Arizona Postcard

Waddup Mom,
This is Watanabe, I just saw the Grand Canyon Mom, it's really beautiful. The hole seems to have gotten bigger. I still remember when we came here last time, Aijie almost went skydiving off. I hope he's safe in the mental hospital. The Canyon is 277 miles long, and 18 miles long.I think its bigger than the one at ZaZheyuan. The Canyon has a very cool shade of red. The Grand Canyon's deepest dive is at Tsangpo Point, it dips all the way to 17,567 feet. There is also a lot of fossils of old marine creatures in the Canyon.Hope you guys are safe. We'll be coming back home soon mom.

Watanabe

Arizona Journal

Arizona, what do you think of? Watanabe thought of the Grand Canyon, so we went there. We set off for the 446 kilometer long 1800 meter deep hole. We went hiking on the Bright Angel Trail which is about 12.9 km long. We only hiked for 1 kilometer when Watanabe said he was hungry, so we hiked back down. We grabbed a quick snack and went to see the Santa Fe train station which was specially designed by the architect Mary Colter who was born in 1869 and died in 1958. She was one of the few female architects of her time.


Then we drove to Tucson, Arizona which is the home of a breathtaking monument. Mission San Xavier Del Bac is a Spanish-Catholic mission. It opened in 1797 and was founded by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino. The mission is located at the Tohono O'odham Nation San Xavier Indian Reservation. We walked around and listened to preachers preaching. We headed for the hotel after that. Good night people. This is the end of our journey, goodbye.

Arizona News

Goodwin Fire burns 28516 acres of land

Goodwin Fire burns a couple of structures in the mountains. The fire appeared to be unintentionally human-started. The fire burned a total of approximately 28,516 acres of land. Smoke was seen several weeks after the fire. The fire started as a type 3 incident but after a while it turned into a type 4 accident. Hundreds of people were evacuated during the fire.
Man fatally shoots himself after charged with the murder of 6 people
Dwight Lamon Jones killed himself after he was charged with the murder of 6 people.. He held a grudge against those people and when his emotions broke, he killed them. He murdered the friends of the divorced wife's son, Mary Simmons,Bryon Thomas. Steven Pitt,Marshall Levine, Laura Anderson, and Valeria Sharp were all working for the law agency which caused the divorce. Jones killed himself when police surrounded him in his hotel.
Unite the right riot causes 3 death
The Unite the right riot was caused because of the government's decision to remove Confederate General Robert E. Lee's statue from the Emancipation park. A white supremacist rammed his car into counter-protesters killing one and injuring nineteen people. The driver, James Alex Jr. was charged with second-degree murder. The act was described as terrorism. 2 state troopers were killed when their helicopters crashed.

Arkansas Journal

As we went down the streets of little rock, it was hard to not see their fashion school. To be exact, Arkansas fashion school. This fashion school is a pretty new one, established in just 11 years ago, 2007. With their founder Jamileh Kamran, they provide fashion courses for all ages. Sadly, Zheyuan and I don't have any interest in such subjects like this, so we only made a brief stop. This week also happened to be the Northwest Arkansas Fashion week. There, we saw various new artists to the industry, as well as many local brands. Seeing various models do the catwalk, it brings back various memories for me. Not long ago, I was also a model, just not on the catwalk. This event is widespread in the area, with 7500+ people liking their Facebook page.

There is a tradition in Arkansas, where each year, on the third Monday of February, they celebrate of Daisy Gatson Bates. This is a foreign holiday that we didn't know about. Because Daisy Gatson Bates day is on the same day as our lovely first president, George Washington, the day is also called president day. Good thing we didn't run into this holiday, because most businesses and schools are closed on that day. Arkansas also celebrates Christmas Eve. The citizens have an extreme fondness for the holiday. One of the citizen's favorite was how they would always play a classic from Tchaikovsky, the Nutcracker when it's almost midnight. They also enjoy "the gift of Maji" played at the Arkansas Repertory Theater. I would most definitely love to join back the folks in Arkansas for Christmas eve one year!

Arkansas News

Ten Commandments monument destroyed two days after unveiling.

Michael Reed drove through the Arkansas Ten Commandments two days after it was unveiled. It was the second time Reed drove through a Ten Commandments monument. He drove through one in Oklahoma.He was charged with first degree criminal mischief, but Reed was found unfit for trial because he was mentally unstable. He was sent to a mental hospital.

Pizza truck crashed on I-30

A pizza truck crashed into the side of the Interstate-30. Frozen pizza were thrown all around the highway. The pizza truck crashed at around the Chicot Road exit in Little Rock,Arkansas. The highway was closed while workers were trying to clean up the mess.They used a loader, a mechanical broom, and a high power hose to clean up the mess. No one was injured.

Shooting in Little rock injures many
In the Power Ultra nightclub, 28 people were injured following a dispute. Two groups inside the club started shooting each other after a dispute. A rapper, Finese2Tymes was arrested after suspicion of his involvement in the shooting. The rapper's car contained two handguns and a AK-47. The mayor of Little Rock plans to shut down the nightclub.

Arkansas Postcard

Dear Kohei,
Hey dude, we're visiting yet another National park, Arkansas' hot springs national park! Arguably the first national park, it is one of the top tourist attraction in Arkansas because it is placed near downtown hot springs, Arkansas, with plentiful means of different services throughout the park. The coolest thing about the park is that the spring water is safe to drink! The tour guide even told us to take out our bottles and fill it with water from the springs to drink! We came here because I'm a huge fan of baseball, and in the late 1800s, MLB players would've come here for spring training. And good news for us on a budget, the entrance fee is free! We'll be moving on to Arizona, our last stop before going home. This is Watanabe, and i'll see you next time.

Montana Journal

GOOD MORNING PEOPLE, today we are headed for the Glacier National Park in Montana. The park, famous for its beautiful glaciers and stunning sparkling lakes. We went hiking on its famous 700-mile long trail. There is also the 50 mile long Going-to-Sun road, which connects St. Mary,MT to West Glacier,MT. The park is surrounded by the 9128-foot tall Reynolds Mountain and the 8773 foot tall Clements Mountain. Then we went to visit the Montana state government building. It was cool because there was a horse in front of the building.

Then we went to the Yellowstone National Park, Yellowstone is huge,it consisted of  8991 square kilometers of grass, trees, bison, and deer.We visited Yellowstone's most famous geyser Old Faithful even though it was in Wyoming, the tour guide's voice was unique and had a nice Western accent
along with it. After the tour we went to eat, the waiter called out "Howdy folks, what would you wanna eat today". We ordered two hamburgers, the waiter called out to the cooks "Two White Castles!". We got our burgers and demolished them. This slang was really hard to understand. After we visited Yellowstone we headed back to the hotel. Good night, cya tomorrow.

Montanna Postcard

Dear Becky,
After trekking almost halfway across the country, Zheyuan and I made it to Montana! On the way to our major stop, the Glacier National Park, we've seen some of the most beautiful scenery so far. Montana's Glacier National park also was nicknamed "Crown of the Continent" due to its diverse types of various different plants and species of animals. Also, because mountain goats prevail throughout the Park, it became a symbol of the Park. The park also consists of very aesthetic means of transportation, the red jammer buses, and the original wooden boats. Sinopah, one of the oldest boats, are still being used to take visitors around the huge 1583 square mile park. We've also learned that in the most northern part of the park, you can cross to Canada!
It's getting kind of late, and I'll get to y'all on our next stop soon!
Watanabe

Montana News

SERIES OF MAJOR FIRES WIPES OUT 438000 ACRES OF LAND
The biggest one was called the Lodgepole Complex Fire, it burned a total of 270,723 acres of land. It started because of lightning at July 19, 2017. Firefighting cost a total of 6 million bucks. A total of 280 million bucks were spent on fighting the major fires. Even though a lot of land was burnt only 2 people were killed. Most of the fire were caused by drought, extreme drought was listed on around 12 percent of the state.

MAN KILLED AFTER ALLEGEDLY HOLDING A KNIFE TO A WOMAN'S THROAT
A man named Kevin Parisan was shot non-fatally when he was holding a knife to his girlfriend's throat. The woman was thinking that they weren't fit and brought this topic up to Parisan. They drunk alcohol before going into an argument. Parisan punched her, slapped her, and hit her with an Ipad, a cellphone, and a speaker. The woman called the police on the Ipad and the police arrived. Police opened the door and found Parisan putting a knife on the woman's throat. Police told him to put the knife down, but he didn't. Parisan was shot and released from hospital with no fatal injuries.

MONTANA EXPERIENCES 5.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE
An earthquake happened on June 8,2018 in Montana. Its epicenter was 6 miles southwest of Lincoln,MT. This was the largest quake Montana experienced since October 1964. People could feel the shaking throughout the state. Wilderness Bar in Lincoln felt the earthquake very strongly, chairs started toppling and the door fell off. 10 aftershocks were felt after the main quake, each aftershock's magnitude was around 3.5 to 4.5.

Massachusetts Journal

Massachusetts houses many of the most prestigious universities in the world. With MIT and Harvard at Cambridge, MA, Massachusetts also is where universities such as Boston University, Tufts University, and the University of Boston-Amherst. Massachusetts also holds various education-related conferences, such as the Nerallt conference of 2018 at BU and the Boston cybersecurity conference 2018. Massachusetts was also rated number one on the nationwide best education for Pre-k to 12, also ranking number 8 for higher education, according to US News. In 1993, Massachusetts governor William Well declared "A good education in a safe environment is the magic wand that brings opportunity." He said this during the signing a law that gave a lot of budget to the state's school funding system. This kickstarted Massachusetts' primary education system, offering many kids from low-income families an education. through the education Massachusetts has to offer, it developed many notable alumni, such as Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, Former presidents JFK, Barack Obama, John Adams, and George W.Bush, or Celebrities, such as Natalie Portman, Matt Damon, Conan O'Brien, and Jeremy Lin. Through the Education system, Massachusetts developed many influential figures in both modern day society, the past, and the eventually the future. It's the people like them who inspired Zheyuan to enroll in Massachusetts schools. 
 
Massachusetts also helped developed many genres of music. a Bostoner, Lowell Mason was one of the earliest influencers of music in the United States. He strived for basic courses of standard Notation. He strived for change, along with local institutions to popularize collections of Hymns. A lot of musicians that are a part of the American folk music revival also have to do with Massachusetts. John Baez, James Taylor, and Paul Clayton also have ties with the state, either born there or developed their career there. A rock figure, The barbarians formed their group on Cape Cod, a cod that goes out into the Atlantic and goes into southeastern Massachusetts. Massachusetts also developed Alternative rock legends, Sebadoh and Dinosaur JR. Massachusetts has many more notable music figures, and it's still moving forward. THere were street artists playing casually on the streets and they had some of the best rock songs we've ever heard. In R&B, Roxbury, MA also developed groups like G clef and New Edition. Although they aren't in our era, Zheyuan's parents said that they enjoyed their music as kids. 

Postcard from MAssachusetts

Hello family and friends,

Zheyuan and I made it to Massachusetts and we're currently writing this postcard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This is one extremely competitive College. With geniuses from all around the world, MIT is well known for its engineering courses as well as their physics courses. Also, MIT was rated second by Times Higher education top colleges of 2018. MIT was once the school of many notable people like Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut on the mission of Apollo 11 and Physicist Richard Feynman. The average SAT composite score of this score is an extremely high 1520. They are looking for highly skilled individuals with insane work ethics and grades. Even if you are the top of your class or even school, the chances of you getting in are slim, for their acceptance rate is 8%. MIT also has 13 varsity sports team. Although they aren't as good as some other schools, they still hold a steady place in multiple national wide sports events. MIT are homes to geniuses all around the world, and they train the geniuses to become even better. Zheyuan being incredibly skillful in arithmetics, he hopes to join MIT in 2022. Best of luck to Zheyuan!

MASSACHUSETTS NEWSSS

Three bodies found at kidnapper's house

Stewart Weldon, was called to pull over for a broken taillight, but he was carrying a kidnapped woman so he drove away fast. Stewart Weldon crashed into a guard rail and police caught him. They found a women in the car who was a acquaintance of Stewart Weldon. Stewart was arrested and police searched through his house. They found three bodies in the house. Weldon is in jail now.

Boston Marathon Winner Desiree Linden is the first American Woman to win in Women's Division since 1985

Desiree Linden crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon after 2 hours 39 minutes and 53 seconds. She is the first American Woman to win the Woman's Division since 1985 when Lisa Rainsberger crossed the finish line first too. Desiree Linden went to the Olympics twice, grabbing 7th in the 2016 Olympics.She could not finish the 2012 Olympics because of a stress fracture. She also won silver in the 2010 Chicago Marathon and the 2011 Boston Marathon. She had a lot of experience resulting in her win in the 2018 Boston Marathon.

A cop-killing suspect was found charged with 111 prior offenses

Tom Latanowich, shot officer Sean Gannon in the head on April 12th, 2018 at around 3:30 P.M. Tom was found to have 111 prior offenses. He was on probation when he killed the officer. Tom will be charged with murder. Massachusetts state governor, Charlie Baker tweeted that he was heartbroken. Thousands of people attended Gannon's funeral.

OHIO NEWS

13 year old boy plans big school shooting,commits suicide

On February 20, 2018 Jackson Township Police Department discovered messages on
a 13-year old boy’s cellphone about a detailed eight-step attack.The boy planned to make
a school shooting “bigger than anything this country’s ever seen”. The boy admired the
Columbine shooters who caused 13 deaths in total. No one knows why the boy killed
himself instead of carrying out his plan. The seventh grade boy shot himself in the head
on February 21,2018.The school went into lock-down mode shortly after he committed suicide.

Cleveland Cavaliers go into NBA Finals for 3rd year in a row

The Cleveland Cavaliers, Ohio’s very own basketball team defeated the Boston Celtics
to advance to the NBA Finals for the third year in a row. The Cavs defeated the Celtics
87-79 in Game 7 of the Best of 7 Eastern Conference Finals. They advanced to the Finals
last year after defeating the Celtics. While in 2016, they defeated the Toronto Raptors.
The Cavaliers will being going against the Golden State Warriors who defeated the
Houston Rockets. The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors in 2017. Can they do it again?

Ride KILLS one man and injures seven others

During the Ohio State Fair, a ride kills a man and injures seven others. The ride,called
Fireball broke apart launching its riders off. The ride throws the rider around at 13
revolutions per minute. It’s maximum height reaches about 40 ft. A bystander filmed
the event and it shows the crazy spinning, parts flying off, riders thrown off. People
describe the ride as an “aggressive thrill ride”. It was a devastating accident in the
Ohio State Fair.

OHIO TRAVELSSS

This is our first day in the Buckeye State. Watanabe and I set off bright and early for the GREAT CEDAR POINT which has 18 thrilling roller coasters. 

We first took the ride that looked the most thrilling, the Raptor. It had a top speed of 57 mph and a top height of 137 feet. You might think it's not that bad, but try it while having your feet dangling over the park. The park’s other attractions such as the Corkscrew and the Red dragon didn’t look thrilling enough so we headed straight for the Top Thrill Dragster. The Top Thrill Dragster,being one of the park’s most famous ride, had a top speed of 120 mph and a top height of 420ft. We also went to the Millenium Force ( top speed:93 mph top height 310 ft). After those stomach-churning ride we left the park for some lunch.

We headed for Fairfield, Ohio where the home of the 3-way lives. Spaghetti, shredded cheese and chili combined creates this delicious dish. We each ordered one and devoured it. Then Watanabe drove us all the way to Cleveland’s basketball stadium, the Quicken Loans Arena. The Arena had a maximum capacity of 20,000 making it the world’s second largest arena.There Watanabe and I watched a intense game between the home team, Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. The final result was the Cavaliers winning, the stadium erupted. After the game we went back to the hotel,Good night everyone,cya tomorrow

Postcard from OHIO BOIIS!!!!!

Dear family and friends, how have things been going?

Yesterday being Game 6 of NBA's eastern conference final, Boston Celtics played against the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Cavs' home, quicken loans arena, aka "the q" 

The Cavs' point forward, LeBron James did a phenomenal job, carrying their team to victory and forcing a game 7 in the series. The vision I had of the game was magnificent, nothing compared to the television. I heard from an old man sitting next to me that ever since the arena's opening in 1994, he's been here to every single game the Cavs played at home! The scoreboard was even more magnificent, it spits flames at halftime! This arena was also used on 1997's NBA all-star game. although that happened a long time ago, this arena is still commonly used for many playoff games. This basketball arena can also transform into an ice hockey arena, and it's capacity of being able to seat around 20,000 audiences make it the 2nd largest stadium in the NBA! 

we'll be leaving for Massachusetts, keep in touch!

A B O U T T H E T R I P

We are Zheyuan and Watanabe

Because of a severe famine back on our planet, Zazheyuan, we moved to the earth through a space ship. Ever since, we've been living in Indiana. After several years of hardship and countless ours of work, we saved enough money to go on a road trip! We will be going on a road trip, passing Ohio, Massachusetts, Montana, Arizona, and Arkansas.

We are going to Ohio because Watanabe loves Jake Paul

We are going to Massachusetts because Zheyuan wants to study at MIT.

We are going to Montana because we never heard of it. xD.

We are going to Arizona because we want to experience the heat that we don't have in Indiana.

We are going to Arkansas because it has a lot of nice hot springs.

We'll tell you more about the trip! Keep your notifications on! 

2018.5.25