Visiting George Washington's Mount Vernon

My son and I took our first trip to Mount Vernon in August. What an incredible way to spend a day! If you ever come to Washington, D.C. to tour the Smithsonian Museums and other sites, I'd highly suggest adding a day at Mount Vernon to your schedule. It's a day well spent!

The first thing you should do is visit the Mount Vernon website. Check out their calendar of events to see if anything is happening the day you're planning to visit. Check as soon as you decide to plan the trip because their events fill up rather quickly. The next thing you need to do is pick out a time to tour the mansion. It's part of your ticket, but you don't want to show up and realize you don't have a time set up.

Before you purchase your ticket, be sure to check out their social media. Facebook and Instagram will show you if they have any promo codes you can enter. I used their code "SMF2019" to get 20% off the regular ticket price. Also, if you're military you receive $6 off the adult ticket. If you have a Purple Heart entry is free year round!

The drive to Mount Vernon is beautiful. It's a partially wooded drive as you cruise along the Potomac River. When you arrive, parking is free! You'll start your day (more than likely) at the Ford Orientation Center and enter the grounds from there.

We passed by the slaves quarters, shoemaker's shop, and stove room. I don't know about you, but looking through these rooms is very difficult. A brief glance into what their lives looked like is a harsh reminder of our history, a place we never want to return to. They received 2 shirts and 1 pair of pants... for a YEAR!

From there we walked around the path until we made it to the mansion entry line. We learned so much about the mansion from the volunteers! It started off being owned by George Washington's father and it was only 1 1/2 stories. Seriously, they couldn't have picked a more picturesque location!

The tour of the mansion was delightful. I think I was most fascinated with the beds we saw and the study. It would be amazing to have a bed like the one in the Blue Room or Lafayette's Bedchamber. The plaster decoration on the ceiling is stunning and the carving on the marble mantle piece is spectacular. They point out how George Washington paid homage to his heritage of working the land with the intricate designs above the doors and on the mantle.

After we completed the tour we saw a fife and drum band from Michigan dressed up in period apparel getting ready to play period music. It was awesome! Next to the Bowling Green is the Upper Garden. You know I had to walk through there. Oh, you have no idea how much I loved it! The flowers and the garden are wonderful. What's fantastic is, they harvest the seeds from the plants AND sell them in Lady Washington's shop as well as the larger shop at the front of the grounds. They have a sunflower that I absolutely MUST get my hands on next spring or summer.

My son and I decided to have lunch after the tour. Since we didn't have reservations at the restaurant we went to the food court. We should've checked with the restaurant. I would say in comparison to what you'll spend at the food court, it's worth your while to eat at the restaurant. I'll share more about my experience enjoying their food in a future blog post.

After lunch we wanted to check out Washington's tomb. Thankfully since we were full, we took a shuttle down to the wharf and then walked up to the tomb. We passed by the pioneer farm, but we didn't see any activity down there. What I didn't realize was, there's also a slave memorial & cemetery. It's a beautiful area on the grounds just past Washington's tomb.

We wandered the grounds some more passing by the coach house, stable and lower garden. We didn't spend much time because it was getting late in the day. I was bummed we didn't take time to walk through the Donald W. Reynolds Museum & Education Center. I did take time to walk through the two big shops. My daughter would love the smaller one as they have an entire Christmas section! In the larger shop they have some amazing creations made from wood that was found on the grounds. There are also books galore!

Trust me, this is one visit you won't want to miss! You come to VA or Washington, D.C. It's well worth your time and you will thank me later! My next visit I hope will be by candlelight during the holidays!

Hiking Interstate State Park, Minnesota

My son and I went hiking last year at Minnehaha Falls on one of the weekends he was back from camp. I think we're going to be making this a tradition. It gets us out of whoever's house we're staying with and allows us to enjoy the beautiful state of Minnesota.

This year we decided to go to Taylors Falls. Now, I'll share a bit of my ignorance here. I thought Taylors Falls wasn't just a city. I thought it had a waterfall. You know, hence the name of the town. Turns out, nope, no waterfalls there. lol

We decided to do the hike regardless and I'm glad we did! It was an absolutely beautiful day. It took us about an hour to get there from the Cities. There are 2 sides to the Park, hence the "Interstate" part of the name. It's joined with Wisconsin. It was only $7 to park for the day. We probably could've parked on the street in Taylors Falls, but this worked out just fine.

You have several options when you visit Interstate State Park. You can rent canoes and kayaks, hike, or take a scenic boat tour. I didn't realize about the boat tour until it was too late, but that would've been fun. There are also a few trails you can explore. If we go back I'd like to check out the Glacial Potholes. We started our adventure off on the River Trail. That probably took us about an hour to hike? We stopped along the way to take photos and enjoy the scenery. It's only a mile and a quarter hike.

You walk along the road for a bit of the hike and then veer off into the woods. There were a decent amount of people hiking the day we went, but only so much that we'd pass someone occasionally. It was a very peaceful hike. The views of the St. Croix River were beautiful. The trails were pretty well maintained. I can see how on a rainy day some areas could be a bit slick.

After we finished with the River Trail, we crossed under the road to tackle the Railroad Trail which is 1.5 miles. We saw a couple of young gals who had just come from that direction so I asked them if we were headed the right way. Thankfully we were.

Now, when I was talking with the gal who I paid at the visitor center, she mentioned an extra piece to the Railroad Trail. She told me the Sandstone Bluffs Trail was 250 steps. I'm like, ok, so that's really nothing. Welllll, what she actually meant was there are 250 actual steps!! Stairs, people!! This is actually and added 1mi hike. Oh my goodness, I thought I was going to die. HAHAHAHA There was one point where we were completely confused and so was another lady who came upon us. About halfway through the hike it just dead ends.

Just before we reached the dead end. As in about 15 seconds before, this man scared the nonsense out of us as he was climbing down through the rock and he was sweating something awful. All of a sudden he was just there next to us. Turns out, that's where we had to climb up. I debated about turning around, but didn't. lol My son climbed up too fast for me to grab a shot of it. The arrow that points to the "steps" is rather deceiving. It looks like it's pointing to the dead end. Needless to say, I survived. My son basically ran up all of the steps. Show off.

We got back onto the Railroad Trail and it spits you out in what seems like a deserted parking lot. It was such an odd end to the hike. lol We walked out to the street which took us to the main part of Taylors Falls. Across the highway is another area to hike, but we just chilled out for a few minutes before we made our way back under the road to the visitor center. We grabbed our car and ate at a restaurant in town. Let me just say I would suggest eating anywhere other than Chisago House for your meal. I don't normally call out places that aren't great, but this place was probably one of the worst restaurants I've ever eaten or been served at.

All in all, this was an extremely beautiful place to visit. It's pet friendly so there were lots of people with their dogs. One gal actually had hiking boots on her dog so you know they explore a lot. It would be a fabulous place to camp as well. I definitely want to go back and possibly try kayaking, the boat tour, and the potholes.

27th Annual Giant National Barbecue Battle

This was our second year attending The Giant National Barbecue Battle in Washington D.C. thanks to Liquified Creative who gave us Media passes to attend the event. I have to tell you, this is one of the best events that we've attended in the area. We went 2 yrs ago and had a great time.

When we first got there we talked to a couple of the people running the Famous Dave's restaurant. Holy smokes there was so much good food there! We were so bummed we hadn't been there the day before because Dave had been on-site. And can I just say, it was awesome seeing a woman at one of the bigger grills! She looked like she was having a blast.

Part of the plan when we go down to this Battle is to go with an empty stomach. There's SO much to sample throughout the entire event. Giant has several tents (extremely long tents) that you can get in line for. Now, you have to be prepared. The Giant tents have long lines, but always worth it!

Fred was in barbecue heaven. He loves barbecued food more than most people. While I'm not a sauce fan, I am a rub fan. I'm always searching for a new rub for Fred to put on our ribs. This is a great place to try some out. This is also the perfect way to try foods that you typically wouldn't.

For example, while I like hummus, I've never seen Fred try it. We were able to sample the Sabra flatbread and he literally said to me, "I want to try this recipe at home." Jaw. Drop! I couldn't believe those words came out of his mouth. We grabbed the recipe card and I'm looking forward to him trying it out.

Also, if you're anything like me, don't you want to try a sample of something before you spend money on it? I mean, there are some products out there you might buy outright. Like trail mix. All you have to do is look at what's in it to know if you'd be interested. Then there are other foods and drinks that I'm not going to spend $5 on just to take a sip or a bite and realize it's going in the trash. lol Please tell me I'm not the only one who feels this way.

While I was in line for one of the Giant tents, he ditched me for a barbecue station. The first one he went to was out of most of their food. he went to the next station, which was Dyvine BBQ and he loved their food so much he couldn't stop talking about it. Meanwhile, through one tent, I probably sampled 20 different brands. SERIOUSLY, I love going to the Battle!

Not everything is food related at The Giant National Barbecue Battle. They also had people there from the health industry. You could talk to people about nutrition, dental health, as well as day to day living. They also have 3 band stages with different artists playing throughout the day. It was so great to sit back and listen to the bands.

We also made sure to take pictures with the Planters vehicle and the Oscar Meyer one. Those are classics to check out. There's also a food booth that can't be overlooked. They have deep fried Oreos, Twinkie, Cookie Dough, and Reese's! Fred went with the singular Twinkie and I had 3 Reese's. Just...wow! I saved 2 for the boys to enjoy when we got home.

On a side note, Sundays are a great day to go, especially being there in the afternoon because they companies are trying to offload all of the samples they brought with them. They'd literally grab handfuls of their products and dump them into our bags. Thank you very much!

The next time we go I'll be taking a small, soft cooler with us. It was sweltering down there and we grabbed quite a few samples that weren't going to be good by the time we made it home: yogurt, mayo sample, and a few other drinks/food samples.

Speaking of "next time" we'll be heading down again next year. They've already set the dates of June 27th & 28th.

First Day Of Summer At Hersheypark

One of our favorite places to go is Hersheypark. It's such a great, family friendly place to spend a day, especially a 20th birthday. My oldest son turned 20 and we spent his birthday at Hersheypark thanks to tickets we were given by the Park!

It had been raining so much lately I was incredibly thankful that Saturday was a sun shiny day! Whew. We headed up to Hershey, PA which is a 3 hour drive. Listen, if you live more than an hour away, my suggestion is to get a hotel room and stay either at the Park or near the Park the night before. Unfortunately, because we're not morning people, we didn't get up to Hersheypark until 12:45! The guys were finally in their first ride line by 2:00. See why I say to get a hotel the night before?

While the boys headed off to the Sidewinder, I told Fred I wanted to grab a King Size Milkshake. And I didn't mean just any kind, but it was National Cookie Dough Day at the park so that's the one we ordered. Oh my word, it was incredible! It was so stinking hot, it started melting right away. hahaha We just had to down it and eat it as fast as possible, but it was a delicious choice.

This was the first time the guys made it to the Wildcat. That was a pretty decent line that they got through. I think it was probably the fastest line they went through. In this section of the Park they have benches under the trees so it's perfect for those of us waiting for the riders.

Turns out the first full day of summer combined with it being a Saturday means half of the United States is at Hersheypark! lol This was our first time going where the lines were an hour and a half to two hours long. This was also our first time making it back to the Laff Track section of the Park. I sat down to waited for the guys to ride it, and while I waited a family sat down next to me and I ended up talking to them for the next hour and a half.

I actually got on a roller coaster this time. My rides are typically the carnival type rides. I went on the Trailblazer and my amusing husband thought he'd record me screaming, but it was such an easy coaster I didn't do anything but smile. lol He was very disappointed. Another ride that was my speed was the Dry Gulch Railroad. Just a fun little train ride that lasted about 5 minutes.

Now, the ride I did close my eyes on was the Tidal Force. Not only did I close my eyes, I hid my face. As if THAT was going to help anything. hahahaha This bad boy ride will SOAK you. There will not be an inch of you that remains dry. My suggestion for The Boardwalk at Hersheypark is visit early in the day or afternoon so that you can be dry by the time the sun starts to set. We rode Tidal Force around 6:30pm and we were pretty chilly afterwards. Of course we brought a change of clothes so the rest of the evening we were dry.

We were looking for an affordable place to eat so while we were still between Midway America and The Boardwalk 2 of us grabbed sandwiches at Subway and 2 of us ate at Dispatch Pizzeria. Before we left we also grabbed ice cream treats again at Simply Chocolate. I mean, how could we not?

My goal for our next trip to Hersheypark is to visit ZooAmerica. In all of the times we've been there I haven't been able to get to that part of the Park. Shocking isn't it with how much I love wild animals? I'm hoping we can get back there in August. There's construction happening so when you first get to the Park it won't look at all how you remember it. Hershey Chocolatetown will be opening in a year so the front of the Park is a construction zone, but they have it set up so that you enter seamlessly once you get there. Looking forward to our next trip!

Visit Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium

This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium. I drove up with my pastor's kids to meet them for the day and then I took off on my own. Yes, on my own. I have to tell you, I have actually enjoyed going to places like this and doing it on my own. I can walk as fast as I want, stop at the animals I want to see, skip the ones I'm not as enamored with, and linger longer at the ones I was fascinated with.

First, the parking is free! We were able to get a super close parking spot even though the zoo had been open for almost 3 hours. The cost for my ticket was $17.95. Not a bad price for all of the animals you get to see.

Visitors start off in the Forest Passage. I caught a small glimpse of a sleeping Canadian Lynx as well as the Amur Tiger. The Tigers were in the shade napping. Smart Tigers. lol Getting to the zoo in the middle of a hot June day means you should expect some animals to be snoozing in a shady spot. I also was able to spy a Komodo dragon and was surprised at how large it was.

From the Forest Passage you can go to the right and head towards Kids Kingdom or the left to the African Savannah. I went left. The flamingos caught my eye. They are such an incredibly beautiful bird! Also saw a black rhino trying to snack of shrubs through its enclosure. Silly Rhino! Caught a glimpse of a couple sleeping African Lions. I was able to grab pictures of other Savannah animals, but sadly most of them were at poor angles. Can't win 'em all, eh?

The elephants were fantastic to watch and I probably spent the most time watching them. They were at the watering hole grabbing some water and one was giving herself a dirt bath. So fun to watch. As I went around the corner to get another view of them, I saw a person standing next to an elephant. I figured it was part of their Wild Experience. As I turned to see them face forward, there was a line of people to stand next to it! 🤯 Visitors had the opportunity to stand next to the matriarch of the elephant herd for $10. Up to 10 people could do it. I walked past it, but then I knew I'd probably never have the chance to get up close and personal with one ever again so I went back. It was cash only so I had to borrow it from our pastor. HA!

I was actually glad I was so far ahead of them because I knew that I'd probably be so overwhelmed by the experience I'd start crying. Turns out, I got a text they were heading that way to do it as well! CRUD! They got there just in time... honestly! Sure enough, as I started walking over to her I started tearing up and I told her handler that I was going to cry. He said, "It won't be the first time." As I was standing next to her, she turned a bit to me and nudged me with her trunk! I wanted to hug her and not let go. I was shocked at how rough her trunk was and she had the longest random hairs sticking out from it. So in awe of God's handiwork in creating this majestic beast. I wanted to spend a LOT more time with her. I could've used at least another hour. heh heh heh

As I was leaving the Savannah I was able to see the Masai Giraffe and Grant's Zebra eating. Those I was able to get a great photo of. Right next to this area was the Tropical Forest. The lemurs cracked me up. You'll see in the photo below why I had to laugh. This is how I like to relax. hahahaha I didn't grab photos of the other primates, but shared videos on my Instagram Stories. You can find them in my Highlights.

My next stop was at The Islands which also spills over to the Jungle Odyssey. This was all outdoor. First was the Philippine Crocodile. It was having a great time keeping cool swimming around its tank. And there were the cutest baby clouded leopards! It was hard to get photos of them because of the glare on the glass, but they were sweet to see sleeping. The anteaters and capybara were fun to see together. One of the capybara was sitting in the mud. I'm telling you, it was stinking hot on Saturday.

The PPG Aquarium and Water's Edge are right next to each other and walking inside the aquarium was so cool and relaxing. Anyone else hypnotized by watching the sharks swim around? I kind of zipped my way through the aquarium. I paused at the jellyfish to watch them swim around and loved seeing the stingrays super close was incredible. They're such an interesting species. I actually touched 2 at the Stingray Touch Tunnel. They feel slimy and I could feel the spine of one. It was SO cool! At the Water's Edge we got to see the Sea Otters being fed and that was delightful. That was a fun video to grab.

My last stop was at the Kids Kingdom. Sadly I didn't realize the Worlds of Discovery was just past Kids Kingdom. No idea how I missed it, but next time, right? I wasn't sure if I should go into Kids Kingdom since I was kidless for the day, but as soon as I saw the sign about alpacas I was going to knock the kids out of my way to get to them. Ha! This was definitely kid heaven. There's even a mini log ride! The alpaca were in an enclosure so that when you walked around them, the only way you were allowed to touch/pet them was if they came to the border of their area. I mean, they were literally right there for the petting. As long as you didn't leave the path, you could pet them. I was able to pet the butt of one as it was eating. lol You get what you get and don't throw a fit.

It was really a great day. I was there for about 3 hours. If I'd have gone with little kids it would've easily been a full day. There are plenty of places to eat or grab snacks. I ate before I went in so I don't know how much anything costs. One expense I absolutely want to have next time is the Wild Encounter. You can pick an animal on their specific list to spend about a half hour with. Each encounter is different. The current cost is $60. How incredible would that be? To get up close to an animal with a small group.

If you're in the Pittsburgh area, I would highly suggest you take a day out at the zoo. It's a fabulous way to spend the day and I'm looking forward to when I can take the whole family there since none of the guys have experienced it.

European Union Open House Experience

Fred and I were excited to have a full day ahead of us at the European Union Open House in Washington, D.C. After only spending a few hours at the Around The World Embassy Tour, we were ready to learn a lot at the Open House! Once again, this was a free event, but I was given a press pass which meant we were able to go straight into the embassies and not have to wait in line. You can see more of our experiences if you check out my Instagram Stories.

We started the European Union Open House at the EU Delegation. They're an incredible resource when it comes to learning about the relationships between the United States and the European Union. There are 28 countries represented in the EU, 24 official languages, and the Euro is used by 19 of the countries. We actually enjoyed the different learning stations as we walked through the Delegation.

From there we drove to the Spain and Poland embassies. Having lived a lifetime ago in Spain, I was excited to see their embassy. It was absolutely beautiful! The tile work on the walls and the floor made you think you'd just walked into a Spanish mansion. They also had amazing food which was affordable. I would highly suggest them for your lunch if you plan on experiencing the Open House.

Poland was a must. We grew up believing on my dad's side of the family that we were Polish. We were always joking about being Polack. There was no shame in our game! Turns out we weren't exactly Polish, but more Bohemian and Czech. Close enough I'd guess. lol This embassy is definitely a must-see! It was decorated beautifully, they had a young boy playing piano, had all kinds of tourism booklets, and had fun food to sample for free!

Next we headed to the Czech Republic. One of the cool experiences of visiting this embassy is that the Ambassador's house is on the same grounds and we were able to take a look at a few of the rooms and the grounds. They had musicians playing outside the embassy and inside a few learning stations. There were also police officers there with a Malinois, which is somehow connected to the country? They were doing a demonstration, but without a mic it was hard to hear what the officer was saying. We grabbed some desserts that were for sale so we could sample some of "the people of my country's" treats.

We drive over to the United Kingdom and Italy to check those countries out. We didn't have a heck of a lot of time because we spent so much time at the other embassies and more we wanted to see. First stop was Italy. It was one of the more modern embassies. As you walked in, out on the great lawn were several Ducati where you could hop on each one for a photo opp. Inside they had a fun opportunity to answer several questions around the grounds to win a prize.

The United Kingdom is just down the road from Italy. We walked around much of the outside, but didn't get around the whole grounds. The line, once you got onto the grounds was very long and there wasn't any way to move to the front of that line. They had an amazing display of Bentleys which are stunning vehicles. Honestly, I'm not sure what we might've missed out on seeing since we detoured back the way we'd started. I did manage to grab a picture with a couple men dressed in English garb.

As time was running out we rushed over to Portugal because my sister-in-love is Portugese and all of the ladies are planning to take a trip there in 2020, fingers crossed. They let people in by groups of about 50. They keep you in a room to watch a tourism video and in the same room display artisan creations. Pretty smart if you ask me! Outside in a tent they had food to sample and you could win a trip to Portugal!

Lastly, at 3:45, we made it to Ireland. Sadly, they had just closed the embassy to visitors. Thankfully, I had my press badge, flashed that bad boy, and in I went. What I didn't realize was Fred wasn't behind me. lol I just wanted to go in and take a few pictures. Obviously since they were basically finished there wasn't much to see or interact with. Outside they were finishing up their music and dancing.

As you can see, with a press pass we made it through 7 embassies and all 28 were represented at the Open House. Just like the AWET, you need to plan the ones you want to see the most and start there. If you can group the embassies together, all the better. We drove to each grouping we wanted to experience and didn't have to pay once for parking believe it or not. It took us a few minutes to find parking near each location, but we did it! Also, with the EUOH, they had 4 shuttle bus routes so that would be an option to get to each embassy group.

Be sure to take your ID with you. Believe it or not, we were asked for our ID at the Italian embassy. If possible, don't bring backpacks. Usually the embassies will give free reusable bags so if you start piling up free stuff from each of the embassies you can use those bags. Not having a big backpack helps you get through the line easier.

I'm already making a list of the countries I want to visit next year. We're going to start off with France & Germany who actually combine their embassy experiences. Then we'll check out the countries we really know nothing about because there's so much to learn!