Reays on the Road

We visited our sixth national park, Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas.  (Yes, the town was renamed to be the same name as the national park that is in the town.)  The national park consists of several buildings (most historic bathhouses), a large hill with several springs in and around it, and some beautiful paved walking trails.  Read more about it here:
http://www.nps.gov/hosp/index.htm.

We visited our eighteenth state capitol in Arkansas.  The girls learned that Arkansas’ state bird is the Mockingbird, the state flower is the Apple Blossom, and the state nickname is The Natural State.  They also learned that Arkasas’ motto is, “The people rule.”

We visited our seventeenth state capitol in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  The girls learned that Oklahoma’s nickname is the Sooner State, its state bird is the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, and the state flower is the Mistletoe. They also learned that thousands of people rushed to Oklahoma for free land in 1889.

We stopped at our sixteenth state capitol building in Austin, Texas. The girls learned that Texas is called the Lone Star State, its state bird is the Mockingbird and the state flower is the Bluebonnet (a ton of which we’ve seen all over the place while driving through Texas, and they are pretty). They also learned that the Johnson Space Center in Houston has been the central mission control for many space flights. But the best part was that Bella got to see it too!

On the way to visit an old friend and her family, we made a pit stop and picked up the newest member of our family.  We adopted a little mastiff-boxer mix puppy.  We named her Bella.

We stopped at Battleship Park right outside Mobile, Alabama.  We got to go onto both the USS Alabama battleship and the USS DRUM submarine and check them both out.  There were also lots of fighter planes and tanks at the park.  Read all about what the park has to offer at their website here: http://www.ussalabama.com/

We stopped for the week in New Orleans, Louisianna.  Grandma was visiting us from Montana, so she got to come along, too!  We went to the Children’s Museum in New Orleans, and also visited the French Quarter, the Aviary, the historic jazz park, and the New Orleans Aquarium.  Grandma even got to go blow glass (unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures of that).  Read about all the cool things to do in New Orleans here. 

While we were in Baton Rouge visiting the state capitol building, we also visited the USS KIDD and got to tour the boat.  Daddy, the girls, and Grandma all got to learn lots about what they did on all levels of the boat when it was in use.  Read all about it here: http://www.usskidd.com/. 

We visited our fifteenth state capitol in Baton Rouge, Louisianna.  The girls learned that Louisianna’s state bird is Eastern Brown Pelican, the state flower is the Magnolia, and Louisianna’s state nickname is the Pelican State.  They also learned that Louisianna is the lowest-lying state in th nation.

We visited the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson, Mississippi.  You can read all about the museum here: http://museum.mdwfp.com/.  It was great, and was right next to a huge park that the girls were able to play in for a little while.  It was also free, as part of the reciprocal membership benefit with our Museum of the Rockies membership.  You can read more about the ASTC Passport Program here: http://www.astc.org/members/passlist.htm .