very nice and gave her a little container. We walked up Main Street. Gracie’s favorite part of Main Street is the
Magic Shop. It was amazing! Libby wanted to go to the Princess Fantasy Faire.
We saw Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. I was made an honorary citizen of
Disneyland and I got a button to wear for the
rest of the day. Then we rode the Small World. We then went into Fantasyland
and rode Alice
in Wonderland’s Teacups.
