Travelog for: Sandi Rose

Hello, I'm Sandi Rose.

I'm very excited as today I became a Toy Voyager! 

Inspired by Auggie, and Hank's scrapbook, Helly decided to release me to travel around the world, collecting souvenirs as I go. The souvenirs - postcards, local articles, leaflets etc. will be sent to Helly and put into a scrapbook for Helly's niece, Hariette.  Hariette is eleven and so too young to Toy Voyage herself, however, it was Hariette who named me and set my missions.

When she's old enough Hariette will take over as my owner.
I'm currently looking for hosts around the world to look after me and help me have lots of adventures. I don't mind what I do along the way as long as I have lots of fun!!

Oh dear! Have I stopped moving? Oh, how terribly frightful. Where am I? I better check things out first...


Tail thinks it's okay. I'll ease myself out of this box...I am so brave...


Okay, so far so good!


I can do it, I can do it!


Look, Hariette! I made it! I didn't think I could, I was so scared, but........UH OH!


"Hello, Sandi Rose! I'm Melissa, and I'm going to be showing you around West Virginia. Also, even though it may not look like it in the picture I do in fact have 10 toes and 10 toenails ^_^) Aside from my not-deformed feet, we're going to explore other things too. But tonight I have to do some school work. Get some rest, cause we're going out on Wednesday!"


That wasn't so bad! I wasn't scared one bit, I was just fooling around. I think I'm going to have fun here, and that Melissa will take very good care of me!

Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose <3

Hiya Hariette! My dear old Aunt Pearl told me that I have relatives here in West Virginia, so I thought I might try to go find some. Of course, their last known residence is listed as "the woods," so that doesn't help me out too much here. It's all woods! It's worth a try though, right?


Hello! Anybody out there?


I started by looking up in the trees. Since I have some descendents in the monkey family, I tried there. Melissa giggled and told me that there's no monkeys in West Virginia.


Oh, look at that! A tree cave, thing! I'll check in there.


"Hello, any bears in there? I'm trying to meet some bears." Melissa told me that if a bear comes out of there, I'm on my own, 'cause she's going to run away. And I told her that if she leaves me here, she's in trouble because I speak bear and I know where she lives...


Well, the sun is going down. There are plenty more woods to check for my dear relatives!

Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose

We have had some very unfriendly and uncooperative weather here. So I've pretty much been just hanging around the house. I made dinner for my hosts last night.


I started by putting all of my ingredients together.


Then I made some sauce and seared up the meat.


Don't forget the veggies!

And then they ate it all so fast I didn't get a picture of it when it was done. Gluttons...

The weather still stinks. First it's storming, then the sun is shining. Why can't it make up it's mind?


In between torrential downpours, I spent some time in the garden. Melissa's lilies are blooming, and quite lovely.


I tried to put one behind my ear, but my ears are too small, and the flowers too big.


I met a friendly butterfly named Horace. He said this weather is making him crazy too. He's packing up the family and moving to Florida.


Then I was invited to a picnic by Livingston Lion and Bunyip. The  appetizers were not too appetizing. I saw them get cheese out of a can. Can you believe that? Easy Cheese comes in a can like whipped cream. As if cheese is really that difficult to begin with. It was a good time, though.


Oh dear. I do believe it's going to storm again. EVERYBODY INSIDE!


Yes indeed, the scary weather service people have issued another warning.

Until Next Time,
Soggy, I mean Sandi Rose

Hello, dear Hariette! Do you know what today is? Probably not, but it's West Virginia's birthday! On June 20, 1863, West Virginia gained her own statehood. Of course, it was as a result of the American Civil War and other unpleasantness, but a new state nonetheless. West Virginia was actually a part of Virginia up until that point, hence it's funny shape. What better way to celebrate WV's birthday than a roadtrip across it? Again, the weather didn't do much cooperating, but a trip to Melissa's parents' house was in order!


First, we had to drive the grueling 68 miles to Clarksburg. Sure, it's not that far, but twists and turns and hills and nothing to look at makes for a very boring drive! This storm followed us the whole way!


This is the main street in downtown Clarksburg. The buildings are pretty old, and it is the birthplace of General \"Stonewall\" Jackson, a general of the Confederate army during the Civil War.



When we arrived at Melissa's parents' house, I found a perfect sized house for me and settled in while they visited for a while.

After that, I explored their gardens and had a very relaxing afternoon...









I also met some very friendly gnomes!







All in all, it was a very relaxing afternoon. We had a cookout, enjoyed some iced tea and listened to the 80's station on XM radio. Nothing could spoil the day!

Nothing except...A HAILSTORM!





It was the weirdest thing. Luckily, it was small hail so no damage done.  So much for a relaxing afternoon in the garden!


Look what showed up after the hailstorm! A rainbow! Can you see it?


Here it is again just before it disappeared.

Melissa thought it best to get back on the road to try to avoid any more storms. We just made it without running into another one.





Just a few miles outside of Parkersburg, the sun decided to come out. Melissa swears a black raincloud follows her everywhere she goes.


OH! And I did get to play a roadtrip game! All US states have a different license plate on their cars. On any roadtrip, it's fun to see how many states you can see. It might be fun to try to collect all 50 in my travels (although it's not really accepted to take pictures of other peoples' license plates)

Today I saw:
West Virginia
Ohio
Maryland
Kentucky
North Carolina

(fun!)

Hello! Weathergirl Sandi Rose reporting. It looks like....Well, it looks like we had better get out today! Stormtastic!



Melissa took me to Marietta today. Marietta is in Ohio. So how about that? First trip to the U.S., and I've already visited 2 states!


This is a map of West Virginia and Ohio. The circled part is the Mid-Ohio Valley, where I'm staying. Can you see the border of Ohio and West Virginia? Well, it's a little jagged because the border is actually the Ohio River, that I visited today!


So here I am, on the bank of the Ohio River. I'm standing in Ohio, and the land you see on the other side of the river is West Virginia. Fancy!


Same thing in this one, I'm just looking the other way.


I wanted to take a better look, but Melissa was all out of quarters.


A lovely little monument showing what Marietta looked like a long time ago...Sort of. I doubt it looked like a big rock with a plaque on it.


I took a minute to just take in the scenery. It's a quiet pretty little place.


I was just strolling along and Melissa caught me looking exceptionally lovely.


What a quaint little fountain! It's not boastful. It's not dynamic, but it gets the point across.


This is where they dedicated Marietta for the bicentennial. I think maybe it's a time capsule. It's a shame I didn't pack a shovel!


Downtown Marietta. It's cute, quiet little shops. They've maintained that kind of downtown because there's no shopping mall in Marietta.  And I am just having the best fur day! I look great!


This was once a bustling spot in days gone by.


Even the alleyways are cute here!


A little more of downtown Marietta.


Here's the court house. You can see the clocktower in the picture before this one too.


Oh, but look at the time. No wonder Melissa's stomach is growling louder than the cars on the street...It's lunch time!


Back to West Virginia we go! (This is the bridge I saw from the banks of the river!)

Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose

Hello Hariette! I met some kitties today. There were two of them: Damien the brown fellow, and Nicky the gray and white guy. They rolled around on me and then ate like gluttons. I did not know that cats in America ate at a table like a person. Weird. They didn't have any clues about my relatives, but they sure did shed a lot. I saw a deer too! It was hard to get on camera, but it's the third picture down on the left side. Every time I tried to introduce myself, he just ran a way. I don't know his name, but considering the behavior, I'll call him Rude Gus.

Hello! We were supposed to go camping, but Melissa's black cloud took care of that. Maybe tomorrow?

Tomorrow is a National Holiday, Hariette! July 4th! Since Melissa had a very slow night at work and has an overactive imagination, she helped explain July 4th* to me. With a little help from Ronnie & Hammie, some visitors from New York.

A long, long time ago, in the 1600's, some adventurous people left Europe, hoping for a new life in America. They set sail for the long voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in big ships.


They settled first in Virginia, but eventually made their way all the way up the East Coast into what is now called New England.


Over time, the new settlers wanted their independence from Great Britain and were unhappy with the high taxes. One particular protest was the Boston Tea Party, in which Americans threw tea overboard to protest the high taxes. I became a pro at throwing tea into the ocean.


That, of course, led to the Revolutionary War and other unpleasant things, but on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was complete, giving America her independence!


Check out my fancy bonnet and Ronnie & Hammie's powdered wigs!


I can't wait to see how Americans celebrate the 4th of July now. Will we throw tea out of a ship? Who knows! Hopefully the rain goes away so I can find out!



*Of course, this is a very abbreviated history lesson as there is only so much cardboard, construction paper, tape and paper towels in the world. Also, Melissa's artistic capabilities are that of a first grader.


Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose

Hello Hariette! The rain put a damper on the 4th of July. What a surprise! Usually, the 4th of July is celebrated with cookouts and fireworks. We only got 50% of that this year, and thankfully, the part that worked out for us was the fireworks! Melissa even set me up with my very own sparklers! She was sad she couldn't find me the big fancy ones that change colors, but there was only one pack left in the whole store! Americans love fireworks, that's for sure. They will let them off all night and tomorrow, Melissa told me. I've had a very drizzly but fun 4th of July!

Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose!

Okay, so let me set the scene for you. I was having a very relaxing morning, watching the birds at the birdfeeder. When all of a sudden, I felt the hair on my neck stand up. Something was behind me. I figured that if I just stood still, I would survive. Sadly, this vicious beast had other plans. Well, sort of. While I seemed a lot more heroic at the time, it turns out this cat just wanted to formally introduce himself. So, I met a cat named Bear. Who, much to my dismay, has the worst tuna breath ever. It was lovely, albeit a bit stinky.

Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose

We went on a bug hunt! Tonight while I was climbing all over Melissa's lilies, Samantha Turtle, Ronnie, Hammie and I saw some lightning bugs and decided to see if we could catch some...





We kept seeing little lights swarming around the yard.



Melissa helped and we all caught one!



I guess they were sad they got caught because they didn't flash anymore. One did, I guess he was the optimist of the bunch




We let them all go, and they were very grateful. It was fun to go on a bug hunt, maybe I can start hunting bigger things. Or not. Maybe I'll stick to harmless bugs.

Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose

Been wondering what I've been up to? Well, not too much. Actually, Melissa's been so busy with school that she hasn't had any fun. Sadly, that means I haven't had any fun.  A whole lot of 'hitting the books' and not much else. Although in a rare stroke of genius, Melissa decided to try to make a moss terrarium and I got to help!

Until Next Time,
Sandi Rose