Category: National Park

Hopewell Furnace

Hopewell Furnace

By |

Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site was close to where we were staying so we took a day to explore another NPS site and learn some of our Nation’s history!

Mark Bird built Hopewell Furnace in 1771. You can see the Hopewell Furnace Big House in the photo above.

At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, American furnaces, forges, and mills were making around one-seventh of the world’s iron works. During the Revolutionary War, Hopewell played a critical role in supplying the our new Nation’s army with weapons. George Washington chose the Valley Forge location in part because of how close it was to Hopewell.

It took an acre of woodlands to make enough charcoal to run an iron furnace for just one day. At Hopewell, they made their own charcoal in the Charcoal cooling shed.

There are several buildings on the property that are open for viewing to show what life was like at Hopewell while it was running. They set up the dining room in the big house to show what a meal at that time might look like.

The barn held up to 36 horses along with a year’s worth of feed. One of the neat things about Hopewell, is that the animals that would have been running around at Hopewell while it was running are still running around it today.

Saturdays were baking days in rural America. They used wood fired ovens like the one above. They would test the heat by sticking their arm in and counting the seconds they could leave it in. The number they got to told them if it was too hot or not hot enough for certain breads and pies.

One of the buildings you can wander through is the wash building. I’m so glad we don’t have to do laundry that way anymore! That would be a work out!

And, of course, there’s the furnace in the Cast Shop! I couldn’t get a great shot of it, but it’s huge! The temperature inside the furnace would reach temps of 2,600°- 3,000° F and it would run 24 hours a day. Workers would constantly feed it, watch it’s flame, and listen to the sound of the its blast to make sure it was staying hot enough. This was probably the most important building there.

Hopewell was ahead of its time. People worked the same jobs for the same wages no matter what gender or color they were.  Some workers with families rented company tenant houses. You can see a Kids room in one of the worker’s houses in the photo above.

We had a great time walking around Hopewell and learning about early American iron working communities! These kinds of National Park units are often overlooked but we find that these are the kinds of NP units that are the most needed. They preserve a time in our history that would be lost and eventually forgotten. If we forget where we came from and the struggles our ancestors went through…how can we know who we really are or how far we’ve come?

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

E Pluribus Unum…Out of Many, One

E Pluribus Unum…Out of Many, One

By |

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

Gettysburg, PA

Gettysburg, PA

By |

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

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

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

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

Some of the monuments are so elaborate! You can actually go into the Pennsylvania Monument. There are stairs that lead to the top where you can look out over the battlefield. You know, you can read about these things in books, watch documentaries about them…but when you’re out on the ground where it took place while hearing about the personal struggles of the soldiers and the citizens…it really gives you a new understanding of what really took place. Three days in July two armies met by chance…and the country changed forever.

The Soldier’s National Cemetery can be seen in the above picture. When the battle was over on that third day and the armies left Gettysburg, they left behind a community in ruins and over 51,000 soldiers who were dead, missing, or wounded. More men fell during the Battle of Gettysburg than in any other battle on American soil.

The Soldier’s National Cemetery was dedicated on November 19, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address here. The speech was 272 words, lasted around two minutes, and transformed Gettysburg from a scene of utter destruction and death into a symbol of inspiration to those still living. Lincoln stated that the war would lead to a “new birth of freedom” for our young nation. You can’t stand in the spot where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. The Soldiers’ National Monument was erected in that spot. Unfortunately, when we were visiting the monument was undergoing some restoration work so we got to see it covered in scaffolding.

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

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

Part of the Gettysburg experience is the Eisenhower National Historic Site. You have to take a bus from the Visitor Center to get there because there’s no public parking at the farm. When Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower bought this farm in 1950 the house was in bad condition. When they started remodeling it, they found a decaying 200 year old log cabin under the brick veneer. They saved what they could of the original house and used bits and pieces of it around the new house. Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite color was pink. If you didn’t know that about her before you visited her home, you would figure it out pretty quickly. The main color scheme throughout the house is pink.

Eisenhower used the farm to breed Black Angus for shows. Eisenhower Farms show cattle gained recognition in the Angus raising community by winning ribbons at major competitions across the U.S.

The boys took the opportunity to earn a Secret Service badge. This booklet was challenging physically and mentally. They definitely earned that badge!

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

There were several lilac bushes in bloom while we were at the Eisenhower Farm. I took the time to smell them all… I’m not sure what kind of flower is in the right photo, but it’s pink!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Clifftop, WV

Clifftop, WV

By |

We stayed at Babcock State Park while we were in Clifftop for our two weeks of exploration of the area and it was wonderful!

Our first day in the area was pretty cold and misty. We’d heard about the grist mill so we went to check it out. It’s a gorgeous area. I mean, just look at the Glade Creek Grist Mill!

We walked in thinking we would take a look around and move on, but when we found the Miller there…well, one thing led to another and suddenly we had plans to come back after lunch so the boys could help grind some corn. The Miller was a wealth of knowledge. He explained the process and actually put the boys to work. In the left picture you can see Alex and the Miller as the Miller explained some of the grinding process.

Each boy took part in each job. They scooped the corn kernels into the hopper. The Miller explained about the phrase “nose to the grind stone”. When you’re grinding corn (or whatever you might be grinding) the stones will get hot. You don’t want them too hot or they’ll ruin whatever your grinding so you have to smell around the grindstone to make sure you’re not going too fast and getting too hot. As the ground corn comes out of the meal spout it lands on a big wire mesh screen where it needs to be sifted. You get corn flour, corn meal, corn grit, and then the waste which was used to feed the animals. Nothing was thrown away. You can see Nicholas sifting through some of the grain in the left picture.

 I’m watering down the details here. There’s more to it than this, but I’m not a miller and I don’t remember all of the technical jargon. In the right picture, Charlie holds some freshly ground corn meal. In the jars in the left picture you can see the different products that could come out of a grist mill.

For their effort, they were each given a certificate and we got to keep a bag of the corn meal they’d just ground! We’ve got some plans for this corn meal!! Freshly ground corn meal is so different from what you’ll get at the store. So much better!

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

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

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

We also made it to Cathedral Falls! I don’t really know anything about Cathedral Falls except its super easy to get to. It’s always hard to judge how big something is in a picture unless you’re given a size comparison. If you look closely in the left picture, you’ll see Jerl and Alex checking out some tadpoles just to the left of the falls.

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

In the 1870s John Nuttal wanted to take advantage of the rich coal deposits along the New River gorge and began buying up the land around it. By the turn of the century, Nuttallburg was a pretty busy mining community, but after his death it didn’t do so well. In the 1920s Henry Ford leased the town’s mines to provide for his company’s steel mills. He spent $100,000 to build the “button and rope” conveyor system you can see heading up the hill. Ultimately, his plan failed when he couldn’t control or buy the railroad, he needed to carry the coal form the mine to his mills and he sold his interests in the Nuttallburg mines in 1928.

There was an entire community at Nuttallburg. Homes, stores, schools…  In the two photos above, you can see the same plot of land then and now. The ruins of the home in the info sign are still visible. It’s amazing how different the area looked back when the house was new.

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

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

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

Flower report! The dogwood trees were everywhere and in full bloom!! I thought the blooms & butterfly in the tree in the bottom right picture with its delicate pink blooms on it were so pretty! These purple flowering trees you can see in the bottom left picture were growing all along rivers, railroads, and roads. We were told by a Ranger that they came over on trains from China. She also told us the name of the tree, but for the life of me I can’t remember. They were super pretty though!

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

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Springfield, IL

Springfield, IL

By |

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Illinois…we’ll be back!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

A Weekend Away

A Weekend Away

By |

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

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

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

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

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

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

I laughed when I typed that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See y’all down the road!

Fredericksburg, TX

Fredericksburg, TX

By |

Guten Tag! Willkommen to Fredericksburg! Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

The language the German settlers brought with them to this area back in the 1800s can still be seen in most of the signs and buildings around town and if you listen carefully, you can even hear it when you listen to the locals. The building in the photo above is called Vereins Kirche and has been a church, a fort, a storehouse, a meeting hall, a library, and an office before becoming the museum it is now. It was first built as a church but was demolished in 1896 and was rebuilt in 1935 and is considered a landmark for the city of Fredericksburg.

If you get to visit Fredericksburg, come hungry and be prepared for some amazing food! The pictures above are from a place called The Old German Bakery. We found it close to the end of our stay which was a bummer. I would have loved to have eaten there a few more times! We ate at several locations during our nine day visit and only once did we get a meal that was just so-so. We found some seriously cool places to indulge in our love of German food!

If German food isn’t your thing…never fear! We also found some of the best burgers we’ve had there. The one above is from a place called Alamo Springs Café. It’s out in the middle of nowhere and has some amazingly good onion rings! It’s definitely worth the drive if you’re anywhere in the area.

It doesn’t really look that impressive. Just a regular burger. But then you bite into it and you realize you’ve stumbled on to greatness. Now, I’ll be honest here…we were interested in this place initially because of the name. Jennie’s Smoked Burgers & Tornado Fries. And come on…smoked burgers… Guys, these are amazing burgers. They’re made from smoked brisket. Charles has declared that these burgers are his absolute favorite. I kind of agree with him. I know we say we found the best burger a lot…we love burgers…but if I had to choose one to eat the rest of my life…it would be this burger.

We did other things besides eat our selves silly. I promise. We visited the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park. The photo above is his house on the ranch. The house became known as “The Texas White House” because he spent more time there than at the DC White House.

We took a tour of the inside of the house. If you go, I really suggest you do the tour. The stories they tell of LBJ, the house, and the staff are interesting and really give you an insight as to what life was like for him. See the pie on the stove? It’s not a real pie, they leave it there because of the significance of it. On November 22, 1963 the staff were all preparing for some very special guests that were to arrive the next day. The guest had never had pecan pie. As the pie was coming out of the oven, the House got a call to let them know that they were now all employed in the President’s house. LBJ was the new President because JFK had been assassinated. JFK was scheduled to come to the house the next day. They’d been preparing for him.

We also got to hear about LBJ’s love of phones and televisions. Basically, anything that would give him information about what was going on in the world. There were phones in every single room of this house. And I do mean…every…single…room. Can you imagine what he would have been like with today’s technology?

We also visited the Johnson City part of the LBJ National Historic Park to see his childhood home. I won’t put any pics up since this post is already picture heavy. But it was very interesting to hear stories of the boy LBJ was. It really seems as though he was destined to be President.

 We walked around the Sauer-Beckmann Farm for an hour or so. This is a living history German farm that shows what life was like during 1900-1918. There are volunteers that stay here in seasons to work the farm.

The volunteers dress in period outfits and work the farm with period appropriate tools. We got there right at lunch time for them, but they invited us in and told us all about what they do. We didn’t get to sample the delicious smelling lunch, and let me tell you…it smelled good! We found it really interesting how the house was broken up into separate sections. The kitchen was completely separate from the living quarters.

There was a building for the gardening/food canning and storage. We loved learning about all the gadgets they had for separating cream from milk to husking corn to making their own sausages. The boys are convinced we need them all. Speaking of sausages…we even got to see their smokehouse! It smelled heavenly!

We were so close, we had to make a detour to Luckenbach! It’s not really much of a town now. Nicholas got the chance to stand on one of the stages. The town is really just a business now. They have live music pretty much daily and hold special events often. If you go, make sure to go behind all the business stuff and cross the bridge. Head down to the river for some gorgeous live oaks.

We spent a couple of hours hiking around the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. We, of course, had to do the hardest hike there. The Summit Trail…the trail that marches you right up the side of the rock that the park is named for. I don’t have the details of how far up we went…it was steep and it was maybe a mile. But, holy jumpin’, the view was stellar! We were surprised to find small pools and grass with a few trees at the top.

We were able to visit two distilleries. The one above is called Garrison Brothers. It has a really cool set up. You can go get a flight (where you can taste the different bourbons they have) then take it outside to one of the many tables they have set up and take your time sipping and tasting. There are some outdoor games (washers, boccie…) that you can play and then they have a tour of their distillery you can take.

We also went to the Hill Country Distillery. This is a smaller operation. You can go in for a tour and a tasting of their products. Both distilleries had some good stuff and both offer you a different perspective on the business.

We stopped in at the Wildseed Farms, but there wasn’t anything blooming since it’s the wrong time of the year for wildflowers. We did get to mosey around their store and look at all the seeds. They’ve got any wildflower seed you could want! We might have even bought some. It might have been the wrong time of the year for wildflowers, but there were plenty of flower gardens to enjoy! And the flower gardens/boxes/planters were everywhere in Fredericksburg!

Should we talk sweets now?

If you’ve got a hankerin’ for something sweet…you’ll find it in Fredericksburg.

Burgers, bbq, German food, breweries, wineries, distilleries, museums, National/State Parks, shopping…there is something for everyone in Fredericksburg!

Aufwiedersehen!!

See y’all down the road!!

San Antonio

San Antonio

By |

Our plan was to spend two weeks in San Antonio, but we’ve found that bigger cities aren’t really our thing. So, we ended up cutting our visit to one week. We managed to get everything on our list done for this area in a couple of long days. We’d been to San Antonio before so our list wasn’t too long. We wanted to check out the San Antonio Missions, see the Riverwalk, and have some good BBQ and German food.

There are five Spanish colonial missions that make up the San Antonio Missions World Heritage site. We got to visit three of them during this visit and the boys earned another badge for their collection!

My favorite of the three we visited is Mission San Jose y San Miguel de Aguayo. This one was the biggest of the Texas missions, but that’s not why it was my favorite. I really loved the architecture here and the stone work. You can see the Rose Window of San Jose in the right photo. Look at the detail in the stone work.

 I was surprised by the number of people visiting this mission. I stood in this spot for what felt like an hour waiting for the front of the mission to clear some so that there wasn’t a huge gaggle of people in my picture.

We also visited Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purmisima Concepcion de Acuna. This one was my second favorite of the missions we visited. The architecture and the details in the stone work were wonderful. There weren’t nearly as many people at this one since it isn’t as big or as well known. The twin towers, barrel-vaulted roof and dome ceiling are virtually unchanged since the mission was built over 250 years ago.

Y’all might recognize the third mission we went to. Mission San Antonio de Valero is also known as The Alamo. This was actually the first one we visited, but it’s my least favorite of the three for several reasons. The biggest being the sheer number of people there. It was a little insane. When the mission era ended, the Spanish officials turned the mission into a military barracks and outpost. Oh, and we weren’t allowed to take photos inside the mission. I didn’t care for that either…I get it…no flash photography so the artifacts aren’t damaged…but they could set up a room that was camera friendly. I saw plenty of people still sneaking photos.

Not far from The Alamo (right across the street) you’ll find stairs leading down to The Riverwalk. The Riverwalk is a series of walkways along the San Antonio River one story below the streets of Downtown San Antonio. There are shops, restaurants, and hotels. We walked a small portion of the Riverwalk to get the experience of it. We were all so hungry though that we didn’t hang around the Riverwalk long. Yes, there are restaurants, but we were in search of something specific.

We ate at a little hole-in-the-wall place called B&B Smokehouse. It was tiny, packed with locals, and the food was great! When you find the place the locals go to…you know you’re in for some good foodies!

We’d been looking forward to some German food since we ate at that great place in Phoenix! We found a place in San Antonio called Dresden Café. Dresden Café makes all of their sausages and brats in house and they are some of the best we’ve ever had. We got one of each kind they offer and then ended up getting five pounds of our favorites to take with us. Yep, they were that good.

We found a German bakery called Schugga. You can get a meal there too and when we go back to the San Antonio area we will be heading back there to indulge in some of their nonbakery items! We met some new friends at Schugga and ended up standing there chatting for about an hour. We’re hoping to see Eric and Jacky somewhere down the road! Everything we got at Schugga was amazingly good!

We were only 45 minutes from Lockhart, home to the famous Black’s Barbecue. We piled our plates with smoked meat and sides. It all looked so good! We wanted to be impressed. We tried. Really. But…we probably won’t go back. My favorite thing there was the pecan cobbler. It was so stinkin’ good! I’m pretty sure I can make that though so…I’ll just do that.

If y’all go to Lockhart, make sure to stop by the courthouse. It’s impressive! We didn’t go in…we just appreciated it from the outside.

We really enjoyed being back in a Texas city and seeing some our favorite stores and restaurants!

See y’all down the road!

Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park

By |

Big Bend National Park is harsh and unforgiving and isn’t apologetic about it at all. If you want someplace soft, lush, or easy, this is not the park for you. But, if you’re into adventure, you want some fantastic views that you have to work to get to, and you love a park that’s diverse…this is definitely your park.

This park stretches out over 800,000 acres, includes massive canyons, vast desert expanses, forested mountains, and part of the Rio Grande Wild & Scenic River!

We spent a day driving the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. The drive is only 30 miles, but we stopped several times to get in some hiking. We did the Burro Mesa Pour off Trail and found this really cool area that has a dry waterfall until one of the flash-floods comes through.

We stopped by the Castolon Visitor Center to have a picnic lunch and gaze at the cliffs of the Santa Elena Canyon we were heading to. Castolon used to be a Military Outpost and you can see some of the old equipment that was used during that time.

In Big Bend National Park, the roads end at the river. The Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive takes you down to the Santa Elena Canyon where you can get out and hike through the U.S half of the canyon.

Everything I found about the Santa Elena hike said you cross a small creek. I really thought there would be a bridge. And…I was right…kind of. See those sticks in the top right photo? Yep, those are the “bridge” and no, they’re not held down by anything. One wrong step and splash! You can see the high tech set of stairs we used to get up the side of the creek in the left photo. Now, can we stop and appreciate the fact that I am only 5′? I did get up that make shift ladder! It wasn’t graceful, but by golly, I made it! And Holy Jumpin’ was it worth it! Santa Elena Canyon is only 8 miles long, but is 1,500 feet deep and in some places only 30 feet wide.

The canyon was the end of the line for the scenic drive so we back tracked a couple of miles to this dirt road (we seem to always find ourselves on dirt roads) that would allow us to make a loop of the drive instead of having to go back the way we’d already seen. We found this old farm house. The Big Bend land is dotted with old farms and ranches.

We also found this section of badlands and climbed up over a small hill for the view above. There wasn’t a trail, we just caught a glimpse and got out to explore.

We took a drive down to do the Boquillas Canyon hike one afternoon. That’s the Rio Grande River and the border you’re looking at in the pictures above. The Rio Grande River winds south and makes the Texas/Mexico border. It makes a big horseshoe shape and it’s within that horseshoe shape that Big Bend sits. On one side of the river is the US and on the other sits Mexico.

We had been warned that some of the Mexican citizens liked to cross the river (border) illegally and put out “tip jars” and “souvenirs”. We were also told by Rangers that they considered any of these things contraband and would seize them if found. On our Boquillas Canyon hike we found both “souvenirs” and “tip jars for the singing Mexican”. I dunno…seems kind of harmless to me. We didn’t purchase any souvenirs or leave a tip, but I really don’t see the harm in it. In the photo above you can see the home of one of the Mexican citizens that was hoping for a “tip”.

Boquillas Canyon isn’t as well known as Santa Elena Canyon, but it’s still a neat hike and is quite something to see the river disappear into the canyon itself.

One of my favorite spots in the park is the Hot Springs area. We got there right as the sun was trying to sink and had just enough light to get a quick look before we headed on down the road. In the early 1900s J.O. Langford heard about the hot springs and set out to own it under the Homestead Act. Eventually, he opened it up to the public where they could soak in the 105° water for 10¢ a day. We found the hot springs surprisingly full considering the time of day. We didn’t get in, we just wanted to see them.

The rocks of Big Bend are…complex. If a rock can be complex. Two seas, one right after the other, flowed in the Big Bend region hundreds of millions of years ago. They left thick deposits of limestone and shale in their wake. The Chisos Mountains rose about the same time as the Rockies and at the same time a wide strip of land sank along a fault line and in the center of it all was volcanic activity. Complex.

One of the best hikes in the park is the Grapevine Hills hike that takes you to the balanced rock you see in the top photo above. It’s not a long hike, but the last quarter mile has some truly Harding Icefield Hike worthy parts. Funny, those parts are turning into our favorite parts.

If you want to see a mountain lion or a black bear, you’ll need to head to the Chisos Mountain section of the park. We went into the visitor center there and they have a board with all of the wildlife sightings. There were more than I thought there would be. We didn’t get to see any, but we didn’t get to spend much time in this section of the park. Two weeks isn’t long enough to really see this park.

I couldn’t leave out the flowers. I didn’t see many…it is winter. I saw just as many pink and purple prickly pears as I did regular green ones. I like the pink the best. I was surprised by how many ocotillos we found at this park. Several had pretty red buds at the tops.

Since Alex is pretty busy with school right now, I’ll go ahead and throw in the wildlife we saw too. We found this huge bee hive in Tuff Canyon. It was extremely active. We also finally got to see a javelina up close! This little guy wouldn’t turn around for me to get a better shot so you’re stuck with a picture of his tushy. We didn’t push it since these guys are rumored to run in packs of 15-25. We didn’t want a stampede on our hands. We also saw roadrunners, bobcats, and coyotes!

There are those that will simply drive the paved roads of this park and call it good. They’ll miss most of the striking rock formations, the craggy ravines, spectacular vistas, and amazing river canyons. Maybe they’re intimidated by the stigma a desert carries of being a barren wasteland or perhaps it’s that all of the plants and animals aren’t soft and inviting.

Big Bend National Park isn’t really visited by the usual national park goer and that’s a shame because you can look at all the pretty, glossy photos of any place you want…but you’ll never truly understand the sheer size of the canyon walls or the wide open expanses unless you’re there. We will definitely go back to Big Bend. We feel like we found a diamond in the rough.

See y’all down the road!

#goseedoexplore

Alamogordo

Alamogordo

By |

We’d heard that there was going to be a snow storm the day we were supposed to drive down to Alamogordo, NM so we got started as early as we could and hoped for the best. We hadn’t driven but maybe an hour before we ran right smack dab into the front edge of a blizzard. Luckily, we kept just ahead of it the entire time we high-tailed it down to our RV park in Alamogordo. The people at the RV Park told us they’d heard the area would get 7 inches of snow that night. We had big plans for the next day so 7 inches of snow didn’t sound great. When we got up the next morning, we didn’t see any snow at all, but when we got out we quickly discovered all of the roads leading out of town were closed. Apparently, the rest of New Mexico was closed due to the blizzard. We went back to the RV and regrouped. We spent that first day at a Hastings where we checked out the movies, games, and books. It was kind of a nice relaxing day. Usually, our weekends are go, go, go.

We ended up eating lunch at Rockin’ BZ Burgers where we had the best green chili cheeseburger in New Mexico. This place is solidly at the top of our list for burgers. Nicholas got the fried pickles and they were surprisingly good! We ended up eating there twice…in one week!

The main reason we came to Alamogordo was to visit White Sands National Monument. In the photo above you can see the Sierra Blanca which is 67 miles away from WSNM.

The RV Park we stayed at had sleds we could borrow so we could go sand sledding! Yup, you read that right…sand sledding! If you don’t have your own sleds, the visitor center has them for $10 apiece. We had to find the highest sand dune we could to slide down and then we had a contest as to who slid the farthest.

When we got there, the visitor center was packed. It was so bad I had second thoughts about going into the park. I was afraid we’d just be waiting in line to go down the dune. You can see how crowded it was in the picture above. Ha! There was enough room for everyone to spread out and stay out of each other’s way. It was wonderful! There’s not much wildlife at this National Park, but we did see a few signs of birds and some tracks we thought were from a kit fox.

We had the best time at this National Park! There wasn’t a ton of trails to hike and the park isn’t the biggest one or the prettiest we’ve been to, but there were so many opportunities for fun here. I think we’ll be back for more!

We spent an entire day driving the Billy The Kid National Scenic Byway.

Our first stop on the scenic byway was the Lincoln Historic Site where we learned everything you could possibly want to know about Billy The Kid  and the Lincoln County War. I won’t give you an entire history lesson here…but I will tell you I didn’t know the whole story. In a time and place where the law wasn’t really the law, The Kid stood up for what he believed to be right and he paid for it with his life.

Many of the buildings that were around during the Lincoln County War are still standing. We got to see the Courthouse that Billy escaped from. And a hole in the wall that might have been from a bullet Billy fired as he was attempting his famous escape.

The boys earned probably the coolest badge so far at Lincoln Historic Site. It looks like a Sheriff’s badge!

After we left Lincoln, we stopped at Fort Stanton. We saw a short video about the Fort and walked around the grounds. The Fort opened in 1855 and was used for several different purposes through the years until it was designated as a state monument in 2007.

Our next stop on the scenic byway was at Capitan, NM and the Smokey Bear Historical Site. The boys had been looking forward to this for a long time. They both are Smokey Bear fans. We spent a couple of hours going through the museum and working on the Junior Ranger booklets. While there, we got to see where Smokey is buried. This was one of the hardest Junior Ranger booklets they’ve done, but they got some pretty cool S.W.A.G. for their effort!

 We were starving by the time we made it out of the Smokey Bear Historical Site so we headed for Ruidoso, NM and a burger joint called Hall Of Flame Burger. It was a super good burger, but I didn’t get any pictures. We were that hungry. We, of course, got the green chili cheese burgers, but we couldn’t really taste the green chilies. Beyond that, the burger was top notch. The place was small and packed and we were lucky to get seats.

I finally got a picture of a Roadrunner! They are so difficult to get a photo of! Fast little buggers.

It’s a pistachio. There were two different pistachio orchards right across the highway from where we stayed. We could see one from our RV and it was constantly busy. So, we thought we should probably check it out. We stopped at both, but our favorite was McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch. You could go in and taste pistachios and pecans and…wine! The store smelled heavenly when we walked in and I was super excited to see that they had ice cream! It was a fun way to spend a few hours and we walked away with just a few purchases!

This was our last week in New Mexico and we started panicking about the prospect of no New Mexican chilies…so we stocked up. This isn’t all of what we ended up with, but it’s a good portion of it. And yes, we are already planning a return trip to The Land Of Enchantment…and chilies.

See y’all down the road!

#newmexicochiliaddict