Butterscotch is Visiting DE

Hello,
Butterscotch is visiting the 1st state..DE! He belongs to Quinn. Currently, he is napping with Bruin the chocolate Labrador. Resting up before playing in our first snow of the season!

Kind Regards
The Gildea Family
Middletown,DE

Peanut Explores San Francisco

Hello friends,
Today I explored more of San Francisco, and drove all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Here's a picture of me at Lands End Lookout with some cypress trees in the background. Aren't they beautiful?

Located within Lands End are the Sutro Baths. In 1896 the baths were opened to the public as the world's largest indoor swimming pool. They were built by former mayor Adolph Sutro. There are lots of different hiking trails around the ruins and you can walk right down to the beach. The water was too cold for swimming, but the view is lovely! I hope you are all warm and safe in MA. I heard you were having a big storm. Have fun in the snow! I've enjoyed my California visit with Stacey, and tomorrow I am headed to Florida! 

love,
Peanut

Murphster is Back in CA

...meanwhile BACK in CA...Murphster is thinking of you all! Sending warm thoughts your way, Proctor School!!

Thinking of you all back home!!! Here I am with my home away from home!

Gingerbread Visits John's Island, South Carolina

Gingerbread made her last stop today visiting angel oak. Towering over 65 feet high, the Angel Oak has shaded John's Island, South Carolina, for over 1400 years, and would have sprouted 1000 years before Columbus' arrival in the New World. Recorded history traces the ownership of the live oak and surrounding land, back to the year 1717 when Abraham Waight received it as part of a small land grant. The tree stayed in the Waight family for four generations, and was part of a Marriage Settlement to Justus Angel and Martha Waight Tucker Angel. In modern times, the Angel Oak has become the focal point of a public park. Today the live oak has a diameter of spread reaching 160 feet, a circumference of nearly 25 feet, and covers 17,100 square feet of ground.

Hershey is in CT

Hershey visits the oldest elementary school in Fairfield, CT on January 24. 

Stratfield School is almost a 100 years old. He enjoyed the snow.

 

Chuckels Arrived in Tennessee

Chuckels arrived in Mountain City, Tennessee, on January 14. Mountain City is such a small town that we could not find a postcard to send! Mountain City is located in the northeast corner of Tennessee at an elevation of 2,418 feet above sea level and a population of 2,531. Mountain City is situated in one of the highest valleys in the state of Tennessee. Doe Mountain rises to the southwest, Forge Mountain rises to the east, and a series of rugged hills (part of the Iron Mountains) dominate the landscape to the north. 

Chuckels is staying at a cabin on the top of Forge Mountain where the elevation is 3,760 feet and has a beautiful view of the mountains. The picture is from the deck of the cabin and the Tennessee/North Carolina border runs along the top of the mountains
Upon learning that Chuckels loves basketball, we took him to Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, to watch a women’s and men’s basketball doubleheader. 

 The teams are called The Mountaineers and their mascot is Yosef. We had great seats! The women came away with a 1 point win after being down by 15 points! They sank the winning basket with 8.4 seconds left in the game, and final score was 70-69 over Arkansas State. Unfortunately, the men’s team did not do as well. They played a great game but lost 59-50 to Arkansas State. 

Appalachian State University was founded as a teacher’s college in 1899, and in 2005-2006-2007 won back to back to back National Football Championships in the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision). Boone took its name from the famous pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone, who on several occasions camped at a site generally agreed to be within the present city limits.
Another fun place that Chuckels visited in Boone was The Mast General Store. It was founded in 1883 and Chuckels got to check out the Candy Barrel. He loved seeing all the different candies to choose from. 

On Saturday, Chuckels went hiking on Holston Mountain in Tennessee. He was joined by 8 other hikers to climb to Holston High Knob where an old fire tower is located at 4,136 feet above sea level. After that, we hiked to the Flint Rock Overlook and a great view of South Holston Lake, a reservoir managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. We could even see the Bristol Motor Speedway from this overlook. 

 

Nancy and Steve Dunfee

Blue Boards a Cruise Ship to Puerto Rico

Hello Team Murphy,

I just got home from my amazing trip with Mia's grandparents. We flew to Puerto Rico and then boarded this enormous cruise ship. It was amazing. 

 Did you know that in 1900 Puerto Rico became the first unincorporated US territory? You can see in the background Fort San Felipe del Morro. It was built in 1539 and was designed to guard the entrance to the San Juan Bay, and defend the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan from seaborne enemies.




One of the stops on the cruise was Magen's Bay in St. Thomas which is rated one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world. It was amazing.


I loved being on the boat with my fur blowing in the warm breeze. I hear that you had some really cold weather in Boston while I was gone. Brrrrrrrr


Well I am packing for my next adventure - off to Florida, the Sunshine State, I am liking the sound of that!


Ta,Ta


Love Blue

Coffee Sends Greetings From Florida

Hi Cameron!

Greetings from sunny, tropical Florida! Coffee arrived shortly after Christmas. What a wonderful surprise! Thank you for including my home as part of Coffee’s journey! 

While I was worked, Coffee spent many lazy days sunbathing at my rooftop pool and at the beach, as well as exploring Delray Beach. 

I live in downtown and can walk to all the restaurants, shops, intracoastal waterway and beach. He loved watching the boats go by on the intracoatal.

Coffee also went to South Beach, where the water is Caribbean blue. He saw sting rays, manatees and dolphins swimming in the ocean. Coffee missed you tons, and found a special shell just for you.

Coffee visited the Everglades and saw alligators, vultures and turtles in their natural habitat. The Everglades are a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of Florida.

Last weekend, I took Coffee to JuiceBuzz for a healthy drink, then to my meditation class and then to the Salt Suite.

 We sat in a room with salt and listened to relaxing music. 

We felt very peaceful afterwards. Later on, we went out for sushi at the Buddha Skybar and then to see a Cirque Du Soleil show, Amaluna. Coffee loved all of the amazing acrobats and brought you back a pen.

Coffee also volunteered at the YATC Cool Wheels Car Show. He got to see lots of fun cars, including the Dukes of Hazard General Lee. He danced to the tunes of the Blues Brothers Band, while he supported a really great cause. YATC educates at-risk youth in basic automotive repair, academics, job readiness and life management skills. He had fun helping the YATC students!www.yatc.org


There is still a lot more to explore in other parts of Florida. Coffee would like to visit again so he can go to Orlando and see Mickey Mouse at Walt Disney World.

Coffee is a wonderful bear. Thank you for sharing him with me!

Gina

Chesnut Sees Turtles in Florida

Hi Abby and Class...
I am in Florida. What a State!!! Most important I am WARM. Yesterday we went to the Town of Ponce Inlet which is just south of Daytona Beach. It was named after Ponce de Leon who was the Spanish explorer who discover and named Florida way back in 1513. We visited the second tallest light house in the United States at 175 feet. 

Florida is also known for it turtle nesting areas on the east coast beaches. Turtles come ashore at night to lay their eggs.

 Because the street lights cause the mother turtles to be confused as to day or night the towns and cities have laws about how bright their street lights can be. Some towns even have their lights next to the water shut off. I saw a BIG turtle and how they nest. I was really close to the turtle but I was faster than she was. Last night we were able to see a rocket take off from Cape Canaveral. WOW!!! It was soooo cool and bright. I had never seen one take off in person before. That's all for now.
Chesnut