Capitol Building – Page 2

America’s Dairyland

By Jennie Simpson | June 29, 2017

Hey Guys!!

Welcome to Wisconsin! Where even the vending machines have cheese curds!

We spent two very wet weeks in “America’s Dairyland”!

Let’s get the foodie things out of the way. We went to the Carr Valley Factory Store

where we learned how Carr Valley makes their cheeses. They actually make the cheese curds first and then they press those curds into the round cheese forms you see above.

We felt like we had to get some cheese curds while we were in Wisconsin. They were the best things we got at any of the restaurants we went to.

OK…so let me say here…we were extremely disappointed with the foodies in the area of Wisconsin we were in. We went to four different places…all of them had amazing reviews…and they ranged from almost inedible to just meh. It would come out looking very promising, but fall short on taste. We don’t usually eat out that much, but we felt like maybe we’d picked the wrong place to eat so we would try a different place…and nope. We were so tired of bland, bleh food we ended up back at a Pizza Ranch. It was a long two weeks. Now, the area we were in was very touristy. So, maybe that’s why? I’m sure there are some excellent foodies somewhere in WI!

The best thing we did while in Wisconsin is go horseback riding! The day we went we had amazing weather. We went to Bighorn Ranch Horseback Riding.

Four of us had never been on a horse before so we were total rookies. They gave us all a quick lesson and then took us out on an hour long guided tour.

Our tour guides, Katie and her dad, Bob, were great! They took it at a pace that we could easily keep up with and they made sure we all stayed together. All of the horses we saw seemed to be healthy and happy and well taken care of. We had a great experience! I think everyone’s favorite part was when we would splash through some small streams. If you’re ever near the Wisconsin Dells, we highly recommend a trail ride with Bighorn Ranch!

We also found some excellent hiking opportunities at Devil’s Lake State Park.

It felt great to get outside in the sunshine and get some miles in! The view wasn’t bad either.

We made it to the State Capitol Building in Madison. We’d been looking forward to this one ever since we’d been told that the Wisconsin SCB is considered to be the best SCB in the US. I think we were in Nebraska the first time we heard that. Nebraska was our second state.

You’re looking at the biggest dome in the US. It looks very impressive!

The inside of the dome was pretty…and big! Very big!

There were definitely some neat things about the Wisconsin SCB that stick out to me. Y’all know I love a good staircase…and I loved the way you could see the staircase through the arch in the pic above.

There was a set of these doors for the House and Senate Chambers. I love the look of the black iron over the glass.

Both of the House and Senate Chambers were just ok for us. Don’t get me wrong…they were nice, but we wouldn’t put them near the top of our list.

Each of the Chambers had a stained glass dome. Neither one of them was very ornate, but they let in some great natural light.

We were very impressed with the huge mosaics! They were very well done.

The Governor’s Reception Room looked like it belonged in one of the Newport Mansions. Lots of gold paint. Lots of frescoes. Definitely Newport Mansion worthy.

Check out the size of that fireplace. Huge!

Wisconsin is the Badger State. They love their badgers! Can you see the badger on the statue that sits atop the Wisconsin SCB dome?

I don’t know, Guys…we talked about it and none of us would put the Wisconsin SCB in our top 15. Maybe we built it up in our minds because we’d heard from so many other people how wonderful it was? Madison is a very neat town. We really enjoyed the square around the SCB. One of the days we went, there was a farmer’s market so they blocked off traffic to the square. We walked around looking at all the fruits, veggies, and artisan foods, but couldn’t buy any because we had plans and an hour drive to get back to the RV.

I did find a couple of pretties!!

We spent the last two weeks of April in the Baraboo area of Wisconsin, so Spring was starting to show herself. Most of the pretties were just beginning to wake up.

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends and before the street begins, and there the grass grows soft and white, and there the sun burns crimson bright…” I found these street signs in Madison and couldn’t resist snapping a picture of them. I’ve loved the poem by Shel Silverstein ever since Mrs. Havely read it to my fifth grade class. If you’re going to Wisconsin, go find the places “before the street begins”. Those are, in my opinion, the best parts of Wisconsin. And the cheese. The cheese was pretty great too.

See y’all down the road!

#minieasternloop2017

Twin Cities Part Two

By Jennie Simpson | June 21, 2017

Hey Guys!! Ready to hear about the rest of our Minnesota adventures?

We spent several hours going through the Science Museum of Minnesota. The day we went I think half the population of Minneapolis was there too. It was pretty crowded.

Most of the science museums have the same basic exhibits. The Minnesota Science Museum had a few different ones that the boys loved.

We enjoyed the weather area of the museum. My little nerdlets (all four of them) could easily spend an entire day at a science museum.

I think everyone’s favorite exhibit was the Mythical Creatures Exhibit!

I love this art piece! It’s made with Birch bark, sinew, wood, and cloth.

Here’s a closer shot so you can see the amazing detail that went into this piece.

The last few SCBs have been impressive! Minnesota definitely didn’t disappoint us.

So, the dome was just ok for me. It was pretty…but, honestly, we’ve seen some great domes lately and this one didn’t really make our top ten list. Sorry Minnesota.

There were several other aspects about the Minnesota SCB that stood out for us. This stairway is one of my favorite things about this SCB.

Here, let me show you some of the details of this stairway. I love the lines, arches, and angles of this stairway!

The ceiling of the House Chamber was inspiring. I didn’t take photos of the rest of the room because they were in session, but the ceiling was the best part of the room.

The Senate Chamber wasn’t as ornate, but it was still impressive. You can see the bottom lip of a dome in the picture. I couldn’t get a decent shot of the dome because we weren’t allowed in the room, but you can see the color scheme and simple clean lines of it in the picture above.

Are y’all ready to talk foodies? The Twin Cities is rumored to be the place where the Juicy Lucy was born. What’s a Juicy Lucy? A Juicy Lucy is…well…let me show you.

Say hello to my little friend…the Juicy Lucy. What you’re looking at is a cheeseburger with the cheese inside of the burger, forming a molten core of melty cheese! When you bite into it the cheese kind of oozes out. It’s a little bit of heaven right here on earth.

According to the interwebs, there are two bars that claim the origins of the Juicy Lucy. We only made it to one of them. The 5-8 Club. We got some fried pickles and some onion rings to go along with our burgers. Everything we had was spot on. We’ll have to hit the other place the next time we’re in the area.

The reason we didn’t make it to the other Juicy Lucy place is because we wanted to go to The Nook. The Nook is another bar/restaurant known for their Juicy Lucys.

How cool is it that there’s a bowling alley at a burger/bar place?!? We were going to play a game or two but, when we finished our food…we were all way too stuffed to do anything but sit and digest.

We loved the vibe of The Nook! The dollar bills stuck everywhere reminded us of a place we went in Alaska called The Salty Dawg.

Littlest loves a good BLT so when he spotted a BLT burger he had to get it. When we saw it, we didn’t think there was anything special about it

until he picked up half of it and we saw that it was triple decker! He couldn’t even get down half of it! It was SO big!!

We thought the Juicy Lucy burgers from The Nook were better than the ones from The 5-8 Club. In fact, everything we got from The Nook was fantastic!

We had a great time exploring The Twin Cities of Minnesota! There’s so much to see and do in the area!!

See y’all down the road!

#minieasternloop2017

Aaannnddd…We’re Off!

By Jennie Simpson | May 24, 2017

Funny story…we had planned on heading south to Arkansas first, but one of the meteorologists that Jerl works with (waves at Krisy) advised us to head north instead of south due to the bad tornado weather she was predicting. We listened. And we are so grateful she thought to warn us. We would have been right in the middle of several tornado outbreaks if we’d stuck to our original plan.

We started our #minieasternloop2017 in Iowa where we spent a week with very cold, very windy weather…but no tornadoes!!!

We wasted no time in getting to the foodies that Des Moines has to offer! We started at a place called Zombie Burger.
It’s hard to tell what’s going on here…this is the They’re Coming To Get You Barbara…a cheeseburger with caramelized onion, bacon, and zombie sauce all sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches. Jerl said it was fantastic!

I won’t bore you with all five of our burgers…but I’ll share one more with you. This one is called Sarah’s Revenge and has Monterrey jack cheese, bacon, caramelized onions, fried jalapenos, red onion, and horseradish sauce. It was sooo good!!! I ate it all. And I’m not a single bit ashamed of that. lol!!

We got the Dr. Heiter’s Poutine Basket to share. It was good enough that I would go back just for this.

We made it to the Iowa SCB! I love the five domes! Iowa has the only SCB with five domes. I kind of expected to see the inside of all five domes, but we didn’t. That was a bummer.

What wasn’t a bummer though, was the inside of the main dome! It was impressive!

There are ten types of marble in the Iowa SCB. You can see them all in the photo above.

I love this staircase! We walked up and down soooo many stairs on this tour!

This is one of my favorite things about the Iowa SCB. I love the painting in the bottom, but I could stair at the mosaics on the top all day. Guys, those six arches on top are all mosaics! You would never know it from this point-of-view.

Here’s a closer view of one of the arches. Can you see the individual tiles yet?

How about now? Now go back up to the picture of all six of the arches. The detail is simply amazing! We see mosaic floors all the time in the SCBs but we haven’t seen such a work of art on the wall like this before.

We ventured into both the Senate and House Chambers. The ceilings were beautiful! The attention to detail was amazing throughout the entire building.

The library was gorgeous!

We always want to go up into the domes but, we never get to. If you take the guided tour in Iowa…you get to go up into the dome!! We walked up way more stairs than I care to remember all the way up into the huge dome!

Here’s a picture from our bird’s eye view up in the dome!

Speaking of dome…let me give you a better view of the main dome. That’s real gold leaf that you’re looking at.

There were a few memorials near the SCB. The Iowa State Capitol Building is definitely in our top five. If you get a chance to go to Des Moines, make sure you stop in and take a tour of the SCB!

Way back in 2015 during our first loop (on the way up to Alaska) we found Taco John’s. I’m a fan. Ok, I’m a little obsessed. Taco John’s needs to be nationwide. Guys, we found one in Des Moines! Gasp!! Even though there were loads of foodie spots we could have tried…I had to hit up Taco John’s at least once. I could seriously eat at Taco John’s weekly. It’s fast food Mexican, but it’s so much better than Taco Bell.

We met up with one of my friends and her family (waves at Clark Family) at a place called Blaze Pizza, but Littlest is telling y’all about that place. It was so fun to sit and chat face-to-face with someone I’ve known online for over 12 years! I have thoroughly enjoyed connecting with so many of my HP friends this year!

See y’all down the road!

#minieasternloop2017

Louisiana

By Jennie Simpson | April 12, 2017

Hey Guys!

We spent one week in Louisiana!

Maybe I should say…we spent one week in Louisiana…eating. ;-P

I knew it was bad when we found this place called Ronnie’s only five minutes away from where we stayed. We went there for dinner our very first day in LA and it did not disappoint!

I know, I know…it doesn’t look like much, but let me tell you….woo-WEE…it is amazing! What you’re looking at are boudin balls. They’re made of rice and smoked pork then deep fried. The ones we got were stuffed with pepper jack cheese. If you’re ever in Louisiana make sure to get yourself some and make sure you pronounce it like a local… boodan. Ours was served with a spicy remoulade sauce that just really pushed it all over the top! We went back to Ronnie’s just for these. Y’all, I think we gained twenty pounds here, but you know what…I’d totally do it again!

We did actually get out and see some of the state. We didn’t just eat. I promise. We made it to the SCB in Baton Rouge.

Check out that front door! We were completely surprised by the Louisiana State Capitol Building.

This is the front hall of the SCB. We haven’t seen too many great halls like this. Out of 35 states…maybe three (including LA).

I mean…look at the ceiling. Look at our ornate and detailed it is! We spent several minutes with our heads craned back trying to take it all in.

One of the things I always look for at a SCB is the State Seal. In LA they’ve got a huge one right in the middle of the great hall!

This is the Senate Chamber. Check out those columns. We really walked around totally stunned at the opulence of the LA SCB.

Now, there’s not a dome at the SCB, but there’s a fantastic view on the 27th floor! And…you can actually go outside on the walk! That was a first for us. Usually, if there’s some kind of walk up that high it’s locked. It’s usually off limits. You can look out the windows, but you can’t get outside. It was so nice being able to go outside and checkout that view!

We also stopped by the old SCB. It looks like a castle! It was very cool!

When you walk into the old SCB you immediately see this amazing staircase!

And Guys…look at the dome!!! I took sooo many pictures of this dome! But, look at it! Gorgeous!!

The old SCB has been turned into a small museum. We didn’t really look through it all due to time.

The stained glass wasn’t just on the dome. There were several of these wonderful windows too!

Check out this mirror! I had the boys stand next to it so you could really see how huge it is!

Here’s another view of that ah-mazing dome…

and one more shot of the outside. Because, castles are cool.

Zapps chips are offered in tons of states, but they’re a huge thing in LA so we grabbed a couple of bags. We weren’t too impressed with the VooDoo flavor. It was both very sweet and very sour all at the same time.

I’ve struggled this entire EasternLoop2016 to find decent root beer. Y’all…it’s been so hard! And then we get to LA and there’s four different Barq’s!!! What?!?! I had to get some of each.

Guys, we had a great week in Louisiana!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

A Parkway And More

By Jennie Simpson | March 16, 2017

Hey Guys!

We made it to Mississippi! We spent two very busy weeks in Vicksburg, MS! I’m going to be breaking our time here up into two separate posts.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is 444 miles long and snakes it’s way through three states. We didn’t get to explore all of it, but we got in around 122 miles of it!

I know, I know…how interesting could a parkway be? Well…pretty darn interesting when it’s sprinkled with historical stops! This natural travel corridor was used for centuries first by animals, then by Native Americans and then when people would catch rides on boats down the Mississippi River to sell their wares. They would then walk the travel corridor back home.

The natural travel corridor that would become the Natchez Trace Parkway goes through the traditional homelands of the Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations. One of the stops on the NTP is called Emerald Mound.

Emerald Mound is one of the largest mounds in our country. It stands 35 feet tall and is 770 feet by 435 feet at the base and covers 8 acres. There are two secondary mounds that sit on top of the primary mound making the total height come to 60 feet. Emerald Mound was used as a ceremonial center for the local people who lived in nearby villages, but abandoned the mound in the late 1600s.

Mount Locust Inn and Plantation is one of the oldest structures still standing in the area. The Mount Locust story starts in 1780 and stretches all the way to 1944. The National Park Service started restoring it to it’s 1820 appearance in 1954.

In the late 1700s boatmen (also known as Kaintucks) were taking their wares down the Mississippi River in their flatboats. At that point the best way to get home was to sell all their wares and the boat then walk back up the natural corridor that we know now as the Natchez Trace Parkway. Mount Locust is right about a day’s walk from Natchez. The travelers would ask the owners of Mount Locust for food and a place to stay for the night. Eventually, the family added on a separate, four room, two story building behind the main house.

We didn’t get to explore the all of Mount Locust due to some bad weather. We would like to eventually go back and see it all.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s the growing number of travelers on the corridor tramped down the rough trail into a clearly marked pathway. On some parts of the pathway where the ground was soft, the travelers wore down the trail and made the “sunken” sections you can see in the pic above.

We made it all the way to mile 122 and the Cypress Swamp!

There’s a nice little boardwalk where you can walk right out over the swamp.

Not far from where we stayed sat the remains of Windsor Plantation. Windsor was built between 1859 and 1861 and was the largest antebellum house in Mississippi at the time.

The plantation once covered over 2,600 acres. It had wrought iron staircases and was four stories that housed 25 rooms, each with its own fireplace. The plantation was an important landmark along the Mississippi River. Mark Twain wrote about it in his book “Life on the Mississippi”. The Windsor Plantation survived the Civil War only to be burned to the ground by a party guest who was smoking in 1890.

We also made it to the Mississippi SCB!

Check out the gold coated copper eagle on the dome! It is 8 feet tall and 15 feet across!

Check out the inside of that dome! *cue wondrous music* This is one of the best domes we’ve seen in a while!

And…if that dome isn’t enough to wow you…check out the stained glass in the Senate Chamber. The pics not the best. We weren’t allowed down on the floor so I had to lean out and get the shot from the public gallery.

Not to be out done by the Senate Chamber, the House Chamber has its own stained glass dome. We weren’t allowed on the floor again…so the pic is kind of weird, but you get the idea of how awesome the domes are.

The Mississippi SCB has some very nice details. I love these light fixtures.

Y’all know I have a thing for staircases…check out the wavy balustrade! You can also see some more stained glass at the top.

We really enjoyed the Mississippi SCB!

We had some spectacular sunsets while we were in MS!

Stay tuned for part two!

See y’all down the road

Montgomery, AL

By Jennie Simpson | March 8, 2017

Hey Guys! We spent almost a week in Montgomery, but the only thing we did was visit the SCB.

Montgomery became Alabama’s capital city in 1847. The building you see in the picture above dates back to 1850-51.

The current SCB replaced an earlier building that burned down. There’s a lot of history to be found in Montgomery. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to explore any of it.

The House and Senate Chambers in the SCB were both made into museums. We could walk into the room but not too far.

The dome was gorgeous! This pic doesn’t do it justice at all.

There are eight different 1920’s murals beneath the dome that illustrate Alabama’s history. It took three years to complete all eight murals.

In 1861, the Confederate States of America was born in the Alabama Senate Chamber when delegates from the Southern states voted to establish a new nation.

I have a thing for staircases. It started this past summer in the New York SCB. I’m not the best at getting the shot yet, but I’m working on it. I love to look at the staircases in each SCB. They’re all so different.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for you this time. We had a short week filled with everyday mundane things…school, cleaning, work.

See y’all down the road!

Tallahassee, FL

By Jennie Simpson | February 16, 2017

Hey Guys!! We spent a week in the Tallahassee area of Florida.

The whole point of this stop was to see the State Capitol Building.

The Old and the New Capitol Buildings are right next to each other in Tallahassee.

The Old one has a very pretty dome, but the New one doesn’t even have a dome.

The Old SCB has been turned into a museum. We were able to go into both the House and Senate chambers and look around. It was pretty neat.

In the New SCB we had to peak through the windows at both the Senate and House chambers. That was kind of a bummer. Usually, the ceilings in the House and Senate chambers are totally picture worthy. We’ve seen everything from murals to huge chandeliers to stained glass domes! So, I’m always curious to see inside the House and Senate chambers.

The Old SCB had some fun picture opps!

The New SCB had an art gallery and

a 360 degree view on floor 22!

The RV Park we stayed at had some huge live oaks trees! They were amazing!

And…we even got to eat at a Whataburger! Woot, Woot!! We look forward to being back in Whataburger country all year! Yum!!

See y’all down the road!!

Atlanta, GA

By Jennie Simpson | November 23, 2016

We spent a week just south of Atlanta, GA.

We made it to the State Capitol Building. It was impressive!

Check out that golden dome with the Miss Freedom standing so proudly on top!

And since we’re talking about the dome…I’ll go ahead and show you the inside of it. Now, my favorite domes have stained glass or a mural on it, but this one with the windows all around it was very nice.

Georgia makes State Capitol Building number 31 for us. That’s a lot of SBCs! Some of my favorite things about SBCs (besides the dome) are the staircases. I’m not an architect. I don’t know anything about what style this is…I just know it’s pleasing to the eye. It’s nice and orderly. Oh! Check out the statue made of pink marble! This SBC had tons of pink marble that had been mined from Georgia. On the fourth floor there was a nice, small museum. We enjoyed this SCB.

Out of thirty one SBCs this was a first for us. We got to go into the Governor’s Office! One of the secretaries offered to take a photo of us behind the desk. She took three…this one was the best. It’s a little blurry, but that’s ok…we appreciated the offer!

The boys even got to hold this WWE belt. It was heavier than we thought it would be!

I have to mention how nice everyone that we came into contact with at the Georgia State Capitol Building was!

While we were in Atlanta, we stopped by The Varsity to grab lunch. The Varsity is the world’s largest drive-in. When we were there it was packed! The menu isn’t that big. They’ve got burgers, hotdogs, fries, and onion rings. Oh… and fried pies. Between the five of us we tried it all. The food was what you would expect. I enjoyed my chili dog with coleslaw on top of it and I really loved the onion rings! Now, would I go back? Um, probably not. lol! Once was kind of enough. Not because the food was super bad…it just wasn’t the best.

I know…it’s a metal fence. But, guys…it’s The Walking Dead metal fence! You’re looking at Alexandria…well, it’s actually in a town called Senoia…but still!! We couldn’t get any closer because all the roads were blocked and guarded because they were filming. Which kind of made it cooler for me. To know they were just…right…there…….filming!!! Sorry. Fan girl moment. I’m ok now.

We did actually get some hiking in this time! We love hiking and there hasn’t been as many opportunities to get some miles in during this year’s loop. We stopped by the High Falls State Park for a quick mile or so to see the falls.

Georgia has been in a pretty bad drought since June, so the falls weren’t full and rushing, but they were still enjoyable.

We found Covington, GA…you might recognize it as Mystic Falls from the show The Vampire Diaries. I didn’t realize how many shows/films are filmed in the Atlanta area. We didn’t bump into any of the stars, but it was neat to walk around a town I’d seen on a television show.

We even made it to another hike! This one was at the Arabia Mountain A.W.A.R.E. area.

We were rewarded with an awesome view! The weather was perfect for hiking while we were in the Atlanta area.

We found this street sign and I had to snap a pic. There’s a big Gone With The Wind theme in the area.

We went to the B.A.P.S. Shri Swaminarayan Mandir while we were in the Houston area and we’d learned that there are actually a few of them in the US. We made it to the one in Atlanta. It’s just as gorgeous! And just like the one in Houston, photography isn’t permitted inside or even close to the inside. If you ever find yourself near one of these go in. It’s truly breath taking. The amount of detail on all of the hand carved marble is astounding.

That’s it for the Atlanta area! We didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what there is to do here so I imagine we will have to visit again.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Oh Carolina…

By Jennie Simpson | November 16, 2016

Hey Guys!! We spent a week in the Raleigh, NC area.

We didn’t do much.

We made it to the State Capitol Building.

Most of the North Carolina State Capitol Building is a museum. They’ve arranged rooms to resemble what they were in years past. The room above is the geology room. We love it when there’s a museum in the SCBs! We learn so much about the state through these museums.

Y’all know we love foodie spots. Let me introduce you to Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar. You can get burgers, sushi, and burger/sushi fusions!

There were so many options…you could eat there everyday for months and not get the same thing twice. We absolutely loved Cowfish!! The owner came out and talked with us while we were there and guys…he was so nice. Seriously. If there’s a Cowfish near you, go check it out!

We also spent a week in Columbia, SC.

We didn’t take a tour at the South Carolina State Capitol Building, but we did get to roam around. I thought the dome was pretty.

Most of the SCBs we’ve visited have a redish/pink color scheme in at least a few of the rooms, but both of the Carolina’s SBCs were more earthy tones with blue highlights. It was a nice change.

We made it to Congaree National Park. I’d been looking forward to this park since I’d done the initial planning for our whole nomadic fifty state tour. It stuck in my head because there was a caution that this park inhabits six venomous snakes and alligators. Six. Six venomous snakes all in one park. And then they add alligators on top of that!

No, I don’t like snakes. Not even a little, but I felt like we were be safe enough with the boardwalk trail. We got there the week after Hurricane Mathew mucked up our plans and sent us fleeing to Asheville. So…we were already irritated with Mathew. When we got to Congraee we learned Mathew wasn’t done messing with us. Nope. He’d blown through the park and messed up pretty much all of the trails. We got to walk a teeny tiny bit of the boardwalk trail. We were so bummed. I’d been looking forward to it for soooo long and then bam! A hurricane.

But it wasn’t a total loss. We found an all you can eat buffet at Little Pigs Barbecue. All. You. Can. Eat…BBQ!!! What?!?!

I counted four different kinds of pulled pork! There was also all the fixin’s! All of them. Oh, and by-the-way…in the Carolinas anytime you hear BBQ they mean pork. Always. It was soooo stinkin’ good! Little Pigs is a no frills kind of place, but that’s ok because it helps keep the cost down. When was the last time you’ve eaten at an all you can eat buffet for $10? That includes a drink. Yum-oh!

We have officially fallen in love with the Carolinas!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

America’s Historic Triangle

By Jennie Simpson | October 19, 2016

Located in Virginia: Jamestown, Williamsburg, and Yorktown are known as America’s Historic Triangle. We spent two weeks here, but really only scratched the surface of what there is to see and do.

We started at the Yorktown Battlefield where we learned about the final major battle of the American Revolution.

The boys loved it. They got to hear a canon being fired not once, but several times during our visit.

[huge_it_videogallery id=”6″]

I thought y’all might want to see the cannon fire and hear how loud it was.

If you head into the Visitor Center, you can see the Witness Cannon they have on display. What’s a Witness Cannon? It’s a cannon that was actually at the battle. It’s genuine. You need to say that last part in your best Southern accent. Really drawl it out and add a few syllables.

You can even see where a cannonball hit it.

We love the battlefield auto tours so we grabbed one in the Visitor Center and headed out to see the battlefield. There were a few other families out doing the tour, but not many.

The countryside in Virginia is beautiful. We really enjoyed our time in Virginia. It’s nice to get back to the Southern hospitality.

Historic Jamestown was next on our list. This is the site of America’s first permanent English settlement. You don’t really get to see anything that was there. It’s all buried to keep it protected. But they’ve built a few structures to give guests an idea of what it might have looked like. It was neat to be there…but I think next time we’ll check out the Jamestown Settlement, which is the State Park version of the one we went to.

The last place we went was Williamsburg. We had some good friends fly all the way from Texas to Virginia to visit with us and they went with us to Jamestown and Williamsburg.

We toured the Governor’s Palace where we got to see how the king’s representative lived.

The whole house was impressive, but I liked the entrance the best. Check out all of those weapons!

All of the weapons were on display not only to show wealth and intimidate, but also to keep them in easy reach when needed. Can you imagine having to keep all of those polished and cleaned?

All of the bright colors surprised me. The photo above was in the ballroom. The rug was rolled up and stored to the side anytime dancing happened.

I’m happy to report none of us got lost in the maze! It was close…I’m soooo bad at these things.

Some of my favorite things about Williamsburg were all of the artisans. We got to roam around and poke our heads into the many wonderful period era shops.

Most of the historic interpreters did a good job of staying in character without making it weird or awkward.

Littlest and The Dude were kind enough to demonstrate the pillory for us. I may or may not have taken my time getting this picture. ha!

One of the highlights of the whole two weeks was the tour through the capitol building at Williamsburg. Our tour guide was amazing! She was knowledgeable, entertaining and came across as genuinely passionate. If all history lessons were as good as hers, I would’ve done so much better in school.

We had to check out the jail. The one above was a bit morbid with the coffin in it. See the steps on the right side of the picture? That’s the toilet.

We were close to Richmond, VA so we took the opportunity to see the VA State Capitol Building.

The VA State Capitol Building was a nice surprise. From the outside you can’t see the dome…but, surprise! There’s a dome!

We had a great time in Williamsburg. We will definitely be back to visit VA again.

See y’all down the road!!

#easterloop2016