Month: April 2016

Springfield, IL

Springfield, IL

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We’re making our way to the Eastern states for this year’s loop. There will be a few states that we just kind of skim through on the way there and Illinois is one of those skim states this year. We only stayed for a week and we only hit one city. Springfield. We do have several other places on our list and we will definitely hit those during a different loop!

  The Illinois State Capitol Building is impressive, right? Notice the statue in front? That would be Abraham Lincoln.

The dome is one of the most vivid and beautiful State Capitol domes I’ve seen so far. You can get a better view of the top of the dome in the right photo. I love all of the bright colors and the stained glass at the very tippy-top!

The rest of the Illinois State Capitol Building was just as opulent. The only bad thing I can say, is that we felt like it didn’t really reflect the city. It was almost too much. So very, very pretty, but not reflective of what we saw in the rest of Springfield.

Welcome to the Land of Lincoln! Springfield is just a little bit proud of it’s connection to Abraham Lincoln and I can’t say that I blame them. He’s one of my favorite Presidents too. We took a guided tour of Lincoln’s Home when we visited the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. The tours are free, but you have to be on a guided tour to get inside.

One of my favorite things about Lincoln is the fact that he was mostly self-taught. I think that speaks volumes about him…really about anyone who has enough gumption and wits to teach themselves. We were told that on the first level of the house most of the stuff we saw was original or period. I meant to ask if the hat and shawl really belonged to the Lincolns, but I forgot to…I still like the picture though. Ok…so everything you see in the right picture belonged to the Lincolns except for the chair in the bottom right. The rest of it is original. So, now you see why the tours are guided. We were given a list of rules and warned that if we stepped off of the magic blue carpet the National Park system installed throughout the house, then bad things would happen. Bad as in kicked out and possibly thrown in jail if anything was damaged. Funny story…A guy in our tour made a phone call during the tour…the guide took it badly and threatened to call security if he did it again. No joke. Our guide wasn’t putting up with any tomfoolery at all.

We stopped in at the Old Capitol Building. They’ve got the inside set up the way it would have been during the time the Old State Capitol Building was in use. It was very cool and definitely worth a stop.

Right outside the Old Capitol Building is the Lincoln-Herndon Law Offices where Abraham Lincoln practiced law. It’s a museum of sorts…we didn’t get to go inside because it was closed.

We also visited the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. The Lincoln Tomb is 117 feet tall and constructed of granite. The bronze sculptures on the terrace are cast from sixty-five cannons donated by the United States Government.

The tomb is open to the public. You’ll find some smaller sculptures of Lincoln throughout his life and some plaques with his more memorable speeches on them. There’s also a park attendant who’s keeping track of everyone coming and going and where they’re from. The monument holds the remains of the Sixteenth President, his wife, and three of their four sons.

I don’t post much about the RV parks we stay in, but this one is worth mentioning. They had mini golf, a pool (which was closed because it was too cold), and several other yard games…all free!

You didn’t think I was going to leave out the food, did you? We ate at a place called Obed & Isaac’s Microbrewery and Eatery. The restaurant is in an old house that’s been redone. Charles got the burger you see above. It’s called the Stinger Burger and yes, those are onion rings you see sitting atop the bacon. What you’re looking at in the right photo looks like a hot mess… It’s called The Horseshoe and it’s an open-faced sandwich with corned beef smothered in their special cheese sauce (that was stinkin’ good!!) and fries sitting on top of thick toasted bread (also known as Texas toast).  It’s not pretty, but boy…let me tell you…it was amazingly good!! I could eat a shoe if it was drenched in that cheese sauce.

Illinois…we’ll be back!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

A Weekend Away

A Weekend Away

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One of our rules (ok, the only rule) to getting the state sticker up on our map is that we have to visit the state capitol building. Since we were in Missouri visiting family and friends and working on some RV projects for five weeks, we took a short mini vacation to get some places knocked off our “to see” list for Missouri.

The first stop during our weekend was the Ha Ha Tonka State Park so we could see the ruins of the old “Castle”. In 1908 Robert M. Snyder bought around 5,000 acres so he could have a European style castle built on a bluff overlooking the Ha Ha Tonka Spring and the Lake of the Ozarks. Unfortunately, a year after construction started Snyder was killed in the state’s first automobile accident. Snyder’s son finished the castle but scaled down the plans quite a bit. In 1942 a fire gutted the castle and from what I understand, the property has been left to ruin over the years.

This is the Ha Ha Tonka Spring…I love the color of the water! We walked down 316 stairs to get a better look at the spring. 316 stairs…one way. The morning we went was cold and the stairs had some ice on them, but we weren’t the only ones there. The park was really crowded with walkers and joggers and families enjoying the sun. This is a great state park and y’all should definitely go some time!

The next stop on our mini vacation was Jefferson City. So, y’all know one of my favorite things about capitol buildings is the dome. This dome was so amazingly gorgeous…but I couldn’t get a decent shot of it to save my life! Yep, I’m still a photography newb. This dome was amazing because of all of the murals. There were some small stained glass windows around the dome, but it didn’t have stained glass in the dome. There was some really stunning stained glass throughout the building.

We’ve decided that the Jefferson City Capitol Building is our favorite…so far. We’ve only seen 12 on our explorations…so…we’ll see! Maybe we should make a list?

 We made it all the way to St. Louis on our mini vacation! The boys were all excited to stay in a hotel.

I laughed when I typed that.

It’s funny, we go and see all of these cool places, but we never really leave home. It’s not a vacation. So, the boys thought it was the best to stay in a hotel. Kids. I, on the other hand, always wig out when I have to sleep in a hotel bed, but the place we stayed (which was right by the Arch) was pretty nice! What wasn’t nice was that the Arch was closed. *sad face*

We love smoked meat/BBQ! We found a place called Pappy’s that had over a hundred reviews and had four stars! We stood in line for this place. And then we made it inside and stood in line some more. And then…the food came…and it was soooo good! We all had enough food plus there were a few leftovers… and it cost less than $60! No wonder everyone loves this place! Pappy’s names their smokers. Is that a thing? They have four or five of these huge smokers going and the smells coming from them were torture while we were standing in line.

We searched the hotel for a good view of the Arch that night. This is what we found. Not bad, right?

This was actually the view from our room. Not the Arch, but still pretty darn nice! What you’re looking at is the Old Courthouse and it’s where your Arch exploration should start.

The dome in the Old Courthouse was built by the same guy who built the Jefferson City Capitol Building dome and you can really see the similarities. But, I could actually get a picture of this dome! Score! The Old Courthouse used to be a meeting place and there’s a spot in the middle of the floor that you can stand on and talk and people all the way up in the top of the dome can hear you. We tried it out. It totally worked! This building is worth spending several hours in, but we were a little rushed so we did the Jr. Ranger program, explored just a teensy bit, then headed on down the road.

There are tons of zoos in the U.S. We decided to only visit ten. We added on the St. Louis zoo when we learned that it’s been voted the best zoo in the U.S. I’m so glad we did! We had a great time watching this polar bear! He was the best! Usually, the polar bears are just kind of laying around not doing anything, but this guy…he was playing with the crowd! The animals at the St. Louis Zoo were all happy and healthy and had nice habitats.

We felt like we should get some St. Louis style ribs while we were in St. Louis. That’s easier said than done (at least the day we were there). We had great ribs, but they weren’t St. Louis style. But, look at this burger. It was really good! It’s hard to be upset when you’re eating burgers that are so stinkin’ good, right? I didn’t get a picture of them, but we also got some smoked chocolate chip cookies. They were fantastic!

I’ve got to include some flowers. It’s beginning to be Spring and the flowers are starting to bloom! I’ve decided the Tulip Tree (left photo) is one of my favorite types of trees.

See y’all down the road!

Pizza Roundup Old Chicago

Pizza Roundup Old Chicago

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Old Chicago is a good pizza place in Joplin, MO that has Chicago crust, or ale crust, which is thinner than Chicago (more like hand tossed).

I got their Chicago crust which was really good, especially with their ranch dressing to dip the crust in.

They also have burgers, sandwiches, salads, and soups. But mainly pizza.

The restaurant also had lots of TV’s inside, at least 6. I personally didn’t like the service or the decorations but the food was good and the bathrooms were clean. Overall, I give Old Chicago a 4 star review.

See you next time on

Pizza Street!!

Home For A Visit

Home For A Visit

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We spent five wonderful weeks back in our hometown in Missouri.

It was so great spending some time with family and friends!! One of the hardest things about living a nomadic life is being away from family and friends for long periods of time so we all took the opportunity to spend as much time as possible reconnecting with as many as we could. Unfortunately, time seems to fly and we didn’t get to spend time with everyone we wanted to.

Alex turned 13 while we were back home. We now have two teenagers. Two. In an RV. This year should definitely be interesting!

The boys all took advantage of the toys at my parents’ house and spent quite a bit of time outside…when it wasn’t raining.

It wasn’t all fun and play though. We had several projects we wanted to get done. It’s amazing how different what you think you’re going to need vs. what you really need while living in an RV is.

And…we, of course, had to hit up our favorite eateries! It kind of looks like a mess, but it is so stinkin’ good!! Anything that has mac-n-cheese, prime rib chili, cheese, and garlic ailoi on top of fries…yes please!

I think we had Shake’s several times a week… I might need a twelve step program when it comes to Shake’s.

I can’t leave out all of the pretty flowers! One of the best things about Spring…would be all of the flowers!!

See y’all down the road!!

#homeiswheretheheartis