Sep 23 2012

Napa, Napa… Made me Nap. A.

Whoa, boy… did I have a fun time today…

Keep in mind that this blog is “About the Authors”… so we do talk about our daily lives. During our Encouragement Across America tour, we’re absolutely planning on documenting our travels— during school days and also during days off.

I do apologize in advance for those offended. But today, we went on a mini-tour of wine country in California.

A few sips of wine later, I have to thank our friend Margaret Shirley. She used to be a concierge at one of the wineries in this beautiful area, and today she pointed us in every right direction. We’re supposed to meet up with Margaret and her family later this week in her new home of Paso Robles, California. So I hope we can talk her into appearing in a video. Stay tuned.

For now… here is today’s video update:

Happy Sunday, everyone… this is going to be a fun and very different week with the video updates, because we finally have a few days off. But we will still keep you in the loop.

Nick

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Sep 22 2012

“And what a lovely name: Reno!”

If you can finish that scene from the movie Sister Act, I’m sending you a postcard from our tour!

I’m serious. Leave the next line in the comments section below. And then email your address to petethepopcorn@gmail.com. I’ll mail you a postcard.

Reno. I didn’t know a darn thing about this city, aside from the fact that Sister Mary Clarence spent her days here as a lounge singer. Oh, what the heck, why not a quick video?

It’s one of my favorite movies. And several scenes take place in Reno. Forgive me.

Anyway, Reno has inexpensive hotel rooms. So guess where we stayed after driving from Pocatello? Yup!

We ran past the slot machines. Slept. And then took in the obligatory casino-town buffet for breakfast. All in all, it was awesome.

The point of this tour is to read to kids and teach them to encourage each other. This, we have done every single day. But we also want to see this beautiful country. And Reno is a place that is now on my RETURN TO list. I definitely want to come back!

After a needed sleep in Reno, it was off to Carson City for an afternoon reading of Pete the Popcorn. The kids at Fritsch Elementary were awesome and the Principal had to be one of our favorites! She was involved in the assembly, told us great things about her students and led us in the right direction of things to talk about with the kids. It is clear why the children behaved so well, with the excellent direction they receive from their teachers and Principal.

Here is the video from our day in Carson City:

As you can see, we also drove by Lake Tahoe. It was simply stunning. Add another on the list of places to return.

Writing this, I’m sitting in a Hampton Inn in Sacramento, California. Compared to some of the other drives of this trip, today’s was a piece of cake.

This weekend, we are off. And we’re also taking a little break early next week for some fun and exciting stuff.

But I’m most excited about visiting Napa Valley this weekend. It’ll be a quick, introductory trip just like the rest of this tour. But I’m busily scratching things off my bucket list that I didn’t even know were on my bucket list— and that’s a good thing.

Later,

Nick

Sep 20 2012

Free ‘Taters for Out-of-Staters!

Favorite. Advertisement. Ever.

Idaho… potatoes and so much more. Really– this state has been one of the most beautiful… and the people are so very friendly.

However, I didn’t eat any potatoes while here. Joe had steak fries at the hotel restaurant, but I think that hardly counts.

Pocatello, Idaho has been welcoming us with open arms. This is the district where the Superintendent asked just how many readings we could squeeze into one day. We offered to stay for two days. And she scheduled 13 readings at 9 schools in 2 days. Tight schedule? Yes. Super fun? Absolutely.

The kids have asked great questions. The teachers have been very happy to participate. And the best part? WE GOT NAME TAGS!!!!

At the very first school this morning, Indian Hills Elementary, one class walked in wearing Dolphin name tags! Joe, being Joe, told the teacher that our only request was a dolphin name tag. Towards the end of the assembly, when we were packing up, the teacher ran up to me and said, “don’t leave yet… we’re laminating your name tags!”

Seriously… what a really nice thing to do. I meant it when I said that Idaho has been one of the friendliest states we’ve visited. Joe and I will be wearing our name tags with pride.

Today’s video is a bit different. With so many schools scheduled, and as little as 20 minutes in between buildings, we had no time for our “encouragement” interviews that we’ve been doing. So, here is a nice little mix of music, pictures and video that document our visit to 5 different schools in just one school day!