Final Paul Youngblood Interview

We did our final interview with Paul Youngblood on WNTA in Rockford last Tuesday. This was an hour long show but after taking out the commercials it is less than 40 minutes. So we took the audio and added some of our best scenic shots to it and made a video out of it. We talk a lot about what life on the road for our family was like after 21 months of this great adventure!

Expert Junior Rangers

Our four youngest boys have completed about a ton of junior ranger programs, over 50 actually, on our big family adventure. While we did not participate in Awana or Boy Scouts during this season of our lives, this system the National Park and some state parks have served as a great learning enhancer. They also encouraged lots of hands on activities and physical activities like picking up trash and taking hikes, interviewing rangers and spotting wildlife. As a body of work, doing fifty plus junior ranger programs is a feat accomplished that makes us quite proud of our boys. Blake learned a lot too, helping his younger brothers do the programs (he did about six or seven himself!).

As a matter of fact Patsy and I learned quite a bit and our knowledge of our country has broadened quite a bit since walking with our sons through these cool programs!

The Angel of Mary's Heights

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" -

 Jesus

This post has been removed because it is part of our new book - Napkin Dreams!

 

Billy Graham Library

Sorry, but this post has been deleted because it is a part of our new book called Napkin Dreams!

Orlando Science Center

This post has been deleted because it is in our new book entitled Napkin Dreams. It can be found on Amazon.com

Suwanee River State Park

This post can now be found as part of our new book Napkin Dreams, which can be purchased on Amazon.com

Staff - 10 - Checked in by a ranger who was exceptionally friendly!

Nearby attractions - 6 - Not far from Tallahassee and other northwest Florida points.

Natural surroundings - 9 - Campground is nestled in the midst of lots of tall trees. Somehow our satellite still worked!

Value - 7 - We paid $24 a night for a cement back-in site with full hook-ups.

Bathrooms - 9 - Nice bathrooms, plenty big, clean and modern.

Roominess - 8 - Pretty big sites.

Facility fun - 8 - Hiking trails, playground, some ranger programs. Grills at every site.

Cleanliness - 8 - State Park clean.

Facility usefulness - 5 -  Laundry facility.

Overall - 9 - Very pretty park with modern facilities!

Fort Necessity

So what was our families most memorable experience at Fort Necessity? Caterpillars, slugs and hornets! 

Sure we learned how George Washington once led a group of Colonial militia to this very spot during the French and Indian War. We enjoyed learning more about this site and how Washington had his men build a fort here after an altercation with French troops led him to believe a fort would be necessary for his mens' protection. This was also the site of Washington's firs defeat as a combat commander, surrendering to French forces who greatly outnumbered his own troops.

We discovered a ton more about the French and Indian War and the National Road that runs right by the fort site. The National Road runs right by the fort site and was the first true US highway running from DC all the way to Illinois. A few of the original mile markers dating back over 200 years still exist long what is now US 40!

Overall this visit to this particular National Park was very educational for all of us. But during our visit and upon leaving the only things our boys could talk about was different species of caterpillar, a slimy slug and swarm of hornets on an apple we found meandering our way through the historical park. Maybe we should call it Fort Creepy crawly instead of Fort Necessity?

Carnegie Science Center

We continued enjoying our reciprocal museum membership when we visited the Carnegie Science Center in downtown Pittsburgh for free! This is one amazing museum and we wished we had carved out more time to spend there.

The first exhibit we made a beeline for was the robots exhibit. Here we got to see the robot hall of fame, play air hockey against a robot and watch a robot shoot hoops, among other things. This is a very cool exhibit.

Next we saw the aquarium exhibit where we explored undersea life with cameras, magnifying glasses and  close-up habitats! After this we went to an amazing show on electricity where our family was almost the lone guests for the show, joined by two gentlemen who let us have most of the fun! The boys all got to help first hand in this show, and so did Patsy, who was a source of great laughter. We loved this show and learned lots of things, and our favorite demonstration was the giant "lightning machine" that was loud and crackled with some huge voltage of electrical bursts.

The museum has an entire floor which is set up as a hands-on children's type museum. Here the boys sat in the earthquake cafe, pet a turtle, routed and re-routed water, made their own cartoons, and a host of other activities that put their noggins to work!

We love it when our kids get a mental workout and have a blast doing it! Thanks Carnegie Science Center!!

Fort Wayne Art Museum

Tanner's digital masterpiece!

This post has been removed since it is a part of our new book Napkin Dreams available on Amazon.com

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Golden Spike

May 10, 1869 the Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at Promontory Summit. Golden Spike National Historic Site commemorates this incredible accomplishment of this nation's first transcontinental railroad.

Check out this post and others in our new book Napkin Dreams http://www.amazon.com/Napkin-Dreams-ebook/dp/B00AZR24LG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358194928&sr=8-1&keywords=napkin+dreams