Destinations – Page 3

Top Memories For 2016

By Jennie Simpson | January 1, 2017

Hey Guys! It’s 2017!! Happy New Year!! We thought it would be fun to look back on some of our favorite memories of 2016 with y’all. These are in chronological order and not in rank order. We couldn’t all agree on what order they should be in.

We started 2016 off at White Sands National Monument. This is still one of our favorite National Parks! We had the best time sledding down the sand dunes!

Big Bend National Park had to make the list. The diversity of the landscape here was amazing and beautiful. The vast open expanses of land made us feel so small. We left so much unexplored.

We can’t think of Big Bend NP and not think of our border crossing into Boquillas, Mexico! The boys still talk about riding the burros. It was definitely an experience none of us will forget.

We enjoyed New York more than we thought we would. Old Fort Niagara is on our list of our favorite Forts.

Niagara Falls is awe inspiring. The sheer force of the water as it goes over the falls is breathtaking.

The lobster in Lubec, ME was a favorite for everyone. Being able to go right down to the fishing boat that caught the lobster earlier that day and pick out the lobsters we wanted was so cool.

Acadia National Park has so much to offer. The views were spectacular!

The Cape Cod National Seashore was everything we’d heard it would be. Beautiful beaches and tons of people. We would like to go back during their off season.

We were all surprised by how much we enjoyed the Newport Mansions in Rhode Island. The personal stories and history really made it all come alive.

Some people call Littlest, Panda Boy. He loves pandas and had been looking forward to seeing one in person at the National Zoo ever since I told him we would be going. I think he asked me every week when exactly we would be going to the National Zoo.

We loved all of the Monuments and Memorials in Washington DC.

Kitty Hawk, NC was another surprise for us. We thoroughly enjoyed this area and hated to leave it.

The Biltmore was a bonus this year. We didn’t plan on going to see it, but Mother Nature threw a monkey wrench into our plans and sent Hurricane Mathew up the East Coast. We had to flee Kitty Hawk and head inland so we headed to Ashville and the Biltmore.

Boone Plantation was something I’d been looking forward to for awhile. We really enjoyed the Gullah Geechee aspect of it.

Driftwood Beach in Georgia is still the most unique beach we’ve been to. It was so fun to walk up and down the beach and play around on all of the driftwood.

We saw quite a few Forts in 2016. Fort Castillo de San Marcos in the St. Augustine area of Florida made it to our top five.

And…of course, Universal Studios made it on to our list of 2016 favorites. #potterheadsrule

Everglades National Park left an impression on all of us. We loved the diversity of animals and ecosystems we found here.

We’ve had quite a year! It was really hard for us to pick our favorites.

I hope y’all had a wonderful 2016 and will have an even better 2017!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

The Biltmore

By Jennie Simpson | November 8, 2016

Since Hurricane Mathew interrupted our time on the North Carolina coast, we headed to the Asheville area to escape the weather. Asheville is where you’ll find The Biltmore.

Built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt, The Biltmore was just one of the Vanderbilt family homes. It’s huge. Let me see if I can remember the details…thirty-three bedrooms, forty-three bathrooms, 250 rooms, and sixty-five fireplaces all add up to a grand total of about four acres of floor space.

We opted to take the ninety minute guided audio tour. We feel like audio tours really add to the experience. In the photo above, you can see the Winter Garden. The Winter Garden is actually inside the mansion. That’s a glass roof you’re looking at and what used to be a working fountain.

On one side of the massive banquet hall is this set of built in shelves with the organ loft. The organ actually works. In the basement, there’s a room that has the air pump for the organ. I love the shelves!

On the other side of the banquet hall is a wall of triple fireplaces. Because three is always better than one, right? This room was huge. The pictures can’t even begin to portray the true size of it. The ceiling in the banquet hall is seven stories high!

Here you can see the Breakfast Room where the Vanderbilt family ate lunch. Yep, you read that right. They named it The Breakfast Room, but they would eat lunch there. Maybe it was a really late breakfast…more like brunch?

The ceilings in The Biltmore were just as ornate and thought out as the rest of the rooms.

The Tapestry Gallery is more like a wide hallway. There are three tapestries hanging here that are a part of seven. Each tapestry depicted one of the Seven Virtues.

This fireplace was in the Tapestry Gallery. I love how ornate it is! Check out the turtles on the bottom of the lamps.

We’ve made it to my favorite room in the whole place. The Library.

I took more photos of the Library than any other room at The Biltmore. I mean…look at that fireplace! Can you imagine perusing the books to find that perfect read and curling up by the fireplace to have a quiet afternoon? Oh! See the big blue and white urn type thing? It once belonged to a Chinese Emperor about 500 years ago. He used it as a fish bowl.

This was George Vanderbilt’s bedroom. It’s huge! And I love all of the woodwork in it. All hand carved by super important artsy people. I don’t remember all of their names…there were so many different names said during this tour. Can you see the gold colored walls? That’s real gold. It’s gilded 24 Karat gold burlap.

All of the fireplaces were different. Different colors, different materials, different style. This one was in George Vanderbilt’s bedroom.

This sitting room joined the family bedrooms. There was a small table for food, a writing desk, and a game table. This is where the family would have breakfast while they planned the day’s events.

Edith Vanderbilt’s room was oval shaped and decorated in gold and purple. Edith made sure she knew all the names of everyone working at The Biltmore during a time when it was improper for the family to speak to the staff. She also made sure to send care baskets when children were born. Edith went so far as to start a trade-school that taught weaving and wood working so the servant’s children would be able to learn a craft or trade that they could use to earn a living.

The Biltmore was really built so the family could entertain guests. The third floor living hall was right outside all of the guest suites. The guests would wait to go down to breakfast here as they sat around and chatted.

I loved looking at all of the old family photographs. Notice the books against the wall? George Vanderbilt had a 23,000 volume collection of books. That alone makes me like him. I mean, anyone who takes the time to accumulate that many beloved books has to be good, right?

This is in one of the guest suites. I really enjoy the way they have the rooms set up. It’s like we’re getting to take a peak back in time. With the dress on the bed with the gloves over the footboard…it’s like catching a fleeting glimpse into their lives.

This is in the same guest suite. The vanity table all set up and waiting. This guest suite was just for single ladies. The single ladies and single gentlemen were kept in separate suits since it was inappropriate for them to sleep in the same area of the house.

Check out this chandelier. It’s three stories high with three chandeliers on it. Can you imagine trying to dust that thing?

In the basement you’ll find the recreation area. Complete with a bowling alley,

a 70,000 gallon heated swimming pool that they only kept filled for a few days at a time,

and a gymnasium because even back then being healthy was important.

They supplied private dressing rooms because no self-respecting lady of that time would be caught walking through the house in a “bathing costume”. There was a row for the women and a separate row (on the other side of the wall) for the men.

The library was my favorite room…the pastry kitchen is a close second. Imagine having an entire kitchen solely for the purpose of baking…

There would’ve been more than a dozen people in here working to prepare the meals for the Vanderbilt family and their guests. The copper pots hanging above the worktable are actually original.

Check out the mortar and pestle! Huge!

This was the servant’s dining room. The dining room maid would have served the servants three meals a day here.

There were sooo many pantry rooms. Each dedicated to different things. This one is mainly for the canned goods.

Most people have one room for the laundry. At The Biltmore, there was a sewing room, main laundry room, drying room,

and a dying room. Notice the box and bottles of dyes?

This was the smoking room. More books. The books were everywhere! It was a book lovers dream!

This pic gives you a good idea of the many different levels at The Biltmore.

This is the view the Vanderbilt Family and their guests enjoyed. George Vanderbilt and his architect used a ladder to determine what the best view would be before they began building.

We got to The Biltmore around 2’ish…we didn’t leave until around 8. There are so many things to look at.

We took a quick walk through some of the gardens, but we didn’t have time to look at everything.

Here are some of the pretties…

look how bright and vibrant they are!

I would love to see the gardens during each season.

There was a wine tasting included with the house ticket. If you know me, you know I’m not really into wine. The boys thought it was funny to watch my face as I tasted each wine.

The boys all got grape juice to try. They also had their fill of these pallet cleansing little biscuits that were sitting out.

We ended up getting three bottles of wine! lol! I found two white’s that I actually like.

When we left it was dark. There were several hummingbirds flitting between these big flowers and we stood there for a few minutes watching them. The picture’s not the best. It was dark and I only had my phone…but this little hummingbird decided to see what The Dude tasted like and flew down to lick his leg. It was pretty funny!

We had a great time exploring The Biltmore!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Newport Rhode Island

By Jennie Simpson | September 20, 2016

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 must 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.

One of my favorite things to see on the tours were the vanity tables. I love 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 the bathroom. No outhouses for these guys.

This is the china closet.

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 about the people who worked there. At The Elms there’s even a separate tour you can take called Servant Life Tour. I’ll come 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. 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.

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.

This is the ceiling of the room in the picture above this one. There were so many great details.

I had to share these wall panels with y’all. They’re platinum leaf…so they’ll always be shiny. Platinum. You know…just because they can.

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 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”.

The Rosecliff has been in several movies. You might recognize it from the 1974 Great Gatsby.

I love the view from Rosecliff.

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

I love 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.

Here’s a closer look at the leather wallpaper. It’s starting to crack with age. But can you imagine the effect it had back when it was new? Go back and look at the previous picture. The dining room had a fireplace and 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 those different brushes!

Chateau-sur-Mer was the only mansion that didn’t have an audio tour. We had a guided tour here.

The boys’ favorite thing was the European Weeping Beech. They declared it fort worthy. It was pretty awesome.

Here’s what the whole tree looked like.

The last mansion we went through was The Marble House. It was built in 1892 to be the “ultimate statement of Gilded Age privilege”.

This is the Gothic Room it was built to display the Vanderbilt’s Gothic art collection.

The ceiling in the Gothic room. 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.

Because we all need a fresco above our dining room table. 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 would hear 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.

The stairs up to the servant’s area of the house. The family would never go to the servant area. It was considered taboo.

The Marble House got its name from the 500K cubic feet of marble it’s made of.

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!

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.

We even managed 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

By Jennie Simpson | September 13, 2016

Hey Guys!! We spent one crazy, busy week in the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts! I’d 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 and 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.

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. I’ll be honest here…we were also trying to get it done so we wouldn’t have to fight the traffic again. Yes…it really was that bad.

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.

This one was out on a point and it was sooooo windy! Super windy and parking was tight, but look how pretty it is!

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.

Y’all know we love to take factory tours. We hadn’t been on a potato chip factory tour so we jumped on 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 this 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 MayflowerII. 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 these…they’re huge!

This one wasn’t completely bloomed out yet, but I love how delicate it looks.

You see the red dots? 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.

All in all we loved the Cape Cod area! We will definitely go back…during the off season.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

The Niagara Falls Area

By Jennie Simpson | July 26, 2016

IMGP4122 — New York welcome sign next to Canadian border

We spent a week in the Niagara Falls area of New York. The weather was hit and miss…a few days it was more like summer, but mostly it was cool, windy, and rainy.

Our RV park was only half an hour away from Buffalo…and since Jerl and the boys love wings so much…we had to have Buffalo Wings in Buffalo. We found Anchor Bar which claims to be the creator of the Buffalo chicken wings and we couldn’t pass up the chance to try the originals. I kind of wish we’d passed. The place was a dive and was super expensive. Our waitress…I’m pretty sure she was high on life (or something). My friend (hey Dawn!) suggested Duff’s Famous Wings. We gave them a try the next night. I didn’t get any photos…but it was a much better experience! The wings were great, the service was great and best of all…the place was clean!!

While we were in Buffalo, we took a small side trip to the Erie Basin Marina and Gardens so we could poke Erie Lake. We have to touch the water or I can’t put the sticker on our map.

I’m conflicted about the Junior Ranger book here. It’s the Niagara State Park, but there’s a National Park Junior Ranger booklet…but it’s for the Niagara Falls National Heritage Area. This is the first time in almost fifty badges that we’ve encounter a Junior Ranger booklet that required us to travel so far from the park and pay admission to several different places in order to complete the booklet. Sure, they give you the nifty lanyard…and they’re supposed to give you the pins as you visit the places (not every place gave us one)…but, this was the hardest, most involved booklet the boys have done. Now, having said my piece about all of that…the booklet pointed us to a few places we wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Hence, the conflicted feelings…

Old Fort Niagara is a place you could easily spend an entire day exploring. We got there right before a storm blew in across Lake Ontario and toward the end of the day so we rushed our visit. The building above is the French Castle built in 1726.

Old Fort Niagara has a history that spans more than 300 years. The area was originally used by Native Americans. Most of the buildings are open and you can freely explore the grounds.

The site has been occupied by the French, British, and American forces through the years.

Old Fort Niagara was restored between 1926 and 1934. The rooms have been made to look like they might have during the time when Old Fort Niagara was in use. They fire off the canons and guns at certain times though out the day. Between the downpours of rain and the timing we missed it. We did hear it though. The boys just about came unglued the first time. They’d been chattering and joking around and when the canon fired they stopped and looked around. We chuckled. They chuckled…but continued to look around for threats. I wish I’d gotten a shot of all of their faces that first time.

We made our way to Lockport where the Erie Canal Locks 34 & 35 are. We shimmied in to the Erie Canal Discovery Center about half an hour before they closed.

IMGP4226 — Jerl and Mr. Man learning about how the locks work

There was a great little museum that explained the history, the building, and the local life of the Erie Canal.

Right across the street from the Discovery Center is the actual Erie Canal. We were able to walk up and down some of the locks and really get a good look at them.

We would have missed this place if it hadn’t been in the Junior Ranger booklet. The New York Power Vista is such a cool place!

When you walk in they issue you a Power Portal ID. You have to register it in their computer and then you head to the museum to earn points by completing tasks. When you’re done with everything you can print out your avatar and the amount of points (watts) you earned (generated).

IMGP4283 — Mr. Man learning about electric circuits

Not everything earned you points. Some things were just for exploration and learning. We were geeking out here. We love experiments and places that let our inner nerd shine through.

Some of the displays were more high tech. The one above really made the boys problem solve and think outside the box while they put together everything they’d learned about electricity and circuits. I want to point out the adult lady watching Mr. Man. This wasn’t an easy activity. Several of the adults couldn’t figure it out.

The object of this exercise was to make a stable electrical grid. There were different pieces you could put on the digital table that would react with the other pieces as well as the environmental elements represented. Get it wrong and your grid blows up. Get it right and you get your points for this activity! We played with this one for a while. One of the coolest things about our nomadic lifestyle is the hands on learning. We don’t have to just read about things in books…

The New York Vista isn’t just a museum, it’s a working facility that produces clean energy.

IMGP4103 — Niagara Falls. American side at night.

Niagara Falls. Our first night in the area we went to see the falls lit up. It was our first time seeing the falls…and we were all extremely underwhelmed by the view. There were a few hundred people there all trying to cram into the one small area where you could actually see anything of the falls.

The First Date burger (sauteed mushrooms, diced tomatoes, garlic and brie cheese) with the Poutini Martini fries (fresh cut fries, cheese curds, gravy, and onion ring)

On our last day in the area we crossed the border into Ontario. We, of course, had to find a burger place. And I wanted to try poutine. We found a place called The Works. We were able to walk there from the American side of Niagara.

The Dead Ringer burger (smoked beef brisket, smokey bbq sauce, jack cheese, jalapenos, and an onion ring) with the Longhorn Poutine fries (fresh cut fries, cheese curds, gravy, smoked beef brisket and bbq sauce)

Guys, this place…it’s officially on our top ten. Everything we had was amazing. Everyone there was super nice. We’re already wanting to go back!!

I told you how underwhelmed we were with the view from the American side of Niagara…well, the view got incredibly better as we were walking across the bridge to the Canadian side of Niagara. The shot above is from the bridge.

IMGP4316 — American Falls from the Canadian side of Niagara

All of my Canadian friends told me the view of the falls is better from the Canadian side. They were right. We’d walked over to Luna Island (that little smidge of land toward the right side of the picture above) a few days before. It was something altogether different seeing it from the other side of the river.

IMGP4329 — Horseshoe Falls and a Hornblower Boat

There’s a wonderful park with nice walkways all along the river on the Canadian side of Niagara. This was our first good view of Horseshoe Falls. Each side of the river has their own touristy things. On the American side you’ve got The Maid of the Mist boats while on the Canadian side you’ve got The Hornblower boats. In the pic above you can see one of the Hornblower boats. The Maid of the Mist boats stop giving rides by 5PM but the Hornblower boats continue to give rides well after dark.

The rainbows changed shape, size, and number depending on where you were standing.

I know, I know…I usually save the flowers for the end…but I wanted to end with a surprise. These purple flowers were on both sides of the Niagara River. I couldn’t get enough of them!

There were some wildflowers here and there too on both sides of Niagara.

On the Canadian side you can walk right up to the side of Horseshoe Falls. The American side was under construction. We couldn’t get close at all.

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Sometimes a picture doesn’t do it justice. We stood watching the water for a while. The water rushing by us so fast gave us a slight sense of vertigo.

We stopped in a Tim Horton’s while we waited for the sun to completely set. The temps dropped quickly outside so we welcomed the opportunity to get in out of the cold breeze and mist from the falls.

When it got closer to 10PM we made our way back to the Rainbow Bridge to watch the fireworks. We wanted to get out of the press of people and wanted to be a little farther away from the show so we could get some better pics.

There weren’t very many people on the bridge. We had our choice of places to stand…and the view was gorgeous!

IMGP4395 — Fireworks from Rainbow Bridge

We ooo-ed and ahhh-ed along with everyone else on the bridge.

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Because, who doesn’t love a good fireworks show?

See y’all down the road!

#easterloop2016

NYC Times Two

By Jennie Simpson | July 19, 2016

It took us two full days and walking over twenty miles to see what we wanted to see in New York City. And…as you might guess…we still didn’t see it all, but I wasn’t going to talk Jerl into going back any time soon. Big cities aren’t really our thing and New York City is about as big as they come. I’m not into big cities either, but I do enjoy NYC so I could have easily gone back for a third or fourth day to do some more exploring, but I think I would’ve had to go it alone. I’ll post our NYC explorations in the order we had them.

On day one we spent over half the day at Ellis Island and Liberty Island so we didn’t even reach NYC until around one in the afternoon. We used the Statue Cruises ferry to hop from the New Jersey side to the NYC side so we wouldn’t have to drive in NYC at all. We landed in NYC in Battery Park and started our trek north through the city.

The 9/11 Memorial was our first stop. A few things about NYC stood out for me. One of them was the sheer number of NYPD Officers out and about at certain locations. At the 9/11 Memorial, there were quite a few officers keeping watch. Staying vigilant.

The 9/11 Memorial was beautiful. Simple and clean.

Our next stop was the Brooklyn Bridge…along with about a million other people. The Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883 and was the first bridge to link Manhattan and Brooklyn. We walked part way across the bridge, but we were pressed for time and watching the weather which was calling for rain. I would love to go back and go to DUMBO to get a good shot of the whole bridge. I’m hoping that one of these days…in a far off future…I’ll be able to talk Jerl into going back.

Our next stop was Chinatown.

The boys were starving so we grabbed some dumplings from Fried Dumpling to eat on our way to our next destination.

I’d been to Chinatown before when I took a trip to NYC with a bestie of mine way back when I was in Junior High…so I knew what we were in for. The boys…I think they had a bit of culture shock. I could have spent the entire day roaming around China Town!

I saw several people taking selfies with the wall above. It’s pretty and I probably would have had one of the boys take a pic of me and Jerl there…but we couldn’t make it across the street and we didn’t want to walk all the way back to it. I know…sounds lazy…but our feet were starting to scream at us so, we walked on. We made it all the way up to Washington Square (which was packed with people) where we grabbed a slice of pizza on Bleecker Street and some tacos from Otto’s.

It was close to five-ish at this point and we were all tired so we called it a day and made our way back to our ferry to head home.

Day two was actually a couple of weeks later. The plan was to ferry up to the 39th street pier. When I glanced online it looked like the ferry we were using went there. It doesn’t. So, we walked. We headed back up to Washington Square.

We were in the city by 9AM this time and the walk wasn’t too bad. We also went during the week which, I think, helped. Washington Square wasn’t nearly as crowded this time and I got a decent shot of the fountain and the arch without a thousand people milling around.

On the north side of Washington Square is “The Row”. Greek Revival homes where some of the elite in New York City of the 19th century lived. Looks so pretty! You’d never know that right next to where I snapped this shot was a huge smelly pile of trash.

We didn’t go up into the Empire State Building. I’m sure the panoramas are enviable. But the line was insane and the price was worse. I refuse to pay that much just for a view. We did walk right by it and look waaayyy up…it is a long way up there. And I did snap this great shot on the way to our next stop!

The Flatiron Building is a 1902 skyscraper. The 22 story triangular building is considered to be a groundbreaking skyscraper.

We wanted the full NYC experience so we had to try a hotdog from a food cart!

So…we were walking along and I noticed a few people taking pics of something behind us. I turn around to see a great shot of the Chrysler Building! When it was completed in 1931 it held the title of “world’s tallest building”.

I didn’t take this picture because it’s a digital American flag. I took it because of all of the police officers guarding it. It saddens me that they have to guard it. I don’t know if you can see it, but one of the guards is heavily armed. Don’t ask me what kind of gun it was…I don’t know guns…it was really big and looked like it would shoot a missile. Can’t we just get along?

Broadway! I snapped this pic on the way by.

Junior’s Most Fabulous Cheesecake. We had to have some New York Cheesecake while we were in NYC! Right?! We spotted the Junior’s Bakery and grabbed a slice to share. Junior’s has been around since 1950 and apparently, it’s the place to go for great cheesecake. It really was fabulous. It was so good that when we saw a frozen Junior’s at the grocery store, we bought it!

We made it to Times Square! It was packed with people and the all of the signs were flashing up ads non-stop. We stuck around just long enough to snap some pictures and then we were off again.

We grabbed a slice from Ray’s Original as we made our way up to Central Park. I think this is the biggest slice of pizza I’ve seen.

Rockefeller Center! We’re fans of Jimmy Fallon. We stood there for a few moments hoping a chance sighting. It didn’t happen, but it was fun to see the building!

You see it in movies, hear about it on shows, but the number of yellow taxis was astounding! They were everywhere!!

I didn’t know this was here. We were walking by and I spotted it so…I had to have a picture of the boys with it. I’m not sure how many LOVE statues this one makes…I should count those up.

Central Park! I don’t know why…but for some reason my goal was to reach Central Park. I needed to see it. It was so odd to walk out of this huge city and into a forest like setting…but look up and see all of the skyscrapers!

I also really wanted to find this bridge. This particular bridge was on an episode of Doctor Who. If you’re a true Whovian then you’ll recognize it. If not…well, you can still appreciate the beauty in the picture. It was a really wonderful place in the park.

Here’s another shot of the bridge. Notice all of the row boats? There were tons of them out! By this point our feet were screaming at us. And not nice things. So, we headed back toward the ferry terminal. It was about a four and a half mile walk from the pic above to the ferry terminal.

There’s a great park all along the NYC side of the Hudson so we headed to the river and then started the walk south. The Intrepid was on our way. We were way too tired to go explore it, but we did sit on some benches and admire it for a bit. We met a guy at the RV park we were staying at during this time who served on the Intrepid. He told us a few stories so we thought about what it was like for him on that big ship while we sat there listening to our feet scream some very unflattering things at us.

One World Trade Center is presently America’s tallest building coming in at 1,792′ to the tip.

Don’t worry…I’m not leaving out the flowers! Yes! There were tons of flowers in New York City! I was pleasantly surprised by all of the gardens and flowers throughout the city. The pink ones above were in a garden along the Hudson.

This little garden was also in a park along the Hudson. Remember that park I told you about? It had a skate park, playgrounds for kids, playgrounds for furry four-legged kids, basketball courts, tennis courts, splash pads…and it had open green spaces for people to hang out in.

We saw people doing anything and everything you would normally do in your backyard…I guess because they were in their backyard.

These flowers were in Central Park. I love the clean lines and colors. They smelled horrid…but they’re pretty!

It was somewhere around 6PM when we dragged ourselves onto the World Financial Ferry Terminal. Some of us didn’t even wait to get back to the car before they fell asleep. I think we wore them out!

And there you have it. Our NYC times two experience. I loved it. All of it. The rest of us…well, they liked the ferry ride and the food. 😉 I might need to find someone else to go back to NYC with. Any volunteers?

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Harrisburg, PA

By Jennie Simpson | June 17, 2016

While we were staying in Gettysburg we made it to Harrisburg to see the State Capitol Building.

IMGP3112 — Pennsylvania State Capitol Building

We went on a Sunday to try and avoid all of the end of the school year tours. I think there were seven other people in our group…it was great!

The Pennsylvania State Capitol Building is definitely the most opulent one we’ve seen so far. I mean…look at that dome. See all of that gold? It’s real. Impressive, right? The dome is 272 feet, weighs 52 million pounds, and was inspired by Michelangelo’s design for St.Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

At the entrance is a set of 17 foot bronze doors weighing in at a full ton each.

Several of the Rotunda’s features were borrowed from the Paris Opera House.

One of my favorite things about the Penn State Capitol Building is the first floor. There are close to 400 tile mosaics portraying different aspects of the state.

I love all of the rich colors.

We were told that the Capitol Building has been called a “Palace of Art.” It’s definitely filled with beauty.

There are 24 stained glass windows in the Senate and House Chambers. Each window represents a theme and are framed in 24-karat gold leaf embellishments.

The six crystal chandeliers in the House Chamber require over 1,000 light bulbs and weigh from two to over four tons each. When our tour guide learned that this was our seventeenth Capitol Building, she kept asking us what we thought. I got the impression she was a little competitive. We were asked by more than one person at the Capitol Building what our favorite one is so far only to be told that the Pennsylvania State Capitol Building is rated number two in the country. I can safely say Pennsylvanians are very proud of their Capitol Building! And it is gorgeous!

While we were in the Harrisburg area, we took the opportunity to visit Hershey.

Yup. That Hershey.

There’s a free tour ride where they explain the whole process starting with where they get their beans and how they clean them

to roasting them (it was warm on this part of the ride)

to the melting process (it smelled heavenly during this portion of the ride).

And, of course, you can buy candy there.

This was my favorite section.

They even had some baked goods available. It was kind of like dying and going to sugar heaven! I think I got a sugar rush just from the smell!

We had to buy it. But, it was fun and we got a free candy bar!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Gettysburg, PA

By Jennie Simpson | June 14, 2016

We spent a week in Gettysburg. Most of the time the weather was cold and rainy which makes it hard to explore a battlefield. We did have a few hours here and there with decent weather. We crammed in as much as we could during those times.

IMGP3148 — The boys in front of the Visitor Center sign.

There are a few ways you can see the battlefield of Gettysburg. We opted to buy the auto tour on disc that came with a nice booklet. The set was really well thought out and very informative without being dry or boring.

The first thing that struck us was how many memorials there are. Every army, corp, division, brigade, regiment, company, and state that took part in the battle has a memorial, monument, or marker.

On the second day of the battle the Trostle Farm was stuck in the middle of a battle. If you look closely you can see the cannonball hole still there.

Some of the monuments are so elaborate! You can actually go into the Pennsylvania Monument. There are stairs that lead to the top where you can look out over the battlefield.

IMGP3309 — View from the top of the Pennsylvania Monument.

You know, you can read about these things in books, watch documentaries about them…but when you’re out on the ground where it took place while hearing about the personal struggles of the soldiers and the citizens…it really gives you a new understanding of what took place here. Three days in July two armies met by chance…and the country changed forever.

When the battle was over on that third day and the armies left Gettysburg, they left behind a community in ruins and over 51,000 soldiers who were dead, missing, or wounded. More men fell during the Battle of Gettysburg than in any other battle on American soil.

IMGP3331 — Monument with the Gettysburg Address on it.

The Soldier’s National Cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address here. The speech was 272 words, lasted around two minutes, and transformed Gettysburg from a scene of utter destruction and death into a symbol of inspiration to those still living. Lincoln stated that the war would lead to a “new birth of freedom” for our young nation.

You can’t stand in the spot where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. The Soldiers’ National Monument was erected in that spot. Unfortunately, when we were visiting the monument was undergoing some restoration work so we got to see it covered in scaffolding.

The Gettysburg Address Memorial isn’t too far from the spot Lincoln gave the speech.

There’s so much to see and do in Gettysburg. You could spend an entire day touring the battlefield alone. It took us two days to finish the battlefield auto tour, but you could do it in one really long day.

IMGP3298 — Eisenhower National Historic Site

Part of the Gettysburg experience is the Eisenhower National Historic Site. You have to take a bus from the Visitor Center to get there because there’s no public parking at the farm.

When Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower bought this farm in 1950 the house was in bad condition. When they started remodeling it, they found a decaying 200 year old log cabin under the brick veneer. They saved what they could of the original house and used bits and pieces of it around the new house.

Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite color was pink. If you didn’t know that about her before you visited her home, you would figure it out pretty quickly. The main color scheme throughout the house is pink.

Eisenhower used the farm to breed Black Angus for shows.

Eisenhower Farms show cattle gained recognition in the Angus raising community by winning ribbons at major competitions across the U.S.

The boys took the opportunity to earn a Secret Service badge.

This booklet was challenging physically and mentally. They definitely earned that badge!

The tour of the Eisenhower Farm is a self-guided tour which is kind of a bummer. When we visited the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch it was a guided tour and the tour guide told us little stories and details about each room we saw. We were talking to one of the Ranger’s outside of the Eisenhower home and he told us this great story of when the Eisenhower’s first moved onto the farm. Not far from the farm is a watchtower for the Gettysburg Battlefield and the Secret Service wanted to close it down for safety reasons. Ike didn’t feel like it was necessary so one of the Secret Service agents gave him a copy of a book about assassins. After reading the book Ike had the tower closed. I feel like it’s stories like that that help us understand and maybe even relate to the person and not the public persona.

There were several lilac bushes in bloom while we were at the Eisenhower Farm. I took the time to smell them all…

I’m not sure what kind of flower this is, but it’s pink! These were also at the Eisenhower Farm.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Clifftop, WV

By Jennie Simpson | June 10, 2016

We were in Clifftop for almost two weeks. We stayed at Babcock State Park and it was wonderful!

Our first day in the area was pretty cold and misty. We’d heard about the grist mill so we went to check it out. It’s a gorgeous area.

We walked in thinking we would take a look around and move on, but when we found the Miller there…well, one thing led to another and suddenly we had plans to come back after lunch so the boys could help grind corn.

The Miller was a wealth of knowledge. He explained the process and actually put the boys to work.

Each boy took part in each job. They scooped the corn kernels into the hopper. The Miller explained about the phrase “nose to the grind stone”. When you’re grinding corn (or whatever you might be grinding) the stones will get hot. You don’t want them too hot or they’ll ruin whatever your grinding so you have to smell around the grindstone to make sure you’re not going too fast and getting too hot.

As the ground corn comes out of the meal spout it lands on a big wire mesh screen where it needs to be sifted. You get corn flour, corn meal, corn grit, and then the waste which was used to feed the animals. Nothing was thrown away.

IMGP2941 — Mr. Man holding some freshly ground corn meal

IMGP2931 — Different products from the mill

I’m watering down the details here. There’s more to it than this, but I’m not a miller and I don’t remember all of the technical jargon. In the jars above you can see the different products that could come out of a grist mill.

For their effort, they were each given a certificate

and we got to keep a bag of the corn meal they’d just ground! We’ve got some plans for this corn meal!! This stuff is so different from what you’ll get at the store. So much better!

We pretty much had the campground to ourselves…except for all of the wildlife. We counted nine deer grazing outside our front door one afternoon.

We were fairly close to the New River Gorge Bridge so we took the opportunity to go check it out. The boys snagged a badge and a patch there. It’s called New River, but it’s actually one of the oldest rivers in the world. It’s older than the Appalachian Mountains. At 876 feet, New River Bridge is the third highest bridge in the country.

So, at the visitor center you can walk down the hundreds of stairs to get an ok view of the bridge. Don’t get me wrong…it’s a nice view…but, I’d heard about a hike you can do to get a better view. The hike is called Long Point Hike for anyone interested. It’s a bit strenuous, but not terrible. I definitely earned the burger I had after that. We ended up hiking a total of around four miles round trip. It was so worth it! Check out the view from Long Point in the photo above! You come out on this point and you’re looking straight at the bridge and you’re far enough away that you can get the whole bridge with the river below it in your shot! Just watch out for the red wasps. It’s a long way down if you fall off the edge as you’re dodging the wasps…

We also made it to Cathedral Falls! I don’t really know anything about Cathedral Falls except they’re super easy to get to.

It’s always hard to judge how big something is in a picture unless you’re given a size comparison. If you look closely in the above picture, you’ll see Jerl and The Dude checking out some tadpoles to the left of the falls.

We only had time for one more place so we hit Nuttallburg. It is impressive!

In the 1870s John Nuttal wanted to take advantage of the rich coal deposits along the New River gorge and began buying up the land around it. By the turn of the century, Nuttallburg was a pretty busy mining community, but after his death it didn’t do so well.

In the 1920s Henry Ford leased the town’s mines to provide for his company’s steel mills. He spent $100,000 to build the “button and rope” conveyor system you can see heading up the hill. Ultimately, his plan failed when he couldn’t control or buy the railroad, he needed to carry the coal form the mine to his mills and he sold his interests in the Nuttallburg mines in 1928.

There was an entire community at Nuttallburg. Homes, stores, schools…

In the two photos above, you can see the same plot of land then and now.

The row of coke ovens are still there. You can see where the Company Store was. You’ve heard the song 16 Tons by Tennessee Ernie Ford? “I owe my soul to the company store…” wasn’t far from the truth. Miners worked long hours in dangerous conditions to earn their pay. When the only store around was owned by the mining company…well, prices weren’t fair and miners usually ended up owing the Company Store more money than they made each week.

Yup, that’s coal! We saw it everywhere. The only other place we’ve seen it so easily available is in Alaska.

We took advantage of the fire pit and had roasted hot dogs and s’mores several nights. You might be surprised to know that most of the RV Parks we go to don’t have a fire pit and don’t allow fires at the campsites. So…we indulged and took advantage of the fire pit while we stayed at Babcock State Park!

Flower report! The dogwood trees were everywhere and in full bloom!!

This is also a tree. I don’t know what kind it is, but I love the delicate pink blooms on it and so did the butterfly!

Ok…so…this isn’t the best picture, but these purple flowering trees were thrown in all over the place along rivers, railroads, and roads. We were told by a Ranger that they came over on trains from China. She also told us the name of the tree, but for the life of me I can’t remember. They were super pretty though!

We loved West Virginia more than we expected to! One of our favorite things to do is talk to locals. You really get a feel for an area when you chat with the people who live there. West Virginia is filled with hard working, genuinely nice folks that are trying to make ends meat in a dying state. Every time a mine is closed it’s taking jobs and livelihood away from an entire community. I encourage everyone to take a trip to West Virginia this summer. Go explore and support the small towns and communities that depend on tourism to stay alive.

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

A Change Of Plans

By Jennie Simpson | November 16, 2015

We had originally intended to spend two weeks at the Grand Canyon National Park, but when we got to the RV park we’d planned on staying at, things changed. The park was a total dump and on top of that, Jerl didn’t have good enough cell service to work. We went in search of a new place and ended up staying at a much better place that was even closer to the GCNP, but it was twice the cost and we didn’t have full hookups. So, we changed our plans and only stayed for one week then headed south to Williams, AZ which is about half an hour outside of Flagstaff, AZ. The RV park in Williams was wonderful and the town is right on Route 66 so it’s got some nostalgia.

Since, we were leaving the GCNP a week early we had intended to take that week and get some work done, but then we found the Lowell Observatory and all of our work plans kind of just flew out the window. We ended up spending one entire day and then three evenings at the Lowell Observatory. Yes, we are those kinds of geeks.

The Lowell Observatory was started by a guy named Percival Lowell back in 1894 because he was convinced there were Martians on Mars. Percival was from one of, if not the, wealthiest families of that time. The whole family was made up of brainiacs who were known for spending their money on worthwhile endeavors.

For those of you who don’t know, the Lowell Observatory is the place where Pluto was discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. With all of the recent Pluto pictures coming out from New Horizons…well, the staff at the Lowell Observatory were all extremely excited.

The first day we spent at the Lowell Observatory was during the daylight hours. You might not think there would be anything to do at an Observatory during the day, but there’s actually quite a bit! We started the day off by looking through a special telescope at the sun.

You can see The Dude and our guide, Travis, in the picture above. We all had a few chances to look at the sun and a huge prominence that was coming off the sun at that moment.

We spent time walking around and looking at the different buildings. The Clark Dome just opened back up to the public a week and a half before our visit. It had been closed for renovations for over a year.

The Clark Telescope dome is the oldest standing building at the Lowell Observatory. The Clark Telescope was built in 1896 and was used to discover the first evidence of the expanding nature of the universe. It’s a pretty big deal. All of the scientists working at the Lowell Observatory were super excited about it. We got the chance to actually look through this telescope at one of the evening programs. We saw M2 through it. You don’t know what M2 is? Well, it’s the core of a galaxy that our galaxy absorbed. It was really amazing to see and…it was pretty.

Because Pluto is such a big deal at this particular observatory and there’s been some really exciting developments with the New Horizons project, we learned quite a bit about Pluto. The Pluto Dome, in the picture above, houses the telescope used to discover Pluto. Now, what’s funny, is that the guy who found Pluto wasn’t actually employed as an astronomer. Nope, Clyde Tombaugh was actually on the grounds staff. When Percival Lowell decided to spend time finding Planet X, no one wanted to do it because it was such a tedious project and they thought it was kind of beneath them, so it got assigned to the “lower” staff. Clyde Tombaugh was a poor boy from Kansas who wanted to go to college to become an astronomer, but couldn’t afford it so he took a job at the Lowell Observatory in hopes of learning more. He found the work fascinating and spent as much time at night as he could searching. As you can imagine, once he found Pluto, he had offers from several colleges for a full ride. He ended up going and getting his Astronomy Degree then working at the Lowell Observatory as an Astronomer.

This is the astrograph telescope used to discover Pluto. An astrograph telescope is a type of telescope used exclusively to take pictures. You can see the big square at the bottom of the telescope where they would put the glass slides in.

Finding a planet in this manner is painstaking work. You’re basically comparing little blips on glass plates to see if they’ve moved. In the picture above, you’ll see one of the two glass plates used to confirm the discovery of Pluto. Since planets move and stars don’t, these plates allowed Tombaugh to see the slight movement of Planet X (Pluto) when compared to the background stars. Some of Tombaugh’s ashes were placed in a little container on the New Horizons space probe and when New Horizons passed by Pluto…well, the guy who discovered the planet was the first to go there.

Percival Lowell was so passionate about his work in astronomy, his mausoleum is on the grounds right next to the Clark Dome. Notice the glass dome on the mausoleum? Someone said that’s so he can always see the stars.

We ended up going back three nights in a row because we didn’t want to miss any of the lectures. We had a couple of favorites. In the picture above you can see part of the Cosmic Zoom lecture where we got a virtual tour of our solar system and the universe. This guy (in the red shirt) was great! He kept it flowing and entertaining. And the projector they used was super cool!

Our little geeks were completely absorbed with the lectures.

We also heard the Sky Tonight lecture. It was with a different guy…who wasn’t quite as good. But the material was still interesting.

There was a section of the night where they did some science experiments. We got to look at some pretty spectrum lights through some special glasses. I could’ve spent a long time looking at the different gasses through the spectrometer. Each gas had a different color range that showed up. I didn’t get any pics because the lights were all out and I didn’t want to be that lady.

This experiment was probably the boys’ favorite. Liquid Nitrogen is always fun. All of the experiments were great and they did a wonderful job explaining space in terms kids could easily understand at any age.

We did make it to the Pluto & NASA’s New Horizons lecture. Kelly, the lecturer, was really knowledgeable and extremely passionate about Pluto. She did a great job at keeping it entertaining. We got to see some very amazing photos of Pluto. In the picture above, you can see what they’re calling The Heart. What’s super amazing is that the surface of Pluto is still alive. It’s still changing and moving! Very exciting!

There’s been a naming frenzy going on now that scientist have been able to really get a good look at Pluto and some of it’s moons. I pulled the picture above off the internet so you can see some names that have been unofficially chosen for some of Charon’s craters, plains, and chasms. For those of you who don’t know, Charon is Pluto’s biggest moon. My personal favorites are Tardis Chasma, Gallifrey Macula, and Vader Crater. There’s a large dark feature on Pluto that’s being called Balrog. None of these names are official, but it’s fun for right now. The IAU will eventually officially name everything, but maybe some of these names will stick. Don’t worry, I won’t totally geek out on you. I’ll leave the lecturing to the pros at the Lowell Observatory.

If you want to keep up on all things Pluto you can search the hashtag above.

We enjoyed the observatory so much we ended up getting a membership that gets us into around 300 other observatories and places of geekery. The little boys have decided that not only are they going to be Park Rangers…they are going to be Astronomy Park Rangers and work in the dark sky parks so they can give Ranger Walks at night.

See y’all down the road!