September 15, 2009. Day 58 Columbus Ohio.

On September 15th, we toured the Columbus, Ohio capitol. We had a good tour and really liked the capitol. We also had a great tour guide who did a wonderful job telling us all about the capitol and its history. After the tour we told her about our trip and she thought it was such an awesome thing for us to be doing. She then went to get her boss to tell him too. He was so interested in our story, that he even called the local paper to tell them about us. They were at lunch when he called but he asked us to stay for an hour if possible because they would be back soon. We were going to have lunch there in their cafeteria anyway so we told him where we would be. While we were having lunch in the capitol cafe, a man came up to us and introduced himself. It was Governor Ted Strickland. He had heard about us and wanted to come and meet us. We spoke to him for a little and even took a picture with him. Later on as we were finishing eating, Kathleen walked back into the cafeteria area to get a spoon and the governor (with his two aides) was buying a hot dog for lunch. She joked with him about him getting his own lunch, it being just a hot dog, and that he had to pay for it. They all laughed. A few minutes later, we had one of his aides come up to us and ask if we were interested in a personal tour of the governor’s office. We of course said yes and were given a tour of the office by the Governor himself. He was so nice and friendly. He even had his own photographer take a picture of all of us with him. Daniel was so happy that he got to sit in the Governor’s chair, at his desk and be the governor for a couple of minutes. As it turned out, the paper never called back so we weren’t interviewed. We enjoyed our time at the Columbus capitol. We really liked how friendly everyone was. The Governor and his staff made it the most memorable visit so far. We then drove three hours to Indianapolis, Indiana and stayed at the Indianapolis State Fairgrounds.

September 13-14, 2009. Days 56-57 Charleston WV.

September 13th, we left Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to travel toward Charleston West Virginia. It was a Sunday and we didn't want to be traveling too much so we didn't drive all the way. We stayed at a KOA Campground in Flatwoods, West Virginia that was affiliated with a hotel next door. Because it was part of the hotel we got to use all their facilities so Kathleen took the kids swimming in an indoor pool and she and Andrew worked out at the workout room. It was a beautiful area in the mountains. We loved driving to our campsite seeing all the deer in our campground. On September 14th, we left Flatwoods and drove to Charlestown. We ended up parking the RV and our Jeep in front of a house in a residential area close to the capitol. As we were getting out an older couple came from their backyard wondering what the noise was. The lady said that her sister from California had a motor home like ours and she thought that maybe she was here to surprise her. She and her husband then came over to talk to us for quite some time. We introduced ourselves and they did too. Chuck and Betty then gave us a tour of their amazing garden throughout their entire yard and they even gave us a tour of their home. They were a very nice couple. We walked the few blocks to the capitol building. It was a beautiful capitol. West Virginia is a beautiful state. We feel in love with it. We then drove three hours to Columbus, Ohio. We were on a quick pace to IL and while on the way we needed to visit 5 state capitols so we couldn’t stay long in any one of them. We talked to Thomas today. He graduated from recruit to seaman. This means he’s completed basic and will be graduating on Friday as planned. We are so proud of him.

September 11-12, 2009. Days 54-55 Harrisburg PA.

On September 11th, we left the campground in Trenton NJ and drove 3-1/2 hours to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This was the beginning of our west bound detour to get to Great Lakes IL for Thomas’ graduation from Navy Basic Training. It was still over a week away but it felt good to know we were heading to see him. In Harrisburg we went straight to set up camp because it had been raining hard all day. Our campground was only 4 miles from downtown anyway. It finally let up some so we went to tour the capitol. We absolutely loved this capitol. It was so beautiful. We thought it was the best one so far. It was so grand and colorful. We suggest you take a tour of the capitol at:

http://www.pacapitol.com/CapitolTour/Splashpage/intro.htm.

After we took the tour, which we really enjoyed, we tried to get a picture of us all on the Grand Staircase. One of the legislators (he was from Philadelphia) came over to us and offered to take our picture on the amazing staircase. He took our picture then talked to us about how the legislature had just within the hour passed the State Budget 90 days late and the last state to do so. We asked him what the Governor was going to do with it and he laughed and said the Governor was going to veto it. He was very friendly and seemed to enjoy hearing about our trip. It was still raining when we left and we still needed to take our picture in front of the capitol. You can see our umbrellas as we took it in the rain. On the 12th we didn’t go anywhere. It was still raining pretty hard and it was Saturday so Kevin and Andrew wanted to stay in and watch college football. It also gave Kathleen a chance to go get more grocery’s and to shop for some clothes for the upcoming graduation and the wedding in Atlanta we were going to on the 26th. We did enjoy our time in Harrisburg in spite of the rain.

September 10, 2009. Day 53 Jersey City NJ.

On September 10th, we wanted to go to New York City and we were thinking we could just get on the Staten Island Ferry in NJ and ride across into the city. We drove up from Trenton to the Ferry and were unable to find a parking space anywhere. We decided to just drive around and ended up in the Liberty State Park on the Hudson River. From there we had amazing views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. Driving around we also found the Liberty Harbor RV Park that we had been interested in staying at. It also has a great view of New York City across the river (with the Statute of Liberty in the distance). We made reservations at the RV Park for the beginning of October to come back and really do NYC right. We then went back to Trenton so Andrew could watch the Pittsburgh Steelers play their first game.

September 9, 2009. Day 52 Trenton NJ.

On September 9th, we drove 285 miles from Boston to Trenton, New Jersey. We drove right thru NYC, on I95, and it was the first time Kevin felt a little nervous driving. We tried to park somewhere near the capitol in Trenton but couldn’t find a place so we drove back out a few miles to a Wal-Mart. After we got back downtown we found the capitol and tried to go in for a tour. When we entered the building the security guards asked us “What do you want?” We told them we were there for a tour and they said the next tour is in 20 minutes. They also said we would have to wait outside until 5 minutes before. Not so bad except that it was raining. I really wondered what threat they thought we were or what they’re so scared of. Their governor works in the building so maybe the citizens of NJ are not too happy with him. At the right time we went back in and took a tour of the capitol. It ended up being a good tour. The guide was much more friendly then the guards. Overall the kids are learning so much about the legislative process even through situations like this capitol. After leaving the capitol we went to see an old Barracks building that was used during the Revolutionary War by Washington and his troops and built way back during the French and Indian War.

September 8, 2009. Day 51 Boston Mass.

On September 8th, we drove to downtown Boston. We parked close to Fenway Park hoping to see a baseball game that night. The only tickets we could have gotten were $125.00 each so it would have cost us over $600 just for one game. We decided not to do that. Daniel was a little disappointed. The Boston Red Sox are his favorite team. All because when he was 3 Kevin bought him a Red Sox baseball hat he really wanted. He didn’t know it was a Sox hat he just liked the colors. We decided to walk to the capitol – which was almost 2 miles away. We thought we would ride the subway too if needed. We had already paid to park for the day and didn’t want to pay again. It became a great way to see the city. We enjoyed the walk, but the kids got a little tired. We made it to the capitol which was surrounded by buildings. It sits up on a hill overlooking The Boston Common, a beautiful park. You can tell how it looked so important when it sat there by itself. The Capitol building was impressive in and out. We always like when they have a gold dome like this one has. Inside there was an impressive rotunda, grand staircase and a unique Hall of Flags that used to be an open courtyard never used until a First Lady of Massachusetts decided to have it covered with glass, tile the floor and make it into a banquet hall. They also asked all the cities and towns of Massachusetts to send a replica of their town’s flag to be hung in the hall. It was really impressive. We walked all the way back to the Jeep taking a little different route. We saw so many beautiful buildings, mostly churches, and the kids are always impressed with the tall buildings.

September 7, 2009. Day 50 Cape Cod Mass.

On September 7th, we tried again to drive out to Cape Cod. It was now Labor Day and everyone was trying to get off Cape Cod so all the traffic was going the other way. We drove right out to the end of the Cape to Provincetown with no trouble. The only thing was we were going to have to stay all day because traffic was going to be bad until 6PM. That was fine with us. On the way to Provincetown we found a beach on the Atlantic and sat for a while. We didn’t bring any suits to get in the water because it was only getting up to 65 degrees that day. We drove on to Provincetown, as far as you can drive before you get to the tip. We parked and walked around. There were many, many tourists – restaurants and shops everywhere. It was very crowded. We ate lunch at a street side sandwich place and then walked along the pier. We stopped and watched a man make several clay pots, bowls and cups. The boys were fascinated with how fast he could do it. We had driven 102 miles one way from our CG so we started back about 3PM. On the way we stopped at the Cape Cod Highland Lighthouse and then we stopped in Hyannis Port for dinner and ate at Gringo’s. We had Lobster sandwiches and they were good. When we finally started driving back at 7 the traffic had all but died off so the drive went pretty good.