Category: Historic Landmark

Top Memories For 2016

Top Memories For 2016

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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 Nicholas, 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 #mugglesdrool

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

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

America’s Historic Triangle

America’s Historic Triangle

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

We started at the Yorktown Battlefield where we learned about the final major battle of the American Revolution. The boys loved it! They got to hear a canon being fired not once, but several times during our visit. You know how boys are with big guns…the couldn’t get enough of it.

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

We love the battlefield auto tours so we grabbed one in the Visitor Center and headed out to see the battlefield. There were a few other families out doing the tour, but not many. We basically had the place to ourselves. Which for us was great…we could take our time at each stop and talk about what we’d learned on the auto tour.

The countryside in Virginia is beautiful! But Guys, some of these roads weren’t made for RVs. We were on a few that left us a little…puckery…if you know what I mean. We really enjoyed our time in Virginia. It was nice to get back to some Southern hospitality after being away from it for so long.

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

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

We toured the Governor’s Palace where we got to see how the king’s representative lived. It was kind of weird talking about kings and their direct influence of America for the boys.

The whole house was impressive, but I liked the entrance the best. Check out all of those weapons! All of the weapons were on display not only to show wealth and to intimidate, but also to keep them in easy reach when needed. Can you imagine having to keep all of those polished and cleaned?

All of the bright colors surprised me. We were so used to seeing faded or muted colors in all of the State Capital Buildings, so the vivid colors were unexpected. The photo above was in the ballroom. The rug would be rolled up and stored to the side anytime dancing happened.

I’m happy to report none of us got lost in the maze! It was close…I’m soooo bad at these things…but we all made it out unscathed.

Some of my favorite things about Williamsburg were all of the artisans. We got to roam around and poke our heads into the many wonderful period era shops. Most of the historic interpreters did a good job of staying in character without making it weird or awkward.

Nicholas and Alex were kind enough to demonstrate the pillory for us. I may or may not have taken my time getting this picture to give them a little taste of what that punishment would be like. ha!

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

We had to check out the jail. The one above was a bit morbid with the coffin in it. See the steps on the right side of the picture? That’s the toilet. We all decided we’d rather not have to stay in those accommodations.

We were close to Richmond, VA so we took the opportunity to check out the VA State Capitol Building. The VA State Capitol Building had a nice surprise. From the outside you can’t see the dome…but, surprise! There’s a dome!

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

See y’all down the road!!

#easterloop2016

Washington DC

Washington DC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thomas Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

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

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

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

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

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

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

We made time to see the Maryland State House!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Newport Rhode Island

Newport Rhode Island

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

#easterlooptour2016

Hampton Falls Area

Hampton Falls Area

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

#easterloop2016

The Niagara Falls Area

The Niagara Falls Area

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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 Buffalo wings so much…we had to have some 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 so far. 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 throughout the day. Unfortunately, because due to the downpours of rain and the timing we missed seeing all of the firing times. We did hear it though. The boys just about came unglued the first time. Ha! 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. Jerl and I will never forget it!

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. 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 completely missed the New York Power Vista if it hadn’t been in the Junior Ranger booklet. Which would have been a huge bummer…it was 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). Not everything earned you points. Some things were just for exploration and learning. We were geeking out hard 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 Charles in the left photo. 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…and the boys learn so much better by seeing and doing these things.

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

On our first night in the Niagara Falls area we went to see the falls all lit up on the American side. 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.

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 where we were able to get both burgers and poutine! We were able to walk there from the American side of Niagara. 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.

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 a few days before to try and get a better look at things. It was something altogether different seeing the falls from the other side of the river. 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 and while on the Canadian side you’ve got The Hornblower boats. In the bottom left pic above you can see one of the Hornblower boats as it got close to the falls. 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 so we couldn’t get close at all. We got a slight sense of vertigo as we stood and watched the water pour over the edge. It was trippy.

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

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

See y’all down the road!

#easterloop2016

NYC Times Two

NYC Times Two

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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.

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 to NYC.

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. One of the reasons I wanted us all to go to the big cities and explore them was to expand the boys’ bubble. Traveling changes your view on things…what you see…who you meat… I wanted the boys to step (safely) outside their comfort zone and expand their views.

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 it.

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, obviously, we had to try a hotdog from a food cart!

We were walking along to the next spot on our list when I noticed a few people taking pics of something behind us. I turned 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 the picture at the top above 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?

We crossed Broadway (bottom left photo) on our way to somewhere and I had to snap a quick pic as we passed by. Rockefeller Center can be seen in the bottom right photo. We’re fans of Jimmy Fallon so we stood there for a few moments hoping to have a chance sighting. It didn’t happen, but it was fun to see the building!

We made it all the way to the famous 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. Times Square was…a lot…of everything.

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. Nicholas didn’t mind having another slice of NYC pizza!

Junior’s Most Fabulous Cheesecake was definitley on our list of NYC foodies we had on our must try list. I mean, 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!

You see it in movies, you hear about it on shows, but the number of yellow taxis was astounding! They really were everywhere!! It was kind of neat to see them all lined up and waiting like that.

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.

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 urban setting and into a forest like setting. It was even weirder to look up and see all of the skyscrapers through the trees! I also really wanted to find the bridge you can see in the top picture. 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. check out all of the row boats in the bottom right photo! There were tons of people out and about enjoying the green spaces! By this point our feet were absolutely screaming at us. And they weren’t screaming nice things. So, we headed back toward the ferry terminal. It was about a four and a half mile walk from Central Park to the ferry terminal we needed.

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 park along the Hudson 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.

It was somewhere around 6PM when we finally dragged ourselves onto the World Financial Ferry Terminal. Some of us (Alex) 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

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses…

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses…

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When we started seriously thinking about living the nomad life we came up with a list of places we thought were a high priority to go and experience with our boys. One of the first places we added to that list was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We think history is important. We need to know what happened so we can avoid making the same mistakes we made before. We need to know where we came from so we can know how far we’ve come. 
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.”

The only way you can get to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island is by boat…and to be honest…it’s not cheap or super easy. The tickets sell out fast and in some cases months in advance. We were lucky enough to grab five tickets one day while we were in the area.

Before Lady Liberty stood proudly on it, Liberty Island was a star-shaped Fort Wood. You can see Alex standing by a replica of Lady Liberty’s face in the left photo. Charlie is standing with one big foot in the right photo! Lady Liberty has a copper shell about the same thickness as a penny and is 151 feet tall.

There’s a great museum that details how, when, where and who built the Statue of Liberty. We didn’t make it all the way up to the crown. There are only a certain number of people allowed in the crown per day and I didn’t get our tickets reserved in time so we missed that part.

I checked about mid April for tickets and they were already sold out until mid August. Such a bummer. We did get to go up into the pedestal! It was crowded and the view wasn’t much different than the view you get on the ground.

We also stopped at Ellis Island. The boys did the Junior Ranger booklets at both Ellis Island and Liberty Island. The books were different, but the badges were the same. That’s ok…we always learn so much more when the boys go through the Junior Ranger booklets! The NPS does a good job at making sure the kiddos get to specific parts and places while doing the JR booklets that most people just pass by.

In the right photo you can see The Registry Room around 1912. Millions of Americans can claim ancestors who came through the doors of Ellis Island. In the left photo is The Registry Room present day. For over two decades thousands of immigrants (sometimes over 5,ooo in one day) went through The Registry Room.

There’s a really great museum that details not only the buildings on Ellis Island, but also the struggles the immigrants had to go through just to get to Ellis Island and then their struggles once they reached America. The museum had a good selection of America propaganda and some personal items from immigrants. Some of the displays even have actual items that immigrants brought with them on their journey to the U.S. We found it all to be very interesting and the boys found the differences in life then to life now fascinating. I think it was the personal accounts you can read from real people that drew them in.

We found this sign in the Ellis Island museum and I wanted to share it. Our favorite things at the museum were all of the stories. The quotes of what the immigrants thought and/or felt made the history feel more real and not just like words on a page.

I didn’t realize how big Ellis Island is. You’re only allowed to roam around half the island. You have to be on a special tour to see the hospital side. I did get a picture of the Hospital side of Ellis Island as we went by it on the boat. I would love to do the tour and have already started working on talking Jerl into going back some day to see the rest of Ellis Island.

You can see the view of Ellis Island and Liberty Island from the ferry in the photo above. Of the two islands…Ellis was my favorite to explore. It had more of the history and there was a fraction of the people.

So…my only gripe about this is the price of the ferry. There’s only one way to get to the islands and it’s Statue Island Cruises. Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty are both National Parks…they belong to the people…the price of the ferry to see them shouldn’t cost a family of five almost $100. At first I thought maybe that’s just how much ferry rides cost there, but we took a different ferry while we were in NYC and it only cost us $30 to basically go the same distance. It’s sad how some companies take advantage of people.

All in all, we had a great day! We learned so much and the boys earned another badge!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

The City Of Brotherly Love

The City Of Brotherly Love

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Happy Independence Day!

We spent a day roaming around Philadelphia and learning some history about our Country’s founding.

Independence Hall is called “the birthplace of America”. We did a walking tour of historic Philly. Of the thirty three places on the tour, we only made it to seventeen. One of the best things about it…it was all free! If you ever make it to Independence Hall make sure you grab a ticket at the visitor center first thing or you might not get to see the room where the Declaration of Independence was created and signed. We snuck in on the second to last tour of the day. Most of what you see in the left photo above isn’t original…it’s been a long time…but the chair at the top was there when our country was born.

It’s not a LOVE statute…but it’ll do.

This Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in Washington Park. The tomb honors both George Washington and an unknown soldier from the Revolutionary War.

The Merchants’ Exchange is the oldest stock exchange building in the United States. The road in front of it is cobblestone and there are lion statues on each side protecting the stairs.

We all know the story of The Liberty Bell, but did you know it weighs about 2,ooo pounds?

Carpenters’ Hall was built in 1770 and is where the First Continental Congress met to draw up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and an appeal to King George III after the British Parliament punished Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.

Benjamin Franklin was appointed Postmaster General in 1775.

The Christ Church Burial Ground is the final resting place for some of America’s most prominent leaders…including Benjamin Franklin. When we got there the gate was already closed but we caught a glimpse of Franklin’s grave through the fence.

Did you know that the National Park Service has trading cards? You have to ask the Ranger’s for them and they won’t always just give them to you…the boys were quizzed for each card. We love it when the Ranger’s make it fun and a challenge. The Ranger’s can really make or break a NP site.

A LOVE statue! We looked all over for the LOVE statue, but the park it was supposed to be in was under construction. We were surprised to find an AMOR statue at the Art Museum!

Do you recognize them? The stairs… They’re the Rocky stairs! The boys ran up them and did a little victory dance at the top. I leisurely made my way up to the top where the boys were waiting.

We even made it to the Mint! Unfortunately, photos aren’t permitted. *sad face* So, I can’t show you any of it. The Mint was such a cool experience for all of us. There’s a free self-guided tour that shows how coins are made. If you have a chance to visit the Mint, we highly recommend it! We learned a lot and scored some pretty cool souvenirs.

Yup. It’s a Philly Cheesesteak! We had to do it. I know…how touristy…but look at that sandwich!! It was sooo stinkin’ good!!! There are several places to go to try the famed Philly sandwich. The two you’ve probably heard about are Pat and Gino’s but, when we looked them up…they both had horrible reviews! Terrible! We found Sonny’s Famous! If you’re ever in Philly, you have got to try Sonny’s. And make sure you get the loaded fries!

It’s spring here…There are flowers everywhere! I love these white flowering vines we found outside the Independence Hall Visitor Center!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

E Pluribus Unum…Out of Many, One

E Pluribus Unum…Out of Many, One

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We took a day to explore Valley Forge National Historic Park in Pennsylvania.

We have mixed feelings about historical interpreters. We’ve seen some that are disturbingly creepy, but the Ranger’s at Valley Forge were top notch and had a wealth of information.

Our new country didn’t have an army when the revolution began. General George Washington had to organize and train an army while fighting the war itself. When Washington and his men arrived at Valley Forge they didn’t have lodging so the soldiers had to build their own log huts. There was a competition to see who could get done first. The log huts you can see today are all reconstructions of what would have been there during the 1177-1778 winter. They’ve got some of the huts open so you can see what they might have looked like inside.

The National Memorial Arch was dedicated in 1917.

Trying to build and train an army all while fighting the war was just one of Washington’s challenges. Remember…at this time, the United States of America was a newly formed family. It was more like 13 families all trying to learn how to live in the same house. So, the first thing Washington had to do was unite the men into one army. He needed to ensure that the men’s allegiance was to the newly forming United States and not to their home state.

French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon had a life mask made of Washington when he was studying Washington to do a sculpture so when you look at this statue, you’re looking at a very realistic depiction of George Washington.

The house above served as both residence and office for Washington and his staff during his stay at Valley Forge. Unlike the log huts, this is the original building. The National Park Service has tried to get period pieces to show what Washington’s office would have looked like. The house went through a few different owners who made some changes during the 100 years after Washington resided there.

When the Park Service got control of the house, they tried their best to restore it to what it was while Washington was there. Through all of the changes the banister was never changed. So…we all had to touch the same banister that George Washington touched as we walked up the stairs. Can you imagine all of the conversations that took place around that banister…conversations that helped to shape our great Nation into what it is today!

In December of 1777, 12,000 soldiers along with 400 women and children made their way into Valley Forge. Six months, 1,500 log huts, and two miles of fortifications later Valley Forge was the fourth largest city in America.

The boys got their 42nd badge at Valley Forge. They don’t do it for the swag…we don’t force them to do it…they do it because they love to learn and it gives them something to do while we’re at a National Parks. It’s fun and educational for the whole family.

I couldn’t leave out the flowers. I’ve just got this one picture, but I thought these pale pink flowers were so pretty!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016