travel

The American Civil War — 150 Years Later…

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My dear husband and me at the 135th anniversary Battle of Antietam Reenactment, September 1997.  Can you spot the one anachronism in the photo?  We joined about 35,000 fellow reenactors in the largest ever American Civil War reenactment to date.  Don’t expect a 150th Anniversary Antietam — no one stepped up to lead the planning … Read more

Hi Honey, We’re HOME!!!!

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We made it! We had a nice uneventful trip, with about 22 hours worth of driving spread over 4 days, 1200 miles, and 10 different states! This afternoon we went straight over to the house to empty out the trailer into the new house’s garage, although we aren’t officially moving in until Wednesday. More pictures … Read more

Moving 101 — Keeping it Fun for the Kids!

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From 2010 11 11 PCS2010 I saw these at Target while I was shopping for gift cards for the boys’ teachers. CUTE! It’s a small Lego set that you get when you put money on the gift card! So I put $5 each on two of these and just now gave them to the boys … Read more

Weigh Too Much Stuff!

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When you drive some of your belongings during a military move, you can file to have the government reimburse you at 95% of what the government would have had to pay a shipping company. To do this, you have to weigh your vehicles before and after loading. Here’s our completely loaded Pilot with trailer (the … Read more

Bovril Beef Gravy

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I have to introduce this to the masses. I just have to! When Dave and I were visiting Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, we enjoyed visiting the little grocery store up the street from our hotel. With the continental breakfast being $13.50 CD per person, per day, just picking up a loaf of bread, a block of butter … Read more

Iowa Discoveries: The Iowa State Fair…or…What Did They Try to Fry THIS Year?

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This past weekend we paid a visit to the Iowa State Fair. In 2008 and 2009 we drove right down the road to Lincoln for the Nebraska State Fair, which was fun when it was nice and close. This year, the state fair will open up on August 27th at their new home at Fonner Park in Grand Island, NE, which is about 2 1/2 hours away from here.

The former State Fairgrounds in Lincoln will become the Nebraska Innovation Campus, a university-private industry research center. Similar to N.C. State’s Centennial Campus, and Penn State’s Innovation Park.

Since Nebraska’s State Fair moved relatively far away, we decided to check out Iowa’s State Fair, near downtown Des Moines, about 130 miles east of us.

I think this might be the biggest state fair I’ve ever attended. I’ve only been to 4 of them: Ohio, North Carolina, Nebraska and now Iowa’s. The old buildings reminded me of the historic buildings at the NC State Fairgrounds. There were numerous midways, and we had trouble finding the little-kid-friendly rides. Unfortunately, it was incredibly hot, and I think were all that much crankier from it.

Enjoy some pictures from our day at the fair!

Timmy did a leaf rubbing and taped it to a display area:

From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair
From 2010 08 21 Iowa State Fair

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Colorado Discoveries 4 — Rocky Mountain National Park

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The reason we went up to Estes Park was to visit Rocky Mountain National Park. We spent 2 days at the park enjoying hikes and scenic drives.

We took a somewhat advanced trail near the Bear Lake trailhead on the first day, I think some of the rangers were surprised that we were considering taking our young boys, but they did really well. Yep, we were going way up there!

From 2010 08 09 Rocky Mtn Natl Park Day 1
From 2010 08 09 Rocky Mtn Natl Park Day 1

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