Author: tidyteddystravels

India

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January 4, 2013

Hi Boys and Girls in Ms. England’s Class:

I had the most wonderful holiday vacation, traveling with Madeleine and Douglas Armstrong and their parents and grandmother to India. Do you know where that country is? Look it up on your globe, and you’ll see that it’s halfway around the world from Tennessee. It is a beautiful country, but much different in many ways from ours. For one thing, there are elephants and camels walking in the streets! Cars and carts and bicycles and people have to go around them. I rode on a camel with Douglas out in the country. It was a bumpy ride but lots of fun, even though the desert sands blew in my face.

We rode in a motorboat, too, to see a beautiful palace built on rocks right in the middle of a big lake. Isn’t that funny? Why would anyone do that? It was built by a Maharaja (Indian ruler) for protection from enemies. There are also huge walled cities called forts, built high on hills for the same reason. To get to one of them, we rode on an elephant!

Until the airplane was invented, the only way to get to India from America was by boat. On the waterfront of the port city of Mumbai there is a huge arch called the Gateway of India which welcomes visitors. There are always crowds of people passing through and lots of men, women and children trying to sell you food, clothing, balloons and toys or trying to take your picture. We took our own to send to you.

To see India before cars were invented, you had to travel by train. We did, too, in long railroad cars pulled by a big engine. We had a small compartment with two beds to sleep in at night. The motion of the train lulls you to sleep or sometimes jolts you awake, and once in a while other big trains whistle and roar by you, shaking you in bed. Jai and Mandu cooked breakfast for us in the morning.

One of the most beautiful buildings in the world is in India. It’s called the Taj Mahal and is over four hundred years old – older than any building in the United States. Built entirely of white marble, it gleams in the noonday sun but turns pink in the early  morning and late in the afternoon when the sun goes down.. Everybody likes to have their picture taken there.

The state bird of India is the peacock which has bright blue and green feathers. The spots in them are called the eye of the peacock and are thought to bring good luck. Look at the picture of me lying on a peacock fan. I’m wishing all of you good luck.

I hope you like my pictures. Maybe someday when you are older you’ll go on a travel adventure and send me pictures. But you know what? It’s nice to come home, too.

Love,

Tidy Teddy

Elephant

Kristen, Madeleine, Douglas, and Denni next to an elephant

Camel Ride

Madeleine, Douglas, and Tidy Teddy about to ride a camel

Douglas & Teddy with Camels

Douglas, Tidy Teddy, with some camels

Lake Palace Boat Ride

TT, Douglas, Madeleine, and their dad at the Lake Palace Boat Ride

Teddy at Gate of India

TT and Douglas at the Gateway of India

Douglas & Madeleine-Train with Jai & Mandu

TT, Madeleine, Douglas, Jai, and Mandu outside the train

Teddy & Taj Mahal

TT at the Taj Mahal

Teddy and Peacock

Tidy Teddy lying on a peacock fan

Rochester, Minnesota

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Dear Ms. England’s Class,

I had a wonderful time visiting Ms. England’s Uncle Tony and Aunt Linda in Rochester, Minnesota. We drove more than 5 hours in the car through Illinois and Wisconsin and saw trees that were beautiful shades of red, yellow, and orange. We also saw many, many lakes on our drive and learned Minnesota is called “the land of 10,000 lakes”. There are over 11,000 lakes in Minnesota.  WOW! I met cousins, second cousins, aunts, and uncles and a really sweet dog named Tucker.  We celebrated Uncle Tony’s birthday by going out to dinner and eating lots of cake! It was a really fun time!

Love and hugs,

Tidy Teddy

Ms. England’s Uncle Tony, Aunt Linda, and Tidy Teddy

Out for pizza for Uncle Tony’s birthday! TT loves pizza!

Uncle Tony and his grandson “Little T” with TT

Uncle Tony with medals earned by Ms. England’s Grandad when he was in the Army.

TT with cousin Amy and her new baby Max

Uncle Tony, Aunt Linda, and their dog Tucker

Grand Canyon, Arizona

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September 17, 2012

Dear Ms. England’s Class,

Recently, Tidy Teddy and I went to the Grand Canyon, the biggest canyon in the whole world! We hiked all the way down from the top of the North Rim to the Colorado River, which was 28 miles round trip! The canyon has gotten so big because of the river carving its way through the canyon over thousands and thousands of years. You can’t even see the whole thing at once! Millions of people every year come to the Grand Canyon to both look at how big it is and travel down to the river.

Love,
Mr. Perkins

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

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September 15, 2012

Dear Ms. England’s Class,

Recently, Tidy Teddy and I visited Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. It’s one of the most unique places in the whole world- there are giant pink and orange rock spires called “Hoodoos” all over the place! We had a lot of fun hiking around the hoodoos, and seeing all of the beautiful colors.

Love,
Mr. Perkins

Olympic National Park, Washington

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August 24, 2012

Dear Ms. England’s class,

Tidy Teddy traveled with me to Olympic National Park in Washington State. Olympic National Park has beautiful mountain rainforests and is right on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. My friend Dan and I saw mountain goats, black bears, and lots of waterfalls while we were there. The picture is outside the visitor’s center, where we got our information about where to go hiking at Olympic National Park.

Your friend,

Mr. Perkins

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Mount St. Helens, Washington

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August 20, 2012

Dear Ms. England’s Class,

Recently, Tidy Teddy and I visited Mount St. Helens National Monument in Washington State. Mount St. Helens is a volcano that blew up in 1980, and you can still see where all the lava came out! We actually got to travel through some underground lava tubes where it’s pitch black and 38 degrees year-round.

Love,

Mr. Perkins

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Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

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August 17, 2012

Dear Ms. England’s Class,

This past week, Tidy Teddy and I visited Crater Lake National Park in Oregon! Crater Lake is a giant lake on top of a mountain that was once a volcano. 7,700 years ago, a massive eruption blew the top off of the mountain, and it has been filling with water ever since! Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States, and is the 7th deepest in the world. The water here is also the clearest in the world- you can sometimes see over 100 feet deep into the water! For those of you who like to swim, the water is really cold but really refreshing.

Love,
Mr. Perkins

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Yosemite National Park, California

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August 11, 2012

Dear Ms. England Class,

Hello from Yosemite National Park! Tidy Teddy and I are here seeing one of the oldest national parks in the country. The mountains here rise over 5,000 feet from the valley floor and are really beautiful to look at. We’ve gone on some really great hikes and seen a lot of the country. Definitely can’t wait to see more of the country!

Love,
Mr. Perkins

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Sequoia National Park, California

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August 8, 2012

Dear Ms. England’s Class,

Greetings from Sequoia National Park! This week, Tidy Teddy and I got to visit the world’s biggest tree, which was HUGE! It’s over 275 feet tall and 25 feet across! It’s about 2,500 years old, making it one of the oldest living things on the planet. We saw a lot of really big trees here, and I wish you all could see it too!

Love,
Mr. Perkins

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