In years past, I have been accused of “overscheduling” our vacations.  Shocking, right?  So I’ve included some down days in recent trips and today was about as good as you get. 

Let’s first show off Cabin #1 on Lows Lake

Its nothing fancy, but it has 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, and living room, and one of the prettiest views I’ve ever seen

When we finally all got going… around 11am, Mike gave the boys lessons on how to put on weights and bobbins to the new fishing rods that the owners had for us to us.

And off we went for a little fishing. I think everyone caught something, but nothing large enough to keep. But it was still fun and we loved being on the lake.

Lows Lake is a private lake, so nothing motorized is allowed.  I cannot believe how that changes the “sound” of the lake.  It is so quiet… just birds chirping, and of course us!

After fishing, the boys and I decided to try the rowboat. I don’t think Michael knew how hard it is to row. He very chivalrously refused to let me row, and Leo didn’t really offer. When I asked why he didn’t offer to help, in true Leo style said “’cause I didn’t want to row.” I thought for sure we were going to end up in the lake and trying to pull a row bat back to shore, but we made it back relatively dry.

After the rowboat adventure, the boys did a little swimming but then decided it would be more fun to take photos. Some of these turned out really cool

I think my favorite is Leo’s Superman (he seriously looks like he is taking off from the dock)

And Michael’s Michael Jordan pose

I think they climbed in and out of the lake at least a hundred times. After that we grabbed lunch, and were lazy again, playing cards and laughing as we taught the boys the art of card-playing-smack talk.

Later in the afternoon, the boys headed back to fish with Mike while I got dinner in the oven. 

It has been really nice to have a kitchen again and not have to eat out… although dinners have had a little bit of an Iron Chef feel as I made do with whatever ingredients we had with us. Once dinner was in the oven, I joined the boys on the lake and we headed out on the canoe and kayak. Both of which are SO much easier to navigate than the rowboat… although these 2 getting the canoe in the water was hilarious!

After an hour on the lake, we decided to head back in for dinner. Although the boys had to go back out to “free” the unused worms that we bought for bait… Love that they will beat the crap out of each other but want to save some earthworms

Finally, we watched what the boys called an old movie (it was from 1993!) and then crashed. Being lazy makes you tired.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time at Lows Lake.  The only negative… the bugs! Lawd, the bugs!! Apparently yellow flies are bad this year, and their normal June-only season has extended itself long into July.  (We had a night in a “Yurt”-style tent planned later this week, but we changed our reservation last night, because those suckers will drive you mad!)

But its going to be hard not sitting out and enjoying this view…

Tomorrow we are meandering to another lake, Devils Lake in North Dakota (#30)… can’t wait to see what oddball things we can find along the way!

Today started off in the town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. After breakfast, we headed off to Leinenkugel Brewery, makers of Leinenkugel Beer, and one of the few American owned beers.

Leinenkugel has been making beer since 1867 when Jacob Leinenkugel came to Wisconsin from Germany. His father had been a beer maker so he and a partner, John Miller, founded Leinenkugel brewery. Miller sold his shares to Jacob, and despite a sale to Coors in 1989, a Leinenkugel still sits as President of the Company.

The tour was excellent even if you aren’t a beer drinker. They have tried to keep and restore all of the original buildings

Beer is made from grains that are soaked in very hot water becoming an oatmeal type texture – floor 4… originally gravity moved the product along, but with technology and the renovation the process jumps a bit now with tubes and pipes from floor 4 to floor 2 to floor 3 to floor 1 to bottling/canning

We thought the safety glasses were pretty cool

150 years of beer… including a few years of “near beer” during Prohibition

Originally Leinenkugel was only available in Wisconsin and surrounding areas, but now it is sold in all 50 states, although not every kind is available everywhere. Not too bad for a little brewery.

We really enjoyed and used our beer tasting tickets (for Mike and I only) to try some beer not available in North Carolina. (If you get the chance to try the Juicy Peach or Beer Weiss, absolutely do!)

So glad we added this to our itinerary. It was definitely worth the stop and fun to see it go from grains and hops to beer🍺

After the tour and tasting, we headed into Chippewa Falls for lunch. It is a really neat town with gorgeous flowers decorating each corner in these old bikes. Local business sponsor each, and they look really pretty as you look downtown.

We grabbed lunch at Lucy’s (recommended by Teagan our tour guide at the brewery – side note, tour guides and drivers know the BEST places to eat), and then walked through Chippewa Falls to explore. We spent some money in a great candy shop, and found the perfect sign for Brian Maness!

Off we went with full bellies and sugary hands, and headed off to the land of 10,000 lakes Minnesota!

Along the way, we passed Lake Superior

And about a hundred other little lakes.

We are headed to Lows Lake in Emily, Minnesota. I have learned one thing on this trip, we should be very grateful for the ability to just scoot to a nearby grocery store… those suckers are few and far between out here! Final found one in McGregor, Minnesota and stocked up on groceries for next few days where we have a kitchen

Then off we went to find out cabin…

The cabin is okay – honestly, it’s a fancy fishing cabin that needs a good cleaning. But a few Clorox wipes later, it’s fine for us

Put the view and the cool air coming off the water, made it all worthwhile

Tomorrow, the itinerary is full… of nothing! We are sleeping in and relaxing with a little fishing, kayaking and swimming.

We hit the ground running this morning and didn’t stop until we closed our eyes tonight! After breakfast, the boys enjoyed the indoor and outdoor pool while we got packed up. The water slides are pretty simple at our Holiday Inn Express but the boys have thoroughly enjoyed them!

We can’t seem to find anyone who knows why Wisconsin Dells is the water park capital of the world… I mean the middle of Wisconsin is a pretty random place for the water slide capital of the world… the best explanation I’ve found is that The Polynesian Resort covered their water slide in 1989, and folks went crazy for it because duh, it’s cold in Wisconsin a good portion of the year… and so, the Dells were born.

The Dells are also known for their Duck Boats (boats that can go on land or water) and while that seems interesting, their slow pace is unlikely get or keep the attention of teenagers (or me). So instead we decided to take a JetBoat through The Dells…

And get soaking wet

And as if that wasn’t enough, we did a little zip lining with great guides, Emily and Dawkins, who taught us how to do a Spider-Man while sipping but still made sure we didn’t hit a tree or fall.

Emily and Dawkins both told us about a great place for lunch, The Grateful Shed. This place was too cool – a warehouse with different food trucks inside.

Clearly, the burgers were delicious!

The boys also took a turn at the arm wrestling table.

We scooted next door and did some go cart racing, and I impressed the boys with my driving, especially as I drove right past them – lol!

It was pretty warm out today (although the humidity is only about 15% so it’s a comfortable heat), so we decided to go back and use our 2nd day of free 3-hour passes at Knuckheads. All the same things and all the same fun!

Let’s just take a moment and notice who the #5 top player of the day is… yes, it’s MOM!

We topped off our visit with an icee and hit the road for Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin… but not without a few oddball stops along the way. How about a sign made from an upended tractor trailer:

Or a leaping deer and orange moose

Or maybe sticking with the cheesehead theme, a bull wearing a cheesehead

We finally made it to our hotel, and after grapping some not-so great Chinese food to go, we were in for dinner

Now to rest up for tomorrow… a Brewery tour and then we head over to Minnesota!

Today we were all Packers’ fans… at least for an hour or two. We toured the famous Lambeau Field, and WOW! These folks take football serious up here! Don’t believe us? Just look at these houses across from Lambeau Field – their yards are mini-football fields and decorated for football season all year!

Lambeau field is a sight to see. A bit of backstory: Originally, Lambeau Field was earning the lowest of all NFL facilities – the facility was only used on home game days each year. They hired a new CEO, he updates the facilities, opens up to the public for use and tours… and now the facilities are used almost daily for tours, weddings, proms and corporate events.

Our guide Brad was a super fan.. even down to his Packers tennis shoes

Notice the floor… if you could go through the walls, the floor of the Atrium, is lined up with the yardage on the field itself… seriously, these folks are obsessed!

The skyboxes in Lambeau are awesome and if you lease on of these luxury boxes, they are yours all year long and you are welcome to use anytime. And not a bad view either.

Its a Green Bay miracle, they are keeping their hands to themselves

Again, we aren’t Green Bay fans, but this tour was pretty cool.

Another site from Roadside America – 50 foot Lomardi trophy – check!

Picture in a cheesehead. Check!

Vince Lombardi Statue. check!

Curly Lambeau Statue. Check!

Brad, the tour guide, suggested we head over to Title Town to do some exploring for free, and man, was that a great suggestion. Acres of 40 yard sprint lanes, a football field, ninja warrior course and a huge hill to run down in the spring and tube down in the winter… and all free!

No need to find a restaurant for lunch – Mom’s Cafe has a Green Bay location.

Once we conqured Title Town, we did a little exploring… found the World’s Largest Hex Nut

And this signed that begged for teenage boys to make a stop and take a photo…

And what did we find right across the street? A Sinclair dinosaur wearing his own CheeseHead

After our Mom’s Cafe lunch, we needed something sweet, and luckily we weren’t far from the #1 milkshake in Green Bay. So off we went in search of Al’s Hamburgers. Easy to miss among the big building and sky scrapers but we found it.

Since 1934, Al’s has been making the best burgers and especially milkshakes. The Browns know 2 things… pork and ice cream. So we took a claim of “best milkshake” as a personal challenge. The inside of the restaurant was as it looks outside, simple and a bit old timey. But the shakes… Oh my word! They absolutely are the best milkshakes we’ve ever had!

We left Green Bay and began our journey to the Wisconsin Dells, but not without a few stops along the way… 1st house powered solely by hydroelectric power. Check

Then we read about “Weird Statues and Oddball Yard Art” that was only 14 miles off course… um, yes please. We are SO glad we made that deviation. It was awesome!! A yard full of random animal stuff. Giant cow head, huge whole cow, hippo flipping a jeep, lion on a rock… turned around in a strangers driveway just so we could see it all again! All this in one man’s yard!

We tried to find a muffler man that we had read about, but he was pretty disappointing. But the drive was gorgeous! So glad we stayed off the interstate and took the back roads.

We drove through some of the most picturesque towns

We even saw some Amish families and farms

We continued on and saw a sign for Ripon, Wisconsin, birthplace of the Republican Party. I wasn’t sure how a political party could have a birthplace, so we decided to check it out… sure enough, after reading the plaque, it is in fact the birthplace.

We finally made it to Wisconsin Dells with plans to rest a minute, grab some dinner and then swim at the pool. But the Holiday Inn Express had other plans… how about a 3-hour place to ride amusement park rides, drive go carts, bounce on a trampoline pad, ropes course, and some virtual reality games? Um, couldn’t think of anything teenage boys love more… so off to Knuckleheads we went!

We decided to just save time and eat here, so we ordered a pizza and pitcher of Sprite. While boys played, I waited and waited and waited. When I went to check the status, found out there was a mix up in kitchen so they were just starting our pizza and it would be another 10 minutes. We weren’t too upset since boys were occupied. Well apparently the staff at Knuckheads isn’t used to a polite response because they gave us free orders of cheese curds and chicken tenders! This was our first experience with cheese curds and I’m sure Knuckleheads Indoor Amusement Park isn’t gourmet curds, but Dang! Their cheese curds were delicious!

One more ride, and we headed back to hotel… Thanks for a great night with my own knuckleheads

Time for bed? Of course not! The pool is still open so we needed to maximize the day (and the night)

Tomorrow we ride a key boat and zip line… and whatever else we can discover in The Dells!

SIX states…

TWO weeks…

TWO parents…

TWO teenagers…

And loaded down Volkswagon Altlas.

It’s going to be fantastic or you’re going to see us on the news.

Oh Lawd, here we go!!!

We packed our bags, loaded the car and sent at least 5 videos to Sarah about the garden, the chickens, the cats, and the pool. But last year, Sarah and KT cleaned rotten meat from a broken freezer, so gardens and chickens are no match for them.

We headed out of Greensboro, bound for Chicago, and I know the boys were so thankful that I had my camera ready to go.

Checked in, bags checked, and Starbucks in hand, we are ready to board.

Thanks Enterprise! We are ready to hit the road…

State number 27, Illinois – Check!

We gained an hour of time when we arrived in Chicago, and these boys were starving by 1pm Central Time. We found the town of Libertyville, Illinois online, and oh my word, it was like stepping into a Hallmark movie. The town was so perfect – it looked fake.

We had lunch at the Picnic Basket. It was a little pricey for lunch but WOW- Some of the best sandwiches we’ve ever eaten!

And yes, the best sign too.

We’ve been using a great website for random sites along our journey (“or perhaps you don’t want to see the world’s largest ball of twine which is only 4 short hours away“) http://www.RoadsideAttractions.com Pick your state and/or city and tahdah!

State number 28 – Wisconsin… check!

As we meandered along, we decided to head into Milwaukee. The boys were excited to see the Forum, home to the Milwaukee Bucks

The riverwalk through town and the old architecture were lovely, and the drawbridge that went straight up was pretty cool. However, thanks to Roadside Attractions, we knew we wanted to find the ladybugs on the building and Gertie the Duck. Gertie was a mallard duck who laid nine eggs on top of the pile-on on the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge in April of 1945. She refused to move despite storms, fires and crowds of people who came to the see her. Ultimately, Gertie and 5 babies waddled on from the Wisconsin Avenue Bridge, and the Bronze statute of Gertie still marks her spot. There’s also a statue for a lady named Debra who did lot for Milwaukee, but Gertie is way more famous.

Someone however couldn’t understand why we didn’t want to just spend time looking at shoes in Footlocker

Next stop Sheboygan, Wisconsin… I kept thinking I had heard the name Sheboygan before, and I thought and thought… I knew it was from a movie and then it it me! The Polka King from Home Alone – they were huge in Sheboygan Ha ha ha

Sheboygan is now home to a Walmart Supercenter – Mom’s Cafe has got to stock up for the trip, AND it is home to America’s Tallest Flagpole… and when will we ever be here again… new cooler – check. North America’s largest flagpole – a big ol’ check!

And it even had plaques!

Continuing on toward Green Bay, we stopped by the town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin to see the site where on September 6, 1962 a 20 pound hunk of metal fell to the earth and landed in this spot. The metal was ultimately identified as the only remaining piece of Sputnik IV, and now we’ve seen right where it landing. Living history – checking

Before we left, Leo wanted a picture with the Manitowoc Art Museum because he said it looks like the house from Stranger Things. And when a 13 year old wants a picture with his mom, you always say YES… even if you haven’t seen the show and even if you have no idea what house he is talking about.

We left Manitowoc, and headed on to Green Bay. Wisconsin is really beautiful…

We checked into our hotel for the night – hello Holiday Inn Express – took a mini power nap and then headed out for dinner. We decided to try a local place, The Rite Place. It has been open since since 1977, and after eating here, we know why. The food was delicious! We all shared a cup of their famous Chicken Booyah (think vegetable beef except substitute chicken for beef).

I’m no longer calling my soup soup. From now on, it’s all Booyah. Tomato Booyah, chicken noodle Booyah, vegetable beef Booyah. The Booyah makes it better 😉

Mike and I both had their broasted chicken. Wow! Lightly Fried chicken with perfect crust and still juicy… it was so delicious, there are no pictures because we gobbled it up as soon as it hit the table. So so good!

The boys spent an hour in the gym working off their bacon cheeseburger and ultimate nachos before bed. I chaperoned… wonder if that burned off any calories?

Tomorrow, we tour the famous Lambeau Field and a little more of Green Bay. Hopefully, I can talk my guys into a visit to see a 50-ft tall Super Bowl trophy, or the world’s largest Hex Nut or the Shoe Tree on the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay campus.

Either way, Day 1 has been pretty great

Home from a great week of museums, air planes, Great Lakes, Rock & Roll, college campuses, a birthday , football, fried chicken and ATVs.

My backpack has survived another trip… year number 24! Although, it is a bit gross from yesterday.

Plus Mike has replenished his bag of hotel soaps for the farm

Thankful to only have 2 loads of laundry to do, safe travels home, and great memories with my boys!

**Flashback to Day 6 – we finally got our digital copies of photos made at the Pro Football Hall of Fame yesterday, and had to add them.

Onto today… What a way to finish this trip – ATVs through Wayne National Forest! But first…

We started today at our homey VRBO in Millersburg. It was so nice to wake up and have a cup of coffee in your PJs.

We packed and hit the road, headed to Athens, Ohio. Along the very curvy roads, Leo commented that this was a different kind of vastness (see the outwest blog for some serious vastness)

As we whipped through towns, we kept seeing these Big Foot Cutouts… we never did find out what they were for…

Did I mention the curvy roads? Add in constant staring at your iPad from our newly minted teenager with a splash of sinus drainage… and you’ve got the perfect Carsick Cocktail.

After a pitstop to clean up and change clothes, and we were back on the road…

Finally, we arrived! Adventure Pro Outdoors… as excited as we were for the day, we were even more excited to be off those roads!

We signed all of our waivers and releases, learned our train signals and headed to meet our guides. We were so ready to hit the trails in Wayne National Forest.

And off we went!

We rode and splashed and rode for 3 hours…We stopped for snacks and switched passengers then went right back at it…

We had the BEST time and had mud and dirt everywhere!

We made it back to the barn to drop off the ATV, and may have brought them back a bit muddier than when we took them.

Look at the mud! There is mud in my teeth!

Best guides ever!

Thankfully we were able to change clothes before heading to the hotel

Thanks Wayne National Forest! I don’t know if we will be back this way, but we’ll never forget today.

We checked into our last Holiday Inn Express in Athens, Ohio, and quickly learned that Athens is home to Ohio University… and after seeing all the parents and families in town, and a little internet sleuthing, we discovered that today was opening day for the OU Baseball team. After getting all the mud off of us, we grabbed dinner at a local spot – Shade on State. (It was like an sports bar and Applebees had a baby) Great atmosphere, good food and the best company.

We decided to go exploring into Athens to see the OU campus. It is a really pretty campus, founded in 1804. It is slightly smaller than some of the big NC schools with about 19,000 students.

The downtown of Athens around the campus is really pretty as well.

downtown pics

We finally made it back to the hotel, and climbed the stairs after coming in the back entrance… some were huffing and puffing by the 3rd level.

stairwell pic

Of course we got in some last minute wrestling.

Now we are all tucked in and snoring, ready to start heading back home. we have no plans other than driving tomorrow. I’m sure Mom’s Cafe will be open, and who knows what else we can find…It has been such a fun week together!

Happy 13 years to Leo! He is definitely living his best life today! Football, fried chicken and his own room for the night.

We started the morning at the Holiday Inn in Canton, Ohio. Of course, we had our free Holiday Inn breakfast and enjoyed talking with our waitress, Renee. She told us for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony week, the hotel is closed to the public and the only guests are the inductees, players and their families. She said most were really nice, and while she couldn’t give us any specifics because of confidentiality agreements, she did say they were a really fun bunch because they got to relax without reporters or fans around.

These two loved that they ate breakfast talking football with TV screens playing ESPN and NFL Network.

When we left Renee told Leo to go to the market for a treat on her for his birthday (he snagged some M&Ms) 🥳🎉

And then we were off to celebrate Leo’s 13th at the Pro Football Hall of Fame! The Hall of Fame started in 1960’s and has been added onto since then. Initially, it was about 9,000 square feet and is now over 100,000 square feet… but some of the signage seemed a little dated…

And of course, a plaque!

I don’t think we could have found a better place to celebrate this football loving boy’s day!

So the first question we had was “why Canton?” Apparently, we aren’t the first folks to ask this question. The easiest answer is that at the time of the creation of the NFL, Canton was central location to the biggest teams around and the owner of the Canton Bulldogs had a car dealership large enough to hold everyone while they met to create the American Professional Football Association, which later became the NFL. And the people of Canton made a very big play for the Hall of Fame as the start of what became the NFL.

The boys couldn’t believe the shape of the original footballs – they looked more like the balls they use is squash, like a slightly flattened basketball.

We were amazed to see that during World War II when so many players were drafted to fight, the team were forced to consolidate to continue playing… imagine going to see a combo team made up of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles… the Steagles. Yep, it happened in 1943.

We loved the models you step into…

And the real NFL equipment you could try on… old and current.

Michael was happy to see his favorite team!

Leo was thrilled to find his favorite QB!

And we were all excited to see the jersey of the inventor of the “gritty” dance? (Apparently, it’s a thing?)

The Lombardi trophy – 7 lbs of sterling silver created by Tiffany’s – is just cool to see up close.

But wait! We found a whole area dedicated to Madden Football – we almost made 7 days without an Xbox fix.

He’s just living his best birthday life!

We all thought of Daddy as we read through the “Officiating in Pro Football” display. When I lived in Ada back in late 90’s, Daddy drove over to Canton for the day and toured the Hall of Fame. I can just see him standing here knowing every call and every signal.♥️🏈

We were on a search to find Brian Dawkins’ bust for the boys’ math teacher, Mrs. Kolb. She is a huge Eagles fan and loved Brian Dawkins…. so we’re hoping we can pick up some “math grace” for the last quarter.

Who else can say they threw a pass in the Pro Football Hall of Fan for their birthday?

Fun pictures from the day:

This is some great football trivia for your next Super Bowl party…

We all took a turn at Instant replay calls. It was fun but with the 60 second time window, it got stressful to make the call!

Michael is standing in Gilbert Davis’ “leg” and Leo is in Leonard Davis’ “leg” Jerome Bettis is at the end. The top of the cast is at or right below where the players’ waist would be. These guys are just gigantic!

Jim Thorpe Statue – he was a great player and first Commissioner of the American Professional Football Association.

After some time in the gift shop (what better time to visit than on your birthday), we headed outside to the “mini-field” to do some 40 yard dash drills/races, and of course, play a little football.

Last one…

We left Canton and headed to Millersburg, Ohio. We drove through Amish Country and loved seeing the buggies.

We stopped at the Ashery Country Store for ham and turkey to restock Mom’s Cafe, and picked up some Amish goodies – homemade butter, candy and soup starters – and Canning lids (which you cannot find anywhere in NC)

The farms were just lovely. They were set up almost like small homestead villages with several different houses for individual families and shared barns and animals. We are seriously thinking of which families we want to move out here with and forget the rest of the world. 🤪

We got to our VRBO and had to make sure to re-hang our birthday sign (it was on the TV in the hotel when Leo woke up this morning)

And LOOK! A washer and dryer – I’ve gotten everything washed up to today’s clothes! Halleluiah!

We got the bags in and everyone immediately separated… I’m thinking they were all ready for some alone time!

We headed back out for dinner at a place called Mrs. Yoders. According to our VRBO host, they have the BEST fried chicken – one of Leo’s favorite’s – so off we went to Mt. Hope, Ohio. One the way, we passed a couple of churches having their Maudy Thursday Services. It was too cool seeing the buggies and their horses, tractors and cars all lined up in the parking lots.

Mrs Yoder’s did not disappoint – oh my goodness! Leo had a big ol’ hot fudge Sunday but he begged up not to sing for his birthday so we didn’t sing out loud – but I leaned over to sing for just him.♥️🎶

I think he had a pretty great birthday and based on the laughing I hear upstairs, the teenage years are just getting started. Tomorrow is our last full day and it should be a muddy mess of a good time!

While the boys weren’t all that jazzed up about today, Mike and I were really excited to check out the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But it turns out, the museum did a great job of incorporating hands-on things for kids and folks who really aren’t music people.

The Hall of Fame is a giant glass pyramid, and on my word, I’m so glad we wore shorts because once you got out of the basement, it was warm!

7 floors of our favorite music/musicians, and of course, I started with the best

Although Leo was not a fan of the King’s fashion sense…

The boys did not appreciate our singing throughout the Tom Petty area

But they played along and managed to earn a warning about playing on the escalators. Don’t they know Rock & Roll doesn’t follow the rules!

We LOVED the Garage Band section. You got to pretend to be your own garage band with guitars, drums and keyboards. There were video instructions on how to play, and then you played a set. It was really cool!

They got to create a band and stickers – of course, they picked inappropriate band names 🤪🤦🏻‍♀️

They had a concert-setting style movie that showed highlights of the Induction ceremonies from years past – highlights of Run DMC, Cher, Fats Domino, Fleetwood Mac, Prince, Tom Petty, the Beatles. It was awesome with lights and sounds as if you were in a concert!

Practicing my Joan Jett moves in preparation for our concert in June.

After we finished at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, we walked next door to the Cleveland Browns stadium.

Outside the stadium they had 2 statues – one to the service and sacrifice of the firemen of Cleveland, and the other to Jim Brown, one of the greatest running backs of all time, who played for the Browns.

Overall, it was a really impressive stadium.

We headed back to the car, and Mom’s Cafe opened up its new Cleveland location. And then we made our way into W 11th Street in Cleveland… right beside Bumpas’ house…

“Fra-gee-lay… must be Italian”

Yea, it’s the Christmas Story House!

The house is real but all the things inside are replicas, so you are encouraged to be as hands on as you want, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves pretending to be Ralphie and family from different parts of the movie.

The Museum across the street had the actual items from the films. Well, at least the ones that they had. The movie didn’t do well initially and some of the props were just trashed or lost. Only years later did it become a holiday classic. In fact, the current owner of the house bought it off Ebay, remodeled to return it to style from the movie, and opened as a museum and tour.

We honestly came into Cleveland a little skeptical about the city, but it has been a great visit and everyone we met has been so nice. We will definitely be back for a longer visit once the 50-State Quest is complete.

We left Cleveland and headed to Canton for our stop for the birthday boy tomorrow! On the way, Mike wanted to divert to Kent State. We told the boys the history of Kent State and specifically what happened on May 4, 1970.

The campus is beautiful with a simple plaque and walking tour of the events of May 4th.

When you stand and see how far away the students were from the National Guardsman, it becomes extremely hard to understand why they felt the need to fire into the crowd of students.

On a much light note, we became fascinated with the black squirrels of Kent State. They are crazy looking!

And then just to make us giggle 2 big fat groundhogs came wandering… but one jumped in their hole before we could get a picture.

We made it to Canton, Ohio and checked into the hotel. The boys went for a swim before dinner and then we decided to grab dinner at an Asian Grill that we could see from our room, BiBiBop. It was absolutely fantastic! Think of a Moe’s/Salsaritas style with Asian rice bowls.

We talked with the owner and she told us they just opened a new location in Cary, NC so if you’re nearby, absolutely give it a try. We’re trying to figure out how to buy a franchise or at least buy some stock in one. It’s that good!

Tonight, we are enjoying our last night with this 12-year old, because when we wake up tomorrow we’ve got another teenager! Heaven help us… nah, he’s pretty great!

YES! Today we had to set alarms and head to a specific destination – We are back in my vacation comfort zone – LOL! We spent today at The Henry Ford Museum and Ford Rogue Factory (where they produce the F150s).

The Museum itself is beautiful. Henry Ford was extremely patriotic and wanted the offices to look like Independence Hall… Mission accomplished!

The cars in the museum were pretty famous too… although I’m afraid Ford may have a fascination with attempted presidential assassinations since they have the Presidential Limo that took Reagan from outside the Washington Hilton to the hospital, and the Kennedy Limo from Texas.

They had HUGE Locomotive engines…

And the Camper from On The Road with Charles Kuralt.

Tons of retro pictures from the days of family road trips..

Insert gallery of McDonalds/neon

We also got to tour of the F150 Rogue Plant – sorry no pictures for proprietary reasons – but trust me the factory was so amazing! There was only a skeleton crew there due to shipping issues. We saw tons and tons of Ford F150s on the lots – none of which can be delivered since they cannot get their microchips in from overseas. The factory was running at 1/3 capacity – 1st shift works one week, 2nd shift works the next, and 3rd shift works the next week. Usually, a Ford F150 rolls off the line every 53 seconds, and after what we saw today – I can see why. It is about as efficient as you get.

They have even started having “living roofs” plants which help reduce pollution, increase oxygen, and use rainwater to prevent runoff.

They even have their own beekeeper on sight!

Back in the museum, we decided to have lunch at Mom’s Cafe, and save our money for a nice dinner tonight… The boys tried their hands at simulator racing… lets just say, I’m glad we’ve still got some time to work on their driving skills. Yikes!

Then we tried our hand at building our own racers…

Michael got a little info on the history of drivers education… maybe we should have read this before letting him try the racing simulator.

Leo tried his hand at the Green Screen celebrating the launch of MTV

And Michael was amazed at the sheer number of exhibits in this museum. (It was a lot of info)

YES! We found some MATH!

And Mike Brown for the tractors!

We also learned that there is a Henry Form Academy. It is grades 9-12 of students selected by application and then a lottery.

And back to Ohio we go!

And with some travel on the interstate, we are in Cleveland for the night. We wanted a good steakhouse – but didn’t to pay a kidney for it. The hotel recommended the Blue Point Grill. WOW! The food and the service were fantastic. Just as we were about to order dessert, our waitress, Evelyn, brought us this flourless chocolate torte as a gift. She said it was so nice to see a family have dinner, talk and stay off phone/electronics.

So far, Cleveland has been pretty great!

We topped off the night with some swimming, and now fighting sleep to finish typing this!