In honor of Black Friday I thought I'd talk a little bit about shopping in the parks. As you may know if you are a park enthusiast all parks have trouble with funding. Much like our home budgets there is always a long list of things to be done and only so many dollars to … Continue reading Shop Your Parks For the Holidays, & Everyday!
Great Smoky Mountains NP Pt. 2
Great Smoky is a stand out park for a few different reasons, one of which is that the money was raised by LOCAL PEOPLE. When the federal government approved the creation of the park they refused to fund it. It was funded with local citizen donations, school children, from all walks of life, collecting nickels … Continue reading Great Smoky Mountains NP Pt. 2
Great Smoky Mountains NP pt 1
When planning our eclipse viewing I tried to keep a couple things front and center in my mind. 1) It could be cloudy and 2) The kids may find this monumentally unimpressive. To mitigate both of these concerns it was really important that the focal point of the trip have something great to visit in … Continue reading Great Smoky Mountains NP pt 1
New River Gorge-NR
While planning our excursion to Ohio, I had come across all the interesting stories about the impending August Eclipse. My favorite thing to do late at night when everyone is asleep is to google. Soon I was down a rabbit hole of google maps, NPS site maps and hotel reservations. After consulting numerous maps I … Continue reading New River Gorge-NR
C & O Canal
After we left Greenbelt National Park we headed home. On the drive to Pittsburgh there are a ton of National park signs, mostly battlefields. I am always tempted to stop, but I really am trying to save most of those for when we are studying the pertinent wars. We had just started the Civil War … Continue reading C & O Canal
Greenbelt NP
On the last day of our visit to Washington DC we decided to have breakfast with my sister before hitting the road. We met at a cute local chain called The Silver Diner and chose the one in Greenbelt, just a few miles from where she was staying. Much to my surprise there was a … Continue reading Greenbelt NP
Ford Theater NHS
While in DC visiting with my sister, my nephew really really wanted to go to the International Spy Museum. That sounded like fun and we all took the metro in and went. I posted what we were doing while eating burgers on the corner next to the spy museum and my intrepid friend posted "Hey … Continue reading Ford Theater NHS
Friendship Hill NHS
We got a surprise road trip to DC, just me and the kids! So I decided to swing by Friendship Hill and have a picnic on our way since we were passing through. Luckily, my oldest son got carsick so we ended up having to stay a couple hours while I cleaned the car and … Continue reading Friendship Hill NHS
Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS
Allegheny Portage Railroad is a result of Pennsylvania's desire to stay relevant in trade and an ingenious way to cross the Allegheny mountains before steam engines were powerful enough to make it through. With the rise of Canal trade after the completion of the Erie Canal, Pennsylvania scrambled to compete and shorten the 23 day … Continue reading Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS
Johnstown Flood NM
We decided to take a day trip up to Johnstown to see the flood Memorial. I knew nothing about Johnstown other than there was a flood and it was near the oxbow bend of the railroad. Imagine my intense lack of surprise when I found out that the flood was caused by the wealthy elite … Continue reading Johnstown Flood NM
Free Rangering 