I went to the website of our congressman and requested that they get us on tours for all kinds of interesting things in DC. 2 weeks before we are supposed to arrive they will email us with dates for tours for the White House, Congress, Beauru of Engraving and Printing, and more. I have posted at a couple home school sites asking for advice for what to see.... you can clearly see we have gotten some good advice! I wonder how we'll fit it all in?
- Pennsylvania=
Philly-Independence Hall,
- Liberty Bell, Valley Forge-get out of the car and walk the trails,
- Lancaster-Amish area just outside of the city,
- Lancaster-Amish area just outside of the city. Boston. Do the Freedom Trail too.
- Fanuel Hall
- Yellowstone in WY,
- Dodge City in KS,
- Mt. Rushmore in SD,
- The Arch in St. Louis..........
- Mesa Verde (the cliff dwellings) - those are AWESOME!
- The Grand Canyon in AZ,
- Powell in OOOOtah.
- Kentucky Horse Park in KY,
- The Jack Daniel's Distillery (or whatever they call it) in TN.
- Down south there are all the antebellum homes, plantations and Civil War history.
- New York - where do you start? Twin Towers memorial, Lady Liberty, Dave Letterman, Niagara Falls.
- Bourbon St., LA.
- Mt. Vernon, Monticello, Williamsburg.
- Drive the Shenandoah highway- gorgeous.
- Jamestown,
- Harper's Ferry is fun. The rivers are 2 different colors and it's fun to watch them run together.
- Appalachian trail, you could do some hiking.
- There are War Between the States battlefields all over VA, you could spend the entire time touring them.
Kentucky Derby museum in Louisville.
Old World Wisconsin, a very nice zoo, there are a ton of ethnic festivals on the lake front all summer long.
- Villa Louis in Prairie Du Chien (an old trading post),
- Wisconsin Dells
State Info
Holmes County has a big Amish industry.
The great thing about D.C. is that all the federal stuff is free. The Smithsonian Museums, the Mint, etc. All free. If you can park your car and leave it you'll be able to take advantage of the Metro, which will take you everywhere you want to go. Also there's a "tourmobile" which is a bus you can buy a ticket for, and it drops and picks up from all the popular sites. You get off, spend as much time as you want at whatever place you choose, then get on another bus and head to the next site. I really liked this when I did D.C. with little ones.
In Chicago the Field's Museum of Natural History and the Musuem of Science and Industry were our favorites. If you belong to any museums at home, check to see if they have reciprocal agreements with the ones in Chicago. It may even be worth joining just for the free entry into the Science and Industry museum.take time to see the Badlands, and the Black Hills. If you can stay overnight, (or even if not) there are some good short scenic hikes in the Badlands. There are some ranger tours/talks which were pretty interesting.
The Black Hills has Mt. Rushmore, but we also visited the Mt. Moriah Cemetery where Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok are buried. If you can handle getting up early, taking the wildlife drive around Custer State Park will be very cool. Lots of wildlife, buffalo, antelope, etc to see. Oh, I almost forgot: Wall, SD. Don't miss Wall Drug, so you can say you've been there! (I'm sure they have a web site.) Also, when we made our trip in 2003, we were on the road with zillions of motorcycles heading for the bike fest in Sturgis, SD (Black Hills area). I think the Harley Davidson plant is located there...if that's your kind of thing, maybe they do tours of the factory.
Will you do Devils' Tower? You can see it from the interstate in the distance if you don't go see it. But it was pretty cool. And your kids are old enough, if you/they are qualified/adventurous enough, to climb it. I can't remember how many teams we watched scale that thing. I think there are guides who can take groups up, but you would have to check and see if there are requirements you must meet.
In Oklahoma City, the Cowboy Hall of Fame has the largest collection of Frederic Remington Bronzes, if you are interested in that sort of thing...also a memorial to the Murrah Building bombing there---when we were there in 1996, you could still see effects of the bombing on nearby buildings.
If you do Santa Fe, Bandelier National Monument has some very cool stuff, and the rangers offer tours a couple times aday. You might be able to get the schedule in advance. Uusually the national parks have their tour schedules published monthly. There are the remains of a Native American cliff dwelling culture. This area was very geologically interesting, with a large volcanic caldera, Jemez Caldera (which you can still see, well drive in). A couple of the hikes/tours in Bandelier will take you by some geologically interesting stuff (pyroclasts?). Locals know--you can ask the rangers at Bandelier--about hot springs in the area, where lots of people go to soak in the warm water. When we went there, we were not sure exaclty what "clothing optional" really meant, but as we got up the trail, we could see a woman who had not chosen clothing; so we opted not to go all the way up with our children. As it was, they could still stick their hands in the water coming downstream and feel the heat. Arches in Utah? Don't miss nearby Dead Horse Point (Dead Horse Point State Park) at sunset or sunrise. We did not have time to hike nearby Canyonlands. But one hike which was great in Arches was the Double O Arch
If you want to get a good view/seat for the show at the Capitol (the one that PBS televises each year) you need to get there hours early.WARNING:
On the 4th of July evening, when the fireworks were over and wanted to go back to our hotel, we decided to take the subway. WRONG CHOICE! It was packed, jammed full. There were so many people I was afraid my kids would be trampled (they were quite smaller back then) and I literally had a hard time breathing in the subway... major case of claustrophobia. We got off before our exit (I literally could not take being so trapped with so many people) and walked for what seemed like miles to our hotel.
Anybody else have any ideas??????
