Days 70-72: Santa Barbara, Anaheim, Disneyland
October 30-November 1 In the morning, we packed up camp and drove to Santa Barbara. We took in some sights around the town for a little bit and spent some of the day reading in our hotel room. The next day we drove to Anaheim and checked in early at a hotel that was located within easy walking distance …
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Days 66-69: Birthday, Hearst Castle, San Margarita KOA
October 27-30, 2017 Lauren wanted to relax and hang out on her birthday, so we stayed at the hotel the whole day watching the new season Stranger Things. We only left the room to get the food necessary for binge watching. The next day, we visited Hearst Castle. We took the Grand Rooms Tour which …
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Day 65: Sequoia National Park
October 26, 2017 When planning our visit to Sequoia National Park, we learned that, due to road construction, the main road entering the park only opened every two hours. We planned our morning to arrive at the right time to make it through the road. We went to the visitor center before taking Big Tree Trail, Sherman …
Day 64: Yosemite National Park
October 25, 2017 Unfortunately, our hotel room had paper thin walls, and we were awoken by a man yelling on the phone at 4:00 am. At least we got an early start... We ate breakfast at the hotel and drove to Yosemite National Park. We drove up to Glacier Point and took in the astounding views of …
Days 62-63: Glass Beach, Wine Country
October 23-24, 2017 The next day, we drove to Fort Bragg to visit the glass beach there. At this particular beach, broken up pieces of glass from the sea are washed ashore after being polished and smoothed by the waves and the sand. As a result, you can find many different colors and sizes along the beach. …
Day 61: Redwood National Park
October 22, 2017 In the morning, we drove an hour to the Sea Lion Caves just to learn that there were no sea lions in the cave at that time. We moved on and drove through Redwood National Park and to the visitor center. We decided to do the Prairie Creek Trail to see the "Big Tree", a …
Days 59-60: Craters of the Moon, Powell’s Books
October 20-21, 2017 In the morning, it was extremely cold and windy. We packed up quickly, and drove to Craters of the Moon National Monument. It was a very interesting landscape to say the least. There were old cinder cones, lava flows, and lave tubes. We only did two short trails because of the weather. …
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Day 58: Grand Teton National Park
October 19, 2017 We wanted to get an early start so that we could do and see as much of the Grand Tetons as possible. We went to the visitor center to get information and look at their exhibits. We decided to do the Taggart Lake trail and were very glad we did. The view …
Days 55-57: Wild West Museum, Yellowstone National Park
October 16-18, 2017 We managed to wake up early enough to get to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West right when it opened. The museum was amazing. There are actually 5 different museums within the one building - Buffalo Bill, Plains Indians, Whitney Western Art, Draper Natural History, and Cody Firearms Museums. Each museum was unique …
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Days 53-54: Devils Tower, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Laundry Day
October 14-15, 2017 We awoke to find the massive Devils Tower looming directly over our campsite. Since we arrived after dark the previous night, we had no idea that the tower was right beside us. We drove up the hill a few minutes to the visitor center and did the loop trail around this rock that seemingly …
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Day 52: Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park
October 13, 2017 In the morning, we packed up and ate breakfast before driving to Mount Rushmore. We visited the exhibits, watched the video, and took the Presidential Trail to get an up-close look. We ate ham sandwiches in the car and drove to Crazy Horse. We walked through the exhibits and watched the video. The monument will …
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Days 50-51: Westward Bound! Driving and the Badlands
October 11-12, 2017 From now on, the date on the blog post itself will be the date that the post was actually posted. The date(s) that the events occurred will be written at the top of every post. This allows us to schedule posts so we can post on days when we don't have internet …
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Days 47-49: Cog Railway, Niagara Falls, Back to Indiana
At this point in our trip, we had been gone for so long we were ready to get home to a real shower and a nice dinner. For that reason, we decided to take a couple points of interest off our list so we could make it home sooner. We drove a few hours to …
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Days 45-46: Acadia National Park
We ate breakfast at the hotel and drove about an hour to the visitor center in Acadia National Park. We talked to the park ranger about the best things to do in the park. She gave us some great suggestions, and we headed off to the Beehive Trail. This trail is not for the faint of heart. It …
Days 43-44: Maine – Ogunquit, Rockland, Freeport, Ellsworth
We drove down to Ogunquit to do the Marginal Way cliff side walk. We took in the beautiful views on the mile long walk before going back to the small town to shop for a little bit. Lauren went to a local tea store and bought some really tasty tea. We asked a local where …
Continue reading Days 43-44: Maine – Ogunquit, Rockland, Freeport, Ellsworth
Days 41-42: Boston
Driving in Boston was nuts. Who knows how anyone with a Massachusetts license plate obtained their license in the first place. The natives showed us no mercy as we tried our best to find our way around town. Since so many roads are layered on top of each other, our gps kept getting confused which one we …
Days 38-40: Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport, Plimoth Plantation
In the morning, we drove to Mystic Aquarium. Unlike the Ripley's Aquarium that we went to in Gatlinburg, this one was extremely crowded. Even so, we loved seeing all the sea life. We watched a sea lion show that was fascinating. We also got to see a whale and octopus that the Ripley's aquarium didn't have. That …
Continue reading Days 38-40: Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport, Plimoth Plantation
Day 35-37: Cape Cod, Casinos
We ate breakfast at our hotel before driving to a mini golf place (Pirate's Cove) that we had passed on our way in. It was still pretty early in the morning when we arrived, and we weren't sure if they were open since no one was there. There were 2 sets of 18 holes and we …
Day 34: Newport, RI, Cape Cod
We packed up our tent and drove to Newport, RI where we planned on doing the cliff walk - a 4 mile hike along the rocky Rhode Island coast which was strewn with multi-million dollar homes. Before we started, Lauren read the description to Myles which mentioned that the trail gets rougher the farther you …
Days 31-33: Bushkill Falls, Gillette Castle, Mystic KOA
On day 31, we visited Bushkill Falls - a gorge with multiple waterfalls. There were a few different trails but we chose to take the most difficult trail which went passed all of the major falls. It was a rainy day so we wore our ponchos and had a lot of fun on the trail. Since it …
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Days 29-30: Philadelphia and Valley Forge
We left the casino hotel and drove 1.5 hours to Philadelphia, PA. We were very excited to see the historical parts of the city which were so vital to the beginning of our nation. We visited Independence Hall, Liberty Bell, and many other historical sites. We decided we needed to try some Philly cheesesteaks so we went …
Day 28: Assateague National Park, Dover Downs Casino
Wild horses! In the morning, we drove down to Assateague National Park in Maryland to see the wild horses which roam Assateague Island. We stopped by the visitor center to learn a little about the island and get a map. Immediately upon crossing the bridge, we were greeted by some plump horses munching on the roadside. …
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Day 27: Cape May, Ferry to Lewes, Ocean City, MD
We booked it out of the KOA in the morning and grabbed some tasty breakfast at Uncle Bill's Pancake House. Afterward we went to Sunset Beach for a bit. Unfortunately, it was a slightly overcast and chilly day. The beach was difficult to walk on as the sand was very "squishy" which caused us to sink in …
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Day 26: Hershey Chocolate World, Nemours Mansion, Cape May KOA
Quick note: Sorry to not have made any posts lately. During the last part of our east coast trip, we have not had much time or access to wifi to write very much. We are about 20 days behind on the blog. As of writing this, we are back in Indiana for a short time …
Continue reading Day 26: Hershey Chocolate World, Nemours Mansion, Cape May KOA
Day 25: Gettysburg & Hershey KOA
We ate some cereal for breakfast before driving to Gettysburg where we watched the intro video and viewed the cyclorama depiction of the battle. We took the self-guided driving tour where we made numerous stops to view all the monuments and information panels. At some of the stops there were lookout towers, one of which …
Day 24: National Cathedral, Antietam National Battlefield
On our way out of D.C., we stopped by the National Cathedral and took a tour. The stain glass and architecture was magnificent. It was interesting that the cathedral is one of the most recently built cathedrals being only about 100 years old. Pft. We then headed towards Antietam National Battlefield where we stopped for gas …
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Days 21-23: Washington, D.C.
Rather than go into immense detail about every single place we visited, we will simply list the places we visited and include pictures we took. No need for us to bore you with details that you can look up on your own. Much to our surprise, Labor Day was not busy at all. Most of …
Day 20: Manassas National Battlefield & Washington, D.C.
We ate cereal for breakfast before driving to Manassas National Battlefield which was only a few minutes from our hotel. We watched an introduction video and visited the museum before doing a driving tour around the battlefield. After the battlefield, we decided to hit up our usually trip-planning place - Panera. Their free wifi and tasty …
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Day 19: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello
When we awoke, we noticed we had the early signs of a cold (probably form eating at the hospital). We ate at Waffle House for breakfast before visiting Monticello. On the way there, we bought some echinacea tea; or, as Myles calls it, euthanasia tea, to help with our colds. Even though it was a dreary …
Day 18: Richmond – State Capitol Building, White House and Museum of the Confederacy
When we visited Columbia, SC, we learned that the city was laid out in advance before it was settled by very many people. This made it very easy to find your way around town as everything was laid out in perfect right angles. This did not seem to be the case for Richmond. When our …
Days 16 & 17: Yorktown, Williamsburg, Jamestown
We woke up, showered, and packed up our camping supplies. We drove a little over an hour to the Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center where we watched a film before doing a CD guided auto tour. We enjoyed learning about the Siege of Yorktown and just how important it was to winning the war. We ate lunch at …
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Day 15: Nauticus & U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, VA
We woke up and decided that because we had such a fun night in the raging storm, we would stay another one! The rain and wind were still pounding, and we left our tent hoping it would still be there when we returned. We drove 35 minutes to Norfolk to see the U.S.S. Wisconsin and the Nauticus Museum. We explored the …
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Day 14: Kitty Hawk, Virginia Beach KOA
Before leaving the island, we wanted to see the Wright Brothers Memorial near Kitty Hawk, NC. We walked to the top of the hill where the brothers performed many tests using gliders. A monument is located on top of the hill (pictured below). We walked passed each of the markers which showed the distance of their first four …
Day 13: Nags Head, North Carolina
Since we slept in the front seats of our car, we were able to leave early from Wilmington KOA. We drove 4 hours north to Nags Head, North Carolina. Lauren reserved two nights in a hotel on the beach, and we were able to check in early. After dropping off our stuff in the nice room, we …
Day 12: Charleston Tea Plantation, Boardwalk at Myrtle Beach
We left the Isle of Palms and drove an hour south to the Charleston Tea Plantation. There, we took a trolley tour around the grounds where we learned all about how tea is grown. All true tea comes from one single plant. That plant takes several years to mature before harvesting the first tea leaves. …
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Day 11: Chillin’ at the Beach and Pool
We got what we were looking for - some rest and relaxation. We ate an expensive, crappy breakfast at the resort that we wouldn't have done had they not given us a voucher for the issues the previous day. Next, we went to the beach where we found it would cost about $40 to rent …
Day 10: South Carolina – State House, SC State Museum, Isle of Palms
By the time we got everything packed up and into the car, it was already getting late. We wanted to make it to the SC State Capitol building in time for the 10:15 tour. We found a paid parking spot near the building and hurried (uphill) to make it to the tour area at precisely …
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Day 9: Clingmans Dome & Sliding Rock
In the morning, we ate breakfast at Crockett Breakfast Camp before heading to Clingmans Dome. It took about an hour to get there as we had to drive up the mountain which is 6,664' above sea level. As we climbed the mountain, we noticed fog that became thicker and thicker. This is not what we wanted to see, …
Day 8: Cades Cove and Ripley’s Aquarium
In the morning, we left Pigeon Forge and drove 1.5 hours to Cades Cove. There we enjoyed the gorgeous sites of the fields, forests, and mountains. We decided to take the 5 mile round trip to see Abrams Falls. The trail followed alongside the winding Abrams creek. There were many parts of the trail that led us up …
Day 7: Solar Eclipse & Drive to Pigeon Forge
The morning of the eclipse, we downloaded an app which would alert you when to look for certain things during the eclipse. Myles and Terry scouted out a location to watch the eclipse. They set up the canopy and chairs, and everyone chilled until the eclipse began. The event was very surreal and unlike anything …
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Day 6: The Hermitage & Franklin, KY
We left Doug and Jennie's and arrived at The Hermitage around the time it opened. We were glad we did this because they were expecting large crowds due to the solar eclipse. One of the rangers mentioned the previous day they had 1,500 visitors; whereas, an average day for them only has about 300 visitors. …
Day 5: Nashville – Parthenon, Country Music Hall of Fame Museum
Notice: A few pictures and a video have been added to Day 3 (Canoe Trip). Day 5: We packed up and left Bowling Green around 8:30 a.m. and headed to Centennnial Park in Nashville where The Parthenon full-scale replica is located. Because the solar eclipse was the next day, The Parthenon was extremely crowded. Even so, it was interesting to see and …
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Marsh Travels 