So I bet many of you for the last three weeks asked yourself one question...

"What happened to GToons?"

Well, it's a long story... A real long story.

After submitting my last picture on May 31st, my attention became focused towards my 10th Grade finals. This is why I was unable to do my 5-day celebration and reevaluation of my classes during 10th grade, just like my previous celebration of 9th grade. There were many concepts on how the pictures would have been set out, including a comic, as well as Gale being the main character, similar to Twist was in the Grade 9 Celebration. Not only were the finals part of my attention, but also, I had to get prepared for the biggest road trip of my life, a trip to Yellowstone in Wyoming.

This mammoth of a trip not only included Yellowstone but also, Mount Rushmore and Devils Tower in South Dakota. My family and I were scheduled to go on June 9th after school, so because of the massive focus on both my finals and the trip, I was unable to draw and submit any digital artwork here since I was too busy. After a tiresome and treacherous week of finals, the trip that my dad been waiting for ten years while I been waiting for three weeks has finally begun. I first left home at 4 pm, leaving California near 11, briefly passing Nevada though Las Vegas and Arizona. Before I continue, here's a fun fact- I was actually going to submit a status that I was actually on a trip but because my connection was suddenly cut off due to the shift into a different state, it was scraped. After being in the dark for hours, the sun rose and now I was in Utah. I crossed the whole state, gazing at the... Umm, barren and deserted land that Utah had to offer... Not exactly much to say about it but it wouldn't be long until we entered Colorado, Oh my goodness, what can I say? There was a sudden shift of scenery from deserts to tall mountains and green plains, I found the drive through Colorado to be one of my most favored memories, I still remember being captivated by the tall gray mountains, the green trees that covered almost all of the area we were in, and the long winding Colorado River, I definitely move there!

Soon after, we entered Wyoming and what followed was a dark night, filled with lightning in the distance and heavy eyelids, luckily being ended when we finally entered South Dakota. A new day had begun and my family and I began our first part of the trip. The entrance to Mount Rushmore filled me with excitement and astoundment. For years, I have only seen Mount Rushmore on TV and to see it with my very eyes was an incredible sight. As I walked through the wooden path, I was surprised by the quietness of the area, no screaming, no obnoxious kids, just small chatter and the creeks every time I took a step. After stopping to shop at the gift shop and grabbing a bite, we left to our next location, Devils Tower. Now, if you don't know what's Devils Tower, have you ever seen or heard of Close Encounters Of The Third Kind? It's a major location in the movie! After a pleasant drive through South Dakota scenery, we finally arrive at Devils Tower. Arriving there, I marvel at the towering monument and a rush of glee fills me up as I step onto the dirt path and begin my hike. Once I reach the middle of the trail, I gaze upon the Devils Tower, it was a blissfully silent stare, with only the echoing chirps of a chipmunk and the gentle howls of the wind. My family and I walked back down the trail and drive down below Devils Tower, where we gave our farewell before heading on the road once more back to Wyoming.

Our next hotel was in Thermopolis, but heading there was not going to be an easy feat. I was not the only one affected by the loss of internet, my dad's phone had no access to any internet as well, luckily he had printed out maps for an event like this, but they were not exactly precise on where to go. My mom began to worry, so our one hope was a nearby McDonald's, proving us with good, albeit slow internet and we were on our way. The last remaining hours of light showed of another storm coming our way, just like the first night in Wyoming, however, while we watched the storm from the horizon that night, now we were in the storm. With the storm above us, we watched this speculator light show of lightning, lighting up the night sky, as well as the hills around us. As we continued onwards through the rest of the night, the storm quieted down, with occasional flashes of light that would make the stars disappear for just a moment as I stared through the window into the dark scenery. When we first entered Wyoming after leaving South Dakota at 6 pm, we hoped to arrive at Thermopolis at 11 pm. When we finally arrived at Thermopolis, it was 1 am, but arriving at that hotel was a huge relief, which turned into genuine surprise once we walked into the room, there was an actual bunk bed! There were two TVs! There was... an original Xbox? And of course, there was a microwave! Something our last hotel did not have for some reason, so it was no more Uncrustables for me, this kid is eating a Hot Pocket!

We have completed the first half of our trip, but we were ready for what we were coming for- Yellowstone. After eating an oddly sour breakfast, we drove off to Yellowstone. We were to enter Yellowstone via the East Entrance, but before that, we were treated to a nice scenic ride through grassy plains and canyon-like mountains, as the road we were on traveled through there. It may come to a surprise to you that weather can be wildly different in different states, for example, a section before entering Yellowstone was still cold from all the snow that was still there. Now, I'll admit, I liked the chilly surroundings, it beat the stupid bitter cold back in Los Angeles, and I won't lie when I say that I danced in the cold with only a hat, it was fun! We had finally entered the entrance to Yellowstone, passing through hills covered with dead, fallen trees, and plain land with a long river passing through it, until arriving at Artist's Point, a beautiful sight of a roaring waterfall between tall canyons as seen from afar atop a mountain, I was captivated by the view, as well as the nearby forest trail! Time goes fast when you're having fun and eventually, it was time to head back to the hotel, but not before tasting a sample of Yellowstone's hot springs. If you ever wanted to know how sulfur smells like, it smells like rotten eggs. I actually liked the smell! I guess this whole trip made me appreciative of the smells of what Nature has to offer. As I walked through the pathway, I saw bubbling mud, steaming ponds, and splashing animated water, as if they were like creatures ready to rise to wreck havoc. The cloudy sky began to turn a dark gray, and by then, our day was over.

The last couple of days have been like a race since time was so short and getting to one place took so many hours, so the day after Yellowstone was made to explore the town of Thermopolis, a charming little place of small businesses, a scenic drive with some Bisons roaming, and of course, more hot springs! One of my favorite moments was the bath house, Thermopolis had three all in close proximity, but we chose the one open for free. My goodness, it was a soothing experience, the pool was warm thanks to the nearby hot springs with the same sulfuric smell that made me fall in love in Yellowstone, if not for that 20-minute time limit, I wouldn't mind sleeping in the waters! By noon, we were already in the hotel. Tomorrow was the last day of Yellowstone '17, which would include one last trip to Yellowstone and the drive back home. I spend the last day in the hotel room on my laptop, casually drawing and thinking about life after this.

We all woke up at 4 in the morning, the sun still hasn't risen yet. With the trunk packed with all our luggage, we left Thermopolis and headed towards Yellowstone. The darkness wouldn't last long, as, by the time we reached the scenic view like the first time, the sun had finally risen. Before we entered the park, we visited the snowy mountain once more, with just a hat for me again, I might add, and it was into the park! A long trip after, we have arrived at Old Faithful, Yellowstone's most notable geyser. To my surprise, we came just in time, as the geyser was ready to erupt! I quickly walked to the giant crowd who were just as excited to see the geyser, and then it began, steam first came out and gradually, the water started from a small fountain then shooting up high in the sky. After five minutes, the massive geyser calmed down and went quiet again. Near Old Faithful, there was also other geysers that can be seen through walking on the pathway! Although I only saw one and it was... decent, the rest of the walk was nice and also showed off small geothermal pools! Our next and final stop was to visit the Grand Prismatic Pool, the largest hot spring of all of the United States. When we arrived there, the path and pretty much the background was completely covered by steam. As I walked through the wooden pathway covered by steam, seeing the hot springs was a challenge; even the Grand Prismatic Pool, hardly much can be seen due to the large amounts of steam arising from it, but despite that, the sulfuric smell was back and the steam was pretty cool. Once we stepped off the wooden pathway and entered into our car, we drove off to the exit and now, it was the ride back home.

After only being in Montana for ten minutes, we were in Idaho, it was a lot like Wyoming so I honestly didn't think much about it. I heard that Idaho is the place where the best potatoes come from, but I'm not sure if that's true... I did eat Jack In The Box's fries and they tasted good, but that's pretty much it. We got into Utah a few hours later, however, it wasn't an enjoyable ride. I started feeling depressed because I realized that I would be coming back to my normal life in a little under 10 hours, for a week, I been in 5 states and seen so many new sights, I've seen how people live, I've seen the different climates, every day on the trip offered something new that coming back to a life of repeated events daily was going to be a painful pill to shallow. The last night I'll experience on the road came down and came a fight to stay awake, luckily, we took a nap break at a gas station in Nevada. Later on, the sun rose once more and now in California, it would only be a few hours before coming back to Los Angeles. Not much I can say about the return, I have seen it many times and every time was always hard, we passed a few cities here and there before stopping at a gas station in Los Angeles. I looked around from the car, the blaring noise of the cars were back, the smog filled air was back, I was back. It wouldn't be long until we drove up to our driveway and I took my first steps back in my home, I wasn't really tired that afternoon but when the night came, I quickly fell asleep, dreaming about Yellowstone.

Wow... That was long. :omg: If anyone seeing this journal had read through the entire thing, I like to thank you so much for both willing to read through all of this and being patient. So... now that I'm back, what's going to happen? Well, for the last two weeks, I've been working on these large and ambitious projects, such as creating character profiles for certain characters, scanning doodles and drawings that I compiled from the last five years, and working on a character and new world that I conceptualized from the trip. Overall, this will obviously mean that, for the first time in GToons-Inc history, there will be no deviations in a month and there will be less new deviations.

Once again, I like to thank those who had the time to read this journal, I also like to say that it's great to be back at home.