Travel, Springfield and Carthage

After leaving the Udvar-Hazy Center we drove a few hours, crossing into Maryland, before staying in LaVale, Maryland for the night.

We enjoyed using the exercise equipment for a bit before leaving the next morning.

Matthew, intent on walking fast.

Maryland wants us to come visit again :)

We spent most of the day driving.

Crossing into West Virginia (state 46 for Me).

Into Pennsylvania, which decided to welcome us this time (unlike when we drove into Philadelphia).

Back into West Virginia.

Into Ohio.

We stopped in Cincinnati for dinner, to get an oil change on the car and for the kids to do the Lego mini build. They built an octupus.

We drove into Kentucky (state 47 for Me). We spent a little extra time there as the kids fought in the car. U and Me enjoyed looking at a purple house and a cardinal. Once things settled down, we headed back into Ohio.

We then drove into Indiana (state 48 for Me) where we stayed the night in Indianapolis.

The next day, we headed into Illinois.

Notice how Kentucky is the "Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln," Indiana has "Lincoln's Boyhood Home" and Illinois is "The Land of Lincoln." Clearly we had to do something Lincoln-related so we stopped in Springfield to visit Abraham Lincoln's home. (This was actually a planned stop on our trip unrelated to all the states claiming Lincoln.) The kids did the Junior Ranger program to earn their 10th badge of the trip.

On our tour of the Lincoln home.  The ranger said that 90% of the home and much of the furniture is original since the Lincolns sold it to friends and relatives when they moved to Washington DC.  People held onto them and have donated them back to the Park Service.

Climbing the stairs. The handrail is original to the home.

Lincoln's shaving stand and mirror are the originals.

Some games and toys in the children's room.

The kitchen.

Matthew, Megan, Me and Sarah in front of the Lincoln home.

We then drove to Carthage, where we toured Carthage Jail.

Living quarters of the jailer's family.

Me, Matthew, Megan and Sarah in the jail.

Door to the room that Hyrum and Joseph Smith were in before they were killed. The bullet through the door is original.

Matthew, Me, Megan and Sarah in the room.

The second story window is the one through which Joseph fell.

Our family in front of Carthage Jail.

Matthew and Megan with Joseph and Hyrum.

The brothers with the jail behind them.

This bird decided to hang out on our mirror for a bit.

We had a yummy dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Me with steaming fajitas.

U's dinner was really good.  It was kind of like fajitas but all the meat came in a bowl with a really good sauce.

We then headed over the Mississippi into Iowa to our hotel in Fort Madison.

Mount Vernon

Thursday morning, we headed to Mount Vernon to see George and Martha Washington's home. We took the first guided tour of the day through the home which was nice because it felt like our group had the home to ourselves. There were no pictures allowed in the home. It was a nice home. The Washingtons often had guests and, in accordance with Southern traditions at the time, would accept anyone into their home for as long as they wanted to stay whether or not they knew them. And the Washingtons paid the bill. They had their own private area of the home so they could have a break from their many guests when desired.

Sarah, Megan, Me and Matthew before touring the home.

Matthew and Megan were excited to find the kitchen.

View of the Potomac and beyond from the back porch.

Enjoying that view.

We toured the many outbuildings. This is the stable, where one of U's ancestors took care of George Washington's horses.

Some of the stalls.

U and Megan with a few riding chair carriages.

Nice carriage.

We walked down to visit the tombs of George and Martha Washington.

Panoramic of the Pioneer Farm, a recreation of what one of their farms may have been like. President Washington considered himself first a farmer and often experimented with crops to determine how to better grow them. He switched from growing tobacco to wheat because he believed it would be more profitable.

Matthew and Me walking around the farm.

U and the kids petting the sheep.

Matthew petting the black sheep.

The kids were excited to find this three person privy.

We walked the forest trail and meandered through some of the gardens. This part of the garden had really cool designs.

U was excited to find his name on the door of the slavery exhibit. We figure that means Washington had a slave with his name.

Matthew dressed as a Revolutionary War Soldier.

Playing with the miniature Mount Vernon.

Playing with the toy soldiers.

As we left Mount Vernon, we were checking for the three license plates we hadn't seen yet.  Me said, "It would be really great if we saw a Rhode Island."  We did.  For all of you who have played the license plate game and never seen one, here it is:

As we headed off to our next hotel in New Jersey, we knew we would be crossing several state lines.  First, Siri told us we crossed into Washington DC but we think that was only on the bridge as we were welcomed to Maryland on the other side.

After a while, Delaware welcomed us... with a toll road.  When we eventually left about 20 minutes later, we crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge and reminisced about how nice the state was to us.

We next entered New Jersey.  Outside of a small sign welcoming us to Salem county, there wasn't a welcome sign.  Finally, U took a picture of this sign figuring that what they really wanted to welcome us to was the turnpike where we could pay more tolls.

 

What do you know? A nice big sign for the turnpike.

Finally once we are on the turnpike we get a welcome message.  It of course points out the fact that they have a turnpike...

Our hotel gave us a cool greeting. Literally. The air was set at 51 degrees and the room had cooled down to 56. We turned on the heat and headed out to dinner at Cracker Barrel. It used to be one of our favorite restaurants but went off the table with Matthew's allergies. All the kids were happy with their meals and enjoyed helping Matthew finish his hot chocolate.  Matthew and U played a game of checkers  that Matthew won.