The Long Road Home: Day 4 and 5

Alley Mill

I finally started heading north and drove back into Missouri to Ozark National Scenic Riverways. I didn't realize that Arkansas had so many springs and that was the focus of this preserved area. I started out at Alley Spring and Mill. It's a beautiful old mill next to a large spring. My next stop was Round Spring.

Round Spring

Then it was on to Rocky Falls.

Rocky Falls

My last stop was Big Spring. It astounded me because there was just raging water seemingly out of nowhere but it must have been coming from underground.

Big Spring

Big Spring

It was really cool to check out all the springs but the Ozark site is so extensive that I had to drive a couple hours between all the sites. It is located in the Mark Twain National Forest so it was a lot of back country driving. The key fob for my car was acting up and I had to manually unlock it and then hold the fob up to the push button to start it. I was nervous to turn my car off since I wasn't in cell phone service so I just left it running while I checked out the springs. Luckily it was a Thursday in November so no one else was really around. I drove into Illinois to find a hotel for the night. The next day dawned cold and cloudy. 

Lincoln 

I drove to the Lincoln Boyhood Home in Indiana. I had been to other Lincoln sites in Kentucky and Illinois so it was nice to complete the story of his life with where he grew up. I remember reading a book when I was little about his mother, Nancy Hanks, and this is where she is buried. 

Lincoln Pioneer Home

They also have a pioneer home and farm. In the warmer months it is a living history farm but it was closed up for the winter. I made a slight detour into Kentucky and stopped at Frankfort to see the capital. The capital itself looked like others but it was located in a residential area which made it unique. It had a very quaint feel.

Frankfort, KY

My last stop of the day was Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers in Ohio. I had driven by it a few times but it was only designated a few years ago so it's not developed yet. They now have tours available upon request since the house does not yet have a fire suppression system. It's basically a short video and then walking around to pictures of him while an interpreter tells you about him. I'm glad I finally got to check it off my list. It was 4pm and I was only about 6.5 hours from home and my bed was calling my name so I decided to head for New York. I got stuck in traffic around Columbus for a little bit but then it was smooth sailing. I was in bed by 11 and it was soooooooooo good to be home!

The Long Road Home: Day 3 and 4

Topeka

I started off Day 3 at the Kansas State Capital. I always make a point on my road trips to check out the state capitals along the way. They all start to look the same after awhile though. I headed over to Independence, MO and the Harry S Truman National Historical Park.

Truman House

You have to purchase tickets to tour the home and I was the only one there so I got a private tour. The home was turned over to the Park Service after the Truman's left so it was a really well preserved example of a 1950s home. I never knew much about Truman but he seemed like a really humble, down to earth person. I really enjoyed learning more about him, especially his love story with his wife. Across the street from the Truman Home is the Noland Home which is where Truman's cousins lived and where he would stay when he was courting his wife. Across town is the Truman Farm Home. It is preserved on a few acres but its surrounded by development so it's hard to imagine it as a farm. I headed down the border of Kansas and Missouri and arrived at Fort Scott National Historic Site.

Fort Scott

It is also surrounded by the town of Fort Scott but its really well preserved and interpreted. There are 20 historic structures and each has a lot of information to absorb. There is also a little tallgrass prairie preserved but I've been to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (which is much more expansive) so it just looked like an unmowed patch of lawn. I stayed for a couple hours to absorb everything.

Fort Scott

My last stop of the day was at George Washington Carver's National Park Site. I had been there last year with Mom and Dad but we got there late and I felt rushed. This time I decided to focus on the inside exhibits because they were pretty extensive. George was a very inspiring man and it was great to learn even more about him. I turned south and continued on to spend the night in Arkansas. The next day, my destination in Arkansas was the Buffalo National Scenic River. It's more of a summer destination but I wanted to check another NPS site off my list. My first stop was the Tyler Bend Visitor Center.

You can hike the River View trail but the fog was so thick that you couldn't see the river. In all the fog I did see some deer which made for some neat pictures. I decided to loop around to the Collier Homestead.

Collier Homestead

As I was approaching the homestead I saw a dog in the mist. It was a little white terrier and he ran right up to me and jumped in my arms. He was so adorable that I figured his owner was around somewhere. I walked up to the homestead and there was a guy smoking on the porch. It was his dog and he made small talk as I was walking around the homestead. As I walked inside though I noticed a backpack and bedroll in the corner. Apparently this guy was "knapsacking" around and had been across 4 states so far and he just squatted in a NPS cabin for the night! I immediately decided to get out of there. On the one hand, I figured anyone with a dog that sweet had to be okay but then I thought, maybe that's his ploy is to use a cute dog to lure people in. He was perfectly nice but I still got the hell out of there. I drove over to another overlook of the river and the fog had lifted by then. The river was pretty low though.

Buffalo River

The Long Road Home: Day 1 and 2

Buffalo

I was greeted by a very special sight when I left the ranch. I finally spotted the buffalo! The road out runs along the back of one of Ted Turners ranches and I'd always heard there were buffalo there but never actually spotted them so I took that as a good omen. My first stop was at Pecos National Historical Park. I didn't realize my GPS was set to avoid highways and I had been planning to get gas in ABQ. By the time I got to a gas station in Mountainair, my car said it had 5 miles left in it. As nerve wracking as that was, it was nice to be off I-25.

Kiva

I arrived at Pecos and there were 3 buses in the parking lot and it was swarming with high schoolers. Luckily they were just heading out so I embarked on the self-guided trail.

Church Ruins

The rangers provide you with a really nice written guide to follow along and learn. You can walk down into a kiva and explore the ruins of a church. It was located in a very pretty setting and I was glad to walk around after over 5 hours in the car.

Fort Union

Fort Union

My next stop was at Fort Union. It had another self-guided walking trail. The fort was fairly extensive but it was all ruins. Again, there was a great written guide provided so I followed that along to learn all about the history. A really cool aspect of Fort Union is that you can still see the wagon ruts from the Santa Fe Trail. After walking the grounds, I got back in my car and headed to Raton, NM for the night.

Capulin Volcano

Capulin Volcano

Capulin Volcano

Capulin Volcano

The next day I had one more stop left in New Mexico. I drove to Capulin Volcano. There is actually a road up to the top which is pretty unique. There is a trail at the top around the rim of the volcano. It had a 12% grade so it was exhausting! It was also almost at 8,000 feet elevation so I had to stop and take a lot of breaks. The view went on forever though so it wasn't too much of a hardship. There was also a trail down to the bottom of the volcano. It was a unique landscape to explore. Then I hopped back in my car to cover some miles. I drove out of New Mexico and into Oklahoma then crossed into Kansas.

Fort Larned

I arrived at Fort Larned in the late afternoon. I had been there before with Jess 9 years ago but I was ready to get out of the car and stretch my legs. The fort is restored really well and most of the buildings are open so I toured around and refreshed my memory. When we were there before we had Breezy and Max so it was bittersweet to reminisce about those sweet puppies. The sun was setting so I got back in my car and drove to Topeka for the evening.

Burns' Go West: Part 2

From Kansas we headed into Colorado. I wanted to see a couple national park sites that I had missed out on when I lived in CO. Our first stop was Sand Creek Massacre.

Road to Sand Creek

It is down 8 miles of dirt roads. It was super windy and there were tumbleweeds blowing everywhere. We were the only ones there and the ranger gave us a nice little talk on the horrifying history of the site. There's really not much to do besides read a couple interpretive panels so we did that and headed over to Bent's Old Fort.

Bents Old Fort

Jess and I had previously driven to the fort but arrived just as it had closed so I was so excited to actually see inside the fort. I have been to a ton of forts in the national park system but this one was unique because it was not a military fort. Rather, it was used as a resupply post for travelers. I thought it was really cool.

Bents Old Fort

While grabbing some brochures I saw that our next stop, Capulin Volcano, was closed for repairs. I didn't want to continue to a site that we couldn't visit so I decided that we would head into Taos instead. The whole trip had been driving across the wide open, flat prairie so I thought Don and Amber would enjoy some mountains. We had finally glimpsed mountains off in the distance so we kept heading west towards them.

Colorado Mountains

We crossed over La Veta pass and then cut south into New Mexico. It was so neat to drive through the mountains again and be surrounded by snow covered peaks.

Taos Gorge

We went over the see the Rio Grande gorge in Taos and then spent the night in Taos. The next morning we checked out Taos plaza before driving down the High Road to Santa Fe.

High Road to Santa Fe

Chimayo

We stopped at a couple overlooks and in Chimayo before arriving in Santa Fe. We checked out the state capitol. Compared to IA and NE it was a very different looking capitol.

NM State Capitol

We wandered around the historic Santa Fe downtown and grabbed some lunch before heading down to Albuquerque via the Turquoise Trail.

Basilica

We drove up to Sandia Crest. Jess and I had done the drive previously but it was a cold, rainy, cloudy day so there was no view. This time there wasn't a cloud in the sky so the views were gorgeous.

View from Sandia Crest 

On the way into ABQ we attempted to drive the Singing Highway in Tijeras. Apparently if you drive 45mph over rumble strips it plays America the Beautiful but the rumble strips are so small that you have to align your tires correctly so we only heard the end of the song. We spent the evening in old town Albuquerque doing some shopping. It was a great way to end the trip. I had such a good time and was so happy that Don and Amber decided to spend their vacation with me. I loved showing them the country and exploring with them. The weather was absolutely perfect the whole way. It was sunny and in the 60s every day. I was sad to leave them at the airport but excited for the ranch season ahead!

Burns' Go West: Part 1

After a wonderful winter spent at home I had to get packed up and head back to the Ranch. Mom and Dad did the drive with me previously but this time I invited Don and Amber along for the ride. We left on Friday evening to get a jump start and spent the night in Cleveland. The next morning we headed out bright and early on Interstate 80. We saw signs for the World's Largest Truck Stop and decided to pull over and take a break.

I80

After that we headed on to Herbert Hoover's National Historic Site. It has his childhood home, a schoolhouse, a Quaker meeting house, and a blacksmith shop that you can tour.

Herbert Hoover

I always associate Herbert Hoover with the Depression so it was nice to learn a bit more about him. We also visited his gravesite.

Gravesite

We drove into Des Moines for the night and arrived at the state capitol just as the sun was setting.

IA State Capitol

The capitol was beautiful and had a lovely view down into Des Moines. We decided to walk downtown from the capitol and eat at Tacopocalypse. It's a Korean taco place that Don and Amber had seen on Diners, Drives Ins and Dives and it was delicious.

Des Moines

The next morning we saw a sign for John Wayne's birthplace so we dipped off the interstate to check it out.

John Wayne

It was nice to explore farm country for a bit. We hopped back on the interstate and drove through Omaha and into Lincoln.

Farm country

We checked out that state capitol as well.

Nebraska State Capitol

Since we were in town during lunchtime we headed down to the Haymarket district to eat. It was a very cool historic district that has been renovated into shops and restaurants.

Haymarket in Lincoln

For the afternoon we headed out to Homestead National Historic Site. The visitor center had a great exhibit on the history of homesteading.

Homestead

There was also an education center with an exhibit on farm implements and the longest operating one room school. The rest of the day was spent driving across the back roads of Nebraska and Kansas.

Nicodemus

Near sunset we stopped at Nicodemus National Historic site. It was basically a ghost town and was kind of creepy because there was no one around. It had a vintage playground with a merry go round and teeter totter that we played around on to stretch our legs. As we drove to Colby, KS for the night we saw a very cool lightning storm and drove through a bit of a downpour.

snOw, Canada: Part 2

As I was perusing Instagram, I saw a post that a new ice skating trail in Muskoka just opened so I decided to go check it out. It is located on the waterfront at Hanna Park in Port Carling. It was about an hour away from Huntsville. I showed up first thing in the morning and there was a fresh coat of snow on the rink. There were shovels there so I laced up and spent a half hour skating around and shoveling the rink. I also found some traffic cones so I put them up over a few thin spots I found. As soon as I got a lane opened a family came and their 2 kids were using those skating assist bars so they took up the whole trail. I got annoyed at having to skate around them so I left. At least I did my good deed for the day. 

Hanna Park

My next stop was Johnstons Cranberry Marsh. They also have an ice skating trail but this one goes around a cranberry bog so its wide open. I was the first one there so I again got to make first tracks. They had gotten more snow though so the snow was going over the tops of my skates which was slowing me down.

The one glimpse of sun all weekend

They also offer snowshoe trails so I took a break from skating to traipse through the woods. They had signposts up with interesting facts about cranberry farming so I learned a lot. I headed back to the ice skating trail and did one lap before they finally sent out a plow to get the couple inches of snow off. After that, it was much easier to get around.

Johnstons Cranberry

I finally exhausted myself after skating and showshoeing for 4 hours so I got a hot cran-apple cider and headed back. It had snowed all day and the way back to Huntsville was via backroads that were completely snow covered so it was a bit of a white knuckle drive but I made it safely.

Snow

The next day I decided to stick close to home because there was a freezing rain warning for later in the day. I went back to Arrowhead Provincial Park.

Tubing hill

My first stop was the snow tubing hill. I love snow tubing and had a blast. Once again, I was the first on the freshly groomed trail. It was so much fun to fly down the hill but then you had to turn around and walk back up which was exhausting.

Meadow Lake

 I did the Meadow Lake snowshoe trail next. It was marked as easy but the long loop had some elevation with a narrow trail that I kept sliding off. I got back and headed over to the ice rink where I strapped on my snowshoes again and headed to Stubbs Falls.

Stubb Falls

This was a much more level trail and it was nice to see rushing water in the winter wonderland. The only annoying thing was there were stairs to get down to the falls so I had to take my snowshoes off. After that, I was tired of snowshoeing so I decided to put on my ice skates one more time and go back on the ice trail. It was nice to see it in the daylight. It was also much less crowded.

Ice skating trail

I decided to head over to the warm up shelter to eat my lunch but as I pulled in the parking lot I felt the front of my car go over the lip of the parking lot into soft snow. My tires started spinning and I was freaking out that I was stuck but there was a guy in a truck next to me who said he had done the same thing. Luckily he had four wheel drive and a rope so he gave me a tug backwards to get me out. Thank god for nice, prepared Canadians. I figured it was time to call it a day so I headed into downtown Huntsville and did some window shopping for a couple hours until the storm moved in. The next day it took me over half an hour to scrape my car of all the ice. I had such a blast playing in the snow for a few days but I was happy to be back in the land of dry roads and parking lots!