The White House is a six-story, 55,000 square foot house located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washinton, DC. The house has 132 rooms and 35 bathrooms, 412 doors, 147 windows, twenty-eight fireplaces, eight staircases, three elevators, five full-time chefs, a tennis court, a (single-lane) bowling alley, a movie theater (officially called the White House Family Theater), a…
Becki at A Book Lover’s Adventures has been running a series on her blog this year called Hometown Tourist. She was kind enough to accept my submission to feature Arroyo Grande, CA. We only lived there for three short years but it found a place in all our hearts and in many ways feels like…
They say road trips are good for conversation. You’re in the car for hours, watching the world go by. You have to talk about something with your fellow passengers, right? Today’s post topic came up on my recent road trip from Salt Lake City back to New Mexico. On our way home from dropping Ryan…
Every year my family takes an epic cross-country road trip. We started calling it “Big Trip” and the name stuck. This year is Big Trip Lucky 13. (I’m not too superstitious but it just seemed like a good idea to hedge our bets and add “Lucky” to the name for this year.) We’ve been driving…
This summer saw us hit the road in our trusty minivan (it’s the same one we started with back in 2006!) for Big Trip Lucky 13. Here’s a quick rundown of the points of interest along the way. As I get any corresponding posts written for various locations, a link will be added to this…
Once upon a time, long long ago, I decided that it would be fun for our family to have a travel mascot join our trips. I’m not sure where I got the idea originally but I’m sure I saw it somewhere and thought it was a great idea. I chose Vacation Mouse (more commonly known…
In honor of Helen Keller’s birthday, June 27, I have written this post about my 2010 visit to her birthplace, Ivy Green. I’ve always been a reader. One book I read as a child that has had a lasting impact was a Helen Keller biography. I’m not sure if it’s because I also had…
I recently stopped at our local history museum, the Freeman House, to buy a Remembrance Poppy badge. While I was at the museum, I also took some time to look through the museum exhibits. How crazy is that – I took myself on a mid-week, mid-afternoon field trip to the museum, all by myself! I…
A visit to the National Museum of the Marine Corps Washington, DC is known for its many monuments and the Smithsonian museums. A short (or long depending on traffic!) drive south on I-95 will bring you to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA. In my opinion, it is worth the drive. The…
As I was building my National Park System page, I decided to add a picture of my park passport. Once I opened it up and started looking through it again I thought maybe you’d also enjoy a virtual tour of my book. Where it all started… I bought my passport book at Petroglyph National Monument…
We live about 15 miles from Manassas National Battlefield Park and have been there several times over the past 17 years. My most recent visit was in March. I took a few pictures to share with you. (I should mention that Felisa asked me why I was taking so many pictures when I had already…
April 12th is Grilled Cheese Day. Mmm…. grilled cheese! We scored a White House tour over Spring Break (click here for more details about our tour). Our tour started at 11 so by the time we finished, everyone was hungry. The kids checked their phones and found GCDC Grilled Cheese Bar a few blocks away…