We spent a week in the Frankfort area at a cute little RV park called Elkhorn Campground. We didn’t get a pull-through, but that’s the only complaint I have about this campground. The owners are super nice!
My favorite thing about this area is all of the horse farms! Love!! We didn’t get to visit any this time due to lack of time…but we’ve already decided (for various reasons) that Kentucky will be a regularly visited state once we’re done with the #50statetour!
We came to the Frankfort area to visit the State Capitol Building…and some distilleries that happen to be in the area.
The Kentucky SCB is one of the smaller ones we’ve been in. I love this staircase. Long clean lines made of marble…it just works for me. You can stand at one end of the building and see all the way to the other end. It’s that small. But look how gorgeous it is!
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And Guys… the dome changes colors! What?!? Be amazed!! That’s a first for us. It’s a beautiful dome all on its own, but when you add the color change…it’s the cherry on top.
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We did go into the House and Senate Chambers. They weren’t anything to write home about. Simple. Does the job.
We went to find Daniel Boone’s grave and stumbled upon this magnificent view of the SCB.
We made it to Daniel Boone’s grave. It’s got a great view. We’ve heard a lot about Boone and his life this past year as we were heading down the East Coast. We heard about him in Texas… he had a pretty big role in our history.
We had planned on hitting a couple of distilleries while we were in the area…because you know, it is Bourbon Country. 😉 We found out right before we went to our first tour that there’s an entire Kentucky Bourbon Trail!! And, if you complete the whole tour you get a free shirt! Score! Count us in!!
One of my favorite parts of a distillery tour is getting to go into the rick house. I love the sight of all of those barrels neatly stacked up! You can see them through the windows in the picture above. Here’s a closer look for you. We didn’t get to go into the rick houses on all of the tours.
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All of the distilleries conduct experiments. If you look closely, you can find a barrel or two of the experimental bourbon. I wanted to show you how big the rick houses are.
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We learned something new at each distillery.
To be bourbon it has to be made of at least 51% corn. Each distillery has its own unique twist on what that other 49% is.
All of the tours come with a tasting. All of the distilleries have their own take on this. Woodford Reserve is our favorite distillery so far! We loved everything about it. Setting, tour, buildings we saw, and tasting!
Bourbon balls…supposedly, Rebecca Ruth is the inventor of the bourbon ball. She still has a store around so we went to check it out. The Rebecca Ruth store makes the candy for several surrounding distilleries. She’s certainly proud of her chocolates. We got a box of mixed bourbon candies to try. They’re ok until you have some of the other candies around that she doesn’t make. When we tried the bourbon balls from Woodford Reserve, well…we realized how mediocre the other candies had been. The bourbon balls from Woodford Reserve weren’t just good…they were…eyes-roll-in-the-back-of-your-head good! Like…that-was-so-good-we-need-to-go-buy-the-biggest-box-they-have good! We liked them. Just a little.
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The boys weren’t left out of the tastings. They got different things at each. Apple juice, root beer, chocolates. They didn’t’ mind.
We got a few souvenirs.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Frankfort area and look forward to visiting again!!
Hey Guys!! We spent one week in Grass Lake, MI. Don’t know where that is? It’s about 45 minutes south of Lansing.
The RV park we stayed at was decent. It was a basic park.
The best part about the RV park was the fishing pond. You didn’t need a fishing pole to catch a fish…a net would’ve been enough. The fish swarmed to us every time we walked out on the dock. The boys took some bread down and had a good time feeding the fish! We didn’t do much during this week. We took the week to enjoy the good weather and catch up on some school/work.
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We did make it to the Michigan State Capitol Building.
Look at that dome!
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Both the House and Senate Chambers were pretty much the same. The only differences being the color scheme and the size of the room. The House Chamber is pretty much always bigger.
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I loved the ceiling in both Chambers. They had these stained glass state seals…something we’d not seen before.
Michigan didn’t have much money when they were building their SCB.
Throughout the SCB you can see this texturing in place of more expensive marbles and woods. I’ll be honest, the lack of a lot of marble and carved wood didn’t diminish the fine artistry of this building. I love the more earthy tones mixed with the blues that dominated the color palette of this SCB. There are tons of small details that, if you look for, you’ll enjoy about the Michigan SCB!
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We found a great BBQ place in Lansing called Meats BBQ! This place is a carnivore’s dream! Don’t worry, though…there are some vegetarian options…sodas. The Dude got the Meat Mountain. It was a huge conglomeration of garlic mashed potatoes, smoked beef brisket, bacon gravy, and spicy creamed corn. I stole a few bites…it was really good!!
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That’s really it for this stop, guys! I’ll share with you some of the pretties I found around the RV park during our daily walks! We had some beautiful weather!
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We really enjoyed our time in Michigan. When you see Michigan on the news it always seems to be bad stuff. Drugs, poverty, gangs, violence. We didn’t see any of that. I would absolutely encourage you to visit Michigan! There is something for everyone…outdoor explorations, shopping, foodies! We will definitely be back!!!
Guys!! Where do I even start? We had the busiest, best week in the Traverse City area!! This might turn into a really long post…I’ll try to keep it to a reasonable length…no promises though.
The first thing we did when we got to town was head to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore where
the boys did some Junior Rangering. We had a new experience at this visitor center. For the first time in…I honestly can’t tell you how many National Parks/Memorials/Monuments/Battlefields/Forts/Historic Sites we almost left without getting the badge/patch. The boys were finishing up the booklet and one of the Rangers told us it was closing time and we needed to leave. When we asked about the Junior Ranger books he was very unapologetic and completely uncaring. It was time to go…we needed to get out. So, on our way out we quickly mentioned it to another Ranger there and she very nicely and quickly gave the boys their badges/patches. It didn’t take long. We didn’t insist on the swearing in ceremony that usually accompanies the badges. But, it left a bad taste in our mouths. If this had been the first time doing a Junior Ranger Program…we might have just quit. I would hate to see someone stop doing the Junior Ranger Program because of a Ranger’s bad attitude. The boys have learned so much through this program! All of the other Ranger’s we’ve ever met in all of our travels were the complete opposite of this one Ranger. I hope he has better days ahead. Now, that being said…check out the cool patch/badge!
I’m not sure what you picture when you think of Michigan..this is not what I pictured. This gorgeous blue lake was a shock to us.
The day we went it was super windy. I think we all came away from our hike a little smoother from being buffed out by the sand. We had sand everywhere, but none of us minded. The views were too pretty and it was a wonderfully sunny day!
We were surprised by how much green there was covering some of the sand dunes. During our hike we learned about the whys and the whats of it all. I’m trying to keep this post semi-short…so I’ll not go into the details.
It was tricky getting pictures with the sand blowing so hard. If you look closely at the edge of the sand in the picture above you can see the sand blowing away. I had to wait to snap a quick picture in between the gusts of wind.
We could have stood there and taken in this view for hours even with the wind, blowing sand, and the cold temps. We kept saying, “Look at the color of the water!”
If you can believe it, there were people in the lake surfing! Guys, it had to be close to freezing in the water. I’m getting hypothermia just thinking about it.
It looks like some forgotten island somewhere. It’s hard to believe that’s Lake Michigan! I do believe Lake Michigan is our favorite of the Great Lakes! The lake was beautiful in every single view we got of it!
If you like lighthouses
and beaches then Michigan is definitely a state you need to visit!
Green coffee beans waiting to go in the roaster.
We found a coffee house called Higher Grounds Coffee who roasts their coffee in store. We went in for a tour not really knowing what to expect. We’ve toured distilleries, breweries, tea plantations, chocolate houses, cheese factories, chip factories…but we’ve never had the opportunity to tour a coffee roaster. Our tour guide, Jennifer, was super nice and extremely knowledgeable about the entire process. You can see a bag of green coffee beans in the photo above. This is how Higher Grounds gets them from several different growers.
The coffee roaster Higher Grounds uses.
Jennifer explained how the founder (Chris Treter) of the company went to Mexico as part of his post-graduate internship. He worked closely with and became good friends to a community of coffee farmers while in Mexico and really got a good look at the poverty these growers live and work in. When it was time for Chris to leave he wanted to find a way to keep helping the coffee farmers. When asked, the farmers told Chris that he could sell their coffee to help.
Roasted coffee beans.
Chris went back to his home in the US and started selling coffee, but he didn’t stop there. He wanted to help his friends back in Mexico get out of poverty. He wanted to make their lives better so he found ways to give back. Higher Grounds has helped bring water to communities that had to walk miles each day to reach a fresh source of water. That might not sound like a big deal, but can you imagine what you could accomplish if you suddenly had an extra 5 hours a day? Can you imagine having to walk a few miles to get a glass of water, brush your teeth, or bathe?
Coffee tasting.
After Jennifer walked us through the entire process from getting the beans to roasting them, she brewed us two different kinds of beans. So, here’s the thing…I don’t drink coffee. Not even a little. The two members of our family who do drink coffee enjoyed the coffee tasting immensely. Jennifer taught us how to properly brew coffee to insure we get the same taste every time then she taught us how to slurp. Yup, you read that right! Slurp. You need to slurp your coffee so you can taste all the coffee has to offer.
We had a great time learning about and trying coffee! Higher Grounds Coffee is a great company. You can find it in some stores, but don’t worry…if it’s not offered in a store near you, you can also order it online! This company is actually making a difference in the world. Our world would be a better place if more companies cared enough to change the lives of those who can’t change it themselves. Go to their website and order some coffee!!
We love to hit spots like this!
Those are cherry trees. I was shocked by the sheer number of cherry trees in this area…until I found out that the National Cherry Festival is held in Traverse City.
It should come as no surprise that the World Record Cherry Pie was made here. Littlest was in cherry heaven.
You could pretty much find cherry anything here. Cherry jelly, cherry salsa, cherry popcorn, cherry candy, cherry ice cream, cherry cake, dried cherries, spicy cherries…I kind of feel like the shrimp guy on Forrest Gump.
We walked away with a few yummies!
Speaking of yummies…let’s talk foodies! We found a place called Slabtown Burger. It has this burger that’s stuffed with
cream cheese and jalapenos and…bacon. It’s my new favorite out of all 40 states! Y’all…this burger is ah-mazing!!
Littlest has a thing for flavored popcorn. We love to support local shops so we ended up with a couple bags!
We snuck in a date night! This fried pickle was an appetizer. It was surprisingly good! It’s a pickle spear wrapped in Swiss cheese, ham, and a wonton wrapper then deep fried. It was sooo good! I think we’re going to make these ourselves!
It’s a six layer cappuccino cake with mocha frosting. You can’t tell, but it’s huge!! Jerl and I got half of it down before giving up. Don’t worry…we took the rest home where the boys happily devoured it. We were really surprised by all the foodies we found here!
I think all we have left are the pretties!
There were tons of pretties around!
This one was a tree in the RV park we stayed in.
We enjoyed the park we stayed in. It was mostly empty and was big enough to get some descent walking in!
Hey Guys!! We spent one week in the Petoskey Michigan area!
We stayed at the Hearthside Grove Motorcoach Resort and Guys…it is now our official favorite RV park! We have stayed in over 100 parks and this one was a brand new experience for us.
Now, the lot that we stayed on just had the RV pad and full-hookups, but almost all of the other lots had some type of bungalow on it! How cool is that?!?!
The bungalow in the above picture was one of our neighbors for the week. It felt like being back in a neighborhood! We were there really early in the season so we basically had the park to ourselves
so we took full advantage of everything Hearthside had to offer!! Check out the theater room! It came with complimentary popcorn.
The boys had a blast playing their games on the big movie screen! It ended up being a daily thing while Jerl and I (Jennie) used the fitness room to get in some much needed workouts.
The boys loved the soda bar. Free soda and popcorn…What?! The boys didn’t want to leave. If you guys are ever in the Petoskey area I cannot recommend Hearthside Grove enough. It’s a fantastic park loaded with tons of perks. One of the coolest things about this particular place is that the lots are for sale. You can buy a lot and then when you’re not there using it, you can let the park “rent” it out. It’s a great concept!
Before I go on…I have to give a shout out to Mike Lilliquist. We met him at the visitor center near the Mackinac Bridge. He had so much information and suggestions for us and he sent us off with some special gifts!! He’s a really great guy and if you need any information about Michigan…he’s definitely the guy to find!
We ventured across the Mackinac Bridge a few times. It’s a beautiful bridge. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a great shot of it due to weather. It was super cold and sooo very windy.
We spent an entire day exploring the UP (Upper Peninsula). We could have spent a couple weeks exploring the UP. In fact, we’ve already decided we’re going to have to go back! Here’s a bit of trivia for you…the people who live in the UP are called “Yoopers” and the people who live below the Mackinac Bridge are called “Trolls”!
The lighthouse in the picture above is the Iroquois Lighthouse. There’s a museum and I think you can go up into the lighthouse, but when we went it was closed. We went before everything opened for the season.
We loved the beach behind the lighthouse. Check out those colorful rocks!!
We made it to the Tahquamenon Falls State Park. There are two sets of waterfalls here. You can see part of the Lower Falls above.
The Upper Falls were pretty spectacular. There were boardwalks and platforms that let us get super close! The Upper Falls spit out about 50,000 gallons of water per second!! There are over ten waterfalls to go see while visiting the UP, but we only made it to two of them.
There are some decent beaches in the Petoskey area. We made it to a couple in search of a Petoskey Stone. We found some…but we havn’t gotten them pollished…so, you can’t really see the pattern. Look it up though! Google it and you’ll find tons of images! We found five smaller Petoskey stones that we are wanting to polish up!
Let’s talk foodies! We had heard that a pastie is the foodie we needed to try in Michigan. We are fans.
We went to Hunt’s Mackinaw Pastie to get ours. They came out in record time and were so flavorful! Pasties are the perfect meal for a cold blustery day!!
If we lived near the Polish Kitchen, we would eat there every week. It’s amazingly good!
I only found one pretty. It was pretty early in the Spring when we were in Petoskey.
That’s it! We loved this area and will most definitely be back!! If you’re looking for a great summer vacation spot then head to the Petoskey area and go explore the UP!!
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.
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!!
