Category: National Park

Charleston, SC

Charleston, SC

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Hey Guys!! We spent two weeks in the Charleston, SC area!

One of our favorite things to do is go check out a beach in the area! We happened to make it to the Kiawah Beachwalker Park on the last warm day during our stay. It was a fantastic day with temps in the low 80s! We’ve collected a little sand and some shells from each beach we’ve visited from the start of our adventures. One day, we’ll have to get them all out and display them!

We found our first sea star out in the wild! I think it might have been…a little…dead. I’m hoping when the tide came back in the sea star perked up and made a recovery. We left it there in hopes it would survive. We also found one of the best shells we’ve found on a beach so far! Too bad it was already spoken for. We put this little guy back into the sand. We love to collect shells but we won’t evict the current resident to get them.

We stayed until the park started closing and it got a little too cool for us. We had the beach almost to ourselves! It really was a great day!

We visited Fort Moultrie. You might not recognize the name…Fort Moultrie is right across from its more famous counterpart, Fort Sumter. One of the coolest things we get to do is visit old Forts. We don’t always get a chance to see them all, but we try to hit at least one in the area when they’re available. Some Forts are open for visitors to roam around on their own while others require you to sign up for a guided tour. We like them both…we like to take our time and look, but we also enjoy the knowledge the tour guides impart. Fort Moultrie is a free roaming Fort. There were tons of nooks and crannies we ventured into.

This is as close as we got to Fort Sumter. While it is a part of the National Park System, a private ferry ticket is required to reach it. We can’t always do everything in a city we want to. Since we’re not technically on vacation, we have to pick and choose keeping in mind the cities to come and what those offer, as well.

The biggest reason we didn’t spring for Fort Sumter is because we wanted to visit Boone Hall Plantation. Boone Hall Plantation is one of America’s oldest working plantations. You’re looking at the Avenue of Oaks in the top picture. I love the look of the giant oak trees with the Spanish moss! The trees were planted back in 1743 by Captain Thomas Boone. It took more than 200 years for the two rows of trees to meet overhead in the middle. You might recognize this Avenue of Oaks form the mini-series North & South or maybe from the movie The Notebook. Boone Hall Plantation has been in quite a few movies, shows, and print articles.

Boone Hall has quite the history and is part of the Underground Railroad. Our favorite experience at Boone Hall was the Gullah Culture presentation. This surprised us. To be honest, we didn’t know what Gullah is.

This isn’t our video. I didn’t take one. I could just kick myself for not taking a video. But, this is the same woman we saw and she was really good. If you get to visit Boone Hall Plantation, don’t miss the Gullah Geechee presentation. Plan your day around it.

I’m going to add one more video. This one isn’t at Boone Hall Plantation, but this is a story she told us. Her name is Jackie Michael and she’s a retired schoolteacher turned Gullah Geechee story teller.

The sweetgrass baskets everyone loves comes from the Gullah culture. You can find them all over Charleston. We got to see them being made at a few different places. The picture above was taken at Boone Hall Plantation, but we also saw them at the Charleston City Market and there were some roadside stands as well.

This is the Charleston City Market and if you’re ever in the area you should definitely at least walk through it. You’ll find some of the best souvenirs here…and food! You can find local food, souvenirs, sweets and BBQ…what more do you need?

There’s a lot more history in Charleston than we thought there’d be. There are several different tours you can go on. If history is your thing, I would definitely suggest a tour. This is the Old Slave Mart. I’m sure you can guess what happened here. They’ve turned it into a museum. We didn’t have time to go through it but it’s on our list of things we want to do during our next visit.

In the left picture is an area called Rainbow Row. You’ll see this stretch of houses on sooo many Charleston souvenirs since it depicts the quintessential Charleston neighborhood. I love that the buildings are pretty pastel colors! Another Charleston must see is the Pineapple Fountain you can see in the right picture. There were tons of people at this park…all taking photos. The park is gorgeous and right by the waterfront. We saw just as many locals enjoying the park as we did tourists. Sometimes these spots are just for the tourists so it was nice to see so many locals milling about too.

Welcome to the land of cotton. We saw so many huge fields of cotton while we were in this area! It was pretty neat to see. The one in the photo above was one of the smaller fields, but it was the only one I got a decent picture of.

Lets talk food. Guys, plan to splurge here. The food is ah-maze-ing. Amazing! In the right picture you can see one of my splurges…it’s a pimento cheese, fried green tomato, bacon, and fried egg sandwich on Texas toast. And please notice the pickled okra next to it. Have you ever seen anything more southern on a plate? It was fantastic and firmly one of my favorite sandwiches of all time! The other foodie find was a place called Charleston Burger Co. It’s definitely splurge worthy! Alex got The Killer Beehive burger…and yes, he ate it all! According to Alex, it tasted even better than it looked.

Angel Oak is a live oak tree that is estimated to be anywhere between 400 and 600 years old. The state of South Carolina has it fenced off and has set hours to visit to try and keep vandals away from it. The sheer size of this tree was unbelievable! We love how gnarled it looks.

The last touristy thing we did was go to the Charleston Tea Plantation where we learned all about what goes into making the tea we drink. It was pretty cool and…it was free. Seriously. The tour and all the samples you want…free. It’s definitely worth a stop.

Are you ready for some pretties? There were tons of pretties in the Charleston area! Nope, I don’t know any of their names. I could do an entire post just on the flowers we saw in this area! I was in flower heaven! We also saw more butterflies and honey bees than we have in a long time.

So, there you have it! Our two week stay in Charleston! We didn’t see even half of what there was to see so we’ll definitely have to go back!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Oh Carolina…

Oh Carolina…

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Hey Guys!! We spent a week in the Raleigh, NC area.

We didn’t have a lot on our list here to do. Sometimes we plan the week that way to get some downtime and sometimes there just isn’t a ton to do in an area. We didn’t really mind the slower week since it gave us time to catch up on picture editing and school stuff.

We did make it to the State Capitol Building. Most of the North Carolina State Capitol Building has been turned into a museum. They’ve arranged rooms to resemble what they looked like and used for in years past. The room above in the top picture is the geology room where they had samples of rocks from around the state. We really do love it when there’s a museum in the SCBs! Its such a fun way to learn more about the state we’re visiting.

Y’all know we love foodie spots. Let me introduce you to Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar. You can get burgers, sushi, and burger/sushi fusions! There were so many options on the menu that you could eat there everyday for months and not get the same thing twice. We absolutely loved Cowfish!! The owner came out and talked with us while we were there and guys…he was genuinely so nice. Seriously. If there’s a Cowfish near you, go check it out!

We also spent a week in Columbia, SC.

We didn’t take a tour at the South Carolina State Capitol Building, but we did get to roam around. I thought the dome was pretty. Most of the SCBs we’ve visited have a redish/pink color scheme in at least a few of the rooms, but both of the Carolina’s SBCs were more earthy tones with blue highlights. It was a nice change.

We made it to Congaree National Park! I’ve been looking forward to this National Park since I did the initial planning for our whole nomadic fifty state tour. It stuck out to me because there was a caution that this park inhabits six venomous snakes and alligators. Six! Six venomous snakes all in one park. And then they add alligators on top of that! No, I don’t like snakes. Not even a little, but I was curious about what kind of habitat would inhabit so many dangernoodles.

We got there the week after Hurricane Mathew mucked up our plans and sent us fleeing to Asheville. So…we were already irritated with Mathew. When we got to Congaree NP we learned Mathew wasn’t done messing with us. Nope. He’d blown through the park and messed up pretty much all of the trails. Dang it Mathew! We got to walk a teeny tiny bit of the boardwalk trail. We were so bummed. We did get a taste of what the park offers and we’re grateful that we got to see what we did, but we’ll definitely have to go back sometime and see the rest!

Our time in Columbia wasn’t a total loss. We found an all you can eat buffet at Little Pigs Barbecue.

All. You. Can. Eat…BBQ!!!

What?!?! I counted four different kinds of pulled pork! There was also all of the fixin’s! All of them. Oh, and by-the-way…in the Carolinas anytime you hear BBQ they mean pork. Always. It was soooo stinkin’ good! Little Pigs is a no frills kind of place, but that’s ok because it helps keep the cost down. When was the last time you’ve eaten at an all you can eat buffet for $10? That includes a drink. Yum-oh!

We have officially fallen in love with the Carolinas!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

A Time Of Firsts

A Time Of Firsts

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The plan was to stay a week on the outer banks of North Carolina enjoying the Kitty Hawk area and soaking up the coastal life. Mother Nature threw a monkey wrench in our plans with Hurricane Mathew so we were only able to stay for three days. Guys, we crammed everything we possibly could into those three days and somewhere in the process…we totally fell in love with the area.

Our main reason for going to the area was to visit The Wright Brothers National Memorial. In the photo above you can see the original buildings the Wright Brothers lived and worked in while they were at Kill Devil Hills trying to get their “contraption” to fly. Can you see the Memorial up on the hill to the left? That is the first and biggest memorial to be built for someone while they were still living.

It’s not the original, but it’s an exact copy right down to every detail, built the same way the Wright Brothers would have built theirs. The original was destroyed when a gust of wind caught it and threw it around before they could get it tied down after the fourth flight attempt. In the top picture, you can see the stone markers signifying where each of the first three flights landed. You can also see on the sign, a copy of the photo that was taken of that very first flight that lasted all of 12 seconds and went a grand total of 120 feet.

There’s a neat little area set up that shows what that first attempt looked like with the Wright Brothers and the few guys they had helping. Notice it’s on sand? That’s because when the Wright Brothers were there the area was more like a desert. Not much grass and no trees. Go look up a picture of it on the interwebs. You’ll be surprised at how different it looked back then.

On our first morning there, we got up to watch the sunrise over the Atlantic. It was pretty spectacular. It was an amazing way to start the day! We even spotted a pod of dolphins playing in the surf!

We made it to Roanoke Island where the first English Colony was formed and where the first English child (Virginia Dare) was born in the New World. You might remember from your history class that the fate of the people of this colony is unknown. The only clue was the word “Croatoan” carved in a tree. No, it’s not the original tree, but it is a fun picture opportunity!

We were only able to make it to one of the area’s lighthouses since our time was cut short, but it was a really neat lighthouse and it was one of the Visitor Center’s for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. We didn’t make it all the way down to Cape Hatteras either…but, that’s ok. We’ll just have to go back and visit the area again.

After talking to our neighbors (hi neighbors!) we decided to go to Corolla Beach and try to find the wild horses. We didn’t see them, but we had fun driving on the beach!

We did take time to play on the beach. It was right outside our RV park. We could see it from our door and hear the waves at night. It was pretty fantastic! Nicholas wanted to fly a kite on the beach so we went and found a kite. It wasn’t hard, they sold them everywhere. It was our first time flying a kite on the beach! You’ll notice we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We didn’t mind. We spent the entire afternoon building sandcastles, playing in the waves, finding seashells and sea glass and just…relaxing. None of us wanted to leave.

We tried Duck Donuts for the first time. It won’t be our last. We’ve all declared Duck Donuts as our favorite donut place. You walk in and order your donut with the glaze/frosting you want, add whatever toppings you want, and top it off with the drizzle of your choice. And then you get to watch them pull your donut out of the fryer and make it so when you get it it’s still warm!! My mouth is watering just thinking about it!! We’ll be in Raleigh, NC next week…guess what donut place is there! Muuwaahahahaha…I’ll eat one for you.

We also got our very first taste of North Carolina BBQ. We’re fans. It’s quite possibly the best BBQ we’ve ever had…anywhere. We went to a place called High Cotton. Guys, we’ll go back to the Kitty Hawk area again just to eat there. It’s really that good. We got to chat with the owner while we were there and he’s the nicest guy. If you’re ever in the area, you have got to stop in and grab a meal. Then get one to go so you can have “leftovers” the next day!

That was all the time we had. The boys managed to earn three new Junior Ranger badges before we had to head inland. We weren’t sure what Hurricane Mathew was going to do and it’s better to play it safe in situations like that, but we’ll be back! We didn’t even scratch the surface of what there is to do there.

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

Cape Cod, MA

Cape Cod, MA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Besides some great beaches, we saw some amazing sunsets.

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Hampton Falls Area

Hampton Falls Area

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

#easterloop2016

Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park

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

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

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

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

We absolutely loved Maine’s rugged coast line!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Promise?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

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