Teddy's Travels

It's Spring!

2011-11-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

Kia Ora, Kids,
That's the Maori greeting meaning "Good Health." Everybody says it here in New Zealand. Look at your world map to see where I am. I'm in the southern hemisphere so the seasons are the opposite of the northern hemisphere where we live. It is the beginning of summer here but it is still chilly -- they had a surprise snowstorm a few days ago! It's also a day later -- it's Thursday noon where I am but it's only Wednesday where you are -- and it's either 5 in the morning or 5 in the afternoon -- this is so confusing!!!! And when water runs down the sink drain here, it goes in the opposite direction to the way it goes down in Edmond.
This country is beautiful with all sorts of landscapes. Right now we're in Wellington on the coast of the north island. Earlier we were on the south island in an area called the Southern Alps -- gorgeous high mountains.
Back before people settled here, there was only one kind of mammal (two species) -- bats. Because there were no predators, birds forgot how to fly! I hope you got the post card with the kiwi -- it's the national bird. They are almost extinct because with the arrival of people, other animals arrived and they liked to eat kiwi!
People here are very friendly. There are three official languages -- English, Maori and sign language for hearing impaired people. New Zealanders are very friendly -- the call themselves "kiwis."
There are several other bears here and we are having a great time.
Love,
Batman

On the Route of Don Quixote

2011-10-28T01:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

Spain is so beautiful -- even in the rain. I sprinkled off and on yesterday but seemed to stop when Miss Elaine wanted to take pictures. This morning we went to a 500-year old inn, like the ones Don Quixote would have visited on his travels. Then we saw more windmills -- and another castle. Wow!
This is the time in La Mancha -- this particular region of Spain -- when they harvest the saffron fields. Saffron is a very expensive spice -- it´s the a part of the crocus flower. We got to watch some people picking the flowers. Then they throw away the pretty purple petals and keep the little yellow part at the end of the stamens. Miss Elaine bought some saffron from the people who had just been harvesting it. She´s never cooked with it because it is so expensive but she says she will try it now. (It doesn´t cost as much here.)
Then we went to Toledo -- a very beautiful, very old city. We saw many famous paintings including lots by El Greco (His real name was Domenico Theotokopolis) but the Spaniards just called him "The Greek." The cathedral was very elaborate.
We spend a lot of time eating. Miss Elaine says we will have to exercise a lot when we get home!
We leave tomorrow to come back to the U.S. I am bringing you some little treats.
Love,
Batman

Castles in Spain

2011-10-26T00:50:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,
Yesterday I had lunch in a castle! Spain is so beautiful and surprising. There are acres of olive trees and grapevines and beautiful scenery. The highlight of the day was seeing windmills -- not the kind we have in Oklahoma but old-fashioned ones. In the story of Don Quixote, he thinks they are giants and he charges them with his lance. Poor Don Quixote! The food here is super -- I think I told you about the chocolate on the breakfast buffet. They also have pate, which is ground-up, seasoned liver. Miss Elaine LOVES it. Sorry this is so short -- but Miss Elaine is telling me I have to go. One of the writers is doing a video show on elephants -- he´s from India. Not exactly on the Spanish program -- but it should be interesting.
Love,
Batman

Ola from Espana

2011-10-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,
I´m in Alcala de Henares, a city close to Madrid, Spain. I can´t show you pictures until I get home but I wanted to tell you a bit about my trip. Miss Elaine and I are following the route of Don Quixote (pronounced Don Kee-oh-tee). He is a character in a book written 400 years ago -- maybe the most famous book in Spain. It was written by a man named Cervantes (Sir-vahn-tays) and I will go see his house later today. It is a funny book -- but very long. Cervantes was making fun of the popular reading material of his time -- stories about brave knights going on dangerous missions and saving damsels in distress. That´s an old-fashioned way of saying ´´ ladies in peril.´´ Don Quixote read too many of those books and he began to imagine that he was a brave knight going on missions. He wore a cardboard helmet that he made and got a bony, old horse and thought it was a strong, young war horse. He imagined many dangers on his trips -- I´ll tell you more later.
Miss Elaine and I are staying in a parador -- this is a hotel owned by the Spanish government. They take historic buildings and turn them into really cool places to stay. Centuries ago, this was a convent. Now it is a modern hotel -- so modern that we don´t have a room key. We just hold a card to a spot on the door and it opens. When we get in the room, we put the card in a slot and all the lights go on automatically. When we wanted to take a nap, Miss Elaine pressed a button and curtains came out of the ceiling and made the room dark. Wow! I love this place. Miss Elaine is taking lots of pictures. Maybe we can do a show when we get back.ç
Love,
Batman

Batman at the Beach

2011-10-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

Miss Elaine and I just got back from Apalachicola, Florida. If you look at a map, you'll find it at the bottom of the big bump on the Florida panhandle. (Pronounce it: app-uh-latch-uh-cola) It's a beautiful little town with lots of friendly people. Miss Elaine said they are very dog-friendly there -- and now she knows they are bear-friendly, too.

The town is on Apalachicola Bay, which is an estuary. An estuary is a very important biological area where fresh waters (in this case from the Apalachicola River) mix with ocean water. St. George Island, which is a barrier island off-shore, helps hold water in the bay so that the water isn't completely fresh and isn't completely salty. Lots of species use this area as a nursery so there are many, many kinds of animals and plants found here. They have a very good visitors' center at the Apalachicola Estuarine Reasearch Reserve -- I learned a lot. As usual, Miss Elaine wanted me to get a good view of everything. Here, she is holding a corn snake -- a colorful, harmless snake, which is found here. It crawled on my face and around Miss Elaine's neck! Everyone thought we were very brave but it was fun. The snake was smooth and cool and not slimy at all.

Saturday we got up early to go fishing. This is Justin McMillan of Journeys of St. George Island. He has a lovely, big boat.

I didn't get to fish. Bears fish with their paws and claws -- and somebody forgot to give me any claws! Miss Elaine had to use a fishing pole. Fingernails don't work as well as claws! She caught lots of fish but we threw them all back so they would be okay. This is a Spanish mackerel she caught -- it was really pretty but it had sharp teeth so we were careful not to get close to those!

There were dolphins swimming close to the boat. When we got ready to go home, Captain Justin speeded up and the dolphins swam in so they could surf in the wake. Isn't this neat?

Love,

Batman

Taking the Train to Hit the Trail

2011-10-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

Week before last Miss Elaine, Mr. Jack and I took a train trip to Fort Worth, Texas. I LOVE the train -- the seats are roomy and comfortable, the scenery is great and there's even a snack car! In the picture at the top, you can see part of the Oklahoma City train station through the train window. This is me in my comfy seat.

We saw lots of museums in Fort Worth. My favorite was the Cowgirl Museum. It's not as big as the Cowboy Museum here in Oklahoma City, but it's still really good. I got to pose for a picture on this little pony. Miss Elaine and I made a video of us riding a bucking horse -- but she can't download it. It wasn't a real horse anyway -- more like a rocking horse -- but it was fun.

We got to see real horses and cattle when we visited the Stockyards. Cowboys used to drive their cattle up the Chisholm Trail -- this is me by a Chisholm Trail marker.

Every day, cowboys do a mini-cattle drive. This is one of the cowboys and he let me ride on his horse.
I really liked seeing the longhorn cattle -- but those horns were scary!

Love,

Batman Bear

Cherokee Heritage -- Part I

2011-09-26T20:19:00.001-07:00

Hi Kids,
As you know from the postcards I've been sending, Miss Elaine and I have been on a trip to learn about Oklahoma Indians -- particularly the Cherokees. We started our trip in Tulsa at Gilcrease Museum. It's a great museum with lots of paintings, sculptures and artifacts. You can even touch some of them. I tried on these mocassins -- these are special Indian shoes made of deerskin and decorated with beads. These are done in a typical Southern Plains style.

This is an Indian doll -- really old. It's sort of like G.I Joe -- it's a warrior doll. Maybe it is G.I. Geronimo!

Some of the members of the Cherokee Nation brought us a gift. This tiny basket was woven by basketweaver Rachel Dew, who is considered a Cherokee National Treasure. It's a double-wall basket made of reeds. Isn't it neat?

After Gilcrease we drove to Oolagah and the Dog Iron Ranch where Will Rogers was born. He was a member of the Cherokee Nation. Will Rogers is one of the most famous Oklahomans -- he was a writer, a stage star, movie star, radio star and one of the best-loved people in America. He was also an adventurer. He was a cowboy in South America and starred in Wild West shows. He is buried on the grounds of the Will Rogers Memorial and Museum in nearby Claremore.

This is me with a man playing Will Rogers. He sort of looks like Will. He told us stories about Will's life. You should visit the museum. Every Oklahoman needs to know about Will Rogers. Even more important than being famous, he was a very good man. He was humble and full of good, common sense.

This is a statue of Will Rogers. There's one just like it in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Every state got to choose two people to honor. Oklahoma chose Sequoyah and Will Rogers -- both Cherokees!

This is a close-up of me sitting on the base of the statue. See how shiny the toes of Will's shoes are? Almost every visitor rubs the toe of one of the shoes. Some people think it will bring them luck. Other people do it just to feel closer to this great Oklahoman. I rubbed a shoe, too. But I got to get closer to Will because I could sit at the feet of his statue. Big people can't do that!

Love,

Batman Bear

Czech It Out

2011-09-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

As I told you in my post card Miss Elaine, Mr. Jack, Roxie the dog and I went to Ennis, Texas. It's about 30 miles southeast of Dallas. Back in the 1870s, lots of people from the area of Europe that we now call the Czech Republic moved to this area. Many of them were farmers and the soil here, known as Blackland Prairie for the rich, dark earth, was excellent for growing crops.

They brought their food, customs and costumes with them. Even today, many of their descendants remember their Czech heritage. They don't wear their beautiful costumes everyday but when they have festivals, like the Czech Music Festival and the National Polka Festival, they wear them.

This is me with a costumed mannequin at the Visitor Center.

We also got to taste some wonderful Czech food. Kolaches are rolls with fruit or cream cheese fillings -- or sometimes the dough is wrapped around Czech sausages called klobase (pronounced KLO-bah-see). Miss Elaine also had sauerkraut -- sort of pickled, cooked cabbage. She really liked it.

We went to a couple of little museums that had dolls wearing Czech costumes. Each little area of the old country had its own interpretation of the basic costume. A costume is called a kroj (pronounced kroy). Colors have special meanings -- red means healthy blood; blue is a sad color and gold means a good harvest. Kroj are trimmed with lace and embroidery. Popular motifs include hearts, birds and flowers.

Ennis is a very nice town and I met some very nice people. I'll bet you'd like it, too.

Love,

Batman Bear

King of the Castle

2011-09-10T21:43:00.001-07:00

Hi Kids,

This is Sandcastle Dave on South Padre Island. He teaches lessons in how to make sand sculptures. He starts with really big buckets of very wet sand.

He starts with a big pile of sand that he scoops out with his hands. He says you always start with a big pyramid shape and a lot more sand than you think you'll need. When he puts a scoop on, he "wiggles" the sand with his hands to squeeze out the extra water. It makes the sand stick together so well that he can make tunnels by piling it on his hand, then pulling his hand out.

We didn't have a lot of time, so Sandcastle Dave just made a small castle for us.

Once he got the basic shape prepared, he began carving with a small spatula. He only needs three things: the spatula, a pencil and a straw. Once he starts to carve -- and he always starts at the very top -- he never touches the sand with his hands again.

See how he can slice the extra sand off?

Pretty neat, huh? Then Miss Elaine tried to make a sandbear. She had a lot of help!

I think I look pretty good -- better than the sandbear! If you go to South Padre Island, you can take a sandcastle lesson, too.
Love,

Anonymous Bear

(Please tell me my name!)

Fluffy Goes Cajun

2011-05-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

View Larger Map

I just got back from Louisiana -- and I'm still so mad at Miss Elaine I could just growl! You know how she's always taking my picture getting stuffed in some animal's mouth? Well, this time it was a REAL animal! Can you believe she let that alligator crawl on my lap? I couldn't either. One of these days, I'm going to bite her!

We were at an Acadian village in Lafayette. The Acadians were French people who were living in Canada in the early 1800s. The French and the English fought over the territory and the English won. They kicked the French Acadians out of Canada -- kind of like the Indian Trail of Tears. They had to leave everything they had behind and often families were split up.

Many of the Acadians wound up in Louisiana because they heard there were French people here. Over the years, the name Acadian got shortened to 'Cadian then Cajun. They still speak French and they play old-timey music in Cajun style.

I got to hear lots of Cajun music on this trip and even met some of the musicians.

I hope you have a good summer! I'll miss you but I will have another class to tell about my travels next year!

Love,

Fluffy

Fluffy Visits the Capitol

2011-05-15T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

Last week I visited the capitol in the capital. Do you know the difference in these two words? The capitol is a cool building. Out in front you can see a statue called "As Long As the Waters Run" and on top of the building is "The Guardian." Both of these sculptures were made by Indian artists.

I got to meet Governor Fallin. I thought she was very pretty. And I think she thought I was cute!

There are lots of neat things to see in the capitol. I love looking up at the dome. Miss Elaine laid down on her back so she could take this shot. Sometimes she embarrasses me!

This is the fourth floor rotunda. You can see part of the dome and some of the paintings around it. Below is one of my favorites. It shows Oklahoma's five Indian ballerinas. The artist is an Indian, too.

There are lots of paintings in the building and in the basement, there's an art gallery with more paintings, pottery and sculpture. Maybe this summer you can visit the capitol, too.

Love,

Fluffy

Fluffy Goes to L.A.

2011-04-28T18:11:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

My last trip was to L.A. Did you think I meant Los Angeles? Wrong! In this part of the world, it means Lower Alabama. Look at a map. Do you see that little chunk of the state that crowds in between Florida and Mississippi on the Gulf coast? That's where I was.

This is a picture of me on the bed in our bedroom at the Grand Hotel and Resort on Mobile Bay. We could look out our window and see the boats in the marina. As you can tell from the picture at the top, the grounds were beautiful.

Mobile Bay spills into the Gulf of Mexico. We saw lots of pelicans -- I think they look like pterodactyls! Miss Elaine knows a poem that starts "A wonderful bird is the pelican. It's beak can hold more than its belly can!"

We visited several little towns in the area. I found a friend in Fairhope.

In Foley we went to a railroad museum where they had a really neat room with model trains. Besides trains, there were a lot of cool things there. At the little tiny fire station, you could see through the windows at firemen sliding down the pole. Then the garage door went up and the little fire truck came out and drove down the street to a building on fire. There was also a little drive-in restaurant where a tiny car pulled up to the window to order! If you look carefully in the middle of the picture, you can see a man -- that will help you see how big this train set-up was!
We rode through the Foley rose gardens in another train -- a little bigger than the ones in the model. Dave Ramey drove the train and posed with me for this picture.

In the town of Magnolia Springs, we went down by the Magnolia River. People who live on the river have their mail delivered by boat.

Later we went with a naturalist to see these interesting plants. They are carnivorous. Do you know what that means? In this picture you can see that the plants have several parts. The flowers are those pretty dark red and green things. The green and white cone-shaped things are actually leaves. They are specially designed to trap insects.

There was a stuffed alligator in the Nature Center. Miss Elaine thought it would be funny if it looked like the alligator was eating me. I didn't think it was very funny and I refused to speak to her for several minutes.

To be continued......

Love,

Fluffy

Bear-y Scary Times

2011-04-06T19:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I can't believe it's been a month since I've blogged. Time flies and soon school will be out! I've been on another trip but I haven't finished telling you about my last one yet! So here's a little more about my San Antonio trip.

At the top of this post is Miss Eva from the San Antonio Convention and Visitors' Bureau with me. She sent each of you a pencil -- which Miss Elaine needs to bring you!

This is me with Chef Donald Hoffman. We had breakfast with him at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel. He gave us some of his special seasoned salt -- yum.

This is Miss Elaine and Chef Rudy at the Culinary Institute of America. We were learning how to make some dishes that people might have eaten in Texas many years ago. And they still like it now. Miss Elaine is making a salsa verde -- that's Spanish for green sauce -- using a stone molcajete to crush the tomatillos. Next time she'll use a blender!

And this is me in my chef's toque. They let me wear it but they wouldn't let me cook!

One of the best things we did was go to Sea World. And do you know who else was there? Jungle Jack Hanna was there and he brought lots of animals with him. He REALLY liked me!

This was the scary part. We went to his dressing room after his show and he had two cheetahs running loose. Their names are Bella and Jacob and they are five months old. They looked like big kitties. I got in Miss Elaine's bag. I didn't want them to think I was a play toy!

Then we went to the Shamu show. That wasn't scary -- just a little wet when the whale hit the water!

Love,

Fluffy

Cruisin' Down the River

2011-03-08T18:02:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

Well, I've been on the road again -- finally! Miss Elaine and I left last Thursday for San Antonio, Texas. And it wasn't easy. We left early for the airport and got there only to find out that our plane was indefinitely delayed. BUT there was another flight leaving in only ten minutes. We ran to the gate and were able to get on that plane. We felt so smart! Then we sat on the tarmac, and sat, and sat. Finally, the pilot's voice came over the intercom, "Sorry, folks, we can't take off because the Houston airport is shut down because of fog." We had to fly to Houston to get to San Antonio. Look at the map -- this doesn't make any sense! But that's the way the airline routed us.

We finally took off, arriving in Houston three minutes after our connecting flight left. Because the airport had been shut down, all the flights were messed up. We couldn't get another flight to San Antonio -- all the seats on all the flights were filled for the rest of the day.

We didn't know what we were going to do until the people picking us up at the San Antonio airport called and said, If you can get on a flight to Austin, we'll drive there and pick you up." And that's what we did. After we got to Austin, it was a little over an hour's drive to San Antonio. We got there just in time to join our group for a relaxing dinner cruise on the San Antonio River.

At the top, that's me with the captains of our two boats. The San Antonio River used to be a big muddy ditch which occasionally flooded. Back in the 40s (I think) the city put in flood control dams and made the river beautiful. Now it competes with the Alamo as the number one attraction in San Antonio. And it inspired people in Oklahoma City to build the Bricktown Canal.

This is a picture of our boat as we boarded. We started our dinner with a spinach salad. We also had salmon (I bet they knew that bears love salmon), rice and broccoli. For dessert there was a big piece of chocolate cake. I was very careful not to get any frosting on my fur!

Here's some video Miss Elaine took from the boat. You can see the pretty lights and all the people on the sides of the river walking or eating. It is a very lively place with lots of restaurants and shops. You can also hear the captain telling us about the sights along the river.

Love,

Fluffy

Fluffy Meets Fidget

2011-02-20T19:59:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,
I can't tell you how boring it's been at my house. I've been sitting in the bedroom for two months now -- just looking at the suitcase and wondering when I'm going to get to go somewhere again. Miss Elaine always has the same excuse, "I'm working on the book." So we haven't been anywhere. But I never shared this video with you from our trip to St. Louis, so I made her help me post it. We were at the St. Louis Zoo which is just about our favorite zoo of all time. Ask me if I really got to meet Fidget. No! He was afraid of me so I had to get in the bag -- then he was afraid of the bag! So I had to sit in a corner -- but I peeked out a little bit. I hope you enjoy the video. Do you think you can find out where Magellenic penguins live -- besides the zoo?
Love,
Fluffy

Where is Fluffy?

2011-01-22T12:28:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

I bet you thought I was hibernating! It's been over a month since I've written. Sorry! I personally blame Miss Elaine who is working on a book and hasn't been traveling. But she never helped me tell you about my last trip to New Mexico.

We went to see art and artists of the northeastern part of the state -- Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Chimayo and Taos. We saw a lot of churches and a lot of religious art. The Spanish were the first settlers in New Mexico -- after the Indians. Priests often traveled with explorers and settlers. Their job was to spread the Catholic faith. Many of the people they taught couldn't read so they took paintings and statues of Bible characters and holy people. Flat paintings on wood were called retablos and carved statues were called bultos. We saw lots of these! This retablo and this bulto are very old.

And we met several artists who paint santos (holy images, either retablos or bultos or both). This is Arlene Cisneros Sena -- she painted a beautiful altar screen for the cathedral in Santa Fe. That's it up above.

We also visited the Taos pueblo. The houses are made of adobe -- some of the buildings are multi-storied. The Indian people have lived here for over 1000 years. The houses have no electricity or running water. The little round igloo-shaped things you see are ovens. The people who live here choose to live here because it is the traditional way.

We got to meet Robert Mirabal, a well-known musician, who lives close to the pueblo. He invited us to his house to eat traditional Indian food. We had venison stew (deer meat), trout, corn soup and lots of other good things.

It started snowing that afternoon. Everything looked so pretty! Do you wonder why I'm not in any of the pictures? It was COLD and I didn't have an extra coat! When I wasn't in the room, Miss Elaine carried me in a bag. It was so snuggy in there I didn't want to come out.

Love,

Fluffy

Cool Time in St. Louis

2010-12-08T13:20:00.001-08:00

Hi Kids,

Miss Elaine and I spent last week in St. Louis, Missouri. It's on the eastern border of the state -- on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Before 1803, the Mississippi River was the western border of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase added a big chunk of the lands to the west (including all of Oklahoma except the panhandle) to the U.S. No one really knew much about what was out here so Lewis and Clark and other members of their Corps of Discovery were sent by President Jefferson to check things out. And they started in St. Louis, which was then just a small French settlement. St. Louis became the gateway to the West.

Over 60 years ago, some people decided that a monument to Jefferson should be built. A competition was opened for designs for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. A Finnish-American architect, Eero Saarinen's plans for a stainless steel arch were chosen. Construction began in 1963 and was completed two-and-a-half years later in 1965. It wasn't until it was done that Saarinen realized that his construction looked like an entryway -- and it became nicknamed "Gateway Arch."

The Arch is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide at the base. There is an observation room inside the top of the arch. Each leg has a tram which takes visitors to the top. This is me looking out one of the little windows in the observation room. Below you can see the historic Old Courthouse.

This is me with a National Park ranger.

Over a century after the Louisiana Purchase, one of America's most famous roads came through St. Louis. Sometimes called "The Mother Road," it went from Chicago to Santa Monica, California. It went through eight states including Missouri and Oklahoma. And it goes through Edmond. By the 1950s, the interstate system made Route 66 less important -- but it still has great historic importance. Look how narrow the highway is!

This is an old bridge over the Mississippi River. Did you see me on top of the sign?

Later we went to another famous place on Route 66. Ted Drewes opened a frozen custard stand on Route 66 in 1929. Ted would close the stand in the winter and open a Christmas tree lot. His ice cream was so popular that people wanted it even in the winter!

The frozen custard (ice cream made with eggs) is so thick and rich that you can turn the cup upside down and it won't run out. They call it a "concrete." Vanilla is the only flavor you can get -- but you can get lots of add-ins. The one Miss Elaine bought me is called "Cardinal Sin" and has frozen custard, sour cherries and hot fudge. Yum!

If you think that's cool, you should have been with us that evening. We went to a hockey game. We got to go down and see the ice. Miss Elaine sat me on the ice to take my picture. Wow! I have a fur coat but I can tell you -- I almost froze my tail!

I'll be writing you more about my adventures in the next few days!

Love,

Fluffy

Outdoors Bear

2010-11-23T09:49:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,
I like it when Miss Elaine takes me to museums and art galleries but I LOVE it when we get to play outdoors! Last week Miss Elaine and I visited Canyon of the Eagles on Lake Buchanan northwest of Austin, Texas. There are so many things to do there and even though we stayed several days we didn't have time to do them all.

We had a cool cabin with a porch overlooking the lake. This is me enjoying the view. We were so busy I never got to rock in the rocking chair! We arrived in the late afternoon and joined the group as it started getting dark for an Owl Prowl. It had to be just at the right time -- after the other little birds had gone to bed (so the owls wouldn't eat them!) but before it got too dark to see the owls.

Did you know that owls eat little birds and rodents but they can't digest the bones or hair so they barf them up. Have you ever had a cat with a hairball? The barf is kind of like that -- they call it "owl pellets." The naturalist had several dried pellets and she let Miss Elaine put on gloves and pull the pellet apart. Sure enough, there were some tiny bones in it.

As it got darker, the naturalist put on a recording of a screech owl and soon a real owl flew down to see what was going on! It started talking back to the recorder. Then another owl arrived and they started hooting to each other! The owls didn't seem to be afraid of us and let us get close enough to take this picture.

The next morning we took a boat trip up the Colorado River (this is the Colorado River in Texas, not the big Colorado River that goes through the Grand Canyon). We saw lots of birds including five bald eagles. This is me with Miss Cindy, one of our hosts for the trip.

The next day we got to go kayaking on the river. We were at a really pretty place where Fall Creek falls into the river -- see the waterfalls! I hope you liked the video at the top of my post. I was a little worried because Miss Elaine was messing with the camera instead of holding me tight. And, if you'll notice, she did not put a life jacket on me.

Here I am with J.P. Burchett with Buchanan Adventure Tours. He was teaching us how to geocache. Can you see the GPS I'm wearing? Do you know what GPS stands for?

Geocaching is a combination of a hike and a treasure hunt. You use the GPS to find the location of a hidden treasure (cache). You never know what will be inside the cache container, which could be a metal box or coffee can or a plastic cylinder.

Here's a cache we found -- it was hidden under some rocks.

Inside our cache we found some beads, a cardinal feather, a rubber worm and a little notebook and pen to write our names and the date we found the cache. The rule is, you can take something out of the cache if you replace it with something of equal value. We didn't have anything so we just closed it up and hid it again. This is Miss Eileen, another travel writer.

We had another adventure at Longhorn Caverns State Park. We had to walk down some steps to the entrance to the cave. This is an unusual cave in that it was created by swiftly moving water carving through the rock. There aren't very many stalactites or stalagmites in this cave -- those formations are created by water slowly seeping through rock and removing minerals. You can see in this picture that most of the walls are smoothed by the water. But you can also see some small icicles that were created by slow, dripping water.

This cave formation is called "The Bear" -- it seemed like a good place to get my picture taken. Here are two more travel writers, Miss Kendra and Miss Connie. They held me so Miss Elaine could take my picture.

Very few creatures live in the cave -- but there were a few bats. This is an eastern pipistrelle bat and he's hibernating.

One big room in the cave is full of calcite crystals. When people first saw them they thought they were diamonds. Were they disappointed! They are pretty, though. And they look magical with colored lights on them.

One night (Miss Elaine put me to bed early!) Miss Elaine and her friends went to the observatory in the park. They had two big telescopes and Miss Elaine got to look at the moon, Jupiter, Uranus, the Pleiades, the Andromeda galaxy and two nebula. Maybe next time she goes, I'll be big enough to stay up late. I wasn't too sad -- after all the fun I had, I was really tired. And my bed felt really good.

Love,

Fluffy

Fluffy's Scrapbook

2010-11-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

I had lots of adventures in England. Here are pictures from some of my explorations. The picture above is of Mount's Bay from Madron Hill. This is the hill we walked up to go to the Trafalgar service -- more about that later. That island in the bay -- with the castle on top -- is Saint Michael's Mount. That's how the bay got its name. The town on the right side of the picture (which you can barely see) is Penzance. The village on the left side of the photo is Marazion.

One day we went to a cider farm -- that's me on a whole lot of apples. The land is owned by Prince Charles but he rented it to a friend of Miss Zoe (that's Miss Elaine's daughter). Her friend, Andy, grows apple trees and makes apple cider.

Later that week, we went to an Apple Fair in Penzance. There were all sorts of things made of apples -- including Andy's cider, apple cakes and cookies. There were many kinds of apples. People there think how things taste is more important than how they look -- so some of the apples look funny, but they're really good.

Penzance is on the south coast of England -- on the English Channel between England and France. There are many beautiful spots on the coast. This is at the Minack Theatre near Porthcurno. The theatre is carved out of the rocky coast. That's my family -- Miss Elaine and Mr. Jack, Miss Zoe and her husband, Mr. Simon.

One night we went to a special restaurant called The Meadery. Mead is an ancient drink made with honey. It's alcoholic, so, of course, I didn't drink any of it.

They have great food here and yummy desserts. This dessert has ice cream, toffee sauce, honey comb and crushed meringue. Mr. Simon and Miss Zoe let me taste theirs. Miss Elaine and Mr. Jack ate theirs all by themselves.

One of the coolest things we did was go to a special church service commemorating the victory of the English Navy over the French and Spanish fleets in 1805. The commander, Admiral Lord Nelson, died in the battle, so they remembered him, too. A group from a nearby Navy base brought their band and a group of sailors. The service was in a very old church -- over 600 years old. The music was beautiful and I loved the sailors -- I think they loved me, too!

Miss Elaine isn't very good at working with video but if you click on the start button of the video below, it should work. The picture is a little fuzzy -- but I think it's fun to hear the band!

What's the Name of Your House?

2010-10-19T12:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Kids,

Did you know that lots of people in England name their houses? We're staying in April Cottage. It's on a little lane called Pleasant Place in Penzance in the southwest of England. Miss Elaine's daughter Zoe lives in Penzance with her husband. They live in an apartment -- in England an apartment is called a flat -- people don't name their flats.

This is me in front of the cottage. It's very old. People used to be lots shorter so, if you'll notice, the door is shorter than modern doors. Miss Elaine can touch the beams in the ceiling on the first floor -- and she's short.

People in England live a lot like we do -- though many homes are very old and historic -- many are very modern. When the towns were built, there were no cars so the streets are often very narrow. It's hard to find parking places and most people just walk places. The stores carry almost everything you could find in the U.S. and some things you can't. As you can see, the grocery store looks just like ours. We're using a small cart but they have big ones, too.

This is Alex. She checked out our groceries. She has a chair to sit on. That seems like a good idea. I bet the checkers at our grocery stores wish they had chairs!

Miss Elaine is having trouble with one of her hands. We are visiting the Chinese doctor. They do something called acupuncture. Dr. Tang has special needles that she sticks in Miss Elaine's hands and arms. They do not hurt. I hope miss Elaine's hand gets better! The Chinese doctor also recommends herbs and medicines. See all the jars of herbs behind me?

This is Xiao Mei, she knows how to mix the herbs and medicines. Her son is Mi Lan; he's 14 and can speak both English and Chinese. He wants to come to America because he thinks we have more video games. The little girl came to get medicine for her mother's cough.

Today Miss Elaine took me to a pub for lunch. Pubs are a very old English tradition. This pub, The First and Last, is almost 200 years old! Pubs are places where local people get together as much for visiting with their friends as for the food.

The man who owns the pub is called a publican. This is Andy. He showed me his stuffed cow! I don't know why he thought I'd be interested in a stuffed toy but I was polite and posed for a picture with Andy and the cow.

I got to meet some of the people Miss Zoe works with -- these are John, Wendy and Andy. They were interested in hearing about you. They wanted my picture to show their children. Isn't that nice?

I really like England!
Love,
Fluffy

Silver Dollar City

2010-10-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I'll bet some of you have been to Silver Dollar City in Branson. This was my first visit and I was excited! I saw lots of craftspeople making things the way they did in the old days. This man is called a cooper -- he makes barrels and buckets.

We went to a wood-carver's studio and I found these bears. They weren't very talkative and they weren't cuddly at all.

This lady is making soap. It was very hot and didn't smell very good. After it cooks, she will put it in a tray and let it get hard. Then she cuts it in bars. It doesn't make bubbles at all -- but it will get you clean.

Miss Elaine is not much fun -- she wouldn't go on any of the fast rides. At least she did take me on the train ride. Some bad men tried to rob the train -- it was just a joke, though. I wasn't scared.

I had a really good day. The weather was beautiful and, as you can see, there were lots of pretty fall decorations.

Love,

Fluffy

Fluffy and the Big Boys

2010-09-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I just went to Stillwater -- no, not Oklahoma -- Minnesota with Miss Elaine. Stillwater was an important town in the lumber industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We stayed in a house that belonged to the daughter of one of the most important men in town. His name was Isaac Staples and his daughter was named Aurora.

Stillwater is on the St. Croix (pronounced "croy") River. The loggers used to float huge logs down the river to the sawmills in Stillwater and beyond.

A bridge crosses the river -- Wisconsin is on the other side. It has two towers. The section of the bridge between the towers can go up like an elevator when a big boat needs to get under it. Drivers hate it because they have to wait for the bridge to go up and down but I thought it was really cool.
I got to go in a boat on the river. It was a gondola -- a special kind of boat that is from Venice, Italy. It was pretty surprising to find one in Minnesota but it was nice, too. The lady with us is Jean Friedl. She was our hostess and showed us around Stillwater.

Here's my favorite thing -- Stillwater has a Teddy Bear Park. Miss Elaine made me pose with the big teddy statues. I didn't mind. Then she put me on the slide. I was tired of posing so I slid down all on my own. I wanted to stay and play longer but Miss Elaine said we had to go back to work. Sometimes it's tough being a traveling bear!

Love,

Fluffy

Fluffy Goes to Florida

2010-09-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids -- and Mr. Wonderful, Vanilla, Teddy and Oso,

I'm so glad I have a name -- and I think it suits me. I AM fluffy (although I have to say I am a bit jealous that my brother bear got named Mr. Wonderful. After all, I'm pretty wonderful myself.) I'm getting ready to go on a trip this week -- to Minnesota. But I wanted to tell you about the trip Miss Elaine took me on right before school started.

You can see the beach in front of our hotel at the top of this post. We stayed at the hotel at Amelia Island Plantation. Amelia Island is off the east coast of Florida about as far north as you can get. The Plantation is on the south end of the island and has lots of places for people to stay -- or live. And the nice thing is, the people who built the area left so many trees. This is the oldest tree on the island. It's between 300 and 400 years old.

Miss Elaine thinks the beach at Amelia Island is wonderful -- she went out every morning to watch the sun come up over the water. I stayed in bed. I DO NOT LIKE SAND IN MY FUR!

She took me with her when she visited the nature center and I saw a turtle.

Miss Elaine took a Segway tour and she didn't take me -- she didn't have an extra hand to hold me with. Did you know that Segways were invented by a man who invented a wheel chair that could climb stairs?

One afternoon we went to Fernandina Beach, the main town on the island. Amelia Island was once a haven (that means a safe place) for pirates. We found several pirate statues and Miss Elaine made me sit on them. I would like to find some buried treasure -- but not if I have to dig in the sand.

Love,

Fluffy

Little Bear Does Little House

2010-07-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

Have you read any of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books? They're really good. She tells the story of her life as a pioneer -- and she traveled even more than I do! Only she didn't get to fly or go in a car -- she rode in a covered wagon.

When she was very little her family moved from Wisconsin to Kansas where they built the little house on the prairie. For a long time no one was sure where they lived. A few years ago, a couple of ladies went on a search to find the exact spot. They looked in the census and found the Wilders house. Then they looked at land records and by locating their neighbors, they found a piece of land that had an old well on it. It was the well that Laura's dad dug. And that's all that was left. (The well has been repaired so nobody can fall in.)

Today there's a reproduction of the cabin on the site. And inside, it's just like Laura described in her book.

There was even a little girl there -- she was visiting, like me -- dressed like Laura. She climbed up in a wagon and held me. What a nice new friend.

Your friend,

Little Bear

I Choose Chattanooga -- Part I

2010-06-15T18:37:00.001-07:00

Hi Kids,

We haven't met yet so I don't have a name. I don't even know if I'm a boy or a girl. I guess I'll find out in the fall when Mrs. Kysar's new class tells me. So for now Miss Elaine just calls me Little Bear or L.B. I'm smaller than Teddy and Vanilla but I'm going to have some big adventures.

My first adventure was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Can you find it on a map? I got to see a lot of things so I'm going to tell you about my trip a little at a time.

One of the first things I did was visit Coolidge Park. You can't tell it from the picture, but the park is right down by the Tennessee River which runs through Chattanooga. The park is a great place to play -- especially in the fountains when it is hot. And it was hot when we visited. I like the water but I didn't want to get my fur wet so Miss Elaine let me sit on one of the animals that surround the main part of the fountain. Sometimes the animals squirt water, too.

Another cool thing in the park is the carousel. The frame is about 100 years old but the animals are all new -- carved by a local master carver and his associates. There are 52 animals -- horses, rabbits, fish -- a carousel with a variety of animals is known as a menagerie. I'm sitting on a carving of a Tennessee Walker -- a special kind of horse with a very smooth gait (way of moving).

Miss Elaine let me ride with her. I made her hold me tight -- it was hard for her to use her camera with just one hand!

Another cool thing about Chattanooga is there is a lot of art all through town. This rhinoceros is in Coolidge Park. The artist called it "Blue Boy -- Pull Toy." It's a pretty big pull toy if you ask me!

Love,

Little Bear

I'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain

2010-05-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I've been to the mountains of northern Georgia -- the tail-end of the Blue Ridge Mountains which are the southern end of the Appalachian range. This area -- around Dawsonville -- is where stock car racing (NASCAR) was born. I went to the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame and they let me sit in some of the racing cars. Here I'm sitting on the wheel -- when I sat in the seat Miss Elaine couldn't see me!

This is me in front of the highest waterfall east of the Mississippi. It's higher than Niagara Falls -- but not nearly as wide. It's called Amicalola Falls. Isn't is pretty? We were standing on a bridge about two-thirds of the way down the falls. There's a nice state park here -- we spent the night at the lodge in the park.

The next night we stayed at Forrest Hills Resort. We took a wagon ride behind two beautiful Belgian horses named Thelma and Louise. We went a long way to a spot by a little stream where we had a great dinner. One of the owners -- David Kraft -- fixed me a barbecued chicken leg. Brandi Littlejohn is holding me. She and her husband work at the resort.

I made a new friend. Her name is Lea Marie Littlejohn and she's five and a half years old.

I had a really good time.

Love,

Vanilla

Vanilla Loves a Little Lamb

2010-05-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

Wow, last week was really exciting. I got to go to a dairy farm -- but, guess what, it didn't have cows. It had sheep! Kim McGarr, her husband Lee and their two daughters Sarah and Ashley live on a farm near Comanche, Oklahoma. Can you find that on the map? It's almost as far south as Texas.

Miss Kim milks the sheep and makes cheese. She makes a kind of cheese called blue cheese because it has blue-y veins in it. The blue part is actually mold -- but a really good kind. It takes a lot of work to make cheese. First Miss Kim has to milk the sheep, then she has to heat the milk -- called Pasteurizing -- to make sure it's safe to use. It takes about three days to get it from the sheep to looking like a wheel of cheese. Then it has to "age" for about 4 months. In the picture you can see Miss Kim with a young cheese and a cheese that is almost through aging. Some of the liquid in the old cheese has evaporated so it looks smaller. When it's done, it's kind of fuzzy on the outside and all crickley looking inside. Miss Elaine says it tastes great.

The McGarrs have about 300 sheep but Miss Kim only has to milk 103 (some are boys and some aren't old enough) twice a day! That takes a long time!

I got to meet a little lamb named Paco. He minds Miss Kim when she calls him -- just like a puppy. I think he really liked me.

Love,

Vanilla

Meeting a Hero

2010-05-05T20:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Kids,

I had a really special treat today. Miss Elaine and I went with some friends from Respect Diversity to take flowers and a birthday card to Mrs. Clara Luper. Mrs. Luper is 87 years old. And she played a very important part in Oklahoma history.

Mrs. Luper was a history teacher. She wrote a play about Martin Luther King and took some of her students to New York City to present it. The students had a great time -- they saw the sights and ate anywhere they wanted.

This was in the 1950s and in many parts of the United States, including Oklahoma, black people were not allowed to stay or eat in certain places. They weren't allowed to swim with white people in public pools. Mrs. Luper and her students knew that this wasn't right -- in America all people are supposed to be equal.

She and her students decided to go to the Katz Drugstore in downtown Oklahoma City. In those days, drug stores often had lunch counters. They sat down on the stools. They were told to leave. The students were very polite, but they didn't move. The people who worked in the store wouldn't take their orders or serve them.

Even though Mrs. Luper and her students were thrown out of many places, they kept coming back and, eventually, they won.

Do you know what a coincidence is? It's sort of when two things happen that you don't think are related -- but then they turn out to be. While we were visiting, Miss Elaine got a phone call from a man she was going to interview for a newspaper article. When she told him that she was at Mrs. Luper's, he said, "Oh, she was one of my grandfather's favorite people. He threw her out of his building. But, you know what? When he died, Mrs. Luper came to his funeral."

That's another thing that makes Mrs. Luper a hero. She disagreed with people and stood up for herself but she was never mean about it. She just felt sorry of people who acted badly toward her -- she thought they just didn't know better and, with patience, she tried to teach them a better way to behave.

I felt really honored to get to meet her. And I think she liked me, too.

Love,

Vanilla

This Is The Life

2010-04-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I LOVE travelling with Miss Elaine. She goes such neat places! We just got back from Wildcatter Ranch in Texas. There were so many things to do I didn't have time to do them all even though Miss Elaine made me get up early. We checked out the swimming pool and hot tub early Friday morning then Miss Elaine let me sit in the seat of a surrey. It has fringe on the top -- just like the one in the song from "Oklahoma!"

Next we went down to the pasture to feed the longhorn cattle. This is me with Big Boy. He has the third longest horns of any longhorn -- they stretch 98 inches from tip to tip. He was very gentle so I wasn't scared but I had to watch out when he turned his head!

We had lunch at the Dinner Bell Cafe in Graham. That's me sitting in the big dinner bell. It looks just like the ones the cowboy cooks used to call the cowboys to dinner -- just bigger. We had a real Texas cowboy meal -- chicken fried steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, beans, a roll and fried okra.

This is me with my new friend Trey. He's in the second grade. His dad works on the ranch. Trey let me ride with him in the back of the mule -- that's a kind of ATV that holds a bunch of people and is good for work. You can haul feed or tools in the back -- or Trey and me!

Here's a picture of Miss Elaine's friends -- they're all travel writers. Do you see me up in the tree? They call this the longhorn tree because it has two big branches like horns.

After such a busy day, a good massage was just the thing!

I'll write another post soon about my horseback riding adventure!

Love,

Vanilla

Seeking Independence

2010-04-21T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I hope you got my postcard from Independence, Missouri. This town is just east of Kansas City and is important for a number of historical reasons. Lewis and Clark came through here when they explored the Louisiana Purchase territory in 1804.

By 1821, it was the beginning of the Santa Fe Trail, a trading route that went to Santa Fe which was then part of Mexico. As the trail went west through western Kansas, it split briefly into two routes. One went across the corner of Colorado then south to Santa Fe. The other was called the Cimarron Cutoff and went across the panhandle of Oklahoma. Both trails wound up in Santa Fe. My cousin Teddy went to Santa Fe last year -- if you look back in the blog, you'll find a picture of him at the end of the trail.

Later, as pioneers traveled west, they split off the Santa Fe Trail and headed northwest on the Oregon Trail. Another split happened when gold was discovered in California in 1849. Gold seekers split off the Oregon Trail to head southwest to the gold fields. But most everyone started in Independence.

While we were in Independence, we took a wagon ride. The horses' names were Ruby and Pearl. Most wagons west weren't pulled by horses. Mules and oxen were stronger and could last longer. And most pioneers didn't ride in the wagons -- they walked beside the wagons. Think about that when you take a long ride in the car. I bet the kids knew better than to ask "Are we there yet?"

We also went to the National Frontier Trails Museum where we learned about the trails and the pioneers. It has a neat area where kids can load a little wagon. They have to think of all the things they'll need on the trail. Lots of times pioneers tried to take their favorite things with them but discovered they needed the wagon space for food and tools to survive on the trail. If you were going west in a wagon and could only take one favorite thing, what would it be? I travel very light -- but I'd like to take some honey!

Miss Elaine has to go now so I have to say good-bye. I'll try to write some more this afternoon. I have lots more to tell you.

Love,

Vanilla

Art Smart

2010-03-26T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I hope you got my post card from Dallas. As I told you, I went to a lot of museums last weekend. The picture above is me in the Nasher Sculpture Garden. I'm sitting in a sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, a famous English sculptor. After Miss Elaine took my picture, she saw a sign that said, "Do not touch the sculptures." I don't think I hurt it -- I sat very softly.

We also went to the Dallas Museum of Art. This little girl was drawing a picture of some of the art. There were lots of pictures but also pottery, sculpture, even furniture. The dressing table and stool pictured below were made of silver. They were made over a hundred years ago for the 1900 Paris World's Fair.

Our guide at the Dallas Museum of Art was named Molly Kysar. That's her married name. She thinks probably her husband is related to Mrs. Kysar's husband but she didn't know for sure. She was very friendly.

We also went to the Crow Collection of Asian Art. I loved this dragon. There were also lots of things made out of jade. I saw lots of beautiful things in Dallas.

Love,

Vanilla

Sweet Story

2010-02-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

The maple leaf is the symbol of Canada -- you'll see it on their flag. Maple trees have a sweet sap that can be made into syrup or sugar. While I was in Quebec, I visited a shop called Le Delices de l'Erable -- or The Delights of the Maple. There was a little museum in the shop and I learned more about maple syrup.

The Indians first discovered uses for the sap. They made vee-shaped cuts in the trees and let the sap run out through a hollow reed or bent piece of bark. They collected the liquid in birchbark buckets. They drank the sap or used it in cooking. Later European traders and settlers brought wooden buckets and iron and copper kettles.

In the winter, the sap is thick and protects the tree from freezing. When the snow and ice begin to thaw, the tree draws water through its roots and the sap thins down. Cutting a hole in the tree to gather the sap is called "tapping." When the sap comes out of the tree, it isn't very sweet and it is as clear as water. When it is boiled and becomes more concentrated, some of the water evaporates, leaving a darker, sweeter liquid -- maple syrup.

In colonial America, sugar had to be imported from Europe. During the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin thought it would be a good idea if the colonists used maple sugar so they wouldn't be dependent on England for sweetener.

Maple syrup is great on pancakes and waffles and it makes great candy. I hope you enjoy the samples I sent you.

Here's something cool they do with maple syrup. They get it really hot and pour it onto clean snow.

As it cools, it gets firmer and they take a wooden stick and roll the semi-soft syrup around it.

Voila! A maple sucker!

Love,

Vanilla

Bear North

2010-02-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

The picture above is of me sitting on a statue of Bonhomme (that's French for snowman) in the lobby of our hotel, the Quebec Hilton. Bonhomme is the king of the Winter Carnaval -- but I'll tell you more about that in another post. Today I want to introduce you to Quebec City, the capital of the province (the Canadian equivalent of our states) of Quebec.

Canada has ten provinces and three territories. It is the second largest country in the world in area. It's a million square miles bigger than the United States. That area is bigger than Alaska, Texas and Oklahoma put together. The capital of the country is Ottawa.

Quebec City is very old and very beautiful. It was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain. The historic area of Quebec (from now on, I'm going to call the city Quebec rather than Quebec City -- it's shorter) has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) because of its historic importance. This area is surrounded by a city wall (an old European tradition). The city has built up outside the wall but I spent most of my time in the historic areas.

The old town is divided into two sections. The lower town is on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. The upper town is high up a hill. There are steep streets that connect the two areas but for a quick and easy trip, I took the funicular -- a sort of sideways elevator. It was fun.

You'll notice that even though my visit was in February, Christmas decorations were still up. Quebecers have a long winter and the people like to see the cheery decorations so they don't take them down until Carnaval is over.

I loved looking in the shop windows -- especially this one. The name of the shop is C'est Si Bon, which means "it's so good." The shop was full of candy. Mmmmmmm. I love candy. I even brought some for you! Watch for a package -- I'll try to get Miss Elaine to mail it this weekend.

Love,

Vanilla

Florida Adventure Part 1

2010-01-18T19:50:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

Miss Elaine and I have been to Polk County in the middle of Florida. We saw lots of really cool things. The picture above is in a beautiful garden in Lakeland.

We ate at lots of different places and we shopped some, too. Miss Elaine let me ride this antique rocking horse -- but she didn't buy it for me. I guess it wouldn't fit in the suitcase!

One day we went to a neat museum called Fantasy of Flight. They have lots of airplanes there. Our guide was called Smilin' Jack and he was dressed like a 1920s barnstormer. Do you know what a barnstormer is? I bet you can look it up.

Among the planes we saw was a replica (that means a copy -- not the real thing) of Wiley Post's airplane, the Winnie Mae. Wiley Post was a famous aviator and inventor and he was from Oklahoma.

Another day we had an outing at a dude ranch -- River Ranch. Our horse's name was Gus and he was a really good horse. We rode through a pasture with rodeo bulls in it and along side a pond and under trees that had Spanish moss hanging on them.

After we went horseback riding, we went for an airboat ride. We saw nine alligators. This one was the biggest. We called him Big Al. He was about twelve feet long. If you don't think that's very long, lie down on the floor and let your teacher measure you. How many of you would have to lie head to toe to be as long as Big Al? I'm guessing three -- let me know if I am right or wrong.

I had such a good time on my trip that I'm going to have to write one or two more blog posts to tell you more about it. Look for another one soon.

Love,

Vanilla

Cool Christmas in Nashville

2009-12-09T20:52:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

As you know from my postcard, Miss Elaine and I have been to Nashville, Tennessee. The whole town is getting ready for the holidays and I got to see some really neat things. One was an exhibit at the Opryland Hotel. Called ICE, it was really cool. I mean REALLY cool -- 9 degrees Fahrenheit. As you can tell, the exhibit stars all the Peanuts characters -- made out of ice.

And Snoopy and Charlie Brown weren't the only things made out of ice. This is an ice slide. Miss Elaine took me down twice! She wanted a friend to take our picture but the camera batteries were getting too cold and didn't work very well.

Isn't Snoopy's doghouse neat? The ice carvers were from China and worked day and night for over a month to get ICE ready.

At the end of the Peanuts display, there was an icy manger scene.

After we saw ICE, we had dinner then went to the Radio City Christmas Show. The stars of the show were the Rockettes -- tall, beautiful dancers who can kick really high. Two of them posed for a picture with me. The one on the left graduated from the University of Oklahoma but now she lives in New York -- except when she's traveling with a show like this one. Do you think I'm too short to be a Rockette?

Love,

Vanilla

Mobile A-museum-ments

2009-11-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

As you probably know from my postcards, Miss Elaine and I have been to Mobile, Alabama. We did lots of things and saw lots of museums. We started with the Museum of Mobile -- a history museum. They had a special exhibit of antique toys and I posed with these bears which are over 100 years old. They had to stay in a case but I got to sit on top of it.

While we were there, some pirates dropped in. Don't you think this pirate looks like Captain Jack Sparrow from "Pirates of the Caribbean"?

Next we went to the Carnival Museum. The first Mardi Gras in the New World was held in Mobile in 1703. Mardi Gras is a really big party that lasts for a couple of weeks. People dress up in beautiful costumes and have parades and dances. That's me on the knee of the giant jester in front of the museum.

The costumes in the museum were really pretty. The queens have fancy dresses and really long trains. Not like on the railroad -- this kind of train is a long dress part that drags behind when the queen walks. This was my favorite because I love pink.

The kings and queens have crowns, too. Some of them were in the museum but I didn't get to try one on.

I did get to pose like a queen for this picture.

Our last museum visit for the day was at the Exploreum -- the science museum. The had a special exhibit with Bob the Builder. The had lots of things to try. I love museums.

Love,

Vanilla

Sandy Claws

2009-11-13T20:33:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

Miss Elaine and I just got back from Las Cruces and southeastern New Mexico. This was my favorite place. White Sands National Monument protects a big chunk of the world's largest area of gypsum sand dunes. Most sand is made of silica or other minerals and can range from yellow and light brown to black. The sand here is made of gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate), a white, soft mineral that is often used in making the wallboard used in building our houses.

White Sands covers about 275 square miles. The sands come from playa lakes -- lakes fed totally by rainfall -- that dry up when the water evaporates. The minerals in the water are left behind and eventually break down and are carried by the wind.

The dunes don't stay in one place -- they shift with the winds. In some areas the dunes move 30 feet in one year. That's probably about the same distance as from the front to back of your classroom.

Are you surprised to see plants in the desert? The plants have to have special adaptive qualities to survive here. If they can get their roots down far enough, they can get to water that is stored under the desert floor.

Miss Elaine was very interested in all these details. Me -- I just wanted to slide down the dunes!

Love,

Vanilla

Vanilla -- International Bear

2009-10-31T19:27:00.000-07:00

Hola Kids,

I'm sure you know that's Spanish. I've been to Spain! Miss Elaine and I went to the region of Galicia which is in northwest Spain. We spent several days in the capital -- Santiago de Compostela. This is a very old city! The cathedral here is almost a thousand years old!

I'm sitting in the middle of the Plaza de Obradoiro. Lots of things go on here -- people meet and visit here and musicians often play music, hoping that people will donate money.

Lots of things here are old and historic but the city also has very modern areas. The picture at the top of this post is an aerial photo -- Miss Elaine took it out of the plane window. Can you see all the wind turbines on the mountain tops?

Our hotel is very old. In 1499 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered it to be built as an inn and a hospital for pilgrims coming to visit the cathedral. In 913, a peasant found some bones and it was determined that they were the bones of Saint James, one of Jesus' disciples. People came from far away to see the tomb. Even today, people come to this church -- often walking many miles. Today the inn is an elegant hotel.

This is the living room area of the hotel.

And this is me sitting on the mantel above the fireplace!

Miss Elaine and I started exploring as soon as we got here. When we got hungry, we stopped at an outdoor cafe by the hotel. We had a great view of the cathedral.

I made a new friend. This girl was from Germany. She loved me and would like to have taken me home but Miss Elaine explained that I was a working bear and you needed me to help you learn geography. She was sad but she understood.

Love, Vanilla

Vanilla Goes Gator

2009-10-16T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

As you may already know, I've been to Beaumont, Texas, which advertises itself as "Texas with a little something extra!" Well, there's lots extra.

When I found out that our first stop involved alligators, I absolutely refused to get out of the car! I'm just a little bear and I was afraid I would look like an hors d'oeuvre! In case you don't know -- that's French for a little snack. It's pronounced or-durve and it literally translates "outside of the work" meaning outside a regular meal.

Miss Elaine wasn't afraid so she went with our hostess Miss Stephanie to meet Gary Saurage who owns Gator Country Adventure Park. A lot of the alligators here are ones he captured after they went somewhere they shouldn't -- like somebody's back yard. Big Al is the king of the gators at Gator Country. He weighs 1000 pounds and is over 13 feet long!

This is Chubs. Miss Elaine said he wasn't exactly cuddly, but he was born with a bad jaw and he can't close his mouth so she wasn't really in any danger of getting bitten.

As you can see, there are also other reptiles here. Gary has 236 alligators, 7 crocodiles, 9 caimans, 4 snakes and lots and lots of turtles.

I didn't want to get near any of them. I did let Miss Elaine pose me for this picture. That's a real alligator head -- but the rest of him was long gone! This wasn't scary but it is about as close as I wanted to get to the real thing!

Vanilla Goes to Beavers Bend

2009-10-11T06:53:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

It's been a long time since I've written to you! We've had company. Miss Elaine's daughter, Miss Zoe, arrived from England and we've been having a great time. She's gone home now so I have a LITTLE bit of time to write before Miss Elaine and I head for the Big Thicket!

Beavers Bend is about as far southeast in Oklahoma as you can get. It's really pretty with low mountains and lots of pines. We stayed at Lago Vista Bed and Breakfast and I got to go to the hot tub with Miss Zoe and the Lago Vista cat, Sam.

This wasn't my whole breakfast -- just the starter! Miss Chandra fixed French toast and bacon, too. I may have to go on a diet.

Then we met Ranger Robert Bastarach who led us down to the Red Slough (just say "slew") Wetlands where we met Biologist David Arbour. They know everything about birds and animals that live in the area. We even saw two roseate spoonbills -- really cool birds that look like flamingos except they don't have a curved beak. Their beaks are long and at the end, they flatten out like a spoon.

Then they showed us an old alligator nest. I was really glad the mama and her babies weren't at home! Did you know we had alligators in Oklahoma? I didn't, but I do now!

Driving Miss Elaine

2009-09-10T06:07:00.000-07:00

I learned something today. Don't decide you're not going to like something until you try it. This has been a tough trip for me. Miss Elaine has been in meetings a lot and I've been sitting in the

hotel room. Yesterday we had an excursion. We were going to see the sights here in Montgomery, Alabama, including the Hyundai car plant. Car plant!!!! I thought it sounded

boring and so did Miss Elaine but she said we had to go.

Boy, were we wrong. It was the coolest ever! I got to see -- and sit in -- some new cars and we got on a tram and toured the plant. Did you know car bodies start out with a big roll of steel -- like a giant paper towel roll?

Then they go through a machine that cuts them into shapes; then into another machine called a press. It's in two parts -- the flat piece lies on top of the bottom part and the top part of the machine raises 'way up then smashes down -- like 52 elephants stomping on it. The piece comes out shaped like a door or a trunk lid or whatever piece they're making!

The plant is full of robots -- not like R2D2 but just bendy arms with suction cups on the end. They pick up the pieces and fit them together. It takes 16 and a half hours to make a car -- including the 9 and a half hours it takes for the paint to dry!

After the car is made, it gets tested on the test track -- every single car! This plant makes 900 cars a day. Can you see Miss Elaine and me sitting in the cute red Sonata? We really liked that car.

So I had a great time and so did Miss Elaine. I guess we both learned something! Don't say you don't like something -- like broccoli or visiting a car plant -- if you haven't tried it!

Love,

Vanilla

I'm a Girl!

2009-09-05T14:57:00.000-07:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mrs. Kysar's class. I love my name -- Vanilla -- and I'm glad I'm a girl. I'm so glad I'm going to be sharing my adventures with you this year -- I think we'll learn a lot about the world. Do you like the necklace Miss Elaine made for me? I do!

Love,

Vanilla

New Bear in Town

2009-08-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids!
I'd like to introduce myself -- but I can't! I don't have a name! I don't even know if I'm a boy bear or a girl bear. I'm waiting for you kids in Mrs. Kysar's class to name me -- it will be such a relief! Right now when anyone asks me my name, I just growl at them. I know that's not very nice -- I'm really a friendly bear -- I just need your help.

I'm going to be traveling with Miss Elaine this year and I'll write back to you and send you pictures of the places I've been. And I'll blog, too, so you can check on me when you have computer time.

Miss Elaine took me on my first trip this week. It was just a short one, so I could get used to traveling. We went to Sand Springs -- that's just west of Tulsa. Can you find it on your Oklahoma map?

We went to Discoveryland! -- a really cool place with an outdoor theater. A nice cowboy let me ride on his horse. We had a really good dinner and then we watched an Indian dancer. His name is Bear O'Field. He belongs to the Cherokee and Creek Nations. He went to his first pow-wow when he was three days old and has been dancing since he was old enough to walk. He made his own costume. Can you see the bears on it? He told me that "bear" in the Creek language is "nokuse" (it sounds like nah-goo-see).

We learned a lot at Discoveryland. We learned about the Pony Express. Did you know that you can get a post card at Discoveryland and the Pony Express man will mail it for you? Miss Elaine would have let me send you a card but she couldn't remember the address. I can see that she's going to need my help a lot this year.

After the Pony Express man rode off, we watched some singers and dancers. Then the main show came on. It was the musical Oklahoma! by Rodgers and Hammerstein. That's where our state song came from. It was a good play but I got sleepy so Miss Elaine let me burrow into her bag and take a nap.

I can't wait to come see you. Please be thinking of a good name for me!

Love,

?????

Teddy Hits the Highway

2009-05-17T02:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Kids,
I'm glad I don't have to drive a car here! For one thing, the British drive on the OTHER side of the road -- and their cars have the steering wheels on the other side of the car. Miss Elaine tried to drive in England once, but she kept driving up the curb! Fortunately, Miss Zoe is a very good driver. Even though she had a driver's license in Oklahoma, she had to take driving lessons here.

Some of the roads are very narrow -- like this one. You have to take turns going -- and if you're coming through and you meet someone, one of you has to back up! This road is in Mousehole. They pronounce it Mou (like ouch) zul. It's about five miles from Penzance and also on the coast. Here's a picture of the harbor -- or, harbour, as they spell it here.

Another day we went to a cider farm and mill near Gweek. The names sound funny to us but they probably mean something in Cornish -- the language people used to speak here. I know a few words. Pol is pool, tre is town and pen is head. Penzance actually means Holy Head. Lots of people have names that start with those words -- there's a rhyme that says "Tre, Pol and Pen, by these you know true Cornish men." Here are some of my other favorite town names -- Water Ma Trout and Praze-an-Beeble.

Anyway, back to the cider farm. We took a tractor ride through the apple orchards -- they were in bloom and very pretty. They have about 3000 trees -- a lot of different kinds of apples, too. They make apple juice and cider (I wonder what the difference is) and fermented beverages and jams, jellies, chutneys and mustards.

This is me in a barrel of apple juice bottles. Miss Elaine didn't let me drink any. I think she was afraid I would spill it on my shirt.

Here's one thing I've noticed. English people love animals -- particularly dogs. We see lots of dogs everywhere we go -- but they're all very polite and people keep them on their leashes so they don't run loose and scare children and small bears.

Love,

Teddy

Teddy on the Town

2009-05-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

Thursday was rather quiet. We walked to town -- about a mile -- and up this street, Causeway Head, to the farmers' market. It was windy and pretty chilly -- not many stalls set up, not nearly as many as the Edmond Farmers' Market. Still, it's early in the growing season so there's not much for sale yet.

That afternoon we walked in the other direction -- to Newlyn. About a hundred years ago, Newlyn was a famous arts and crafts center -- lots of painters and potters and copperworkers. The arts kind of died out here for a while. Michael Johnson is an artist who works in copper and bronze. He let us see his workshop. He likes to do sculpture but he does all sorts of things -- even made the belt buckles and other metal things for the movies "Pirates of the Caribbean" both Two and Three. The big piece behind me in the picture is called a monstrance. Do you see that he's made some of the rays out of pieces of silverware? He says that art makes us see things in new ways. He must be right. I would never have thought that my fork was for anything but eating!

Yesterday was a big day. We went to the National Seal Sanctuary. Did you know there are 33 kinds of seals? There are six kinds at the Seal Sanctuary -- grey seals (the only kind that live in the ocean off of Cornwall), common or harbour seals, Patagonian sea lions, California sea lions and South African fur seals. They also have the only Arctic hooded seal in the United Kingdom. I don't remember how he happened to come here. The Seal Sanctuary works to rehabilitate injured or sick animals and then release then back into the ocean. They tried to release Sahara, the hooded seal. They drove him north to Scotland and turned him loose hoping he would find his way to the Arctic. Nope, he got turned around and wound up on the coast of Spain so they went and got him. He was very thin and not very well. So now he lives at the Seal Sanctuary where he is safe.

I can't tell seals and sea lions apart. They both belong to the pinniped family, along with walruses. Seals have little ear holes and sea lions have little ear flaps. Do you think this is a seal or a sea lion? Miss Zoe says it is a seal and she's right about most things.

One of the seal trainers took me in to meet Flipper, a grey seal. I had a good time at the Seal Sanctuary. I wish you had been there with me.

Miss Elaine took this picture out the car window on the way home. Look at the roof -- it's made of thatch. In the old days, lots of houses had thatched roofs -- now only a few are left. Thatch is made from bunches of water reeds or wheat straw. Did you know that last names often reflected occupations -- so, hundreds of years ago, if a man worked on roofs, he might be known as John the Thatcher, or John Thatcher. Can you think of some other names that might have referred to work?

I love England and I'm even learning to speak English! In America we speak English, too, but sometimes we use different words for the same thing. It can be quite confusing. Here are some words the English people use and the words we use:
chips: in England these are like French fries
crisps: we call them potato chips
biscuits: we call them cookies
lorry = truck
car park = parking lot
lift = elevator
pavement = sidewalk
pram = baby buggy
nappy = diaper
Did you notice the sign by the thatched house? In America, it would say "Yield."

Love,

Teddy

Teddy Goes to a Garden

2009-05-08T02:18:00.001-07:00

English people love gardens -- and lots of things like to grow here. There's enough rain (not too much, like you've been having) and sun (not too hot, like it gets in Oklahoma) and good soil. Yesterday we visited a place called the Lost Gardens of Heligan. They were started several hundred years ago -- the same family has owned the property for 400 years. In the old days, there were lots of servants and gardeners to take care of everything. But then, in the 20th century, lots of the men went off to war and the gardens grew over. Now they're being restored and they are really interesting. There are miles of trails wandering through plantings and meadows. We started on the woodland walk - a path through trees and wildflowers and some funny things like this giant head.

Then we cut across a big field to an area called the Jungle. We had to walk down a steep path. It's sort of in the bottom of a canyon. Flowering bushes bigger than trees towered over my head. The flowers were red and magenta and hot pink and white and lavender. These were rhododendrons. They don't like to live in Oklahoma. Mr. Jack has a couple of bushes but they are little and don't grow much. You'll see a picture of a medium-sized rhodie later.

There were several ponds with tiny fish down in the ravine. They were lined with giant tree ferns, palm trees and tall trees. One of the plants had huge leaves. Miss Elaine and Miss Zoe (her daughter) tried to figure out how to put me on one of the leaves. I was scared because I was afraid I would slide off and fall down and they wouldn't be able to reach me. Miss Zoe tied an elastic cord around my leg and tossed me onto a leaf. It wasn't so bad but I was glad when they pulled me up again. Miss Zoe made a joke about letting me bungee jump off the bridge. I didn't think that was very funny. I felt much better when I was wrapped around Miss Elaine. She has a little purse on a belt that she straps around her waist. Then she tucks me in and I can see everything really well. People seem to think it's funny to see a grown-up with a bear and we meet lots of nice people when they ask about me. I always tell them about you!

In addition to gardens, there were cattle and geese and chickens on the estate. Miss Zoe petted some of the cattle but I didn't.

This is my new friend, Miss Mary. She was working in one of the gardens. That's a rhododendron behind her. She asked about me.

Miss Elaine let her hold me. She was very nice. English people like bears. Can you think of some English bears you know about? I'll give you some hints. 1. He lives in the Hundred-Acre Woods, 2. His best friend is Christopher Robin, 3. His other friends are Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet. I bet you've guessed already! And there's another famous bear who's named after a railroad station in London -- we took the train from that station, but I didn't see a bear. He wears a kind of raincoat and a floppy hat. Did you get the answers right -- Winnie the Pooh and Paddington?

Love,

Teddy

Teddy Goes International

2009-05-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,
Do you have any idea what it's like to spend 22 hours in a dark bag? Well, I do! But now I'm in England and I'm having a great time. I've had a really busy day. It started with a walk to town. Lots of people walk or ride bikes here. They have cars but gas is really expensive -- about $4 a gallon -- and walking's healthy for you. And you get to see the scenery better. We stopped in front of this beautiful golden rain tree. And Miss Elaine liked the blue front door.

We did some shopping -- and lots of window shopping. They have a lot of things here that we have at home -- like Hannah Montana stuff -- but they have a few things we don't usually see.
Like pasties (I wrote you a postcard about pasties but you won't get it for several days.)

Many years ago, most of the men in this area worked in the tin mines. They had to take their lunches with them because they spent all day underground. Their wives would take pie dough and make pies like these. Sometimes they would put meat and vegetables in one side and fruit for dessert in the other. The circle of dough would be folded over the fillings. The outside circular edge was sealed to keep the filling in and the edge was made thick so the men could hold onto it and it wouldn't break. Their hands were dirty from mining so they would eat the filled part of the pie and throw the thick edge away. The mines are all closed now but people around here still eat pasties.

I'm in Penzance in Cornwall, almost as far south and west as you can get in England. Penzance is technically on the English Channel, the arm of the Atlantic Ocean that runs between England and France. There are still a lot of fishermen around here and fresh fish is easy to buy. I went into a fish market -- that's all they sell -- to check out the fish.

We saw some policepeople and Miss Elaine asked them if she could take their picture with me. They were very nice. The police lady got out her handcuffs and put them on one of my arms. She was just kidding!

Later we saw some firefighters. They were doing some training but they stopped to let Miss Elaine take their picture with me. We did it quickly so they could get back to work. People here are really nice.

Tonight after dinner we walked down to the beach -- it's right across the street from where Miss Elaine is staying. We saw some men lawn bowling and then we saw some swans. This is a beautiful place!

Love,

Teddy

Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo

2009-05-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Miss Elaine and I went to Knoxville, Tennessee, last week and we had a great time. We took a cruise down the Tennessee River and I got to help drive the boat.

Tennessee makes a big deal about black bears and there are statues everywhere. I posed when I could.

My favorite thing was going to the zoo. The Knoxville Zoo is famous for its red panda program. Red pandas and giant pandas aren't very closely related. Red pandas were discovered first then when giant pandas were discovered, someone must have thought they look alike. Hmmmm, frankly, I don't see it.

I also got to get close to the giraffes. They were very nice. Fortunately, they like to eat bamboo, not small bears!

Miss Elaine and I are going to be on the road again soon. I will try to send you some cards -- but it takes so long for mail to get here from England that I may be home before you get my cards! See you soon.

Love,

Teddy

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2009-04-22T04:59:00.001-07:00

Whew! I finally got to use the computer! I have such cool pictures to show you and Miss Elaine has been hogging the keyboard! I didn't get to tell you about the really neat baseball things I did in St. Louis. St. Louis is going to host the All-Star Game in July -- that's why we went to the city.

The first thing that happened after we landed is -- we went to Albert Pujol's restaurant. Okay, I'll admit that Miss Elaine had to tell me that he is probably the best player in baseball today. When we walked in, I saw a tall, black man sitting at a table with the other writers. He was really handsome and was wearing a gold necklace. There was a lady and a little girl there, too. Guess what -- it was Albert Pujols and his wife and daughter. They were really nice and his little girl wanted to hold me. I liked her a lot.

Albert and I got our picture taken together -- then Miss Elaine got in the picture. Albert signed a baseball for me.

Later in the week, I met Mike Shannon. He is the announcer for the Cardinals -- and he used to play for the team. He has a restaurant, too. I guess baseball players get really hungry! I got my picture taken with him, too.

Miss Elaine left me in the hotel the night she ate at Tony's -- a really fancy restaurant. She said it was because it was raining, not because I eat with my paws because I can't hold a knife and fork! Anyway, she met Tony LaRussa, the Cardinal's manager (he used to play baseball, too). She said he was really nice and he signed an autograph for William Shorow. I wish I had been there -- I bet I could have gotten another picture. I help Miss Elaine that way a lot.

I also got to go to the Build-A-Bear Workshop at Busch Stadium. You know I was born in St. Louis. I met lots of friends and Miss Elaine made a Fredbird (the Cardinal mascot). They mailed him to us. He's nice, but he doesn't get to go on trips like I do.

And I'm leaving on another trip this morning -- so look for postcards. Miss Elaine and I are going to Knoxville, Tennessee.

Love,

Teddy

What's in a Name?

2009-04-11T15:04:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

A long time ago, William Shakespeare wrote "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." That's kind of an Elizabethan way of saying "It is what it is" no matter what it's called. Except I think I disagree. Miss Elaine took me to the St. Louis City Museum a few days ago.

"Hmmm. City Museum," I said to myself. "What's there? That doesn't sound very interesting."

Now that I've been, I think they called it that because they couldn't think of anything to call it that would describe it! It was full of all sorts of stuff to do, to explore, to climb on, to peek in, to make -- it was fantastic. And you never knew what you'd see around the next corner.

A lot of things were made out of stuff that other people would throw away. It's in an old shoe factory and the people who made the museum used lots of old equipment. Giant industrial coils turned into great climbing tunnels -- some kids call them "the slinkies of death!" A whole wall is made of old laboratory trays and the bannisters on the stairs are made out of old rollers from conveyor belts.

Here are a few of my favorite things:

A giant whale

A huge pipe organ

A circus school -- the man who runs it used to be a human cannonball!

Magical looking fish (you have to look hard to find me!).

A pretend alien Elvis baby

And the world's largest underpants! They're kind of hard to see because I'm sitting on a pinball machine in front of them. And those funny words above them -- "Semper ubi, sub ubi" -- Miss Elaine took Latin in high school and explained them to me -- "always where, under where." That didn't make sense until she made me say it fast ten times! (It sounds like "always wear underwear!)

What would you call a museum like this? I guess maybe City Museum isn't such a bad name.

Love,

Teddy

Atlanta -- Part I

2009-04-06T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

By now I hope you've gotten some of my postcards. Miss Elaine mailed them at the hotel front desk each morning and when she was checking out, they asked if I had enjoyed my stay. Oh, yes! We stayed at the Marriott Marquis downtown. I don't know how tall it was but we were on the 36th floor and there were a lot of floors below us. The strange picture is what it looked like looking down 36 floors. When a building has an open center from bottom to top, that's called an atrium. Do you know where that word comes from? Don't you just love the view? Miss Elaine held on to me tightly!!!

The first day we went to the Martin Luther King, Jr. historical site. I wrote you a card about that. Then we went to the Carter Presidential Library and Museum. I got my picture taken with a new friend, Little Louis. He's from Wisconsin, he says, but I think he looks Australian! We didn't get to sit in the president's chair like I did in Texas. (Okay, I know you haven't seen that picture yet because Miss Elaine is really behind on my blog -- but, trust me, she'll help me get it done one of these days!) Little Louis and I sat in chairs in front of a picture of the President's desk.

President Carter worked very hard to bring peace to the Middle East and he was given a very special prize -- the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. King got one, too, for his work in civil rights. Did you know that there are only two cities in the whole world where two people have received Nobel Prizes? Atlanta is one and Johannesburg, South Africa, is the other.

I'll bet you can guess that going to the World of Coca-Cola was one of my favorite things in Atlanta. Coke was invented here! When you tour the World of Coca-Cola, you will learn about the history -- more people around the world recognize the Coca-Cola label than any other label. There are several theaters here -- my favorite was in 4-D -- not only did things seem to come off the screen, but the chairs moved and we even got splashed with water. I wasn't scared and I held on tight to Miss Elaine so she wouldn't be scared either. I got a big hug from the Coca-Cola polar bear. He gave me a big kiss, too. His breath smelled like fish, but I didn't say anything.

On Friday I went with my friend Little Perk (his whole name is Perkerson Price). We had a party with his class -- teddy grahams and Kool-Aid. He stayed with his class. The class loved me, too. This is Trayveon holding me. I'm glad I have so many new friends. They were very happy to get the cards you sent and they loved the picture of you and Mrs. Kysar.

I will write more when I get a chance. Miss Elaine is ALWAYS using the computer to work on her book and I have to sneak on when I can. We are going to St. Louis Wednesday. I hope we get to finish writing about Texas and Georgia before we write about Missouri but I'm not counting on it!

Love,

Teddy

Yummy in my Tummy

2009-03-31T16:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Kids,

I told you about visiting the Blue Bell factory in my postcard but I thought you might like to see some pictures. The second one is me in front of one of the windows that looks down over the factory floor. Most of the tour for the public is on these contained walk-ways.

We (my travel writer friends and I) got to go down on the factory floor. Miss Elaine and all the writers had to wear hairnets. I guess they didn't have one big enough for me! I don't think I am shedding so I don't think I got any bear hair in the ice cream!

The next picture is part of the production line. The empty containers come in on the left. The ice cream comes down that white pipe. You can see the cartons with ice cream in them. See the row of lids on the right? As the ice cream carton goes by, a lid falls down and gets pressed onto it. The cartons are then packed into boxes and taken to one of the freezer rooms.

At the end of the tour, we got to have some ice cream. Miss Elaine chose Pralines and Cream. She ate most of it herself but left a little bit for me. I wanted to put the picture of me with the ice cream here but Miss Elaine is having problems with her computer!

Everything's Rosy in the Bluebonnets

2009-03-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

Texas was beautiful. The bluebonnet is the Texas state flower and they were all over. I learned a lot about Texas history this last week. We went to Washington-on-the-Brazos. You know, originally, the Spanish claimed this part of America -- we were part of their Mexico colony. Then the Mexicans fought for their independence so we were part of the country of Mexico. Everything went pretty well -- lots of Hispanic (Mexican or Spanish) people lived in the area and so did a lot of Anglos (people from the U.S.) Then the Mexicans got a really nasty leader and he did a lot of things that made the Tejanos (people living in Texas) mad.

He sent an army and the fought at the Alamo in San Antonio. While that was happening, a number of citizens met in Washington-on-the-Brazos. They wrote a declaration of independence (just like the American colonists did in 1776). The elected a president and wrote a constitution. Lots of Tejanos were killed at the Alamo. Then there was another battle at San Jacinto and the Tejanos won!

They called their new country the Republic of Texas. They didn't belong to Spain or Mexico or the United States. But lots of them wanted to be part of the U.S. That happened ten years later.

I visited Barrington Farm. This was the home of the last president of the Republic of Texas. You can go here and learn how people lived in the 1850s. Even the animals are like the animals they had then. This is a picture of me and a Piney Woods calf. Piney Woods cattle are a blend of longhorn cattle and domestic cattle. This little calf and his half-sister were learning how to be an ox team. The word oxen just means any kind of cattle used for pulling things -- like plows or wagons.

Then we went to the place where the delegates met to write the declaration. This isn't the real building -- but it's built just like it and on the same spot, too. It was very cold when the men met and the building wasn't completely finished -- no doors or glass in the windows. As you can see, the furniture wasn't fancy. But that wasn't important. What they did was!

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-03-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

Miss Elaine took me to the Tulsa Zoo during spring break. They have a lot of animals. I loved seeing the mother chimp with her baby. The Tropical Rainforest was really cool -- well, no, actually, it was really HOT -- very warm and humid like being in the jungle. I wanted to take off my coat! There are replicas of Mayan and Inca ruins in the Rainforest. Here, I'm sitting on one.

Can you see the sloth in the tree in the next picture?

Sloths are really slow movers. Do you think sloths live in the United States? This one had a hammock in the tree. Then I got to ride on the train. What a nice day!

Working Bear

2009-03-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Miss Elaine and I have been busy working on the Tulsa guidebook. We spent three days there this week. Mostly my job was to guard the car. Grrrrr -- I just dare anyone to try to get in! But sometimes Miss Elaine took me in with her -- like when she went to Kaleidoscope, a children's museum. There were lots of things to do. I played like I worked in a grocery store and in the doctor's office, Miss Nancy from the city convention and visitors' bureau (she was showing us around the town) let me listen to her heart. Then I got put in jail -- but it was just a joke!

I loved the playhouse. Do you like my comfy spot by the fireplace?

Later we went to a small Route 66 museum next to a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealers'. I got to sit on the handlebars but Miss Elaine NEVER lets me drive anything. I think I would be good at it if I could reach the pedals!

I was guarding the car -- again -- when Miss Elaine went into an Embassy Suites hotel to check it out. Guess who lives there? Another bear! Miss Elaine took me in to meet him. He was still wearing his pajamas and it was after 9 o'clock. I was polite and didn't mention it to him. I thought maybe he would come with me and be another friend for Oso but he was too tired.

Love,

Teddy

For the Birds

2009-02-18T05:13:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Miss Elaine took me to meet Mrs. Debby Kaspari, a natural history artist. She lives in the country near Norman. Mrs. Kaspari started drawing when she was very little and now she's really, really good. She says she always liked drawing birds and animals so now, besides doing beautiful paintings that people buy for their homes, she does detailed drawings and paintings of birds, animals and plants for magazines and books. Maybe you have a field guide at home. This is a book people use when they want to identify things in nature -- like for birding.

Mrs. Kaspari was working on a painting that will be on a poster and tee-shirts for a very special event called Lek Treks and More. You can see the painting in the picture. It is of some lesser prairie chickens. There used to be a lot of these birds but now there aren't very many and people who are concerned would like to save them. They are very shy and need lots of room and lots of quiet.

Every spring the male prairie chickens try to attract the females. They have sort of a prairie chicken pow-wow. They gather in an area where all the girl birds can see them and they dance around and puff out their chests and make gobbling noises. The dancing ground is called a "lek."

People who go to this festival (April 17 - 22, in Woodward) will get up before it is light and go near the lek. They will hide in little shelters, called blinds, and sit very quietly for three to four hours to watch the birds. After the birds leave, the visitors will quietly leave -- they will be very careful not to disturb the prairie chickens.

There's lots more to do at this festival -- special expeditions to see lots of different kinds of birds. I would like to go but Miss Elaine says we won't be able to go this year. She is starting work on a guidebook for Tulsa so I guess I'll be seeing a lot of Tulsa in the next couple of months!

Mrs. Kaspari also showed us paintings and drawings that she did in the jungle. She loves the hot, steamy rain forests. She and her husband recently went to the forests in Peru. Her husband is a professor at the University of Oklahoma. He's a myrmecologist! I'd never heard of that. It means he studies ants! Dr. and Mrs. Kaspari often go on excursions together to study nature. I wonder if Mrs. Kaspari's birds ever eat Dr. Kaspari's ants!

Mrs. Kaspari has done a lot of paintings for the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. Have you been there? If you haven't, you really need to go. Mrs. Kaspari will have a big display of her paintings from Peru starting in October. She also made recordings of the birds and other jungle sounds. The exhibition will be called "Drawing the Motmot." A motmot is a kind of bird.

That's also the name of her blog -- http://www.drawingthemotmot.wordpress.com/. I like to look at it. She has neat things on it. One of my favorites is a video of her drawing -- and a bird lands right by her and tries to grab her pencil!

I had a good day. I hope you are all fine and taking good care of my friend Oso.

Love,

Teddy

Signs of Spring

2009-02-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids,

I LOVE this spring weather. Miss Elaine took me outside this afternoon and I looked around for signs of spring. As you will see from the pictures, I found daffodils and tulips coming up and the Lenten roses are really blooming nicely. I was surprised to see the little yellow blossoms on the holly. I didn't know they bloomed! I always get excited when the weather gets warm. Of course, I don't hibernate like real bears but I do like to stay inside when it's cold. Did you know some animals hibernate when it's hot? Only it's not called "hibernation." Do you know what the word is? Can you find it? Some reptiles do it and hedgehogs don't like either really cold or really hot weather! I LOVE SPRING!

Oh, oh! I hear the tornado sirens? Did you have to stay at school when they went off? I LOVE SPRING -- but I HATE tornadoes!!!

Be safe!

Love,

Teddy

Dogsledding!

2009-01-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

Well, Miss Elaine decided I could go out and at least see the dogsledding. I met Maury who owns the dogs. He uses 10 dogs per team. He built his own sled. It weighs 44 pounds. That was before Miss Elaine and her friend Miss Cindy got on! Maury bit my ear! I think he said that's how you get acquainted with the dogs. I didn't like it! In case he didn't notice, I'm a BEAR and we don't let anybody bite our ears. One of his helpers introduced me to two of the dogs but I didn't want to get too close. Then Miss Elaine let me sit in the sled. It was COLD! She let me sit in the car when she went sledding. It was a good thing. The sled tipped over a couple of times and she got dumped in the snow. She looked really funny because she was wearing a spiderman face mask. She got snow in the eyeholes! Miss Elaine, Miss Cindy and Maury weighed 506 pounds all together. Add the weight of the sled. Can you figure out how many pounds each of the 10 dogs was pulling?

Up to my Neck in Snow

2009-01-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

Here I am in Minnesota. There's deep snow everywhere and in the distance, the lake is frozen solid. There are cars out on the lake and little houses where fishermen cut holes in the ice and sit in their little houses and fish. I'm staying in this morning while Miss Elaine goes dogsledding. She will tell me all about it when she gets back. I'm a pretty brave bear, but I wasn't sure I trusted a bunch of big dogs. She tried to tell me I would be okay -- but she didn't buy me a jacket or snow boots and it's really cold outside! She is going snowmobiling this afternoon. I'm taking a nap! I hope you're having a good day. I like to travel but it's 2 outside!!!!

T-Bear Travels to Cajun Country

2008-12-28T15:20:00.000-08:00

Miss Elaine and I went to Louisiana so she could research an article on the Creole Nature Trail. This is a 180-mile road that travels through several ecosystems in southwest Louisiana. A lot of it is wetlands -- very important habitat for birds and a nursery for lots of species for sea life in the Gulf of Mexico. The Creole Nature Trail is one of a select few roads in the nation which have been designated All-American Roads because of their unique features -- scenery, history, culture. Unfortunately, this part of the country has been hit by hurricanes several times in the last few years. The latest hit was September, 2008, when Hurricane Ike sent a 12-foot storm surge over the countryside. I spent most of the drive in the car -- it was drizzly out and you know what water does to my fur! Nobody wanted to ride in the car with a wet bear! Here are some pictures of what I saw, and even some pictures of me! (You know you can make the pictures bigger so you can see them better if you just click on them.)So much water came in with the storm surge -- waves of water pushed by the hurricane winds -- that big chunks of the road were picked up like using a spatula to get brownies out of a pan!Even though the hurricane hit three months ago, I could still see a LOT of damage.

The Trail crosses the shipping channel where huge tankers travel. They would have had to build a REALLY tall bridge for the ships to go under. Instead, cars get across on a ferryboat. I liked it and I could see dolphins in the water!There are four wildlife refuges on the Trail but only one was partially open when we were there. The others were still being repaired. This is me with Miss Katie (from the Lake Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau). It was very cold and all the wildlife, except me, refused to come out!Don't worry -- this alligator is not alive! I wouldn't get that close! Did you know that alligators can run so fast that they could get a speeding ticket in a school zone? I wouldn't want to try to arrest one!

Miss Elaine went to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to do research for an article about the Creole Nature Trail. This is a 180-mile road that goes through marshlands (marshes are watery prairies, swamps are watery forests) down to the Gulf of Mexico. This is an important habitat for lots of species of animals. It's also a nursery for many of the sea creatures from the Gulf. There are lots of birds there and more alligators than people! The United States Department of Transportation chooses the most scenic and/or historic roads in the country and designates them National Scenic Byways. There are 125 of them. Twenty-seven of these roads are so special that they are singled out as "All-American Roads." The Creole Nature Trail is one of them. Unfortunately, this part of the country has been hit by several hurricanes in the past few years. In 2005, Hurricane Rita did a lot of flood and wind damage to the area. The region was just recovering, then, September, 2008, Hurricane Ike hit it again. I spent most of the day in the car -- it was rainy -- and you know what happens to my fur! Here are some pictures of things I could see from the window.

The winds from the hurricane pushed the ocean water ahead of it in a series of giant waves called "storm surge. The water soaked the ground and literally lifted big pieces of road.There was a lot of damage -- and these pictures were taken three months after the storm. You know you can make the pictures larger by clicking on them, don't you?The Trail crosses the shipping channel but there's no bridge! They would have to make a very, very tall bridge for the big ships to go under, so, instead, cars go across by ferry boat. I liked it and I could see dolphins swimming in the water.There are four wildlife refuges on the Trail. Three of them were still closed because of damage. We did get to go on the wetlands walkway at the Cameron Prairie Wildlife Refuge. I was about the wildest wildlife there -- it was too cold for everything else. This is Miss Elaine's friend, Miss Katie, from the Lake Charles Convention and Visitors Bureau.Don't worry! This alligator is stuffed!

Teddy O'Bear

2008-12-28T15:06:00.000-08:00

Mary Hendron is a friend of Miss Elaine's. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, but her husband is from Ireland. I was really excited when she invited me to go to Ireland with her. Here are some pictures from my trip.
This is me at the Donegal Town Visitor Centre. Did you notice they don't spell "centre" like we do? They also spell "theater" "theatre." They've been spelling these words longer than we have, so you can't say they're spelling them wrong. You can just say we spell them differently!Ernan McBettigan is the mayor of Donegal Town. He also owns McGettigan's Butcher Shop there.This is Donegal Castle. It was built over 500 years ago. A town grew up around the castle so now it stands in the center of Donegal Town.We flew out of Dublin and I got to visit with the nice ladies at the airport information centre.
I liked Ireland and meeting Mary's husband's family but it rained a lot more than it does here. My fur started to smell funny!

Teddy Takes Texas

2008-12-18T20:23:00.000-08:00

Hi Kids, I went to Frisco, Texas, with Miss Elaine and Mr. Jack. They took me to Safety Town. I thought it would be boring -- let's face it, that's a boring name! They should have called it the Wow Climb on a Fire Engine Hide from a Tornado Visit a Tiny Town Ride A Bike Town. I learned a lot about staying safe -- how to call 911 (do you know how hard it is to use a phone with your paw?), what to do if you den catches fire and practicing safety rules when walking or riding a bike. The town part was really neat -- just like a real town but kid-sized. Fire Chief Ryan Wolford helped me get on a bike but I couldn't reach the pedals.

Teddy Takes (Another) Holiday

2008-12-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

This post if from Teddy's October 2nd to 5th trip to Rosemary Beach, Florida.

Teddy's been on vacation while I've been working. Okay, so working and Rosemary Beach are oxymoronic! My work consisted of living like the other half -- more like the other one per cent! Rosemary Beach is elegant and expensive and oh, so relaxing. My apartment was a in carriage house -- upstairs over a garage with a loft bedroom. The chauffer never had it so good! Teddy didn't enjoy the beach as much as I did. He wasn't fond of sand in his fur. But he did like stretching out in a beach chair and, later, doing the same by the pool. Teddy particularly enjoyed riding in the basket of my tricycle!

New Mexico

2008-12-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Chama

This is where I met Oso. Miss Elaine and I got up early for a campfire breakfast. That's us by an antique chuckwagon. A chuckwagon is a cowboy kitchen. Pulled by horses, it hit the trail with the cowboys. The cook carried all his supplies on the wagon. The back pulled down so he had a table for working. Everything was cooked over a campfire.
After breakfast, we went to town to take and old-fashioned steam train ride. That's Oso and me with the fireman. This fireman doesn't put fires out -- he makes them! He shovels coal into the firebox to keep the fire burning. The fire heats a big container full of water. When the water boils and makes steam, the steam pressure makes the engine go. If he lets the fire go out -- the train stops! He must have done a good job because we went up over some mountains and the train never stopped!
Posted by Elaine Warner at 6:18 AM 0 comments
Labels: Chama
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Bandelier National Monument

Bandelier is 70 per cent protected wilderness area but most visitors just see the part I saw -- Frijoles Canyon. Frijoles means beans in Spanish. I don't know why they would name the canyon Beans! In the canyon and on the cliffs are the remains of ancient pueblo houses and ceremonial structures. Miss Elaine left me in the car when she climbed up the cliffs to see the pueblos. She said she might need both hands to help her climb. I think she should buy a backpack to carry me in! She did get me out later so I could see some of the canyon and I met Ranger Brad Traver. I also got to go to the Visitor Center where I got to feel a real deer antler.
Posted by Elaine Warner at 6:09 AM 1 comments
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Santa Fe
Hi Kids, I promised I'd put up pictures from my first trips so here we go. My very first trip was to New Mexico. And I started in Santa Fe, the state capital. Here's my picture sitting on top of the monument that marks the end of the Santa Fe Trail, an important route that went from mid-Missouri to New Mexico. Did you know part of the trail crossed the Oklahoma panhandle? The other picture is of the La Fonda Hotel where I stayed. You'll notice that the architecture of the hotel replicates an Indian pueblo. There has been a hotel or inn on this spot since the days of the Trail (1822 to 1879).
Posted by Elaine Warner at 5:57 AM 1 comments

Welcome

2008-11-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

Teddy has been bugging me to start a blog for him for some time. So here it is. He is feeling quite the celebrity since there was an article featuring him in the Edmond Sun today.

Third-grade class receives traveling bear

EDMOND — Students in Margaret Kysar’s third-grade class at Northern Hills Elementary have three new friends. Elaine Warner, travel writer for The Edmond Sun, visited the class last month and introduced them to a stuffed bear who likes to travel. The class named the bear Teddy. Teddy travels with Warner and sends post cards back to the class.Recently, Teddy visited northeastern New Mexico where he met Oso, the official New Mexico Adventure Bear. Jill Lane, New Mexico travel specialist and Oso’s creator, donated the bear to the Oklahoma class. Along with Oso, she sent several books about New Mexico. Oso will stay in Kysar’s room, traveling on class field trips and being a reading friend for the students.Travelin' Teddies is a program sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers in partnership with Build-A-Bear Workshop of St. Louis. Build-A-Bear has provided three dozen bears to members of SATW who are willing to take the bears on their travels. Each bear has his or her own backpack and official SATW shirt.SATW was founded in 1956 to promote responsible journalism and preservation of travel resources worldwide. The Travel Teddies program, sponsored by the 20-state Central States chapter, is designed to increase knowledge of geography and create curiosity about the world in American classrooms.

There were two pictures in the paper and three on the web site. I'll be backtracking and starting with Teddy's earlier adventures and adding pictures of Teddy so keep checking here.