150 places we have been but did not go on this trip

So we got to thinking of all the places we have been in America and Canada that we did not visit on this trip and would still recommend as fun places to stop and see. We came up with 150 places either Patsy or I have been to in these two great countries that we did not visit during our Napkin Dreams Excursion. Most of them we have been to together since we have been married. Can you tell we love to travel? Here is our list in alphabetical order:

150 places we have been but did not go on this trip

Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL

Adventure Land, Des Moines, IA

Amana Colonies, Iowa

Amish Country, Lancaster, PA

Antietam National Battlefield, Sharpsburg, MD

Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Site, VA

Aquarium of the Smokies, Gatlinburg, TN

Arlington National Cemetery, VA

Art Institute of Chicago

Banff National Park, Alberta, CA

Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia, PA

Biblical Tabernacle Reproduction – Lancaster, PA

Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC

Booker T Washington National Monument– Hardy, VA

Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL

Burpee Museum, Rockford, IL

Butterfly Conservatory, Cambridge, ON

Cahokia Mounds State Historical Park, Collinsville, IL

Camden Yards, Baltimore, Maryland

Canal Walk, Richmond, VA

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Cape Hatteras, NC

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina

Cape May County Zoo, NJ

Capitol Building, Washington DC

Carowinds, Charlotte, NC

Cave of the Mounds, Blue Mounds, WI

Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta, GA

Chancellorsville Battlefield, Virginia

Chase Tower, Indianapolis, IN

Claytor Lake State Park, Dublin, VA

CN Tower, Toronto, ON

Colonial Michilimackinac, Makinaw City, MI

Comiskey Park (US Celluar Field), Chicago, IL

Coronado Theater – Rockford, IL

Cowtown, Wichita, KS

Crazy Horse Memorial – Crazy Horse, SD

Creation Museum – Kentucky

Disneyworld, Orlando, FL

Dixie Caverns, Salem, VA

Dodge City, KS

Donley’s Wild West Town, Union, IL

Empire State Building, New York, NY

Fairy Stone State Park – Martinsville, VA

Family Museum, Bettendorf, IA

Faust Landmark, Rockford, IL

Field Museum, Chicago, IL

Ford’s Theater, Washington DC

Fort Sumter, Charleston, SC

Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial, Washington DC

Galena, Illinois

George Washington Office Museum, Winchester, VA

Gettysburg National Battlefield, Pennsylvania

Gino’s East, Chicago, IL

Grand Ole Opry Hotel, Nashville, TN

Great America, Gurnee, PA

Great Wolf Lodge – you pick location

Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI

Henry Villas Zoo, Madison, WI

Hershey Farm Restaurant and Inn – Strusburg, PA

Hershey’s Chocolate World, Hershey, PA

Hoosier National Forest, IN

Hotel del Coronado - Coronado, CA

Hotel Roanoke, Roanoke, VA

House on the Rock, Spring Green, WI

Humpback Covered Bridge, Covington, VA

Illinois Railway Museum, Union, IL

Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA

Independence Historical Park, Philadelphia, PA

James Madison Gravesite, Montpelier Station, VA

Jamestown, VA

Jay Cooke State Park, Carlton, MN

Jefferson Memorial, Washington DC

John Deere Pavilion, Moline, IL

John Hancock Building, Chicago, IL

Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO

Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL

Knotts Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA

Korean War Memorial, Washington DC

Lady and Sons, Savannah, GA

Legoland, Carlsbad, CA

Liberty Bell Center, Philadelphia, PA

Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC

Lincoln’s Boyhood Home, Lincoln, IL

Lookout Mountain, TN

Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory, Louisville, KY

Luray Caverns, Luray, VA

Mackinac Island, Michigan

Magic Waters – Cherry Valley, IL

Mayflower 2, Plimouth Plantation, Plymouth, MA

Times – choose your location

Midway Village, Rockford, IL

Milwaukee County Zoo, WI

Monticello, Charlottesville, VA

Mt. Rainer, Washington

Museum of Flight and Space – Washington DC

Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL

National Archives, Washington DC

National Zoo – Washington DC

Natural Bridge Zoo, Natural Bridge, VA

Natural Bridge, VA

Navy Pier, Chicago, IL

NFL Hall of Fame, Canton, OH

Niagara Falls, ON, NY

North Carolina Zoo, Asheboro, NC

Ocean City Boardwalk and Beach, NJ

Oriental Museum Institute, Chicago, IL

Packers Hall of Fame, Green Bay, WI

Patriot’s Point – Mt. Pleasant, SC

Petersburg National Battlefield, VA

Pony Express Station, Gothenburg, Nebraska

Port Discovery, Baltimore, MD

Putnam Museum, Davenport, IA

Reading Terminal Market, Philadelphia, PA

Redwood National Park, CA

Roanoke Island, North Carolina

Roanoke Wiener Stand, Roanoke, VA

Rogers Centre, Toronto, CA

Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON

Ryan Round Ban, Kewanee, IL

Science Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA

Sears (Willis) Tower – Chicago

Seattle Aquarium, Seattle, WA

Sedgwick County Zoo, Wichita, KS

Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, IL

Sinnissippi Gardens, Rockford, IL

Smith Mountain Lake State Park, Moneta, VA

Soldier Field, Chicago, IL

South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC

Space Needle, Seattle, WA

St. Andrew’s Church – Roanoke, VA

Statue of Liberty, New York, NY

Stratford Hall Plantation, Robert E Lee Home, Stratford, VA

Sweden House, Rockford, IL

Times Square, New York, NY

Underground Station, Atlanta, GA

Vietnam Memorial, Washington DC

Virginia Aquarium, Virginia Beach, VA

Virginia Beach Board Walk

Virginia Safari, Natural Bridge, VA

White House, Washington DC

Williamsburg, VA

Winterplace, Beckley, WV

Wonderworks, Pigeon Forge, TN

World of Coca Cola, Atlanta, GA

World War II Memorial, Washington DC

Wright Brothers National Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, NC

Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

Stadium, New York

Yorktown Victory Center, Yorktown, Virginia

Yosemite National Park – California

Wild Horses on a Beach

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

Campground Review - Frontier Town

We stayed at a bit of a tourist resort when we stayed at Frontier Town in Berlin, Maryland.

Staff - 7 - Had a hard time getting someone on the phone here, but once we arrived they were helpful and nice.

Natural surroundings - 9 - on a salt water bay, trees scattered around park.

Roominess - 7 - Normal sized lots, but our lot seemed a little short. 

Facility Fun - 10 - Pool open during the warm months. Two playgrounds, mini-putt, attached to a water park (extra fee), planned activities on weekends, fishing pier. Lots of western theme fun around park.

Facility usefulness - 9 - Laundry, dog run, propane, large camp store, dump, fire ring, free Wifi and picnic tables at each site.

Bathrooms - 6 - Bathroom is clean and up to date, showers were push-button type and a bit luke-warmish.

Cleanliness - 8 - Clean and well maintained.

Nearby attractions - 9 - Close to Assateague National Seashore and Ocean City.

Value - 6 - Paid $60 a night for a back-in graveled site with full-hook-ups.

Overall - 7 - Plenty to do here and plenty to pay.

Easter at a KOA

I'll have to admit Easter is one of the hardest holidays to celebrate in Howard our RV. First there is the whole kids not going to sleep and the Easter Bunny having to hide the eggs since the wide awake kids are in the room where the hiding takes place. Secondly there is the problem of lack of room to hide said eggs in a 300 square foot home and a rather smallish yard.

Decorating eggs, making a ham dinner, hiding presents and the like all require an extra dose of creativity for us, but with God's help it all works out.

Still, we had a pretty nice Easter this year, focused on the resurrection of Christ and not letting any other silly things mentioned above get us down! We had some nice discussions as a family about the true meaning of the holiday and we always try to incorporate elements of the cultural holiday and apply them to the sacredness of the Holy Day.

The campground we stayed at, Capitol KOA in Millersville, Maryland, had some fun activities for the kids. All of the boys spent copious amounts of time on their jump pillow, burning off loads of energy in the process. Our younger set made some crafts and played some games on Saturday and then took part in the campground sponsored "Egg Scramble" early Sunday morning. They hid toys and eggs in hay on the ground and this novel approach to the egg hunt was pretty cool and no one got hurt or trampled in the process.

I am including our campground review of the Capitol KOA for those interested in staying here.

Staff - 10 - Campground managers were super friendly and you could tell they loved planning things for the kids! This contagious attitude infects the entire staff!

Natural surroundings - 9 - in the city but you can't tell. No traffic noises and lots of trees.

Roominess - 7 - Normal sized lots. 

Facility Fun - 10 - Pool open during the warm months. Playground, jumping pillow, giant chess set, ping-pong, pool table. Planned Activities.

Facility usefulness - 9 - Laundry, dog run, propane, large camp store, dump, fire ring and picnic tables at each site.

Bathrooms - 8 - Bathroom is clean and up to date, individual showers are hot. With little kids though, we are not thrilled with the KOA individual shower set-up.

Cleanliness - 8 - Clean and well maintained.

Nearby attractions - 9 - Close to Washington DC and Baltimore and Annapolis.

Value - 6 - Paid $60 a night for a pull-through graveled site with full-hook-ups. This was using our KOA value card (we also applied some points, so our actual cost was less than this).

Overall - 8 - Not cheap, but a nice in between place for Baltimore and Washington site seers. Great staff!

Broadway Diner

Baltimore is a great eating town! All sorts of crab and seafood dishes, ethnic favorites and tastes influenced by the other big east coast cities. While April may not be the best time for blue crab dishes, we still wanted to try one of these Baltimore establishments, so after a morning at Fort McHenry we ate lunch at the Broadway Diner.

The Broadway Diner was featured on Diners, Dives and Drive-ins and has a great 1950s look with silver and metallic. One of the dishes that Guy really loved was the shrimp creole, so that is what I ordered. I has some creamy crab soup along with my amazing main dish. It was all very tasty. Patsy loved her dish - a shrimp melt.  The plates were quite big so we took half of our dishes home and had a tremendous lunch a couple of days later.

Our adventurous boys had hot dogs, macaroni, spaghetti and cheese sandwiches. Yippee!!

Fort McHenry

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

Maryland McDonalds

We made a pitstop in Laurel, Maryland for a Walmart run and ran overtime with our shopping. We were all starving and decided to mark our Maryland McDonalds off the list right there in Walmart. We are really ticking our left of center friends off now!

Our kids are still plenty skinny so we are doing OK with these stops, next time it will be for coffee though!

Maryland - state number 36!

We made it to Maryland Our 36th State!!