On this trip we drove about 10,200 miles. That’s around two-fifths of the distance around the equator. We traveled thru twenty-nine states. Now I have been to 38 states total. My favorite burrito places were Bumble Bee’s Baja Grill in New Mexico, Wahoo’s Fish Taco in California and Colorado, and Laughing Planet in Oregon and Indiana! On this trip, I have learned to love sushi. I really loved this trip because it was an amazing experience to see family in California, Indiana, and North Carolina. It was also cool to see how different my super green hometown of Sudbury, Mass [View Full Entry]

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For the last few days of the trip, we were settling Vanessa in at school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. When we first arrived at her apartment building, we were horrified because the building was poorly designed and there was absolutely no security at the entrance to the building. There were little places where people could just hide behind and just mug you because you didn’t see them there. But we found her a nice apartment in another building, and it was a lot safer. Now she is living there with her two close friends. While we were there, we also [View Full Entry]

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We’ve spent these past few days in Bloomington, Indiana with my grandmother, Anne. We ate more Laughing Planet burritos, which I was so happy about. We ate Turkish and Ethiopian food, which were both super tasty! We got to see my Aunt Amy and my Uncle Joaquin, and little baby Iago is adorable. One day, Anne and I went to go to the movies and saw the new movie, Bandslam, which was good, and we also saw an opera performance by some Indiana University students. Most of the songs that they sung were in French and Italian, but the last mini [View Full Entry]

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"Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz. We drove for 8 hours to Lawrence, Kansas! We spent the drive playing on the computer, hours upon hours of driving, and looking out at green flat fields going on into the horizon. On our drive today, we came across a sign for the Oz Museum which I really wanted to go to, but time was short. Tonight we're sleeping at a Holiday Inn that has an atrium with a pool, hot tub, and mini golf. Vanessa and I worked out and swam. While [View Full Entry]

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Aloha. Now don't be alarmed. We're not in Hawaii. I am lying in bed decaying with my mom and sister. Dictating this to my mom as she types is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I don't know what to say to you, my audience, my muses. I can just imagine you all, staring dumbfounded at your computers. The trip has been magical in more ways than you could ever know. I would have to say that Portland was my favorite destination, due to its youthful ambiance and good burritos. Were you aware that wolves no longer exist [View Full Entry]

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These past few days, we've been camping in Rocky Mtn. National Park. On our way out of Denver, we stopped at the SAME Cafe. SAME stands for: So All May Eat. The employees and volunteers serve you food and you pay what you can or you work an hour for a meal. (Comment from Mary - I read about this cafe a few years ago and really wanted to visit it. I was so inspired, and would love to start something like this. Check it out at www.soallmayeat.org) Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park was a lot quieter than Yellowstone. Vanessa and I [View Full Entry]

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These past few days have been quite adventure packed! We stayed in Yellowstone National Park for two nights. We would’ve stayed longer, but there were so many people, my mom, sister, and I felt like we were at Disney World. We felt like that especially at the Old Faithful. It was so cool when the geyser spurt out steamy water over 100 feet high. My dad loved the geysers and animals. We all loved the nature walk with a ranger and twelve others. At night, we would fall asleep to motorcycles speeding through the campground. Comments from Paulo: I loved almost [View Full Entry]

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Today is the official half-way point of our trip!!! We've driven over 5500 miles! We drove from Oregon to Montana, today. We drove 550 miles with multiple stops making our trip 10 hours long. (That's about how long it takes to fly to Brazil.) For the first two hours of our trip, we were driving next to the Columbia River. We drove past a wildfire that was on the side of the highway, with firefighters trying to put it out in the desert. Then we went towards Spokane which is the city where our close family friend, Dave Gipstein, lived as [View Full Entry]

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Portland is so beautiful! We started off the day with great bread and other French baked goods at a really delicious bakery called St. Honore Boulangerie. St. Honore bakes croissants, baguettes, many other types of french artisan breads, and makes great salads and sandwiches. We all thought it was sublime. Dad was impressed with the shape and texture of their Pain Poulaine. We enjoyed touring neighborhoods around the city. One of these areas included a co-housing community we had read about in the past. We had a picture of their teahouse on our bulletin board, and today, thanks to mom's de [View Full Entry]

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These past few days have been a blast! We got my dad and Vanessa from the airport in San Francisco. We drove around and saw Fisherman's Wharf, and we drive down Lombard Street. To get to Lombard Street (a.k.a. the most crooked road in the U.S) we had to drive up a really steep hill at about a 45 or greater degree angle. As a family we ate at this burrito place called La Corneta and there was live Mariachi music in the restaurant. I thought my burrito was pretty good maybe around a 9.3 because I don't remember the details [View Full Entry]

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