The Beautiful Roadtrip

DAY 1

One day we went to San Luis Obispo, Madonna Inn, where we got the room "Spring Flowers". All rooms are different! We went on a hike in San Luis Obispo and we talked about how I snowshoed once. On the ice and snow dad and mom kept slipping while I was happily chugging along. After the hike I played in a park and climbed two trees. We went back to the Madonna Inn, and I swam in the heated swimming pool. I made a friend there and we played a game. After I was done Mom got food from Panera Bread and I took shower. Mom read a book called "Sophie's world" and then we went off to sleep.

DAY 2

We woke up early the next morning, and had breakfast in Panera Bread and we went off to Hearst Castle. None of us really liked it there. I got jealous and i was cold. Mom was cold and wet and she came just for the view but couldn't see it and Dad thought it was average and I don't know why. Then we went off to Cambria to eat lunch in Sandy's sandwiches. We planned to go eat ice cream after lunch but the shop was closed. Then we stopped to see the elephant seals a bit away from the Hearst Castle. There were mostly baby elephant seals and I even learned about them. Then we drove off to Monterrey and stopped in Big Sur and did a waterfall hike. Unfortunately, I was in a bad mood at the beginning. When it came to the end, I made sure there was no end and I wanted to go explore. We explored two trails, one led to an area where I climbed a tree and the other one led to a campsite. Then we drove off to Monterrey. Once we got there we searched for our hotel - Best Western Plus Monterrey Inn. Then we went walking to CPK to eat dinner. Then we came back walking and spent some time in Cannery Row where we saw an otter. We saw some Steinbeck quotes. Then we lazed around and finally slept.

DAY 3

Next morning I went with my dad and mom to eat breakfast. Unfortunately me and dad over ate. Then we left to Pfeiffer State Park in Big Sur. We did all the trails except Nature Trail. We started with the Buzzard's Roost Trail. There were so many switchbacks and was very steep and mom got a little bit scared. When we climbed down it was very rocky. Then we ate lunch in Big Sur Lodge and I even ate a Bubble gum ice cream there. Then we did the Pfeiffer falls and Valley View trails. We loved the Pfeiffer falls trail, but when we did the Valley view mom got a big time freak out! There were millions of lizards and even one snake on the trail. When we finally got out mom was relieved. On the way back we stopped in a beach in Carmel. Then we went back and walked to Ambrosia and ate there. We came back and finally slept.

DAY 4

We went to the Monterrey Aquarium on Cannery Row. We went to a place where we learned about Jelly Fish and I pretended to be a Jelly Fish. We did a thing where we had to push a lever and pulse a jelly on the screen. We even moved our arms and lights appeared on the screen. We even drew a jelly and set it free on the screen and we could even email and connect to our Jelly. We saw African Penguin feeding and the penguins are endangered.  We saw kelp forest feeding where there was an actual scuba diver in there and we saw puffins. In the end, I got a mood jelly fish necklace which tells my mood and a glow in the dark paint set. Then we ate lunch in Ambrosia and left straight for Salinas.
We went to Steinbeck center and I had a lot of fun there. I learned about the "Red Pony" and I had to help Jody do his chores. Steinbeck was a great writer and my mom loves him a lot.
Then we came back and went to P.F.Chang's and i got 3 fortune cookies to eat. Then we went back to the hotel and watched Nature program on TV and that is how I did my last blog post.

DAY 5

We had early breakfast and left for Solvang. We had lunch in New Frontier's Cafe and I didn't really like the cake (It had eggs). Then we left for Elverhoy museum. There I did an "I Spy" game and there was a spinning wheel too. We even got to look at a dollhouse up close, and there was even an exhibit in the bathroom! Then we left Elverhoy Museum and rightaway I planned to do a Surrey Bike thingy. So we rented it and drove around Solvang and I even got to drive a little bit! That was the time of my life! Afterwards I even got icecream and mom got this lovely coffee which she thought was awesome. And mom gave me a windmill jewellery box. Dad made dinner and I watched another Nature program about Crows. Then we drove to Santa Barbara and I finally wrote my plant blog.

DAY 6

We are in Santa Barbara right now I am writing the blog. I had a scone for breakfast and I watched "Duckumentary". We are going to go to Artesia and then head back home, and that is the end of the roadtrip and this blog post!

Plants with Animal Behavior

CHAPTER 1-DODDER VINE


The Dodder vine is a plant that is attracted to tomato plants. It smells it and it actually spins , finds the tomato plant and then sticks on to it.  It spoilt the tomato plant. A scientist wanted to try an experiment. So what happened was they put an actual tomato by a dodder vine but covered it up so you couldn't smell and a stick with tomato perfume. The dodder vine spun around and went to the stick with the tomato perfume on it.

It proved that the dodder vine follows the tomato plant by smell.

CHAPTER 2 - KNAPWEED and LUPIN

 The Knapweed comes from Europe and it spoils native grass. It releases a chemical that goes into the soil and stops the native grass from growing. Somebody came and saw the knapweed and he brought cattle. That time there was hardly any native grass so they had to eat the knapweed. Unfortunately they don't like knapweed. So they won't eat it. But sheep like knapweed. Fortunately there is a plant that can protect grass from knapweed. It is called Lupin. It releases a chemical that stops the knapweed chemical.

CHAPTER 3 - SEA ROCKETS

The sea rocket acts more like a human. It has a behavior called kin behavior. If it is near one of its siblings or family it would be kind to its siblings (or family). If one sea rocket was planted next to its siblings it would give more space for the siblings' roots. But if it were planted next to a stranger plant, it would fight for space. Dudley and her student Amanda File proved it by planting some sea rockets next to their siblings and some next to the strangers. When they got ready to transplant them, they found that the ones next to strangers had a lot of roots. The ones next to the siblings had less roots.

CHAPTER 4 - DOUGLAS FIR AND FUNGI

With the Douglas firs, there are mother trees and daughter trees. The roots are all connected by fungi. The fungi gets some sugar from the trees and in return the fungi gives the trees some nutrients. Now about the Douglas Fir. A scientist named Simard and her student pumped radioactive Carbon in a mother tree and when they came back to find where all the Carbon had gone, they found that it went through a lot of other trees especially the baby trees. The baby trees got the most Carbon because the babies needed a lot to grow. So it proves that mother trees actually nurture the young.

CHAPTER 5 - WILD TOBACCO

The wild tobacco needs moths to pollinate them. Unfortunately the moths comes and lays hundreds of eggs there. The caterpillar starts eating the tobacco.The tobacco produces a sugary thingy that caterpillars love and when they eat them they start smelling badly and predators come and eat the caterpillars.

CHAPTER 6 - JOKES

1. WHICH PLANT HAS A MOTHER?
the dodder ("daughter") vine

2. WHICH PLANT IS LAZY?
the knapweed ("nap" weed)

3. WHICH PLANT IS A GREAT GYMNAST?
the lupin ("loop" in)

4. WHY IS THE MUSHROOM POPULAR?
because it is a fungi ("fun guy")

5. WHICH PLANT GOES TO OUTERSPACE?
the sea rocket

6.  WHICH PLANT IS FUZZY?
the douglas fir (the douglas "fur")