We visited our eleventh state capitol in Atlanta, Georgia. The girls learned that the state bird or Georgia is the Brown Thrasher, the state flower is the Cherokee Rose, and that Georgia is called the Peach State. They also learned that The Great Okefenokee Swamp is the biggest swamp in North America. Its Seminole name means “land of trembling earth.”
We visited our tenth state capitol in Columbia, South Carolina. The girls learned that the state bird of South Carolina is the Great Carolina Wren, the state flower is the Yellow Jessamine, and South Carolina’s state nickname is the Palmetto State. They also learned that President Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina and that the first shots of the Civil War were fired at Fort Sumter in 1861.
We stopped at our eighth state capitol, Charleston, West Virginia, which will also be our last before a few week break from driving, and our stop to visit friends in Raleigh, North Carolina. This was the prettiest capitol building we’ve visited so far. Here, the girls learned that the holiday of Mother’s Day began in West Virginia, that West Virginia is called the Mountain State, and that its state bird is also the Cardinal. They also learned that the state flower is the Rhododendron, a flower with a really long and hard to pronounce name.
We stopped in Columbus, OH, which was our seventh state capitol on our trip. The girls learned that there is a football (touch and flag football) hall of fame in Canton, Ohio, that Ohio’s state bird is also the Cardinal, and that the state flower is the Scarlet Carnation. They also learned that Ohio is called the Buckeye State.
We stopped at Indianapolis, IN for our sixth state capitol. The girls learned that Indiana is called the Hoosier State, that its state bird is the Cardinal and that its state flower is the Peony. They also learned that in 1991, the Indianapolis 500 became the country’s first long-distance car race, and races still go on there today.
We visited our fifth state capitol in Springfield, Illinois. The girls learned that the state bird of Illinois is the Cardinal, the state flower is the Purple Violet, and that Illinois’ state nickname is the Prarie State. They also learned that the word “Illinois” comes from the word for a Native American tribe: “Illiniwek” meaning superior men.
We stopped at our fourth state capitol, Jefferson City, Missouri, after going through Kansas City and before St. Louis. The girls learned that Missouri’s state bird is the Bluebird, the state flower is the White Hawthorn Blossom, and that Missouri is called the Show Me State.
We stopped at our third state capitol, Topeka, Kansas. The girls learned that Kansas is called The Sunflower State, that the state bird is also a Western Meadowlark (just like Nebraska), the state flower is the Sunflower, and that Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean, was from Kansas
Our second stop at a state capitol brought us to Lincoln, Nebraska, after a nice dinner out with a friend in Omaha. The girls learned that Nebraska got its name from an Oto Native American word meaning, “flat water,” that the state bird is the Western Medowlark, the state flower is the Goldenrod, and Nebraska’s nickname is the Cornhusker State.
