{Road Trip} Day Two - Getting Corny

Today we made it from Des Moines, Iowa all the way up to Bismarck, North Dakota with a couple of short stops along the way...

First up, we stopped at the grave of Vice President Henry A. Wallace...

Henry A. Wallace served as the 33rd Vice President of the United States under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

He was born on a farm in rural Orient, Iowa, where the home still stands...

From there, we continued on past many, many of these...

and even passed one being moved (in several parts) along the highway, which the kids thought was super neat...seeing each part up close and realizing how huge they are!

In Omaha, Nebraska, we made a stop at the birthsite of President Gerald Ford.  Though the house is no longer standing, there is a lovely memorial garden in its place...

complete with an interpretive area narrated by President Ford...

We ate lunch at a local burger restaurant that was nearby...

before continuing on to Mitchell, South Dakota to visit the (World's Only) CORN PALACE...
 

So, my dear friend, S, made me promise we'd make a stop.  She couldn't believe that we neglected to pay homage last time we were in the area...

Now, the Corn Palace was something...  There was some construction going on, and I believe that they were in the process of stripping it to prepare for the new murals that go up annually...  I'd say that the best time to visit would be in late summer or early fall when the new corn is up and it's at the height of it's amazing corn glory, but the kids thought that it was the coolest thing everrr...

 

We enjoyed wandering around looking at the exhibits and especially at all of the photos showcasing the corn decoration themes used over the last 100+ years!

We even ventured out onto the front balcony for a great closeup view of the murals, plus a neat view of everything down below...

It's free to visit, but the gift shop will get you if you need (or don't really NEED) anything related to corn...and kitchen gadgets related to corn?  Who knew that there were so many???  My word...  To commemorate our visit, we came away with a fabulous ornament for our tree and a metal corn stalk for our yard come the fall...

From there, we pushed on through to Bismarck, North Dakota for the night...

On into Canada tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day One - A Presidential Start

Sooo, we didn't exactly get out of town as early as I had wanted to (Wednesday night).  It was actually more like 6 hours later (earrrly Thursday morning)...  Sadly, we had to cut most of our planned stops en route to Des Moines, Iowa, but...

amidst several rounds of both the ABC Game and the License Plate Game, and after 3 audio books and a movie later...

{our well loved license plate game}

 we did make time to stop among the miles and miles of cornfields in the middle of nowhere Illinois at the birthplace of President Ronald Reagan in Tampico, Illinois...

and I've decided that this little spot with just under 800 residents is just about the nicest little town ever in the middle of the cornfields in Northern Illinois...

So, we knew we were rolling into town a couple of hours after the "museum" had closed for the day, but I just wanted to stop and take a few photos outside.

 {the window to the room where President Reagan was born in 1911}

President Ronald Reagan was born in an upstairs apartment above a Main Street bakery in tiny Tampico, Illinois.  Over the course of time that the Reagans lived in the upstairs apartment, the bakery closed and reopened as a bank.

Well, I guess that this much action on Main Street on a Thursday night in Tampico can cause quite a stir...

Soon, we'd met the owner of the restaurant next door who informed us that pretty much everyone that volunteered at the museum was inside for a party (probably pretty much everyone that lives in a 5 mile radius, too) and he was sure someone could come over and show us around.

Well, of course, we wanted to go inside the building where the president of my childhood took his very first breaths, but we certainly didn't want to cause anyone any extra trouble!

Before we knew it, another person came out of the restaurant asking if we'd had a tour yet, and she assured us that so and so was just playing dominoes, but she could certainly come give us a tour if we didn't mind waiting a bit.  So, while we waited, we met another couple who shared their surefire way to repel bugs with Listerine in a spray bottle (file that away for Alaska) and how they were "doing" an outdoor wedding recently and had sprayed all the hostas and it just worked like a charm!

As soon as they disappeared into the restaurant, a car pulled up and out popped our tour guide!

I mean, the nicest ever...  It was like 6:00 at night and we got the FULL tour of everything!

 

 {in the room where President Reagan was born}

B even got to step on a rug where President Reagan once stepped...

AND, got to climb through the window into the apartment next door, just like President Reagan did as a child!

 

So did, M...

Fun Fact:  We also learned that in 1872 Admiral Joseph M. Reeves was born in Tampico, as well.  I hadn't heard of him before, but when our tour guide mentioned that while at the Naval Academy in the 1890s, he was credited with inventing the modern football helmet, a certain someone's ears perked up!

After leaving Tampico, we hightailed it on to Des Moines for the night and grabbed dinner at Zombie Burger + Shake Lab.  It has a very weird vibe, and the zombie decor totally creeps our kids out...

 but I've been thinking about the breaded portabello mushroom "burger" that I got last time we were in town ever since, and it didn't disappoint, yet again!

Back on track tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

Ready to Road Trip! {2017 edition}

Hey, ALASKA...  

We're comin' for ya!

Stay tuned...

 {Road Trip} 2016 - A Look Back at LAST Year

Day One - Kicking it Off in Kentucky, Ohio Presidential I and Charleston, West Virginia

 Day Two - Oh, Buffalo...

Day Three - Ohio Presidential II and Columbus, Ohio

Day Four - Ohio Presidential III + A Little Football

Day Five - Ohio Presidential IV

Day Six - Ohio Presidential V + State #40!

Day Seven - Soo Locks and Mackinac Island

Day Eight - Sleeping Bear and President Ford

Day Nine - Lansing, Michigan and The Henry Ford

Day Ten - The VPs of Indiana and HOME!

{Summer FUN} SC Governors VI - Fort Moultrie

With the girls at camp and our boy enjoying "only child status" for the first few days of summer, on our way home from the holiday weekend at the beach, we swung by Fort Moultrie for an encore visit...

We first visited about 5 years ago during the summer of 2012...

{photos from July, 2012}

Our main reason to stop this time, was to visit the grave of General William Moultrie, who served two separate terms as Governor of South Carolina both from 1785-1787 and from 1792-1794.

Governor Moultrie was born in Charlestown, Province of South Carolina, British America on November 23, 1730 and died in Charleston, SC on September 27, 1805.

{Spring Break} SC Governors V - Columbia Part I

As it turns out, a good many of our SC Governors are buried in and around our capital city, Columbia, SC.  In fact, SIX are buried in the churchyard at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral right across from the South Carolina State House...

 

{Though the marker (erected in 1938) cites that 5 SC Governors are buried here, there are now SIX}

Chronologically, the six are as follows...

#1

Governor Richard I. Manning I served as Governor of South Carolina from 1824-1826.

Governor Manning was born in Sumter District, SC on May 1, 1789 and died in Philadelphia, PA on his 47th birthday, May 1, 1836.

#2

Governor John L. Manning, son of Governor Richard I. Manning I, served as Governor of South Carolina from 1852-1854.

Governor Manning was born in Clarendon County, SC on January 29, 1816 and died on October 24, 1889.

#3

Governor Wade Hampton III served as Governor of South Carolina from 1876-1879.

Governor Hampton was born in Charleston, SC on March 28, 1818 and died in Columbia, SC on April 11, 1902.


#4

Governor Hugh S. Thompson served as Governor of South Carolina from 1882-1886.

Governor Thompson was born in Charleston, SC on January 24, 1836 and died in New York City, NY on November 20, 1904.

#5

Governor Richard I. Manning III, grandson of Governor Richard I. Manning I (and nephew of Governor John L. Manning), served as Governor of South Carolina from 1915-1919.

{OOOPS!  Looks like this is the WRONG Richard I. Manning...new photo coming soon!}

Governor Manning was born in Sumter County, SC on August 15, 1859 and died in Columbia, SC on September 11, 1931.

#6

Governor James F. Byrnes served as Governor of South Carolina from 1951-1955.

Governor Byrnes was born in Charleston, SC on May 2, 1882 and died in Columbia, SC on April 9, 1972.

{Spring Break} SC Governors IV - Laurens & Newberry

En route to the beach, we spent another day in search of the graves of a few more SC Governors...

Stop #1 - Laurens, SC

At our first stop in Laurens, SC, we checked off a couple more on our list, BOTH buried in the same cemetery...

Governor William D. Simpson served as Governor of South Carolina from 1879-1880.

Governor Simpson was born in Laurens District, SC on October 27, 1823 and died in Columbia, SC on December 26, 1890.  He is buried in Laurens City Cemetery in Laurens, SC.

AND

Governor Robert A. Cooper served as Governor of South Carolina from 1919-1922.

Governor Cooper was born in Laurens County, SC on June 12, 1874 and died in Greenville County, SC on August 7, 1953.  He is buried in Laurens City Cemetery in Laurens, SC.

Stop #2 - Newberry, SC

Governor Coleman L. Blease served as Governor of South Carolina from 1911-1915.

Governor Blease was born in Newberry, SC on October 8, 1868 and died in Columbia, SC on January 19, 1942.  He is buried in Rosemont Cemetery in Newberry, SC.