Destination #2: Lyons, CO - Rock climbing is fun!

Well, here I am in Lyons, Colorado, which is near Denver, and is 824 miles east of San Jose, California. When you add that to the distance from San Francisco to San Jose, so far I have traveled 850 miles. (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=SFO-SJC-DEN)

We just got back from a hike in the Rocky Mountains near Tosh's house in Lyons. This map shows where we went, which is a place called Button Rock Preserve. It has a big lake and lots of nice places to hike.


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It is really high here in the mountains, over a mile high, so I get out of breath when I hike uphill too fast, because there's less oxygen up here.

While we were hiking a rainstorm blew in, but we had good raincoats so we didn't get wet. Tosh says the weather changes very fast in the mountains.

After a few minutes it was sunny again, and I got to go rock climbing. Here's a picture of me on the rocks.

Tosh made me a backpack. He says it'll be a lot easier to carry around than a suitcase.

The rocks near Lyons are kind of reddish color and are called redstone. A lot of the old buildings in town are made from it.

On the way into town there is a big piece of redstone that has been carved to say, "Welcome to Lyons." There's a picture at this website: www.townoflyons.com.

This afternoon I met Rufous, who is a hummingbird who has been living near Tosh's house this summer. All the hummingbirds are getting ready to fly to Mexico for the winter, which is a very long journey for such tiny birds.

When I told Rufous that I'm going to Dublin, Ireland tomorrow to meet Tosh's friend Axel, he asked if he could come with me. So I put him in my backpack.

Well, I better get in my envelope and get ready for my trip to Dublin, which is 3,817 miles from Denver! (http://gc.kls2.com/cgi-bin/gc?PATH=SFO-SJC-DEN-DUB)

See you there!

RRRROOOAAARRRR! RRROOOAAAARRRRR!

Haha, hello down there! I think we're flying above you right now.

Tosh was born in August, so he's a lion, too. We're sitting in the airplane flying to Colorado and we're bored, so we've been practicing roaring to pass the time. I'm the loudest, by far!

Oh-oh, the flight attendant just came by and told us we have to be quiet because we're bothering the other passengers, so we can only purrrrrrrrr until we land.

It was funny when we went through the security check to get to the plane. They told me I had to empty my pockets and take off my shoes, so I had to tell them that I don't have any pockets and never wear shoes!

Tosh has a window seat, but he gave me the window. It's really cool, I can see all the mountains and deserts that we're flying over. Tosh is trying to read a book, but he's not getting very far because I keep telling him to look at everything I'm seeing. He doesn't mind, though. He likes the view, too.

Here comes the flight attendant again, to bring us something to drink. When I stick my snout in a glass of cola, the bubbles tickle me and always make me sneeze, so I think I'll get an orange juice instead. Anyway, that's more like the color of my fur, so if I spill some it won't matter.

Okay, talk to you more tomorrow. We're going to go for a walk in the mountains.

Destination #1: Mountain View, CA

Today I traveled via envelope to Mountain View, CA. I met so many great people! Unlike me, they were all three-dimensional! I don't think they could fit in the mailbox! They must never travel anywhere!

Anyways, I first arrived in Keyvan's mailbox (that's the guy in the yellow shirt and green hat). He taught me some Farsi (the language of Iran) and we ate some rosewater ice cream. Then, we biked to Google.

Then, Heather (the girl in the green shirt) stuck me in her pocket. She walked all through Google and I got to see the campus. They had lots of bright colors and great food. They told me all about their search engine and how it works.

Next, Tosh (the guy in the red shirt) stuffed me in his briefcase and told me we're going to the mountains.