Touching Abraham

TOUCHING ABRAHAM

We headed east and crossed the wide Missouri after driving on several country highways to get there. Then we were in Illinois heading toward Springfield.

In the process and looking at the map I realized that a little farther south we would have gone through Hannibal, Missouri where Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) lived as a boy! It’s funny how you read about places and unless you specifically set out to look or go see said places you get surprises like that and suddenly realize ‘oh, now I know where that is’.

Or we were just north of Nauvoo where Joseph Smith was Killed and the Mormons moved west. It’s interesting and a surprise that you can be almost anywhere and there is always a bit of history and something to go see.

But I digress, we finally arrived in Springfield about 4:00P.M. and had a hard time finding Abraham Lincoln’s home but finally we did but it shortened our time to visit. We did manage to each get on a tour of his home. We had to take turns because of the dog, but it was so worth it, to walk into his house and see the rooms where he sat, ate and lived with his family, of course before he became president.

I especially liked seeing his writing desk sitting in the corner of the parlor. It was simple but nice and to think he sat there and wrote out great works, that his brilliant mind was at work and the words flowed through onto paper. I so admire his fortitude and desire to learn, how he grew up and educated himself and never quit learning.

A lot of the furnishings in the home were original which is really cool. Like the parlor set which has black horse hair upholstery. It was also remarkable to climb the stairs to go upstairs and use the hand rail that Abraham Lincoln himself put the is hand on when he climbed the stairs himself. I touched something he touched, amazing!

Actually, the whole 4 block area is a national historic site with several old houses to see as well. We did not get to see everything as they close promptly at 5 but it was well worth the stop.

Actually, if you are in Springfield there is lots to see and much of it has to do with president Lincoln, like his law offices, the presidential library and museum and also his tomb.

But we had to get down the road a piece and made it as far as a town called Vandalia, Ill. We found out the next morning that it was the town with the oldest territorial capital in the state with a wonderful old building there.

Onward to the East

 

WYOMING, NEBRASKA AND KANSAS

Road Trip

Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas

We hit the road yesterday morning, after rising at 4:30 A.M. It took a while to get the rest of our stuff loaded, breakfast and all the rest before we were in the car and driving away after locking the door at 6:45 A.M. We headed south I-25 from Casper. Then we turned east to Lusk. Then we went south on old 85 to Torrington and then east toward Scottsbluff, Nebraska angling south to I-80. Then on I-80 east past North Platte and then south on Highway 183 to Phillipsburg, Kansas where we spent the night at a cute little motel called the Cottonwood Inn across from the golf course.

But I digress, on the trip to Kansas we took a minor stop in Jay Em, Wyoming long enough to take a couple photos I have posted below. For those of you who know and those who don’t in the Robinson side of the family, Jay Em was started by a man named Lake Harris. He was a cousin to Jenny Belle Harris who was great grandmother to Jim my husband and his Grandfather Rollin Robinson’s mother.

 

JAY EM HARDWARE AND GROCERY

We graciously went on a tour of the town led by a cousin Hazel Harris Mudgett a number of weeks ago. I will cover that more in detail at a later date. The town was started I believe in something like 1920 or slightly before. The old General store was really neat and there is an old bank, stone shop, hardware, garage, etc. in this town. Some people still live in Jay Em . It’s worth a stop to see. A unique spot on a road trip.

 

On our way into Kansas we drove by old Chimney Rock and took a quick stop there, I have been there several time but it never fails to intrigue me and make me think of the long hard trip the pioneers made on the Oregon trail going past the rock which was always a landmark for them as a marker to how far they had come and how far to go. Much of our drive yesterday hit parts of the Oregon trail. The saddest part for me has always been to go to the pioneer cemetery where so many children and especially babies are buried. It shows the hardships and how we take for granted that most of our children will grow up nowadays but back then many mothers lost more than one child and it had to be sheer heartbreak.

 

Further on we went by a town called Lewellen, Nebraska and saw a sign for the Elm Creek State Historical Site and some ways past that was a park and site that had an old Soddy cabin, it was very neat although time did not allow us to really tour the site only in passing. The area around Lewellen was very pretty with rolling hills and tall grass, green and lovely. Interesting scenery.

Onward to Lawrence, Ks. tomorrow

 

 

 

TRAVEL ON THE CHEAP

 

Travel on the cheap

How to Eat Cheap

 

We have always tried to travel as cheaply as possible if we were to travel at all. And by so saying I hope to encourage others that it is possible to go on a trip on the cheap and therefore keeping costs down as much as possible.

Let us start with the subject of food. As everyone knows we all have to eat, but when you travel it makes a lot of extra expense to eat out and a person cannot eat fast food for every meal and if you have a family especially it can still be costly even eating at fast food restaurants and heaven forbid regular dining, especially dinner!

Add in the fact that for me I have several food allergies and often eating out feels like playing Russian roulette. I have over the years come up with some solutions that work relatively well and save some money on food expenses when travelling and here is some.

If we are staying in a hotel and especially with a family, I try to find one that serves breakfast, these days there are many reasonable one like Quality Inn and/ or la Quinta, etc. that actually serve a real breakfast not just pastries and coffee. It can save quite a bit not having to go to a restaurant. As for me I often cannot eat much of it so I bring my own Gluten free oatmeal and I almost always have a small hot plate and pan that I can boil an egg for breakfast, have some fruit and cup of tea and I am good to go. And if the place has no breakfast but pastries, you can always expand the meal with boiled eggs and have yogurt and fruit in the cooler. Also, many hotels have small fridges in the rooms these days.

Actually, here is what we often travel with: A small one burner hot plate, a set of small camping pans, a microwavable bowl (preferably non- breakable), a small roll of kitchen tools for camping, some mess kits with silver ware, plus a dish cloth, soap and small scrubber. We then have the ability to cook a simple meal in a hotel room with ease, little mess and not disturbing a soul.

We find it very easy to stop at a local grocery and since we always have a cooler we can purchase either some frozen or fresh vegetables and something simple like pork chops and cook it within minutes. Another option is even a frozen dinner at times, which is easy to pop into the microwave and it’s done. The vegetables are always easy to cook in the microwave.  Therefore, we have created a decent meal, I have avoided a stomach ache and we have saved at least $25.00-$30.00 for 2 people at a restaurant or $10.00 at a fast food place which is not that good for you. With the availability of prepackaged and ready salads, etc. it is so easy to do this and a meal made in your room can cost as little at $5.00 for two but may cost more depending on what is fixed but its’ still cheaper than eating out.

Lunches are easy to have things to make a picnic and make sandwiches etc. with a cooler along and can save money too plus you will be eating healthier with vegetables, fruit, etc. on board. On another note, we recently purchased a car fridge –cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter for trips and can plug into electricity in a house or hotel room. I will keep you posted on how this does but if it works well then we can save money on buying ice when we go on our road trip this summer. The one we got was by Coleman, the larger size and it was about $89.00 on Amazon.com plus we bought the adapter to plug into electricity and so all told I spent about $100.00 with the free shipping. At the sporting goods store it would have been $140.00 for the whole works, so I saved about $40.00 which I always appreciate.

All in all, you eat healthier, save considerable money and can get to do more travel because it will cost you less and if you can afford it you can still accommodate eating out some of the time and that way you get the pleasure of dining out too.

Happy Travels to you and Yours!

 

Wyoming!

I decided the other day to compile a few fun facts and have written those below. Enjoy!

The Tetons -Jenney lake

Wyoming!

The Equality State

 

Wyoming is a state with very dramatic landscapes and a wide variety with everything from steep mountain peaks with dramatic cliffs to desert like basins where hardly anything seems to grow and  Prickly Pear Cactus which grows with the sagebrush.

Prickly Pear Flowers

Yellowstone

Wyoming is the first state to elect a woman governor and the first state in our Union to allow women to vote.

The name “Wyoming” may have come from the Delaware Indian word “Maughwaumama”  which means ‘large plains’.

             Wyoming  Prairie

 

With all its infinite variety, it is the least populated state in our entire country and a place where cows outnumber people. Although this sounds dramatic here is some of the facts:

• There is less than 6 people for each square mile in Wyoming
• We have the least amount of people compared to any other state with a population of: 586,107 people in the entire state as of 2015 estimates.
• Compare the above population with California which is #1 in with the largest population at 38,332,521
• The two biggest cities is Cheyenne (the capital) which has a population of 62,845 and Casper which has 60,086 according to stats for 2015.
• Wyoming has 97,818 square miles and is the 10^th largest state with 97,105 as and 714 miles of water.
• There is 23 counties in Wyoming
• The state bird is the Meadowlark
• State mammal is the Buffalo
• State flower is Indian Paintbrush
• Gemstone –Jade
• State dinosaur is the Triceratops
• The License plates have a bucking horse on them and have had some version of “Steamboat” who was a famous bucking horse for many many years.
• Nickname “Cowboy State”
• Biggest Economic contributor is mining which includes oil, gas and coal
• The largest number of jobs in the state is from mining, ranching and transportation especially the railroads

 

I find this state to be unique and all its own, the people are friendly and the lack of traffic jams suits me fine, driving for hours and only seeing a couple of cars on the drive and knowing there is all this open space is just my cup of tea. Wild and free with lots of nature is how I would describe Wyoming and that is something I love.

Information sources:

Census.gov

Wyoming Dept of tourism

Enchantedlearning.com

Newsmax.com

Suburbanstats.org

 

 

 

Fun at The Hot Springs in Thermopolis, Wyoming

 

For my birthday this year we took a jaunt over to Thermopolis, Wyoming. It is considered to be one of the gateways to Yellowstone and Teton National parks but more than that it is a unique spot unto itself. To get there we drove up through the beautiful Wind River Canyon on Highway 20.

Thermopolis has Hot Springs State park which is north and east of the city limits and the best part is it entrance to the park is free. The Hot Springs State Park has a series of hot springs and a large number of acres surrounding it.

The Hot Springs themselves are considered healing and there is a State Bath House that is free and open to the public and the two other bath house have extra things like slides for the kids, etc. which you have to pay to enter but would be great fun for a family outing, they are Hellie’s Tee Pee Pools and Star Plunge. The hot water is filled with minerals and is very warm, a great soak for arthritis and aching muscles. It felt great after riding in the car and then hiking around with my recent hip surgeries.

Along with this there is walking trails and for a better view of the Rainbow terraces a really interesting swinging bridge which covers a large gulch that spans the Big Horn River and you can cross from one side to the other, it swings quite dramatically if you don’t stop and let it settle. It was first built in 1916 to span the river and was later rebuilt when it became run down.

The rock formations with regards to the mineral water is filled with burnt oranges and yellows as well as browns, a lovely medley of colors with the river flowing by and lots of birds singing and ducks swimming on the water.

Besides the Hot Springs, the park features areas for picnics and fun plus when you drive away from the hot springs public baths there is a series of winding roads that takes you on a discovery of more scenery and a herd of buffalo which adds a flavor of the Wild West to the park.

Besides the hot springs, dinosaurs are a big thing in Thermopolis. There is a large dinosaur museum and one of three Archaeopteryx fossils in the world called “The Thermopolis Specimen” which is a small birdlike species. Though I have not seen the museum it is on my list to do. The fossil below was at the county museum.

We stayed the night in Thermopolis and I normally do not complain but I am going to say this, do not stay at the “Coachman Inn” if you go to Thermopolis! I have stayed there twice now and both experiences were not good and besides being an older hotel, there was a lot of issues with a bad beds, not  being clean and I recently read on line that  people said they had bed bugs. There was not even hot coffee or a way to make such a thing in the morning. They do allow dogs but so do several other hotels in town.

We had dinner at the Day’s Inn “Safari Club and it was not only an interesting atmosphere with lots of photos of wildlife safaris but also animals on display. Some real, some not. The food was good and the atmosphere that of a nice restaurant. Prices moderate depending on what you ordered of course.

While in Thermopolis we had to go to the local history museum (Hot Springs County Museum) and or course I took photos but one of the things that interested me was the sight of a glass wash board! I had never seen such a thing! And believe me I have seen lots of wash boards in lots of museums and even used them myself but I didn’t even know they made such a thing.

Included in the museum was a most illustrious piece of history, it is the bar from the Hole-In-The-Wall Saloon which Butch Cassidy and probably the Sundance Kid as well as other outlaws and famous people drank at.

I also found interesting a collection of Scales for weighing various items. I had never seen so many kinds all in one place. And or course,there was much much more to see.

All in all Thermopolis is well worth the stop  to see its secret delights and experience a taste of what is Wonderful Wyoming with all its variety and fun.