Author: Jennie Simpson

Washington DC

Washington DC

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Hey Guys!! We spent one week in the DC area and it wasn’t nearly long enough at all. We had four very crazy, very full, very looonngggg days where we ventured into the DC area and we still didn’t get everything on our list done.

We somehow managed to snag tickets for the White House tour. We heard we were one of only five Texas families since February 2016 that’s been approved. And…we went on my birthday!

We got to look through some of the rooms that I’m pretty sure aren’t really used much anymore. Several of the rooms had a color theme. Can you guess the name of the room the bottom right picture? There were Secret Servicemen everywhere. Most of them were super nice and full of all kinds of info. We asked them all the questions we could think to ask. From how many colors of green were in the Green Room to how heavy the chandeliers are in the top right photo above. They patiently answered everything.

Caught this view out of one of the White House windows. Not bad, right?

I’m pretty sure they set this up as a photo opp…but it’s a good one.

And check out this piano! Gorgeous!!! I can’t tell you anything about it other than it was sitting in a room at the White House.

The very first thing we did in the area was visit the zoo. Nicholas is panda crazy and has been looking forward to seeing a real, live panda in person all summer. He was in heaven! We met an old friend of ours and her family at the zoo. *waves at Kiki & family* We got to catch up while the kids all watched the animals. It was a fun day!

We stayed at an RV park not too far from DC. They have an orientation about how to get around the area. It was super helpful. We used the two maps in the top left picture the whole time. Thankfully, we were able to utilize the Metro system and never had to actually drive our vehicle into the DC area. One of the experiences we missed out on in NYC was the subway system. The boys were curious about it and wanted to ride it, but the ones we needed were broken while we were there so we just didn’t get to do it. But while we were in DC we got to ride the Metro often. The first ride was pretty exciting for the boys.

We found a few foodies… You can see the Banana Fosters Shake in the right picture. It was fantastic! So so good!! And we found a great little hole-in-the-wall Salvadoran place. It too was just fantastic!! You can see the pupusas we got in the left picture.

We hit all of the memorials that we could. This is the WWII Memorial. We had to snag a picture by the Texas post.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial. We actually got a decent picture of the boys here without tons of other people in the shot. I think there were roughly a thousand or so people there at the same time we were trying to get the Junior Ranger stuff done. I don’t think I’m exaggerating that number…it was crazy busy.

Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam War Memorial and the Iwo Jima Memorial

The Washington Monument was closed while we were there. Something to do with the elevators. We still enjoyed seeing it from afar.

We found the National Cathedral and it was gorgeous. We didn’t have a chance to go inside but we loved all of the angles and spires around the outside of it!

We made it to the Arlington National Cemetery. It’s a lovely place full of quiet reverence. We spent several hours here walking around and taking it in. The boys had some JR Rangering to do here and we all learned a lot from going through the book.

 We watched the changing of the guard before we left. It changed us all. You can’t watch something like that and not be changed. The boys still bring it up in conversation every so often.

We made time to see the Maryland State House!

The dome was ok…nothing special…but we did find some pretty stained glass!

I think we found the reddest room in the world. If it’s not official it should be. The walls were red velvet, the floor was red, the wood had a red hue to it…there was a lot of red in that room.

The Maryland State House is where George Washington resigned from the military. There was a neat little museum on the first floor that gave information about that day and what happened. The area around the building was pretty neat too! We enjoyed this one!

We somehow managed to get in a tour of the Nation’s Capitol Building! We wanted a complete set…but didn’t make it to the Pentagon.

Did you know that if you contact your State Rep that they will set up a private tour for you so you don’t have to wait in the long lines? And you get to go into the tunnels that connect the Capitol Complex. It was pretty cool to see a part of the Capitol that not everyone gets to see. The boys thought we were super cool that day.

I want y’all to know I got in trouble taking this picture. Apparently, you’re not supposed to stop in the center of the room and lay your phone down on the ground while you’re at the Nation’s Capitol. I thought for a minute I was going to get kicked out. I made sure to snap the picture before getting up though. I mean, I was already there…and in trouble…might as well get the shot, right?! And…that shot was worth it. What a gorgeous dome!

 Each state gets to have two statues in the building. So…there are statues sitting everywhere. To be honest, it was kind of a weirdly laid out room that felt cluttered. Someone needs to organize it. Our tour guide showed us the Whispering Spot where John Quincy Adams used to have his desk in the room. We stood over this spot and our guide stood way over across the room and whispered. And we heard him like he was standing right beside us! It was the coolest thing!

This is the old Senate Chambers. It used to have wooden floors. Notice the spittoon? They were everywhere! According to our guide all of the Senators used to chew tobacco and instead of using the spittoons they would just spit on the floor. It became so gross that if you dropped anything at all you just left it. And instead of stopping or using the spittoons they would just rip out the wooden floor every so often and replace it. Talk about a waste of money. Sheesh. Can you even imagine the smell this room most have had??? Bleh!!! So gross!!

We found a few pretties…Not too many since it was late in the season. But, there were a few flowers still hanging on.

We walked a lot in the four days we were in DC. Sometimes it pays to be the littlest…Nicholas appreciated the piggy-back rides when his feet started to protest the amount of miles we were walking. And we walked so so many miles during our DC visit.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Foodies, Friends, and Forts

Foodies, Friends, and Forts

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We stayed in South New Jersey for a week so we could see the Delaware State Capitol Building. We struggled with connectivity here too.

The Delaware State Capitol Building looks more like a building you might find on a small University campus somewhere. It’s very small and sparsely decorated. It didn’t take us long to stroll through the entire building.

Right across the street from the Capitol Building is this really cool Compass Rose. It took us longer to look at this than it did the building itself.

 The plan was to visit Fort Delaware, but when we got to the ferry crossing we discovered Fort Mott. We also discovered that we’d just missed the ferry and would have to wait an hour or so for the next one. Bummer. So, we strolled around Fort Mott. It’s a pretty neat fort. There were some great info signs and some great views…but it was super hot and the boys were starting to make some noise about eating so we left before we got to see Fort Delaware.

The best thing about this stay was meeting up with my friend Nicole and her family for some burgers! *waves at Nicole* Nicole and I have been Facebook friends for over ten years, but we’d never met face-to-face. It was so fun to finally get to sit and chat with her!!

We had some great burgers at a place called Burger 21. And…I found my new ice cream obsession. Crème Brûlée Shake.

So. Stinkin’. Good!!

We also found a really good Mexican place! We were so shocked! Y’all know we’ve been to our fare share of unfortunate Mexican restaurants. We really don’t even try them anymore, but we were wanting something spicy so we threw caution to the wind and tried one. We were not disappointed!

See y’all down the road!!

#easterloop2016

Connecticut

Connecticut

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We spent one week in Connecticut mainly to visit the State Capitol Building.

The Connecticut State Capitol Building looks impressive!

The dome was beautiful. You know I’m a sucker for a good dome and I love this one!

The architecture throughout the building was interesting. I’m also a sucker for a good staircase. There were stained glass windows and richly painted walls.

It’s called the Charter Oak Chair, but our tour guide called it The Wish Chair. The boys all sat in it and made a wish…There’s a story behind it and please forgive me, but I don’t remember it well enough to tell you. I struggled with connectivity issues so several weeks have passed since we were there. I’m sure you could find the story online if you’re curious about the story of The Wish Chair.

The CT State Capitol Building made it on to our list top ten SCBs! There was so much we loved about this one!

We caught a view of the blue onion dome on our way out of Hartford. We didn’t stop or get out of the car because it wasn’t in a safe neighborhood and we were on our way somewhere. It was cool to see though.

The only other thing we did in CT was visit Gillette State Park to see the “castle”.

We enjoyed touring this castle just as much as we did the Newport Mansions. They had nothing in common. The castle had a very rustic, DIY feel to it where the Newport Mansions were all about showing off as much luxury as they could. There were 42 doors and all of them were different…and very cool. The light switches were carved from wood too.

If you look closely, you’ll notice the chair in the bottom picture is on rails to keep from scratching the floor. There was even a library in the castle! Sadly, they had to add the wooden bars in front of the books because people kept trying to walk off with them. I don’t understand why some people have to do things like that. If it’s not yours…don’t touch it.

Gillette loved trains so much he built his own train depot and track on his property.

You might recognize Gillette’s name if you’re a Sherlock fan. William Hooker Gillette was a play writer. Arthur Conan Doyle approached Gillette in the mid 1890s to see if he was interested in writing an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. Not only did Gillette write the play, he also stared in it as Holmes. Gillette gave the iconic character some of the symbols we’ve come to associate Sherlock Holmes with…the deerstalker cap, the pipe, and the catch phrase “Oh this is elementary, my dear fellow”. The phrase eventually developed into the “Elementary, my dear Watson” that we all know.

We didn’t do much in CT. We had zero cell service which made it impossible to work or do any research for things to see. And we didn’t really care for the RV park we stayed at. It was a long week of doing nothing and it kind of dragged by for us. I’m sure there are some very lovely and wonderful areas of CT, but we didn’t stay near them.

See y’all down the road!

#easterloop2016

Newport Rhode Island

Newport Rhode Island

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We spent one very long, very busy week in the Newport area of Rhode Island. This post is going to be picture heavy. I tried to scale it down, but honestly, I could do a separate post for each of the Newport Mansions. I don’t have time to do that though, so y’all will just have to go visit them. Pictures don’t do these mansions justice anyway. To fully appreciate them in all their grandeur you really need to visit them. We ended up getting a one year membership to the Newport Mansions. If you can believe it…it was cheaper for a family of five to get a membership and have access to all eleven locations vs. paying for a bundle or buying tickets at each location.

I really struggled with getting decent shots of the insides of the mansions. The lighting was bad and I’m not experienced with shooting rooms like this. Sorry…I tried.

 We started at The Elms. Built in 1901, the house was completely “modern” and had all of the technological advances of the time. I should mention now that all of the Newport Mansions were considered summer cottages. They were used five to six weeks out of the year and then closed up for the remainder of the year while the family lived in one of their other homes.

One of my favorite things to see on the tours were the vanity tables. I loved seeing all of the old brushes and combs…everything they thought was necessary to be presentable. Don’t forget The Elms had all of the modern day technologies of the time…check out that bathroom. No outhouses for these guys.

The tours are really well done. They’re all self-guided…kind of. When you enter the “summer cottage” you’re given an audio tour with headphones that guides you through the house. You get to hear about what’s in each room…little stories about the people who lived there…and even some info about the people who worked there. At The Elms there’s even a separate tour you can take called Servant Life Tour. I’d go back just for that and to go through all the mansions again. The other part of the tour that always fascinated me was the kitchen areas. Check out that mortar and pestle sitting on the table. It’s hard to judge just how big they are, but you can kind of see a few bowls next to them. And check out those copper pots!! They’ve got spigots on them!

One of the themes we heard in several of the mansions was that “the mansion ran like magic”. You weren’t supposed to see how the place was cleaned or how the supplies got there. You weren’t supposed to see any of the servants except the male butlers. The Elms took it so far as to hide the entrance to where all the deliveries were made. You can see the delivery entrance in the top picture above. I somehow missed getting a decent shot of the front of The Elms…but here’s what the back looks like.

The next mansion we toured was The Breakers, built in 1895. The Breakers is just one of the Vanderbilt’s summer homes. Some of the best things about the audio tours were all of the stories about the inhabitants. The Vanderbilt Family was just that…a family. We heard stories about the kids sliding down the staircases on serving trays. In fact, it wasn’t just the kids that did that. Apparently, they would have parties and everyone would take a turn sliding down the stairs.

There are 70 rooms at The Breakers. I love the picture of one of the ornate ceilings in the bottom left picture. There were so many great details. I had to share these wall panels with y’all. You can see them in the bottom right picture. Guys, they’re platinum leaf…so they’ll always be shiny. Platinum. You know…just because they can. Because money is no object. The gardens of The Breakers were all just as showy. I took way too many pictures here. Each house really could have its own post. I’m not even scratching the surface with what we saw and learned here.

The saddest story we heard was at The Rosecliff. The Rosecliff was built in 1902 by Tessie Oelrich who was a silver heiress. They were considered new money. Tessie was very into the social scene in Newport and was considered “one of the three great hostesses” in the area. She loved a good party, but as time went on the other big families in Newport moved on. Tessie couldn’t quite let go of her Gilded Age life and stayed. In her later years, Tessie would wander through the empty rooms “serving guests” and encouraging them to have “just one more drink”. What a lonely life she ended up leading…

The Rosecliff has been in several movies. You might recognize it from the 1974 Great Gatsby. I love the view from Rosecliff! It was absolutely gorgeous!!

Chateau-sur-Mer belonged to the Wetmore family and was built in 1852.

I loved all of the painting in this house. The walls weren’t just decorated with wallpaper…they were artistically painted. The ceiling in one of the rooms is carved solid wood. Not plaster painted to look like wood…but actual wood. I loved it!

The dining room had leather wallpaper that was stretched smooth and painted. You can see a closer look at the leather wallpaper in the left picture. It’s starting to crack with age. But can you imagine the effect it had back when it was new? The dining room had a fireplace that was only lit with candles. They would put mirrored partitions in front of the doors to reflect the light and pull the curtains closed. With the shine of the leather…I bet it was magical.

Check out all of the different brushes, combs, and bottles!

Chateau-sur-Mer was the only mansion that didn’t have an audio tour. We had a guided tour here and we probably learned even more about the ins and outs of this beautiful home.

The boys’ favorite thing was the European Weeping Beech. They declared it fort worthy and promptly made their way to the center. It was pretty awesome. I think we’ll plant one of these trees when we get some land someday!

The last mansion we went through was The Marble House. It was built in 1892 to be the “ultimate statement of Gilded Age privilege”. Showing everyone how much money and privilege you had seemed to be one of the most important things during this time period for these families.

The Gothic Room was built to display the Vanderbilt’s Gothic art collection. The ceiling in the Gothic room was a true work of art. I never really paid attention to ceilings before doing the Newport Mansion tours, but the ceilings in these “summer cottages” were just as detailed and amazing as the rest of the room.

Checkout the fresco that was painted about their table. Because, obviously, we all need a fresco painted above our dining room table that should be in a museum and not a house. You know, it was kind of funny to hear how much “work” it was to summer in Newport for these families. They were expected to be seen doing specific things at the right time of the day, each day, wearing the appropriate attire…which meant changing clothes five or six times a day. And then there were the parties they had to attend. They had zero time to do what they really wanted to do.

And then we heard how all of those dresses they wore (five or more a day) would have to have the buttons cut off before they were washed (to protect the button and the garment) only to be hand sewn back on. Have you seen how many teeny tiny buttons used to be on those dresses? I can’t imagine being a seamstress for the household. You can see he stairs up to the servant’s area of the house in the left picture…it was as ornate and impressive as everything else in the summer cottage. The family would never go to the servant area. It was considered taboo. No one but the servants would ever see it.

The Marble House got its name from the 500K cubic feet of marble it’s made of. That’s a lot of marble! It was beautiful!

We did make it to Providence, RI to see the State Capitol Building!

The dome was being worked on so…I really don’t know what it looked like. They did have the best library we’ve seen in a state capitol building though! I would love to have a library like that someday!

We also snuck in a tour of Fort Adams. We got to go into the ruins and hear stories about what life was like there.

They even led us up to the top of the fort where we had a great view!

But the best part was going down into the listening tunnels! I know the picture is a little blurry…we were trying not to be left behind in the pitch dark tunnels that broke off and went in every direction. It was completely cramped, dark, wet, and you could have easily gotten lost….it was totally awesome. And for those brave enough to venture in…they were rewarded with a sticker. The five of us are officially tunnel rats!

We even managed to squeak in enough time to see a lighthouse! It was one jam-packed week!!

There were some pretties…we always make time to stop and smell the flowers no matter how busy we are. Just watch out for the bees!

See y’all down the road!

#easterlooptour2016

Cape Cod, MA

Cape Cod, MA

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Hey Guys!! We spent one crazy, busy week in the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts! I’ve always heard how insane the traffic in Cape Cod can get, but it was so much worse than I ever imagined. There was a particular round-about that really mucked up the flow of traffic. It was hard to get in the round-about and just as hard to get out of it…and it really caused a backup for several miles.

Other than the traffic issue…Cape Cod is a little slice of heaven on a beach. We spent our first morning there at a Ranger Walk to learn about the beaches and sea life in the area. The boys loved the cool water after walking on the very hot sand.

The Ranger led us down the beach to see around 200 or so seals. Just FYI…great white sharks eat seals so if you see a bunch of seals taking refuge on a sand bar (and you’re in an area known to be home to great whites) chances are…there’s a shark somewhere close. Just something to think about before you get in the water.

We only had one full day in the area and we spent all of it beach hopping…trying to see as much of Cape Cod as possible. We were also trying to get everything in so we wouldn’t have to fight the traffic again. Yes…the traffic really was that bad. We could have seen so much more of the are if the traffic hadn’t been so bad. And parking spots…forget about it.

If you enjoy lighthouses this is your place. We visited three but spotted a few more. We happen to be there on International Lighthouse Day. We tried our best to see all of the lighthouses Cape Cod had to offer. One was out on a point and it was sooooo windy! Super windy and parking was tight, but look how pretty they are!

We found a burger place…I know, I know… we have a thing about burgers. Some of you might call it an obsession, but we call it a way of life. This place though… It’s called The Knack. It’s definitely in our top 10. We loved everything about it!

Y’all know we love to take factory tours. You can learn some surprising things about how things are made on a factory tour. We hadn’t been on a potato chip factory tour yet, so we jumped at the chance to visit the Cape Cod Chip Factory! For some reason, none of the factory tours allow photography. Which is such a bummer because this one was really neat. You shuffle down the hall where you get to watch a potato chip being made from start to finish.

I was allowed to take a picture of the first bag they used. This tour is a self-guided, free tour and at the end you get this nifty little sample bag! Does anyone recognize the lighthouse on the bag from a picture earlier in this post? You can visit that exact lighthouse.

Besides some great beaches, we saw some amazing sunsets.

We were really close to Plymouth while we were in the Cape Cod area so we took an afternoon and went to visit the place where it all started. I’d heard it’s very touristy, but I really wasn’t prepared for just how much of a tourist trap it really is. We paid the extravagant price to see the Mayflower II. I wouldn’t suggest you do it. Just look at it from the outside and don’t bother going in. It’s really not worth it. If you happen to be in the area, swing by and take a gander at Plymouth Rock. It’s…a small rock. It’s free to look at though! So, that’s a plus. It’s the only free thing in the area, I think.

So, here’s the thing. I get that people have to pay bills. I do. I get it. But why charge such outrageous prices for things that are being advertised as “family” and “educational”? There were a few other things in the area that were kind of all grouped with Plymouth and the Pilgrims and that whole piece of our history. You can look them up and make your own decisions…but read the reviews on them. Don’t just go to their website because they do a good job of making it look awesome. Read reviews. We chose not to go to the other things after we went to the Mayflower II.

There were a few pretties! I love the pink ones…they’re huge! This one in the picture on the left wasn’t completely bloomed out yet, but I love how delicate it looks. You see the red dots in the bottom right picture? Those are actually seed pods from some flower that had already finished it’s bloom cycle. I think the red pods are just as pretty as the little purple flowers next to them and then the ocean behind them isn’t bad either. You know, if you like that sort of thing. *wink wink*

All in all we loved the Cape Cod area! We will definitely go back…during the off season…if there is an off season. We loved the beaches, but not the thousands of people we were sharing them with. It felt more crowded than an amusement park.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Hampton Falls Area

Hampton Falls Area

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We used Hampton Falls, NH as our base camp to explore the area. We spent two weeks in NH bouncing around between Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. I usually break these kinds of posts up, but I’m going to smash it all into one this time!

We spent a day in Salem, MA. Salem is a place I’ve wanted to visit for a long time. The whole witch trial thing always fascinated me. Salem is kind of what you would expect. It’s filled with all things witchy…new and old.

There’s so much history in the North East. We made it by the Lyceum Hall where Alexander Graham Bell made the first telephone call. Extra points if you know what he said!

The Old Town Hall was in a movie you might have seen…Hocus Pocus! I geeked out just a bit here as we walked by. It’s always fun to walk by places that you’ve seen on the big screen…or small screen!

We stopped by the oldest grave yard in Salem. The Witch Trails are such a sad part of our history. It bothered us how touristy Salem is…we feel like they’re being a little disrespectful to what really happened there. I’m not going to go into a history lesson here…we all know what happened. Real people died in some horrific ways here…maybe tone down the touristy vibes a bit.

We made it to the Salem Maritime National Historic Site where the boys earned another Junior Ranger badge! And that was the end of our time in Salem!

We spent a day in Boston, MA walking the Freedom Trail! I love Boston! I’m just going to throw that out there right from the start. I loved it way more than I thought I would…you know, since it’s a big urban area!

Let’s start with the Capitol Building. It’s gorgeous! Look at that golden dome! The inside didn’t disappoint either. We did a guided tour at this SCB and on it we met a lovely family from England! It was interesting to hear their take on the building and America.  When we got to the inside of the dome, we stood there with our mouths open for a minute. Look at that stained glass!! All thirteen original colonies are represented in this stained glass. Love it! I couldn’t leave out the tile floor. It’s so pretty! This Capitol Building is high up on our favorites list. It didn’t disappoint at all. I could do an entire post about it, but we’re leaving the Hampton Falls area tomorrow and I’m not sure I’ll have cell service at our next spot so I’m trying to get all caught up on my posts. If you’re in the area though…make time to visit this SCB!

We found our way to the Paul Revere House and strolled through. It’s a self-guided tour with interpreters around to answer any questions you might have. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside. I think it’s kind of weird not to allow photos of this place as long as you don’t use flash…but, it is what it is. The Paul Revere House is the oldest house in Boston. Looks pretty good for its age.

Another stop on the Freedom Trail is the Old North Church where the two lanterns were hung on April 18, 1775. You can go in and look around. We’d never been to a church where the pews were boxed off like this. Apparently, back when the church was first built, you would purchase your own box. I guess people were very particular about who that sat next to.

 We stopped by one of the graveyards on the Freedom Trail. The one in the pictures above is called Copp’s Hill Burying Ground. One of the things we noticed about the gravestones in both Salem and Boston are that they’re a lot thinner than what we’re used to seeing. Quite a few of the headstones were decorated with the skull and cross bone symbols or a skull with wings. The symbols were supposed to be a reminder to the Puritans of the mortality of the body.

I love the mixture of old and new buildings in Boston!

I may have geeked out a bit here too. I mean, it’s Cheers! Where everybody knows your name! We went in and had some burgers. No, the inside doesn’t look like it does on the show. I was a little disappointed with that. It was a long hot day of walking though and that air conditioned seat felt wonderful! It might not have looked like the Cheers on the television, but there was a wall dedicated to the show!

I had to stop by the Make Way For The Ducks sculpture. Nicholas helped me by standing next to the duck so we could get a size comparison. Super cute! (the duck and the kiddo)

Ok. One more picture of Boston. This is Swan Pond. How lovely is it? We didn’t stick around long here because we were all so tired and ready to be back in the car. I have to take a minute to brag about the boys. It was so hot while we were in Boston and we walked so so many miles…the boys didn’t complain or whine at all They were such troopers!

We snuck out one afternoon to explore Halibut Point State Park. This state park used to be a quarry and you can see the “pond” mining the area made in the bottom right picture above. We saw this pretty little bird while we were heading back to our car. It let me get really close!

Not far from where we stayed was a farm where you can pick your own blueberries! I’m pretty sure some of us (I’m sure you can guess which of us) ate more blueberries than what they put in the baskets. Ha!

We explored the ruins of Fort Constitution. There wasn’t much there. Most of it looked like the picture on the left. I’m not sure the tunnel on the right was part of the original Fort…it was right next to it.

We went to see the Nubble Lighthouse! It was a gorgeous day! We checked out some of the tidal pools at the lighthouse…but there wasn’t too much in them. The boys still had fun looking in them though!

Best of all…we got to meet up with one of my friends! Hey Anne Marie!! One of the things I like the most about our nomadic lifestyle is that I get to go visit friends!

Are you ready for some flowers? I loved seeing the purple and blue ones all over the place…so pretty! I don’t think the purple flowers in the bottom middle picture is fireweed, but it’s really close. There’s sumac all over the place here! The flower in the bottom left picture is called Queen Anne’s Lace and when it’s all bloomed out it’s a really pretty white flower. I know it’s a weed, but it’s so pretty I wanted to include it.

These were in our RV Park! You can’t tell from the picture on the right, but this bush was well over six feet tall!

I think that’s it! We fit quite a bit into the two weeks we had in this area!

See y’all down the road!

#easterloop2016

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park

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Acadia National Park is one of the country’s smallest National Parks, but it’s also one of the most visited National Parks. More than 2 million people explore Acadia each year and I think they were all there with us. While we loved the park, we didn’t love the crowds. We spent two weeks in Acadia trying to find our own little piece of Down East.

 The first thing we did was drive up Cadillac Mountain to take in the views. It was breath taking! One of the other hikers there offered to take a picture of us! She did a great job! But really, with that view…I’m not sure there could be a bad picture.

The boys got to take their time with the Junior Ranger books since we were there for two weeks. We went to a Ranger Talk where they were introduced to the different sea creatures that could be found in the area tide pools. In the photo above, Alex is holding a sea star and Nicholas is hoping he’s not asked to hold it. Ha! Nicholas isn’t the most adventurist when it comes to holding gross things that come out of the ocean.

Speaking of tidal pools…we found tons of them…but no sea stars anywhere! Bummer!! All of the pools we found had plenty of muscles and periwinkles along with seaweed and sometimes…a few crabs. But, no sea stars. The search continues…

We absolutely loved Maine’s rugged coast line!

We made it to Thunder Hole…I think we must have been there at the wrong time though, because it wasn’t very active. The tide was coming in and it was making a little bit of a thunder noise…nothing big and no water swelling up. Oh well, something to try and catch next time!

The majority of Acadia National Park is on Mount Desert Island. We drove around looking at all of the harbors. I love all of the bobbers on the buildings. The tides play a huge role in the daily lives of the Mount Desert Island inhabitants. Most of them have a boat. One of the things we noticed is that because the tides are so big, they have to anchor their boats pretty far out from the coast. So, they all have these smaller boats to get out to their bigger boat.

We went to see the Bass Harbor Lighthouse. You can’t get to a place where you can get a decent shot of it from the coast line. I guess this light house is better viewed from a boat. The lighthouse was built in 1858 and is still fully functional. Right now someone lives in it, but allows people to come take pictures with it. Which I think is really generous. Can you imagine living in a place that thousands of tourist flock to every year? There would be zero privacy.

My favorite hike in Acadia is the Bubble Rock hike. It was short, but strenuous up to the summit of Bubble Rock where you get to see a huge boulder left over from when the glaciers moved through the area.

The boys tried their hardest to push it off. It didn’t budge. Not really…we just posed for a picture. Can you imagine if that boulder actually fell? It would be devastating for everyone below it.

Look at that view! We actually managed to get this spot to ourselves for a good twenty minutes! It was amazing!! When we were leaving about ten or so people were meandering their way up. One of them was nice enough to snap a picture of the five of us at the summit sign. It was appreciated since we don’t get many shots of all of us.

One of the cool things…and something we hadn’t seen before…is the way Acadia does their trail signs by re-purposing fallen trees.

The Acadia Bridges. There are 16 or 17 of them. I guess a lot of people will spend years getting pictures of all of them. We hiked to three…I hate to say it, but I was over it after the first one. If I’m going to hike, I need the payoff. I need some amazing view at the end. An old bridge in the middle of a forest just didn’t do it for me. The Carriage Roads…sigh. Again, if I’m going to hike…I need something to look at besides a road and trees. There are close to 60 miles worth of Carriage Roads to walk on. You can’t drive on them, but you can walk, bike, or ride in a carriage. And a lot of people come back year after year to experience every one of the Carriage Roads.

I think we were expecting more. Everyone I spoke to…all of the books I read…they all made such a big to do about the Carriage Roads and the bridges. But, guys…they’re just nicely graveled paths and old (albeit neat) bridges. I don’t know… To each his own.

We drove an hour to go visit the Schoodic Peninsula area of Acadia NP and boy howdy, it was totally worth it! We found the top-secret location of the Raven’s Nest. Don’t ask the Rangers about it, they won’t tell you. I guess it’s deemed too dangerous. We went on a Sunday afternoon and had the place to ourselves as we took our time here and really soaked up the views. I bet you’re wanting to know where this magical place is. We might…just maybe…have the GPS coordinates for it. I don’t know if we should give them to y’all. I mean, what if we give them to you and y’all go and fall off the cliff? I would feel terrible! But, if you promise not to go and be boneheads and fall of the cliff, I’ll give you the coordinates.

Promise?

Ok, good. Here are the coordinates 44.352005, -68.074934.

Now go forth and enjoy the splendor that is known as the Raven’s Nest! Ha! Just please be careful and if you have little kids hold their hands.

We made it all the way out to the peninsula and played around on the rocks by the shore where we found tons of muscles and more periwinkles…but still no sea stars.

Nicholas and I had fun trying to get pictures of the waves splashing up on the rocks. It took us a few tries, but we eventually got the timing just right!

As we were leaving the Schoodic Peninsula we spotted some sea otters playing! We sat in our car by the road watching them for a few minutes. We were losing the light and the otters were moving on when we spotted a porpoise! We had such an amazing day filled with nature and wild animals! It happens to be our favorite way to spend a Sunday.

On our last night in the area we met up with another full-time RV family. They showed the boys how to go crabbing. The boys loved it! They had such a great time hanging out with kids their own age. They would catch a bucket full of crabs and then take them back to the beach to have crab races with them. When they were done all the crabs were released back into the water.

It’s so rare to find other full-time RV families that have kids the same age as ours. You can imagine how different their perspective on daily life is compared to non nomad families. So when we find another family with kiddos…it’s a treat for all of us.

This was our last sunset in Acadia. Not a bad way to end our time there. We shared a campfire with some new friends and got to swap stories about living the full-time RV life with kids.

I know y’all are wondering…yup, we had lobstah!!! And we had to have a piece of blueberry pie. I mean, we were in Maine. It would’ve been a crime against nature to not have some blueberry pie. We also had to have a whoopie pie. When in Maine, right?!

There were wild flowers everywhere! I was in flower heaven! This post is already so long though so I’ll just leave you with these two pictures!

Alright! That’s our time in the Acadia area! We already want to go back, but we want to go back when there aren’t 2 million other people getting in the way.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Lobstah Rolls

Lobstah Rolls

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Are y’all ready for another recipe?!

We fell in love with Lobster Rolls while we were in Maine, but they were on the pricey side at around $16 a piece for only ¼ pound of lobster meat. Instead of paying those prices we decided to make our own. I looked on the interwebs and found several recipes, but in the end we did our own thing. Lobster rolls aren’t hard to make. There are very few ingredients because the star of the show is the mild flavor of the lobster meat. If you’re not careful you can cover up the taste of the lobster and you’ll miss the whole reason you’re making lobster rolls to begin with.

I’ve actually got a few pictures to share with you for this recipe. Nope, I’m still not going to do step by step pictures for you (I’m not Pioneer Woman), but I would like to show you a few things.

There aren’t many ingredients to this recipe. It comes together really quickly.

I found this on a place mat at a restaurant. I thought it might give you a nice visual on how to pick apart a lobster. We used leftover lobster meat we had from our Lubec, ME lobster feast. You can use whatever you can find, in fact, if you can’t find good lobster, this recipe would be just as good with crab or shrimp.

We started seeing these weird looking hot dog buns once we got to the Pennsylvania area. I think it must be a North Eastern thing. They don’t even call them hot dog buns, they call them frankfurter buns. Can you see the differences in the pictures above? Lets take a closer look.  Y’all know what hot dog buns are. We’ve all eaten way more of them than we should. There’s nothing really special about them. The frankfurter buns are a bit different. Notice how they look like slices of thick cut Texas toast? The sides are flat and cut. There’s a reason for this. These buns have changed our lives. If you can’t find these buns for this recipe, I suggest you try to cut your hot dog buns to look like them. Trust me on this.

Now do you see why frankfurter buns are essential to this recipe? You toast them! With plenty of butter…I mean, really slather that butter on! Y’all aren’t on a diet, right?

This lobster roll ruined all other lobster rolls for us. We stopped eating them out because we were always disappointed with what we got.

If you can believe it, we had leftovers.  Not much…just enough for a couple of us to enjoy it at lunch the next day. This stuff rocks on a salad!

Ok! There y’all go!! I hope you make these and love them as much as we do!

Disclaimer…we’re not professional chefs or photographers, but we’re doing our best to share our lives with you.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

The Easternmost Point in the US!

The Easternmost Point in the US!

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We only spent one weekend in Lubec, Maine, but we wish we’d spent a couple of weeks.

Lubec was founded in 1811 and was once the home of fishing fleets and smugglers, but is now known for being the easternmost point in the US. The area has 20 foot tides and has 96 miles of coastline…so it should come as no surprise that there were quite a few lighthouses.

Right across the International Bridge is Campobello Island, New Brunswick where you can spend time exploring Roosevelt Campobello International Park. Franklin D. Roosevelt grew up spending summers on Campobello Island and later when he had a family of his own, he took them to spend summers there. You can wander through the 34 room Roosevelt summer home. There are interpreters there to answer any questions. The boys were curious about the huge megaphone you can see in the photo on the right. When the Roosevelt’s were staying at the cottage, the megaphone would be hanging up on the porch right outside the door in the photo on the left. Eleanor would use it to call the children home. We were told her voice could be heard over a mile away.

The first thing we did when we got to Lubec was find a place to eat. We ended up at Fisherman’s Wharf. It was fantastic! The food was amazing and the service was spot on! They talked us into trying some periwinkles. We tried them and guess what…we liked them! Except Nicholas. He stalwartly refused to try one. In his defense, they do look gross.

You can’t come to Maine and not get some lobster…or lobstah!

The RV park we stayed at told us where we could go get some lobstah right from the boat! We drove half an hour to get to Little River Lobster Co in Cutler, ME and let me tell you…it was soooo worth it! We walked right out onto the dock and had our pick of lobsters that had just come in that morning. Talk about fresh seafood! We loaded our cooler up with almost 15 pounds of lobster and then put some seaweed on top of them to get them home. Did you know you can pack lobsters in seaweed? It worked beautifully! And because I know you’re curious…we got all of that lobster for around $80. Lobstah for days!!! Remember that lobster roll in one of the pics above? That one lobster roll cost around $16. We found that price to be pretty consistent throughout the area.

The lobsters were all alive and well when we made it back home and were talking to each other when we opened the cooler. Magnus was not amused. He didn’t like the noises they were making and he wasn’t fond of the smell either. He sat guarding the cooler until we took it outside. Magnus is always certain that his death is imminent. He’s also afraid of his own shadow.

Sunset RV Park has lobster gear to loan out to anyone who stays there. For free. They even came down and told us how long the lobsters needed to cook! We cooked our lobster in sea water. Jerl braved the cold weather and cold water to wade out and fill the pot. He made a few hoops and hollers while doing it. I might have had a good laugh at his expense… The day we did this it was a balmy 57° outside so you know the water was cold.

Let’s talk lobstah. Did you know that lobster used to be so plentiful that they would wash up on the shores of Maine? They could be plucked up right of the shores. In the mid-1800s lobster was selling for 8¢ apiece. The big boy you see in the photo above is on a 16 inch tray. He’s what they call a Select. He was hard shelled while the rest of the ones we got were called Chixs and they were all soft shell.

Vocabulary time!

A Chix lobster is the yougest and weigh 1 pound.

A Quarter lobster weighs 1¼ pounds.

A Select lobster is a choice lobster and weighs at least 1½ pounds.

The one we got was close to 4 pounds! What’s the difference between hard shell and soft shell? A lobster will molt about 14 times before it reaches maturity. Every time it molts it sheds its hard shell and is left with a softer shell until the shell has time to harden.

While lobster was a definite highlight of our time spent in Lubec, we also did a couple of awesome hikes!

Thanks to an Instagram friend we found out about the Bold Coast Trail. I highly recommend it! The trail wasn’t difficult and it spits you out with the view in the left photo above. We had the place to ourselves so we spent quite a bit of time taking in the scenery.

On the way to Eastport, Maine we made a little side trip to a place called Reversing Falls. There’s not a waterfall. It’s called that because you can stand there and watch the current reverse its direction with the tide. Remember those 20 foot tides I told you about? We didn’t get to see it reverse, but we did enjoy another small hike and had the place to ourselves!

Eastport, Maine is the easternmost town in the United States. We spent an afternoon there where we found another lobster roll to try. I mean…we were in Maine…we had to eat lobster, right?

We stopped by Raye’s Mustard Mill. You could try all 20 or so flavors of mustard. I think we tried them all. And then we bought more mustard than one family really needs. Looks like we’re set for a while!

The only thing we didn’t love about the Lubec, Maine area was the road getting there. It was sooo bad. It might have bumped the ALCAN out of our worst road ever spot. It was that bad! Now, having said that…we made it there fine. And we would travel that road again to go back.

There were a few flowers. The wild roses were everywhere and smelled so good! And Guys….we found fireweed!! In Maine! It’s official…Maine is a mini-Alaska!!!

We loved the Lubec area so much we’ve decided that once we’re done with the fifty state tour we could easily spend one or two months there…someday!

#easterloop2016

NH and ME State Capitol Buildings

NH and ME State Capitol Buildings

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I’m combining the New Hampshire and Maine State Capitol Building posts.

We only spent a night in New Hampshire on our way through to Maine, but don’t worry…we’re going to be doing some more things in New Hampshire on our way back down the coast.

The New Hampshire SCB was under some construction so the dome was covered. Dang. I’m sure it’s a lovely dome. I heard that it’s covered in gold leaf.

The inside was very utilitarian, but everything that was there had a meaning or purpose. There were over 200 paintings throughout the building. We didn’t take the tour at the Concord, New Hampshire State Capitol Building so unfortunately, I don’t have a ton of information on it. The door to the Senate Gallery was open so we went in to have a look. You can take a look at it in the bottom left photo. The New Hampshire Senate is the fourth smallest state Senate with only 24 members. So far, each of the New England states has had a Hall of Flags in their State Capitol Buildings. You can see some of the flags in the bottom right photo above. The flags were all in a display case.

I spotted these flowers on the corner across from the State Capitol Building and had to snap a picture. We did manage to squeeze in a pizza place in New Hampshire before we headed on down the road. I’ll let Nicholas give you all the details about that though!

 Next stop was the Maine State Capitol Building! The Maine State House was in line with the other New England Houses. Very basic, clean lines, utilitarian. We saw another Hall of Flags, but all of these flags were replicas. The real ones were at a museum.

This was the first time we saw a porch at a State Capitol Building. According to the tour guide, it’s used often when the Senate and House are in session.

There was a dome and we actually got to see it! It’s…cream colored. As the guide was walking us to the Senate Gallery, she warned us that we couldn’t touch the Senate chairs. That even the Senators weren’t allowed to touch another Senator’s chair. And she watched us like a hawk while we were in there. Jerl dared me to touch one on our way out. I may or may not have accidentally brushed against one of them. Maybe. Maybe not…

The RV park we stayed at while we were visiting Augusta, ME was right by the Kennebec River. It was beautiful and calm while we were there!

Charles had been looking forward to the seafood offered in the North Eastern states. We stopped in at a local favorite called The Red Barn where your meal comes out and is all one color. Ha! You get the three Fs at The Red Barn…fried, fresh and fast! Guys…it was so good! We got the Mixed Seafood Baskets to share. Except Nicholas who opted for a burger. And then Jerl and I got a cup of the Seafood Stew to share. Oh! And I had to try the onion rings! We thoroughly enjoyed everything we got!

We’ll be in Maine for about a month so we’ll definitely get a chance to experience more of what Maine has to offer.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016