Category: Capitol Building

Ohio

Ohio

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Ohio was still one of those skim states for us. We did get to stay a week, but we only went to one city. Columbus.

We did get to tour the capitol building. Notice there’s not a dome on the outside? But, when you go inside…surprise! It looks like there’s a dome! Apparently, they planned on putting a dome on the building, but it took so long they’ve just left it the way it is.

The biggest thing that stood out for me about the Ohio State Capitol building was all of the pink. It was everywhere! Not even the carpeting escaped the pink treatment.

We’ve seen several Capitol Buildings now, but I haven’t seen a ceiling quite as lovely as the one in the left photo. The picture really doesn’t do it justice. The other thing that stood out for me was the hand laid tiles you can see in the right photo. We’ve seen this a few other times, and I always enjoy it.

We also toured the American Whistle Corporation! The American Whistle Corporation is the only metal all American made whistle company in the United States. The company has nine employees and they make the entire whistle there in the factory. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the factory floor…even though you can see it all on the TV show they were on one time. *shrugs* I did sneak a photo…but felt weird about putting it up. So, if you want to check them out, you can go to the show How It’s Made and look up their episode. The tour was both really interesting and boring at the same time. I’m not sure how they pulled that off, but they did. We made it through the tour and got a shiny new whistle at the end! It’s been loud at our place ever since.

Oh! And Guys, we found an all you can eat German buffet! All. You. Can. Eat! It didn’t disappoint. We didn’t get the best German food we’d had, but it was better than a kick in the pants! They also had desserts. So, of course, we had to try some of them! Schmidt’s is known for their half pound cream puffs…we got two…they were enjoyed.

That’s about all we did in Ohio…this time! We have a list of other cities to visit and will be doing those on a different loop!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Indianapolis, IN

Indianapolis, IN

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Remember when I told you about the skim states. Well, Indiana is one of those skim states for the Eastern Loop Tour 2016. We were there for a grand total of two days and during those two days the weather was not nice. We saw snow, hail, and sleet as temps dropped below the freezing mark. I really thought it was supposed to be spring temps during the month of April.

We jammed in as much as we could during a brief respite from the weather. The Indiana State Capitol Building was big!

We were able to get in on a guided tour of the SCB. Our tour guide was a retired school teacher and did a fabulous job. He was engaging, entertaining, and kept the kids involved. He indicated that the people of Indiana were very proud of the fact that Indianapolis has more syllables than any other State Capitol city. Go ahead…we’ll wait for you while you check the syllables of your state capitol city…I know you’re curious. Now that y’all have checked your syllables (two name cities don’t count), let’s move on.

The Indianapolis dome doesn’t disappoint! The stained glass was absolutely beautiful in those tones of blues! In the Supreme Court room the stained glass windows of the owls are supposed to represent wisdom. I do love stained glass…

Indiana is also very proud of it’s Indiana Limestone which is the stone that’s mainly used on the State Capitol Building. You have to make sure you say Indiana Limestone because it’s different (don’t ask me how) but they’ll call you on it.

 We weren’t expecting all of the great murals. We also weren’t expecting to really like Indianapolis. I don’t know why. We have nothing against Indiana…I promise. But we found ourselves wishing for better weather and a longer stay in Indianapolis. In the right picture above you can see the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. We only got to drive by it, but I’m already wanting to make plans for a second visit during another loop.

 Yep. It’s a LOVE statue. I know…it’s been done a thousand times, but I couldn’t help it. I’m sure you’ll see our kiddos in front of other LOVE statues before we’re done.

I’m going to leave you with another look at that gorgeous stained-glass dome. Isn’t it pretty? Oh, and by-the-way…if y’all could arrange for us to have nicer weather while we’re in your respective states we would greatly appreciate it. *winky face*

See y’all on the road!

#easternlooptour2016

Springfield, IL

Springfield, IL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Illinois…we’ll be back!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

A Weekend Away

A Weekend Away

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

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

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

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

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

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

I laughed when I typed that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

Oklahoma. It’s The Place To Be…For Burgers

Oklahoma. It’s The Place To Be…For Burgers

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We took a day off and went out exploring part of Oklahoma. We’d been to Oklahoma on several occasions, but we’d never taken the boys to the State Capitol so, we loaded up the car and drove the almost four hours from where we were staying so we could officially check Oklahoma off of our 50 state list.

We thought the outside of the Capitol Building looked very impressive. In our state capitol booklet Oklahoma boasts as being the only State Capitol Building with a working oil well around it. We did see one, but it didn’t look like it was working.

The Redbud Trees were starting to bloom around the Capitol grounds! Love that pop of color! The dome was unique to what we’ve seen of other domes so far. Oklahoma chose to use a color scheme that represents their ties to the Native American culture which makes sense because the Native Americans have a strong presense in Oklahoma.

I’m a little OCD when it comes to centering up under the domes, so when I saw that OKC had the floor directly under the dome roped off, I got slightly panicky. I hesitated even taking the photo because I knew when I looked at it the lack of symmetry would drive me nuts. But I really like to share our adventures with y’all, so I took the shot and you get a picture of the dome that’s…not great. Sorry.

There were some nice murals and some very lovely stained glass throughout the building. Like most Capitol Buildings, there was marble everywhere. I’m not complaining…I love the look! We did find a couple of Capitol Building firsts! The OKC Capitol Building has a gym and a barber shop!

We’ve decided we need to add a burger list to our List Page. We decided this after eating at Tucker’s Onion Burgers. Are you wondering what the heck an onion burger is? Back in the 1920s several cafes in Oklahoma started adding thinly shredded caramelized onions to their burgers to stretch the beef further. It was a way for the café owners to still turn a profit even during the Great Depression. The onion burger continues to be a staple in many Oklahoma cafes today. And just so you know…Tucker’s is at the top of our Burger List.

We couldn’t pass up the 66ft tall soda bottle at POPs. POPs has hundreds of different flavors of soda all in one store/gas station/diner. There were a ton of people there and we had to stand in line just to look at all of the flavors. It was insane! Flavors ranged from the usual colas to some very interesting flavors…bacon, peanut butter & jelly, sweet corn, and ranch were a few of the not so usual flavors we found. We each picked something out and headed on down the road.

It’s a tourist road side attraction. There’s a “museum” in the bottom floor, but the loft upstairs was the best part. It’s worth a quick stop if you’re ever driving by. I tried to get a shot of the loft, but it just didn’t happen. You’ll just have to go check it out yourself! And make sure you go to Tucker’s Onion Burger since you’ll be so close!!

See y’all down the road!!

Austin, TX

Austin, TX

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Hey Guys! So, we spent a week in Austin…but we really didn’t do much at all. We stayed in a great little state park and didn’t even get any hiking in. I guess that’s what happens when three out of the five of us were sick or injured. We had an allergy issue, a cold, and a hurt ankle. It was…quite the week.

We did manage to make it to the Capitol Building! The outside of the Texas Capitol Building was really impressive. We all think it’s one of the better looking ones we’ve seen so far (and not just because we claim Texas as our home state).

When we went inside, though…well, the dome was nice. This State Capitol Building was all work and no play. The grounds were pretty with several monuments, but as a whole we’re not sure it would make our top ten.

We also made it to a couple of foodie places! Because foodies!

Hopdoddy is a burger place on the main foodie strip. It was packed, but it was running like a well oiled machine. We got in quick, didn’t stand in line too long, and they found us a table before we’d even finished ordering. Can I just say how grateful we were that they found us a table in the middle of all the madness? I was a little stressed that we’d have trays of food and no where to sit.

Our fries came out way before the burgers so they were kind of cold by the time we were ready to eat them. They had some great flavor combinations and they didn’t skimp on the jalapenos or the bacon like some places can do. We really liked that the meat was grass-fed and all of the ingredients were locally sourced and organic.

My favorite thing about Austin was the ice cream. We stopped in at Lick and it was fantastic! They’ve got unique flavors like Texas Sheetcake, Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownie, and a few made from coconut milk so even Charles was able to enjoy some ice cream!

While we didn’t get to do much on our list for Austin, we did get to add the Texas sticker to our map and take a much needed week off!

See y’all down the road!!

Santa Fe, the City Different

Santa Fe, the City Different

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Santa Fe is the only Capital City in the United States that can claim both the oldest Capital City as well as one of the newest Capital Cities. Are you confused? How can it be the oldest and still be considered one of the newest?

The Palace of the Governors is the oldest capitol. It has been the seat of Spanish, Mexican and American governments over the last 405 years as of 2015. There’s a new Capitol Building and now the Palace of Governors is a museum. In the photo above you can see all of the local artists who gather around the building to sell their crafts. If you want to get an authentically made souvenir, this is the place to come.

This is the new State Capitol Building. Every SCB is different. You can get an idea of what’s really important to the city or state by what’s inside. The Santa Fe building has a gorgeous dome! I love the colors! Inside of the New Mexico Capitol Building you’ll find art. Which, might not surprise you when you consider there are over 250 art galleries in just a two-square-mile area in Santa Fe. One of our favorite pieces was this buffalo head you can see in the top right photo. It was made with all kinds of spare bits and pieces.

Before we get too far into this post…let me just go ahead and answer the question that several of you have asked me. Yes, there really are dried chilies hanging everywhere in Santa Fe. Everywhere. Doors, windows, porches, fences…if you can hang something from it, there’s probably chilies there. Inside and outside. Personally, I love it!

When I planned New Mexico…many, many months ago, I found out about the Loretto Chapel and its “miraculous staircase”. The Chapel is no longer a working Chapel, but you can pay to go inside and look around and take all the pictures you want.

You can see the “miraculous staircase” in the photo above. What makes it so miraculous? It has 33 steps in two full 360° turns. Still unimpressed? How about the fact that it doesn’t have a center support and it’s not held up by side supports either. You can’t actually go on the staircase or touch it. They have it roped off, but you can get close enough to appreciate the craftsmanship and the beauty of it.

Between the art, spicy food, and chocolate houses…there’s something for everyone in Santa Fe. I’ve never seen so many chocolate houses in one city! Notice the Green Chili Caramels? I told you they put chilies in everything!

We, of course, had to try several different restaurants in Santa Fe! The plate above is from Posa’s Tamale Factory. We headed there in search of a place to get our Christmas tamales. I got to try my first calabacitas (which turned out to be squash) here. Posa’s Tamale Factory has been pumping out tamales since the 1950s. They provide tamales to many of the restaurants and stores in Santa Fe. You can see the packaging area through the glass windows in the left photo above.

The Sopapilla Factory was right across the highway from where we stayed. They had some really good food that you can see in the top left photo! We kept hearing about Tomasita’s. The food was ok, but we did find the biggest, fluffiest sopapillas we’ve seen so far! You can see Alex with them in the right photo! Another place we kept hearing about is Santa Fe Bite for its green chili cheeseburger (bottom left photo). This would be a good time to mention that Santa Fe is the green chili cheeseburger capital of the world. The world. Confession:  Jerl is the only one of us that actually got a green chili cheeseburger here. You can see a pic of it in the photo above. He said it was a great burger, but he couldn’t really taste the green chilies. My advice…go to Blake’s Lottabuger (you can find Blake’s in all the bigger cities in New Mexico). It’s a better burger and is a third the cost and the green chilies are hard to miss on it!

We made it up to Los Alamos for an afternoon. If you don’t know Los Alamos, it’s where the Manhattan Project took place.

We spent several hours learning more about the Manhattan Project at the Bradbury Science Museum. This is a fantastic museum! We love a good hands-on museum. It was like spending the afternoon doing science experiments and brain teaser puzzles. My little nerds were in science heaven…all four of them! They had to kick us out of this museum too so they could close. We’re going to have to start going to these places earlier in the day!

There aren’t many original structures from the Manhattan Project left. There’s a small walking tour you can do, but it was getting dark so we didn’t have time to do it.

Taos wasn’t on our list, but we kept getting asked if we were going to go there. So, we thought maybe we should. Our visit to Taos took up an entire day. We drove The High Road to Taos then took The Low Road back. It made a nice big scenic loop.

We visited the San Francisco de Asis Church. We heard that this church is one of the most photographed and painted churches in the world. The outside was different from what we’d seen before. It was simply stunning inside. Unfortunately, photos aren’t allowed inside the church so I can’t show you. You’ll just have to go visit it yourself so you can see it!

Downtown Taos is pretty small. There’s a walking tour of it that we did. Taos kind of reminds me of a small ski village. Taos has an elevation of between 7,000 and 8,000 feet and there’s a ski resort not too far away. We walked around the Plaza that was originally a fortified shelter and marketplace. They had it decorated for Christmas!

It wouldn’t be a true day trip without sampling some local fare…we found ourselves at a place called Orlando’s. It was small and brightly decorated. Not only was Orlando’s the most authentic place we’ve eaten at, but it was also the second most expensive place we’ve eaten at on this trip. The food was amazing. We finally got to try posolé here and we learned about a third type of chili sauce…caribe! Caribe is totally different from the red and green chili we’ve been having. In the bottom left photo above, you can see all three chilies. Red, green, then caribe (on the right).

You are looking at the Rio Grande Gorge and Bridge. This is the second highest cantilever bridge in the U.S. Towering at 650 feet above the river, the bridge makes quite an impression. You can park at the rest stop and walk out on the bridge and look down into a canyon that would be deeper than the Grand Canyon if it wasn’t filled with so much silt.

One of the popular things to do in Taos is go to the pueblo. We went, but when we found out it’s $16 a piece to go walk around it…we passed on going in. I’m sure the pueblo is nice, but I’m not going to pay that much to just go walk around it and then have to pay more on top of that for the tour. Maybe if we hadn’t already been to so many other fabulous pueblos…maybe? We saw the teepee in the photo above on our way out of town while driving on The Low Road back to our home on wheels. I couldn’t pass up the chance to get a photo of it.

That’s all folks! That’s our time in the Santa Fe area! We will definitely be back to this area at some point!

See y’all down the road!

Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix, AZ

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We’ve been in Arizona for about a month now and we’ve finally made it to the State Capitol Building! We don’t add the state sticker to our map until we’ve been to the Capitol Building, so we’d been looking forward to Phoenix. See the pretty statue on top of the copper dome? It moves! We thought that was a nice touch. I’ve decided the Capitol Campus in Phoenix is my favorite so far.

It’s not my favorite because of the SCB it’s self…although the fact that the original section of the Capitol Building has been made into a wonderful museum, definitely helped put this Campus on the top of my list. The building isn’t the prettiest, the architecture isn’t the most interesting, but the museum was brilliant! We got a look at what life was like in the SBC in the early years. And, we got to see the state flag made from Legos! How cool is that? They also had examples of all the state symbols on display…which we all thought was pretty neat.

The rest of the campus was very lovely with several memorials dedicated to the wars. We spent a couple of hours perusing through the museum and the grounds.

And, of course, there were the flowers! These pink ones were everywhere.

We ended up eating dinner that night at a German place called Haus Murphey’s. The weather was perfect for eating outside. I knew it was going to be a wonderful meal when it started off with creamed pumpkin soup that even Nicholas, who doesn’t like soup, loved.

The meals came and we all made appreciative noises as each plate was presented. I think the waiter got a kick out of our reactions. Ha! We do love our foodies. Everything we had was amazing and best of all, there was enough leftovers for everyone to have lunch the next day! Score!!

We’ve put Haus Murphey’s on our list of places to visit again!

See y’all down the road!

Carson City, NV

Carson City, NV

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We made it to Nevada! You can’t get much different from Alaska than Nevada. Where Alaska is cool, lush, and green, Nevada is a hot, desolate desert. We’re loving it! We stayed in Carson City for a week. There’s not much to do in this area but we wanted to hit the Capitol City and a couple of other close-ish places.

The Nevada State Capitol Building is the smallest we’ve been in so far. In fact, I didn’t really take pictures of the inside. I snapped a couple pics of the marble floor that ran partially up the wall, but that’s really it. The outside of the building was more intriguing. We haven’t seen a Capitol Building made from sandstone. I did some digging and found out all of the sandstone for the building was obtained from the Nevada State Prison quarry. The silver colored dome on top was also a unique touch. I liked walking around the grounds with its many trees and monuments, but I feel like it was lacking a little in the way it didn’t really feel like a Capitol Building. It felt more like a park with a pretty building that happened to be in it.

There were several casinos in the area, but casinos aren’t really our thing so we skipped those.

 We were more interested in finding some good Mexican food! Something we’d been missing since we left the Missouri area. Thanks to the internet, Jerl found two places he wanted to try. We stopped at El Paisano first. The restaurant was small, everything was served on disposable plates, and the food was amazingly good! And just like a true Mexican place, you had several choices for meat. Being the foodies we are…it’s no great surprise Charlie got some of the…not so common meats. I believe he ended up with pork stomach, beef head, and the beef tongue. He ate it all and went back for another taco.

The second place we tried was The Lady Tamales. Supposedly this place had the best tamales in town…how could we possibly pass that up? This place did not disappoint. We all wolfed down our food and then got two dozen tamales to go. Yep, they really were that good! This place not only had some of the best tamales we’ve ever had, it also had probably the best rice and beans. I would’ve gone back just for some more of the beans. Interestingly, neither of the places we ate at served chips and salsa the way we’re used to, but hey, when the food is that good…you don’t want to fill up on fluff before the main event.

We spent an afternoon in Reno to get some shopping done. New shoes and some groceries from the first Whole Foods we’d seen in months. We drove by the Reno Arch on our way out of town.

We managed to fit in an afternoon at Lake Tahoe State Park! Alex and Nicholas did the Junior Ranger program, but weren’t able to get a badge because all of the Rangers were at a wildfire that had popped up just that afternoon. We walked around Sand Harbor. Even in the late afternoon with a storm coming in, the water was beautiful.

We marveled at the big boulders sitting haphazardly all over the place. We didn’t really get to spend as much time as we would have liked at Lake Tahoe, and someday, we plan on going back. Carson City was a nice change for us. No overwhelming green…it never actually rained…and it was hot!

The boys got to swim at the RV park pool which they loved!

See y’all down the road!

Washington

Washington

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We stayed in Washington for two weeks. We only did two things on our Washington list, but that’s ok…these two weeks were more about catching our breath after our long Alaskan Summer and the super long drive days through Canada to get back to the lower 48. We needed decompression time and we needed to get some maintenance/repairs done on the RV. The first thing we did once we crossed the US/Canadian border (after finding a spot for the night) was get some dinner. I don’t remember what the name of this place was…it was in Lynden, WA and it was good ole’ American food with good ole’ American prices!

I think this burger was called the There Can Never Be Too Much Cheese Burger. It was amazingly good! We all got different things to eat, but I didn’t get pictures of anyone’s other than mine…we were too hungry and too tired to think of it.

The next day we headed to Olympia to check out the State Capitol Building.

It was very majestic, but then again…I do love the dome buildings with all of the columns. We didn’t know until later that it’s supposed to be good luck to have your picture taken with this bust of Washington. Alex and Nicholas are always up for being my models.

We found this huge tree right next to the Capitol Building. It was so big we had to have two boys in front of it to show you a size comparison.

We found the original Capitol Building called “The Castle”.  I believe it’s aptly named…it definitely looks like a castle!

This year (2015) commemorates the 35th Anniversary of the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. We spent two days exploring Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. There are three sides of the volcano that you can explore and we hit things on all three sides. The day we did the Johnston Ridge Observatory side of the volcano was rainy and cold. We started with the Forest Learning Center where we got our first real look at what happened the day Mount St. Helens blew her top. The Center had a short video to watch that had actual footage of that day shot by a cameraman who was close to the blast zone but not right in it. We were able to read first hand stories from the survivors.

We spent quite a bit of time in the Discovery Room at the Forest Learning Center. I love it when there are things for the kids to pick up. We learned a lot that day about the forests of Washington in general.

There was an actual helicopter at TFC that the boys could sit in and push all the buttons. They’re expert button pushers…

The Johnston Ridge Observatory is at the end of this road. We spent a good deal of time here exploring some of the hiking paths and listening to a Ranger Talk. The boys completed another Junior Ranger Program and got their eleventh badge.

The tree in the right photo above is an actual tree. They’ve moved it into the Observatory. There’s a plaque that talks about how the force of the blast snapped trees like matchsticks. There’s also this really nice 3D model that explains what happened during the May 1980 eruption. There are colored lights that turn on and off as a recording explains the different stages of the blast.

You don’t need a sign to tell you that you’ve entered the blast zone…you can tell. It’s still obvious 35 years later. The forests around Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument were replanted and helped along, but the land within the Monument has been (for the most part) left alone so that scientist can see how nature takes it’s course. Because of this you can see trees laying right where they fell on that day back in 1980.

This was the best view we got of Mount St. Helens that day. It was too cloudy to see much.

Some lakes, like the one above, were made because of the 1980 eruption.

The next weekend we went to the other two sides of Mount St. Helens. While I enjoyed the Johnston Ridge side, I like the other two sides better. There aren’t any big visitor centers like over at Johnston Ridge, but there are more scenic views and trails with interpretive signs.

 This area is right at the edge of the blast zone. Not all of the trees were knocked over, but all of them were killed by the heat of the blast.

In the photo above you’ll see what they call Miner’s Car. The Pontiac belonged to a family who hiked to the Black Rock copper mine claim, about 8 miles from Mount St. Helens. On the morning of the eruption, Mount St. Helens released a 300 mph lateral blast of searing gas, ash, and rock that flattened the forest and took the lives of the family. The NP leaves the car where it is to remind people of the 57 people who lost their lives.

At the Meta Lake site, there’s a small trail down to the water. All along the trail are reminders of what happened. Meta Lake was protected by a cover of mushy snow and ice when the blast came. The layer of snow and ice protected the small plants, bugs, and animals burrowed under it and by the next summer signs of life started returning to the mountain.

In a matter of seconds, the May 1980 eruption destroyed cabins, camps, and forests. The mud slide that came down the mountain plunged into Spirit Lake (seen above) causing the surface of the water to raise 200 feet and submerge the sites. With the mudslide came thousands of trees felled by the blast. You can still see them on Spirit Lake. There are signs up warning people not to try to walk on them because they’ll plunge to the bottom.

At the Windy Ridge Interpretive Site, you can walk up the nearly 400 stairs (yes, we counted) to get a view of Spirit Lake and the Crater of Mount St. Helens. It was cloudy this day too, but we got to see a little of the top.

We sat in our car after climbing all of those stairs and had lunch. There was a big herd of Roosevelt Elk to watch while we ate. Elk were one of the first animals to come back to the mountain after the blast.

Here’s another picture of the edge of the blast zone and all of the dead trees still standing. If you look really closely toward the middle of the photo above, you can see an RV on the road. It kind of gives you a good idea of the size of the mountain.

Our next stop was Ape Cave. Ape Cave is a lava tube that was formed about 1,900 years ago and marks an unusual part of Mount St. Helen’s eruptive history. It was the only time in it’s 300,000 year existence the volcano erupted red, hot flowing lava (like what you can see in Hawaii). Mount St. Helen’s lava is thicker and doesn’t run…it’s more of an ooze. Can you see the white stuff in the picture above? That is mold. Fungus. And it’s apparently really important to the cave. We saw signs not to touch it because it takes a long time to grow back. Ape Cave is the third longest lava tube in North America and has a constant temp of 42°F its also pitch black inside. Complete and total darkness. We had planned ahead and brought some flashlights and some headlamps. We saw people walking around with just small dingy lights though. I wouldn’t suggest that…the floor isn’t smooth…it was made from lava and if you fall you can slice your hand open. In the photo above, you will see Jerl and Alex looking at “The Meatball”. Yup. The Meatball. What the heck is The Meatball? Well, its a chunk of round lava that fell from the ceiling while lava was still flowing through the cave. The chunk floated on the surface of the lava and was carried downstream until it got wedged in the narrow spot you can see it in today.

I didn’t really know what to expect with The Trail of Two Forests. When we got there, it was raining and we were the only people silly enough to still hike it. But it was on a boardwalk, so it wasn’t bad at all. At the Trail of Two Forests you get to walk among casts of old-growth trees buried by lava 1,900 years ago during one of Mount St. Helens previous eruptions. In the photo above you can see a tree cast or mold. The lava would flow around the tree and catch the trees on fire and then the trees would burn up. Over time, the charcoal left by the burning tree erodes away leaving behind a cast or mold of the tree. There’s a set of these molds that make a tunnel called “The Crawl” where you can actually crawl through the tunnel to an exit. You can see the lava bed all around the ancient forest. It’s really pretty neat!

We only had two days to explore this area…I would have loved to spend another two so we could’ve taken our time and done a few more hikes. I wanted to do the Lava Canyon hike, but we didn’t make it there this time. Luckily, we’ll be back to Washington to do the rest of the stuff on our list!

We drove in and out of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest during our Mount St. Helens explorations. I had to get a shot of this sign so y’all could see how the moss grows on everything in this part of Washington. It really is everywhere. We’d originally planned on staying in Washington for a month or more to do our entire list for the WA state, but after Alaska…we were kind of done with cool, wet, and green. So, we decided to head South for the winter. We’re ready for some hot dry sunny days!

I wanted to share the only splash of color in the sea of green… This was a flower farm. I’m hoping to make it back to Washington in the Spring to see all of the tulips!

See y’all down the road!!