States – Page 22 – Our RV Trip

Milton, WV

By Jennie Simpson | June 7, 2016

We spent a week at the Huntington/Fox Fire KOA just outside of Charleston. It’s giving our favorite RV Park a run for its money. The owners are super friendly, and really care about your stay. The park is very clean and family friendly.

The boys rode these banana bikes almost every day we were there.

The KOA has banana bikes in various sizes for all to enjoy for a small price. It’s very reasonable.

There was also a couple of fully stocked ponds to fish in. The two little boys each caught a fish. It was a great way to spend the evenings. There were several activities offered by the KOA, but the boys’ favorite thing there is the owner’s dog! He does a great trick. If y’all are ever in the area, we highly recommend the Huntington/Fox Fire KOA!

We didn’t get to take a tour of the Charleston Capitol Building. The website said tours were available, but when we got there, we found out they’d recently changed that. Bummer. We did get to walk around some, but we really enjoy taking the guided tours. You learn more about the building and sometimes you get into parts of the building you wouldn’t normally get to see.

The Charleston Capitol Building was one of the more reserved buildings we’ve seen so far. Where other state capitol buildings have decorated every space this one has gone in another direction. And you know what? I like it. It’s not flashy. It’s modest. The building speaks for itself without all of the flash.

They call it a chandelier and it weighs 4,000 pounds. The chandelier is made from graduated crystals imported from Czechoslovakia. The light was definitely twinkling! Y’all know I prefer the stained glass, but I will admit the crystal chandelier is lovely.

IMGP2727 — Charleston Capitol Building rotunda

Just like all the other capitol buildings, there is marble everywhere.

IMGP2770 — What a general store would have looked like during the late 1800s early 1900s in West Virginia.

The museum across the courtyard from the Capitol Building was a nice surprise. We spent a couple of hours learning about the history of West Virginia.

We went to the Blenko Glass Company. The building the glass blowers work in has an observation deck for tours. We watched that blob of glass turned into

this. It was very cool. We stood there and watched them do several before we went down to the gift shop where we got a pretty blue vase to give someone as a gift. I somehow missed getting a photo of the vase we bought.

We also found this covered bridge at a park near Blenko Glass!

I used it as a background for some school pictures of the boys. They turned out great this year.

Loving all of the spring flowers!

These tulips were in a vibrant shade of purple…one of the best colors in my opinion…

We immensely enjoyed our time in the Milton area. We’ve already decided another trip is in the future!

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Ohio

By Jennie Simpson | June 3, 2016

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

We toured the capitol building. Notice there’s not a dome?

But, when you go inside…surprise! It looks like there’s a dome! Apparently, they planned on putting a dome on the building, but it took so long they’ve just left it the way it is.

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

We’ve seen several Capitol Buildings now, but I haven’t seen a ceiling quite as lovely as this one. The picture really doesn’t do it justice.

The other thing that stood out for me was the hand laid tiles. We’ve seen this a few other times, and I always enjoy it.

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

We found an all you can eat German buffet. All. You. Can. Eat…

They didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t the best German food we’d had, but it was better than a kick in the pants!

They also had desserts. So, of course, we had to try some of them! Schmidt’s is known for their half pound cream puffs…we got two…they were enjoyed.

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

See y’all down the road!

#easternloop2016

Pizza Roundup Dewey’s

By Littlest | May 30, 2016

Dewey’s is a tasty pizza place in Columbus, Ohio.

Dewey’s has a variety of foods, well, they just have calzones, pizza, and salads, so not a lot but its really good pizza.

I found a new favorite pizza there and it is called Dr. Dre, which has Olive oil, Mozzarella, Green Pepper’s, Chicken, Bacon, Tomatoes, and Ranch, so it’s like a chicken bacon ranch pizza but better. At Dewey’s you can get half and half pizza’s like what I did or you can get a full pizza like what usually happens.

My brother, Mr. Man, got a Ball Park Pizza that has sausage, mustard, onions and I think that is it but I cannot remember.

I like how you can see the pizza makers make pizza through glass so I could get a pic of them tossing dough.

The bathrooms were clean and the service was nice. In all that I’m giving Dewey’s a 5 star review.

See you next time on…

Pizza Street!!

Pizza Roundup Mackinze’s River Pizza

By Littlest | May 25, 2016

For my fellow pizza lovers, I will review MacKenzie River Pizza.

MacKenzie River Pizza is an excellent pizza place to eat if you’re in Indianapolis, Indiana.

With more than just pizza, they have burgers, salads, and pastas.

I got the Rancher pizza which was really super good with pepperoni, ground beef, bell peppers, bacon, and tomatoes. I really like the pizza sauce. It tasted kind of sweet and was different than other sauces.

I like the creativity with some of the names of the items on the menu,

but I must say the cream soda does not go well with the Rancher pizza.

The service was pretty good, I like the rustic look, and their bathrooms were clean.

I give MacKenzie River Pizza a 5-star review.

See you next time on…

Pizza Street!!

Indianapolis, IN

By Jennie Simpson | May 19, 2016

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

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

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

I know you’re wondering about the dome. The Indianapolis dome doesn’t disappoint.

The stained glass was beautiful. Does it kind of remind you of an owl? We were in the Supreme Court room and the owls on the windows are supposed to represent wisdom.

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

We weren’t expecting all of the great murals.

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

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

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

See y’all on the road!

#easternlooptour2016

Pizza Roundup Pizza Ranch

By Littlest | May 4, 2016

For my fellow pizza lovers, on this pizza review I will be talking about Pizza Ranch. If you remember my first post from Nebraska last year (2015) you might remember Pizza Ranch.

Pizza Ranch is a really good pizza chain that we couldn’t resist eating at again, but this time we were in Springfield, Illinois. My favorite pizza from there is still the chicken bacon ranch pizza.

Just to refresh your memory of Pizza Ranch you can look at my first pizza post ever in the history of ever.

Pizza Ranch has more than just pizza on the buffet like chicken legs, mashed potatoes,

salad stuff,

and dessert’s such as ice cream, and really really tasty dessert pizza.

The decorations were also really cool in the style of a ranch and the bathrooms are also clean.

I think pizza ranch deserves another 5-star review.

see you next time on…

Pizza Street!!

Springfield, IL

By Jennie Simpson | April 29, 2016

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.

Here’s a better view of the top of the dome. 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 this 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.

Mr. Man got the burger you see above. It’s called the Stinger Burger and yes, those are onion rings you see sitting atop the bacon.

It looks like a hot mess. It’s called The Horseshoe. What you’re looking at is 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

By Jennie Simpson | April 21, 2016

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. It didn’t have a huge stained glass thing (although there were some small stained glass windows), but it was very impressive.

It didn’t have stained glass in the dome, but 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’ll leave y’all with this pretty shot of a Tulip Tree. I’ve decided this is one of my favorite types of trees.

See y’all down the road!

Pizza Roundup Old Chicago

By Littlest | April 13, 2016

Old Chicago is a good pizza place in Joplin, MO that has Chicago crust, or ale crust, which is thinner than Chicago (more like hand tossed).

I got their Chicago crust which was really good, especially with their ranch dressing to dip the crust in.

They also have burgers,

sandwiches, salads, and soups. But mainly pizza.

The restaurant also had lots of TV’s inside, at least 6. I personally didn’t like the service or the decorations but the food was good and the bathrooms were clean. Overall, I give Old Chicago a 4 star review.

See you next time on

Pizza Street!!

Home For A Visit

By Jennie Simpson | April 7, 2016

We spent five wonderful weeks back in our hometown in Missouri.

It was so great spending some time with

family and

friends!! One of the hardest things about living a nomadic life is being away from family and friends for long periods of time so we all took the opportunity to spend as much time as possible reconnecting with as many as we could. Unfortunately, time seems to fly and we didn’t get to spend time with everyone we wanted to.

The Dude turned 13 while we were back home. We now have two teenagers. Two. In an RV. This year should definitely be interesting!

The boys all took advantage of the toys at my parents’ house and spent quite a bit of time outside…when it wasn’t raining.

It wasn’t all fun and play though. We had several projects we wanted to get done. It’s amazing how different what you think you’re going to need vs. what you really need while living in an RV is.

And…we, of course, had to hit up our favorite eateries!

It kind of looks like a mess, but it is so stinkin’ good!! Anything that has mac-n-cheese, prime rib chili, cheese, and garlic ailoi on top of fries…yes please!

I think we had Shake’s several times a week…

I might need a twelve step program when it comes to Shake’s.

I can’t leave out all of the pretty flowers!

One of the best things about Spring…

would be all of the flowers!!

See y’all down the road!!

#homeiswheretheheartis