"Our Fall Tour" or "Coffee Shops Across America"

We're home!

And before you ask, YES. We did travel across the entire midwest in a 60 foot long caravan (bus and camper), or as I like to call it: the Zahasky wagon train.

Because three months is a bit hard to write about in depth, I'm just going to give you the highlights of our tour down in the continental US...

First off, the hardest part about leaving our homes (besides the fact that we love our own beds) was Elizabeth, our pet squirrel. She had been such a friend to us all summer long, and we were sad to say goodbye to her.

Before we could start our tour, the bus was in dire need of some sprucing up. We hadn't used it for two years, and Melissa was ready to make it beautiful once again.

A swirling vortex of green paint and sawdust consumed our lives for a week and half as we worked to get the bus ship-shape. 

It was CHILLY working in the bus. Here we are huddled
around the tiny space heater. I think my face says it all.

See those nice green painted cabinet doors there? I painted those. Of course, after I painted them Melissa informed me that they were supposed to be blue. 

That was a hard day.

There was hardly anything in the bus that was staying the way it was, we even replaced the toilet that had been in it. But wait...whatever happened to the old one?

It seems SOMEONE thought it would be funny to stick it in grandma's yard. 

But we were (finally) on our way!

This next section I would like to call,

"Scenes From the Bus"

A giant black crow looms menacingly on the side of the road.

A haiku about traveling in the bus:
It is very flat
Such flatness I have not seen
How I miss mountains

Passing the time by counting the cars that pass us.

An early morning spent driving.

ANOTHER early morning spent driving.

While we were on the road, we experienced and witnessed a lot of new and very strange things.

Like that one time Laura made some friends back stage...

Or that one unfortunate day that an entire carton of eggs were spilled and broken on Quinn's shoes.

He was very broken-up about the whole thing...

And no one can forget the day we saw THIS car parked near our bus!

We kept our eyes peeled in that town, we didn't want to be chased by dinosaurs!

I think everyone would agree that our favorite times were the nights spent in Walmart parking lots:

These are the memories I'll cherish forever.

Or maybe,

 our favorite memories were the hours spent in the countless coffee shops we found ourselves in.

Can you say, 'YUM'?

Yes, I would like one of everything please.
Actually! Can you make it TWO of everything?
Thanks.

We played in a lot of old, beautiful theaters while on tour, some of them were even rumored to be haunted! 

Abigail and I found ourselves singing "The Phantom of the Opera" more then once while setting up for shows. 

Sadly, no handsome phantom ever showed himself...

Here, Regina is having us practice her favorite song, "Ice Ice Baby"

We had a great time on tour, but we can't tell you how happy we are to be home. Christmas is almost upon us and we're so excited to spend time with the family and friends we've been missing these last several months. 

But it won't be long until we're packing up and 

getting ready to go on the road again!

The Travel Blog of Regina the Penguin

Hello! 

My name is Regina, 

I'm a penguin. 

This is a blog post documenting the travels I did with two of my best friends: Emily and Quinn.

It all started back in Fresno California...

You see, I'm Laura's penguin. And Laura wanted me to be with her when she traveled with the Alaska String Band this fall. So I hitched a ride with Quinn and Emily and soon I'll be reunited with my owner Laura. 

But on to the travel blogging!

I believe the worst part of any travel making is going through security. 

TSA wouldn't allow me to walk through the fancy-dancy scanner like all the other people, oh no! They said because I was a penguin I needed to go through the baggage scanner. 

It was very cramped in there.

Thankfully, the experience only got better from there. 

I had my passport, I had my boarding pass, everything was ready! 

Now to wait.

The waiting was made more fun by all the small children waiting along with me. They really liked playing with me! Although I did get a bit of baby slobber on my beak...

Getting on my first plane was a bit scary, but Emily promised me it wouldn't be that bad. 

I made sure to pay extra special attention to the safety cards and the flight attendants. I have to admit I got a little scared when they didn't talk about penguin sized life vests, but they seemed to think I wouldn't need one.

I was so tired from our early morning (we had to wake up at 3:30am!) that I fell asleep before the plane even took off! Quinn didn't wake me up again till we were taxing to the gate after landing.

We still had another flight though, so it was off to figure out where we were headed.

I asked if we could take a detour to the North Pole to see Santa, but no one really liked the idea.

While waiting in this airport, I passed the time by trying on sunglasses in one of the stores. I couldn't decided between these two pairs, so I bought both!

I also liked riding up and down the escalators! 

I don't think many people had seen a penguin going up and down an escalator before.

I got quite a few interesting looks!

Soon it was time to get on the next plane. 

This time, I stayed awake to watch us take-off. 

The view was so pretty!

This ends my travel journal for now. You'll be happy to know that Quinn, Emily and I all made it safely to our destination. I look forward to Laura joining us (I miss her!) and the adventures we'll have together.

Until next time, this is Regina signing off!