WY Road Trip - Day 3

Awoke in Litchfield, IL today. Went to St. Louis in the morning, and then hauled some miles. Made it all the way to Hays, KS.

Gateway Arch - it had probably been close to 20 years since I had been there...

Riding up the tram to the top...

Taking photos from the top...

And meeting new friends...

View from the top...

View of the Mississippi River from the top, it was significantly flooding...

We then went to see Union Station and have some lunch, unfortunately we didn't see any trains there (but we saw plenty of others that I think I made up for it)...

Quick detour to another capitol - Topeka - which was undergoing a serious renovation (will have to go back and check it out again when they're done)...

(more pictures and stories coming soon)

WY Road Trip - Day 2

We awoke in Richmond, IN and had breakfast at IHOP.  I never realized how useful those kids menus with games really are...

1st stop - Indiana High Point (1,257 ft)...

2nd stop - Indianapolis Speedway...I didn't know you could go on a bus tour of the track, so we did...

Next up, Springfield, IL - capitol building, and lots and lots of Lincoln stuff and trains...

Kid C was sooooooo excited to see a train this close up, and the train conductor waved at us!

We visited Abe's Library and Museum, 1st law office, house, and tomb...

(I will update with more pictures and stories soon)

Kid C's favorite thing today - seeing the Amtrak train of course! But second was the bus ride around the Brickyard
Kid B's favorite thing - the train also

WY Road Trip - Day 1

Departing with our activity books... 

We covered a lot of ground today. Five states, three of which were new for the boys (no new ones for my car yet though). We did not make too many stops, but did take in the view at Sideling Hill outside Hancock, MD. I don't think I had ever stopped there before.

And we saw a cool centipede of some sort...

Before we left West Virginia, we passed through our 1st tunnel (do not worry, traffic was stopped when I took this)...

Pit stop in Ohio, and a little frisbee playing...

Highlights:

Eating at Hardees for the first time

Crossing the continental divide

Seeing a car with the front smashed in, and the kid driving was texting as he passed us going 80 mph (wonder how he messed up the front of his car...)

Kid B's favorite thing - being in new states (WV, maybe PA? (at least for that long), OH, IN)

Kid C's favorite thing - seeing the big mountains in western MD (and the centipede)

Auntie's favorite thing - besides very well behaved boys, spotting a wild turkey on the side of the road

Columbus

I had been by the capitol on another road trip to take pictures (2005), but didn't have time to go inside.  So on a road trip with a friend to celebrate my bday, and to cheer my brother at the Flying Pig Marathon, we stopped in Columbus.

 

Richmond Road Trip

Itching to go on a road trip, my friend Mandy and I headed to Richmond for the day on Presidents Day Weekend.  Amazingly, we did not hit ANY traffic on I-95 (unheard of!).

Richmond's art sculpture of choice was the fish:

We walked by John Marshall's house...it was not open on Sundays so I will have to go back:

We then headed to the Museum of the Confederacy, which had a cowboy(?) themed fish:

We skipped the museum, but did the tour of the White House of the Confederacy.  It does not look that white to me... 

This is actually the back, but looks grander than the front. We had an excellent tour guide who knew a ton about President Jefferson Davis.

Next stop, the Virginia State Capitol.  I had been to this one before, but do not remember going inside.  So we checked out the new fancy visitors center. Well worth the visit!

Every capitol needs a statue of George Washington...

...or two

Senate chambers:

House chambers:

Me trying to be artsy: 

4

The Bell Tower, I am pretty sure that is Virginia's Liberty Bell up there, but could not confirm it:

We also drove down Monument Street, to see all the huge mansions and civil war general statues (and one of Arthur Ashe)

Here is my brother's namesake...Stonewall Jackson:

Driving around at sunset, we stumbled upon a little park overlooking the city, I thought this was a pretty nice view:

February Recipe - Onion Rings

I had a few friends over for the Superbowl (congrats Coach Harbaugh!) and decided to try out a new recipe - Crispy Baked Onion Rings.  Now I must admit, I am not a huge onion ring fan, but thought if I made them myself and was able to cut them thin enough and coat them with a lot of batter, that I would like them.  Which I did, but they were definitely best still hot, right out of the oven.

Here are some pictures of the prep work:

 

Coated and ready to be baked:

 Hot and fresh out of the oven: 

Close-up:

Recipe credits to Oh She Glows and can be found here.