More flight lessons...

We found the perfect place to stop for the night just outside of Dayton, Ohio.  One thing I am realizing is that 99% of the time reservations are not necessary (for hotels, not talking about more specialty lodging...definitely get reservations if you can for those).  Anyway, after our scary hotel situation in Asheville, I simply stopped reserving ahead of time.  Two reasons...obviously to avoid scary hotel situations and also because more often than not we change our minds at the last minute on where we want to stop for the night.  With reservations you have no choice, you have to go there.  Without them, you go wherever you feel like.  This time we felt like going to Dayton :).

**I just thought of a third reason...we have found that it's cheaper to just walk-in and request a hotel room rather than reserve online or even call.  Crazy but true!  And definitely welcome :).**

Great nights sleep, free laundry at the hotel (wondermous!), and a Tim Horton's right up the street.  Yes indeed, we were off to a great start to our next day ;).  It's the little things, ya'll :).

Any of ya'll that are familiar with the Dayton area can probably guess why we wanted to stop there for the night.  They have NPS sites!  These really are great for the kids and their schooling.  I don't know how many times they have been doing their regular school books and called out in excitement because there is a picture or a passage describing one of these places that we have visited.  Touched, seen with our own two eyes...there just is no comparison :).

With our box of Timbits in hand, we set off to find the Wright Cycle Company Complex...one part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park.  We found it, parked, and as we were walking across the grounds to go into the visitor center we noticed a Ranger just outside the door to the Wright Cycle Company Building.  This building stays locked and is opened up when a Ranger is available to accompany you inside.  He was available, so we went in there first :)...

This building is one of four that the Wright brothers worked on their bicycles in and the only one that remains today.  It still has their tools laid out and everything...

After some good conversation with the Ranger on the contents and history of the cycle shop, we thanked him and headed on over to the VC.  Jr. Ranger books were acquired and then we descended upon the museum.  I say descended because we each got so involved with our reading and looking that we were spread out all over the place.  That's ok, I love seeing the kids so interested in learning :)..(we were practically the only ones there, so I was cool with the spreading out situation).

these old menus intrigue me...and kind of appall...sliced tongue???  :P...

...apparently they thought it was wonderful...

We saw the print shop where the brothers printed their newspaper and life-long friend Paul Laurence Dunbar printed his many poems, novels, plays, etc...

With books complete, we went down to the Ranger desk to finish up.  The Rangers rotate their posts throughout the day and it just so happened that the same guy who showed us around the cycle shop was now at the VC desk.  I liked his style...he challenged the kids to do more/learn more in a way that they thought was just fun and games :).  There was a red line outside marking how far the first flight flew and a sign telling how fast.  He challenged the kids to each run the distance of the line while being timed to see if they could outrun an airplane.  They thought that was big fun :)!  Challenge accepted and conquered (and they learned some great historical facts in the process)...

Jr. Rangering :)

We spent a long time there, but there was another part of the park that we really wanted to visit.  With just enough time left in the day, we headed over to the Huffman Prairie Flying Field.  Here we saw the Wright Memorial...

...and visited the adjacent Interpretive Center.  This place was all about the planes!  The kids had so much fun here and once again the Rangers were awesome.  The man running the desk when we got there was a real jokester and had all the kids laughing (and learning, love it!).  I have to say, though, that their very favorite part was in the back corner of the museum. There they found a 1911 Wright Model B Flight Simulator and one of the sweetest ladies that we have ever met stationed back there to help the kiddos...

This lady (i wish i could remember her name!!!) stayed past closing to let each of the kids have a turn on the simulator.  I never expected that :)!  I had already told the kids that most likely only the littlest ones would get a chance to try it because it was nearing closing time.  Well, she made sure that they all got to do it and let them keep trying until they had successful flights (they are awarded certificates).  Warms my heart right up :).

The VC had closed for the day, we were locked in :), but she also went over the kids books with them and awarded them their badges.  You just don't come across that level of niceness every day :).

more Jr. Rangering

It was time to go, so we left to find some food and decide where we wanted to head off to next.  I asked the kids to vote between visiting the Gateway Arch in Missouri or Lake Michigan in Indiana and Michigan (two states we had never been to).  Their decision?  The lake!  We only made it a few hours in that direction before it was time to stop for the night.  A cozy room in Fort Wayne, Indiana, worked out great...

Good night :)!

o"HI"o

Well, hello, Ohio.  Nice to meetcha ;).  The 44th state that we have visited...

But what do you do in Ohio?  We did what we always do and consulted the trusty NPS website.  We were coming into the southwestern portion of the state and there just so happened to be a NPS site in the same area.  So, we headed into Cincinnati and to the William Howard Taft National Historic Site.  Gots to edjicate these chillun'...

There is a decent sized parking area in the back (thankfully, I never have learned the art of parallel parking).  Then you just follow the little path up to the Visitor Center.  Inside, we were greeted by another wonderful Ranger who joked around with the kids and gave them a few helpful hints for completing their workbooks.  Ok, off to see the sights...

oh look!  peonies...

terrible picture, but so what ;).  someday i want to grow these flowers.  it was too hot for them in florida...

This site centers around the Taft home where former President Taft was born and raised.  The downstairs is set up like it would have been when the Taft family lived there.  They sure had an interesting style, check out the foyer...

So many patterns!  The flooring, the wallpaper, the rugs, the light fixtures!  One thing's for sure, it certainly isn't boring :).

Upstairs is a museum with lots of great info on the Taft family.  We learned that he was the only person in United States history to hold both the office of President and then later the office of Chief Justice...

...and that his wife was one of the main reasons that the Cherry trees were originally planted in DC...

...and that it was pretty much a given that there would be oysters served at a Taft dinner party ;)...

We ended our visit back at the VC where the kids completed their books and were awarded their Jr. Ranger badges.  Then it was drive through the city (the kids always want to go smack dab downtown), stop long enough to grab some Chipotle, and head on up I-75 to figure out just exactly where we were going to spend the night...

Sinking Spring Farm...

...the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln.

Less than an hours drive from the caves, this was our next destination...

A peaceful place, even today...

We popped into the visitor center to grab Jr. Ranger books and check out the exhibits, then we followed the path over to the cabin.

little boy+slingshot shoved in a back pocket=<3

What greeted us at the end of the path was not a cabin, but a marble building.  A monument housing a monument (the cabin is safely tucked away inside)...

The Ranger that was inside near the cabin was super nice.  It was obvious that he has a heart for children and happily shared some great facts with the kids in a fun way.  I just love it when other adults take the time to invest in my kiddos like that <3...

There are 56 steps that lead up to the monument, one for each year of Lincoln's life.  This really touched the kids for some reason and they insisted on all gathering at the top together and walking back down while I took a picture.  Ok, kids, you got it...

We followed one of the paths that led us to the farm's namesake, the Sinking Spring...

This was really neat to see because it is where the Lincoln family got their drinking water so many years ago.  And it still flows!  Very cool...

After walking the grounds we headed back over to the VC to have another look at the exhibits.  Do you ever do that?  Look at them first to get a general idea of the park, then look at them again after touring the park to really cement what you have seen.  Anyway, we did that and then the kids were all set to turn in their Jr. Ranger books.

All Rangered up and we were once again on our way.  There are only a small handful of states that we have never visited and when we realized just how close we were to one of them we just had to go say "HI"...can you guess which one ;)?

Mammoth Cave National Park

When we were looking at going to Mammoth Cave National Park, we saw that they have onsite lodging.  We love a good rustic cabin and were super excited for the chance to stay inside the park.  There was only an opening for one night, so we snatched it up and headed in that direction...

Once we got there and got checked in, I asked at the desk if there had been any cancellations for the following nights.  Nope, but check back in the morning.  Ok...

Guess what?  Bright and early the next morning...after a wonderful night's sleep in our woodsy little cabin...I checked back in with the reservation desk.  Annnnd, there was a cancellation on our EXACT cabin!  How completely awesome (for us) is that???  Of course, I snatched it right up again (haha!) and we enjoyed a few lazy days of legos (yes, we travel with legos), long walks, and simply hanging out around our cabin :)...

The cabin itself had no a/c so we were forced to throw open all the windows and even the wooden doors, leaving just the screens shut.  Sitting underneath the trees provided shade and a nice breeze that kept us plenty cool.

For all of our meals, we just walked over to the restaurant that sits near the Visitor Center.  Sometimes we ate there, sometimes we got it to go and took it back to our cabin.  The servers were all extremely nice and it was always pleasant :) (and surprisingly very affordable).

All the lazing around was great, but we also wanted to check out the caves while we were there.  You have to buy tickets for the tour of your choice and apparently you should do it as far in advance as possible.  Several of the tours were completely sold out, but we still had a few options.  We chose the Historic Tour...2 miles, 2 hours, enter and exit through the natural entrance...

It was ok.  I didn't love it.  The tour group was very large and the guide kept up a really fast pace.  I think if you could manage to be at the very front (so that you could actually hear the guide talking) that it would be better than just ok.  Anyway, the times that the guide stopped and waited for everyone to gather around before he talked were great (and no, we weren't at the back...somewhere between middle and front) and we learned some neat history on the caves.

old saltpeter mine...

marks on the ceiling from tour guides many, many years ago...they would throw up torches to light the room...

it was also acceptable way back when for folks to "sign" their names on the cave ceilings and walls using their candles...

They do warn you that it is a tough walk and anyone with issues should bow out.  We had seen on the description that part of the passage winds through a narrow cut in the rocks called "Fat Man's Misery".  That part was really cool, the tough parts were the tiny little stairways that you had to scrunch up and bend over to navigate...and at the very end the long walk back up out of the cave to the Visitor Center.  No elevators here folks ;)...

a picture of a picture showing the Fat Man's Misery portion of the cave

The kids participated in the Junior Ranger program while we were there (of course).  They picked up their books the first day and worked on the puzzles and fun stuff while we hung out at our cabin.  For the parts that required some studying to answer, we headed over to the Visitor Center...

Overall, we had a great time at Mammoth Cave National Park.  Their "summer camp-ish" cabins were our favorite part...I just love finding neat little places like that :)