We were spending the night at a campground in Brush! (that is really how it is written!), Colorado, when we heard there was a demolition derby right across the street. At least we thought it was right across the street when we decided go, but it turned out to be a twenty minute walk, and it would have been a lot longer if a nice worker hadn’t let us through the back entrance. Once we were inside though, it was awesome.

The cars were not in good condition. They looked like they were from a junkyard, but they were pretty good at smashing each other. Once, a car got stuck against the wall and it’s tire exploded! Another time, a car’s engine caught on fire. It was so awesome to watch! Smoke stacks blew flames, and fluids poured out of engines. A car’s crankshaft actually fell off once!

I am really hoping this is not our last demolition derby.

We left Niagara Falls in New York and drove west. And drove. And drove.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi.

We saw corn. A lot of corn.

We made it to Colorado!!!

There is one word to describe Niagara Falls: amazing. I had been asking to go to Niagara Falls since February, and it was even better then I thought. The huge horseshoe shaped falls sounded like a giant growling. The water pounded down with so much force it sent mist up to the top of he falls. I’m happy it was hot, because we were soaked. We got even more soaked when we went on the Maid of the Mist boat ride up to the falls. I think it should be renamed the Maid of the Rain! The ponchos they handed out kept us mostly dry, but our heads looked they had been dunked in the river.

When we decided to leave Newfoundland via the Trans-Labrador highway I realized that our route would take us through the town in Quebec where my sister and her family spend time every summer. I wrote my sister, and sure enough it turned out that they would be arriving in La Malbaie exactly when we expected to get there.

When we got to La Malbaie Big Kid and Little Kid had a great time playing with their cousin Petey while the the grownups caught up. Little Kid, who really loves music, was fascinated by Uncle Austin’s guitar playing, and got to play some guitar himself. Big Kid and Petey spent a long time sword fighting with sticks, miraculously without any injuries!

The next day my sister suggested we go to a waterfall on the banks of the St. Lawrence River that had a natural waterslide. Big Kid went down the waterslide first, and loved it. Then Petey and Uncle Austin went together, then Little Kid went with his big sister. Little Kid was cackling with glee the whole way down, but when he hit the pool of ice water at the bottom he burst into tears. Despite that, he asked to go two more times, and each time he had a blast until he got to the bottom and burst into tears. The kids seemed to be having so much fun that both I and Ma took a few runs each. Big Kid and Petey rounded out the afternoon with a epic mud fight down on the tidal flats.

We had an awesome time at Les Bergeronnes, a beautiful spot along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Our campsite was on top of a hill, with a splendid view of the water. In the water we saw a ton of seals, which were really adorable even though they were far away. We also saw a whale so close we heard it breathe.

We had a great time on the rocks. The dramatic tides left huge tidepools filled with starfish, urchins, and tiny shrimp like things. I met some kids on the beach, and even though they only spoke french, we had a great time showing each other the things we had found. We gathered about twenty tiny shrimp together before they left, and we had a lot of fun even though we spoke different languages.