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

50 McDonalds - New Jersey

A quick stop on the road for some coffee and we checked off our New Jersey McDonalds. This stop was in Flemington, New Jersey. We love facilities with parking lots big enough to handle Howard and our toadie!

Chocolate Lover's Club

We had another delicious experience at the Chocolate Lover's Club in Princeton, New Jersey. This little shop of wonders uses pure chocolate in just about everything they make! We bought some chocolate covered pretzels and Oreos that were beyond describable! We got to talking to the owner about our family's trip across the country and she was so impressed with out story she gave us some carmel-filled chocolate truffles to sample! More delicousity!!

Be sure to stop into their shop if you anywhere near Princeton - like within a day's drive!! Yummy.

Campground Review - Butterfly Camping Resort

After a a couple of stops at closed campgrounds, we found a decent little place called Butterfly Cammping Resort in Jackson, New Jersey.

Staff - 7 - A staff member waited for us to get there to check us in a little past office hours. There are quite a few signs up reminding everyone of the rules of the park. It seemed like a bit of overkill.

Natural surroundings - 8 - Campground sits on a river with lots of trees around.

Roominess - 8 - Normal sized lots.

Facility Fun - 8 - Pool open during the warm months. Playground, game room, mini-putt, horseshoes, volleyball and basketball court, planned activities in season. Some things are an extra charge

Facility usefulness - 8 - Laundry, propane, camp store, dump, fire ring, free Wifi and picnic tables at each site.

Bathrooms - 8 - Bathrooms are decent, push-button showers. The little boys are getting used to how these work, which makes my life easier.

Cleanliness - 7 - Gravel roads are rough, but otherwise it is a pretty clean park.

Nearby attractions - 7 - Close to Philadelphia and Atlantic City.

Value - 6 - Paid $50 a night for a back-in graveled site with full-hook-ups.

Overall - 7 - Nice park - a local getaway to a more natural environment for locals.

Insectropolis

We discovered a little gem hidden away in the New Jersey town of Toms River called Insectropolis! OK, so Patsy may not think it was the most wonderful stop on our nationwide tour, but the rest of us had a ball with all the bugs!

The first activity we took part in was a little talk and touch time with a guide at Insectropolis. We heard about and touched a hissing cockroach, a giant millipede, a Chilean tarantula and an emperor scorpion. Patsy of course is on less then friendly terms with spiders, so she was not super happy about meeting up with the tarantula.

Insectropolis is part bug zoo and part bug museum. The highlight of the day for me was seeing a huge bird-eating tarantula gobble up a hissing cockroach. You can see the big, bad spider in the video below. We also confirmed that a spider we saw in Virginia was a black widow. This was also less than stellar news for Patsy. While there are several types of live bugs to see, our youngest boys enjoyed playing like bugs in the termite tunnels! Acting like a bug is always the funnest way to learn about bugs.

If you ever find yourself near Toms River, New Jersey and have some bug loving kids in your family, consider stopping by this most unique zoo we have ever seen.

Crossing the Delaware

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

 

Campground Review - Timberlane Campground

Our first foray into New Jersey camping was at Timberlane Campground in Clarksboro, New Jersey.

Staff - 7 - Staff was helpful.

Natural surroundings - 8 - trees surround the park, and a nice little pond with ducks sits in the center. The ducks visited us a couple of times during our stay. This campground does not have an urban feel to it at all. Quiet.

Roominess - 8 - Normal sized lots.

Facility Fun - 7 - Pool open during the warm months. Playground, batting cages, pond.

Facility usefulness - 9 - Laundry, propane, small camp store, dump, fire ring, exchange library, free Wifi and picnic tables at each site.

Bathrooms - 8 - Bathroom is clean and up to date.

Cleanliness - 8 - Clean and well maintained.

Nearby attractions - 7 - Close to Philadelphia and Atlantic City.

Value - 7 - Paid $45 a night for a pull-through graveled site with full-hook-ups including cable.

Overall - 8 - Quiet park, we are finding parks on the northeast coast to be expensive though.