US History and LDS Church History Trip…and links to each days blog

This is a National Cemetery were many soldiers are buried from the Battle of Antietam.

Brigham Young’s Mill and Home Site

We visited 218 US History and LDS Church History sites in 47 days.  (That included visiting 54 different cities). Each day is blogged with information about places we visited, maps, photos and highlights of the day.

If you would like more information if you are planning a trip, you can email me at priceless6191@gmail.com.  I kept very detailed records including: budgets, trip plans, and calenders for the trip showing our day by day progress.  I also have tons of brochures and maps for specific places, although I did try to scan the most important details I have onto each blog page.  Below is listed each city we visited, and what we did there.  Click on a city and start exploring.

I made this blog because I realized I would have appreciated a site with more specific information.  I hope this is beneficial to anyone who wants to take a history trip.  It was our families dream trip, and we still refer to it often.

Here is a PDF with a summary of our trip. (If you would like an editable version, I have the spreadsheet version also.)
Trip Itinerary

** Just a side note as you look around the site…no my kids names are not Bazooka, Starburst, Jawbreaker etc…our kids just picked nicknames so they could have some privacy.  Have fun looking!!!!

Alcova, WY
Devils Gate, Church, Trek, Independence Rock

Custer, WY
Custer County Museum, City 4th of July

Crazy Horse, SD

Keystone, SD
Mount Rushmore 4th July Celebrations

Rapid City, SD
Dinosaur Park, Storybook Park

Wall, SD
Wall Drug

Omaha, NE
Winter Quarters Visitors Center, Winters Quarters Temple (E,B), Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Glenn Cunningham Lake, Pioneer Courage Park

Council Bluffs, Iowa
Kanesville Tabernacle

Nauvoo, IL
Play “High Hopes and Riverboats”, Movie “Remembering Nauvoo”, Play “Sunset by the Mississippi”, Women’s Garden, Riser Boot Shop, Blacksmith Shop, Seventies Hall, Lucy M Smith Home, Brickyard, Heber Kimball and Wilford Woodruff’s homes, Movie “Joseph Smith-Prophet of the Restoration”, Joseph Smith’s Homestead, Mansion House, Nauvoo House, Red Brick Store, Smith Family Cemetery, Trail of Hope, Youth of Zion, Play “Old Anna Amanda” 2xs, Nauvoo Pageant 2xs, Carriage Ride, Pioneer Park Pastimes, Nauvoo Temple (B,E), Frontier Fair 2xs, Play “Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo”, Old Nauvoo Burial Grounds, Lands and Records Office, King Follet Discourse, Emma and Josephs Letters Vignette

Carthage, IL
Carthage Jail

Macomb, IL
Dinner with Steve -Guadalupes Restaurant

Petersburg, IL
Lincolns New Salem (camped there)

Springfield, IL
Springfield Vis Ctr, Lincolns Home Vis Ctr, Lincolns Home, Lincolns-Herndon Law Office, Old Capital, Lincoln Library, Lincoln Presidential Museum

Chicago, IL
Chicago Navy Pier, Magnificent Mile, Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, Chicago Temple (B,E)

Gary, IN
Just for Gas and Photos

Kirtland OH
Kirtland Ward, Ashery, Isaac Morley Farm, Newel K. Whitney Store, Whitney Home, Sawmill, Schoolhouse, Kirtland Temple RLDS

Parma, OH
Brian and Camilla’s Home

Hiram, OH
John Johnson’s Home

Middlefield, OH
Amish Country, Cheese Factory, Hiram College (where President Garfield attended and taught)

Kenmore, NY
Mags home, Keeners, Lindbergh Elementary, Pam’s Home

Niagra Falls
Niagara Falls, Cave of Winds

Buffalo, NY(2 sites or events)
Downtown Buffalo, Duffs Chicken Wings

Mendon, NY
Home built by Brigham, Early Meeting Home, Phineas Young’s Home, John Young’s Home, Tom Tomlinson Inn, Heber Kimballs home site, Camped at John Young’s Home, Site of Brigham Young’s Mill and Home, Baptismal Site, Tomlinsons Cemetery

Palmyra, NY
Palmyra Visitors Center, Palmyra Temple (B,E), Palmyra Pageant, Sacred Grove, Smith’s Log Cabin and Frame House Alvin built, Hill Cumorah, Martin Harris’s Home, Book of Mormon Publication Site (Grandin Building)

Waterloo, NY
Peter Whitmer home

Oakland, PA
Aaronic Priesthood Monument, Joseph and Emma’s Home Site, Grave of Emmas parents and son Alvin Smith, Susquehanna River

Jersey City, NJ 
Liberty Harbor

New York, NY
PATH Rail System, Site World Trade Center, 911 Memorial and Museum, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange, China Town, Little Italy, Noho, Washington Square Park, New York University, Empire State Building, Garment District, Bryant Park, Time’s Square, Theatre District, NBC Studios, Carnegie Hall, Central Park, New York City LDS Temple, Madison Square Gardens

Philadelphia, PA
Independence Visitor Center, Independence Hall, Congress Hall, City Tavern (restaurant), Carpenters Hall, New Hall Military Museum, Benjamin Franklin’s Grave, President’s House Site, Liberty Bell Center”

Hershey, PA
Hershey Amusement Park

Gettysburg, PA
Gettysburg National Park

WashingtonDC
Washington DC Temple (B,E), IKEA, Ford’s Theatre, Petersen House and Center for Education and Leadership, Spy Museum, National Archives, Washington Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Lincoln Walking Tour, Arlington Cemetery, United States Capital Building, a Session of Congress, a Session of the House of Representatives, Smithsonian Natural History Museum, Smithsonian American History Museum, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, White House, Holocaust Museum, Nationals Game

Alexandria, Virginia
Mount Vernon

Centreville, VA
Bull Run Regional Park (Camping), visit with Tamara and family, Atlantis Water Park

Manassas, VA
Battle of 1st and 2nd Bull Run (Manassas)

Harpers Ferry, WV
Harpers Ferry

Sharpsburg, MD
Antietem Battle Field

Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, VA Pier and Chick-fil-A

Chantilly, VA
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Annex

Middletown, VA
Cedar Creek Battlefield (2nd Manassas Battle Reenactment)

Charlottesville, VA
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, University of Virginia

Buena Vista, VA
Southern Virginia University

St Louis, MO
St Louis Temple (B,E), St Louis Arch and Musuem, Old Court House (Dred Scott Case), Outside Busch Stadium, Feet in the Mississippi, Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Park and Grant Farm, Home Town Buffet, St Louis Cardinals Game, St Louis RV Park

Cottleville, MO
Joel and Christy’s Home

Independence, MO
LDS Visitor’s Center, Harry Truman Presidential Library, Missouri Mormon Walking Tour (things we saw on the tour: Clinton’s Soda Fountain, Jackson County Courthouse, 1827 Log Courthouse, Bingham-Waggoner Estate, Church of Christ Temple Lot, Community of Christ Temple, Gilbert and Whitney Store, Printing Office Site (Evening and Morning Star), Governor Boggs Home Site, and Partridge Home Site and School) , Campus RV Park (next door to the LDS Visitors Center), Vaile Mansion

Kansas City, MO
Kansas City Temple (B)

Liberty, MO
Liberty Jail, Eight Witnesses Monument

Richmond, MO
David Whitmer’s Grave, David Whitmer’s Livery site (marked by with a plaque), Old Richmond Jail Location, Statue of General Alexander W. Doniphan, Pioneer Cemetery (Monument for the Three Witnesses, Grave for Oliver Cowdery, Peter Jr. and Jacob Whitmer’s Graves)

Farwest, MO
Far West Temple Site

Jamesport, MO
Amish Country, Amish Baseball Game, and Shopping

Jameson, MO
Adam-ondi-Ahman , Jameson Town Fair and Parade

Doniphan, NE
Mormon Island

McKinnon, WY
Little America

Boston, MA
11 years later we went back to add Boston to our list or US/church history travels. Here is a link to the beginning of that trip. Yale, Scarburough and Prospect Ave in Hartford, CT, Mark Twain’s Home, Boston Temple, Boston Aquarium, Faneuil Hall, Boston Massacre Site, Old State House, Boston Latin School Site, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, New State House, Boston Commons, Harbor Cruise, USS Constitution, Bunker Hill Monument, Old North Church, Paul Revere’s Home, Old South Meeting House, Union Oyster House, Omni Parker House, Cheers, Prudential Tower Observation Deck, Trinity Church of Boston, Old South Church

Other Valuable Links:
Mormon Pioneer Trail Auto Tour Route Guide
mormontrails.org

DAY 35 – August 2, 2012 – Family Day in DC

Today seemed to have the theme of “Family”…not on purpose, it just turned out that way. We visited the First Families home, in the Holocaust we visited the section called “Daniels Home”, we supported a restaurant supporting families, and we spent the evening with family.

Our first appointment was at the White House.  It wasn’t until 10:30 am, so you’d think we could make it.  But we had to pack up our camp, and have everybody showered and dressed, and we were all sluggish getting up.  Then as we read the instructions for going to the White House, we realized we were supposed to be there 15 minutes early.  And we had to do the usual motor home run.

So Mr. S dropped us off as close to the White House as he could get and raced to park at Arlington and bike back.  (*Arlington is slightly closer, but also you pay by the hour, so we only paid $5 instead of the $20 we pay parking at Union Station.)  When we were dropped off the instructions were confusing.  We thought we were supposed to meet at the Visitor’s Center (which is how the Capitol worked).  Well the White House Visitor’s Center was being remodeled, so we had to run to the temporary Visitor’s Center.  Five minutes later when we get to the Temporary Visitor’s Center they tell us we don’t have to go to the Visitor’s center, we just meet at the corner of Hamilton and 15^th, where a guard it there to let you begin the security checks (there are 4).  But Mr. S and Spitz were not here yet.

The hardest part about the trip, are the places you find that are super strict and slightly mean about security.  We have gotten into trouble at multiple security stops that we didn’t expect.  So when you come to a high security spot like the White House, you just don’t know what to expect.  But the nicest places we found, have been the White House and the Capitol.  They were accommodating that we were waiting for Mr. S.  They let us get through part of the security check and then step aside and wait for him.  And then they acted like our appointment time of 10:30am didn’t matter, and we couldn’t be late.

Right after Mr. S caught up and got through the security line, they decided that that the line was backing up, and they closed the lines (from being let into security) temporarily.  We were so grateful we all caught up with each other before that.  One of the security checks they have is a dog checking everyone (the dog is hidden behind a wall, so you can’t see him if you have kids scared of dogs).  When we got in that line, they bring you in one at a time.  I guess our family looked a little large, bringing us in one at a time.  They brought Mike and I in last.  When I walked in they asked if I had 10 kids.  After I cleared that up and walked out, Mike walked in.  I guess the man said to him, “I can’t believe you have 6 kids.  That’s awesome, God bless you!”.  It might sound funny, but that is hardly the way people react to our large family.  It’s usually act like it’s an annoyance, or weird.  It was just such a nice thing to say.  It’s so nice when people are uplifting and positive rather than what we normally get.

Then we walked through the President’s Home, the White House.  It’s really a short tour (about 20 or 30 minutes).  It’s self-guided, so no one is there telling you anything about it.  You just walk around looking in rooms and reading little plaques.  It is beautiful, and the history there is amazing of course.  It seems like it would be such a fun place to have a tour guide telling stories…but there isn’t.  While we were there President Obama was leaving, so the windows clogged up with people waiting to see him fly away.  There were too many people to watch, so we just walked through.  On our way out the boys saw some secret service with some pretty impressive gear.  They all loved that.

I don’t know if the line changed because they closed it for a while, or because of the back up in the building with everyone waiting for President Obama, but by the time we got out, the line of maybe 150 people waiting to get in, turned into maybe 1500 people.  I’m so glad we got in before that long wait!   It you get a line like that, I would plan on eating lunch in the park.

Then we left for the Holocaust Museum to see the parts we missed last time.  There were two sections we really liked.  They had a section on propaganda the boys really liked. Then they had a section called “Daniel’s Story” for children.

This section is so amazing for kids.  The rest of the holocaust museum, was too much for the younger kids to take in or understand, but for a few bits and pieces.  But this section takes a little boy, and walks the kids through what happened.  You start with a short movie explaining a synopsis of his life.  Then you enter his home.

You can see how he lived (which is similar to how our kids live).  He had short journal entries we could read that explained what he liked to do and about his family.  Then you walk down a hallway, where there are photos of the changes that start to take place in his life.  There are photos of his fathers store before, and then after the Nazi’s came to town and paste signs all over it.  Then there are photos of the synagogue they worshipped in before and after it was burned down.  There are photos of him with his school friends, and then photos of Jewish children being brought to the front of the class to be made fun of.  There are photos of him swimming, and then photos of the Jews getting kicked out of the public pool.  He has journal entries along the way talking about his feelings about all the changes.

Then you enter the ghetto, and he talks about his family being sent there.   He talks about the living conditions, and you can walk into the small one room apartment they live in now.  You can see the hole where his dad hides his radio, and look under his sisters bed to see the scraps she steals from the factory to make a present for her mom.  There is a pot of turnip water on the stove, which is what they eat now.  It does a great job of presenting to the kids how his life has changed.

Then you have photos of Jews being loaded up onto trains, and his journal talks about being taken away to a concentration camp.  You walk into a room representing the concentration camp, and he has journal entries hanging on the wall telling you about what happened there.

As a mother, this was my favorite part of the whole museum.  The other parts were informative and very touching to walk through.  But to be able to share with young kids the story in a way they could understand and learn.  It was amazing.  I’m so glad they have that part of the museum, and I am so glad we went back so our kids could see it.  It’s a very sad thing, but it’s something we all need to understand so we don’t let anything ever happen like that again.

Mr. S and Spitz missed this section because they were biking back to the motor home to come pick us up.  After we were picked up we were on a mission to find a Chick-fil-A.  We have not seen the news at all since we have been out of town.  But apparently, Chick-fil-A said they wanted to support traditional families, and had a customer appreciation day to show their support.  I’ve been told that the mayor of Washington DC came out and declared that the belief that marriage is “between one man and one woman” is unacceptable in his city!

Well my sister, who is very quiet, but very good about showing her support to causes she believe in, calls me and says she will treat our family to dinner if we will go eat at Chick-fil-A in DC to show our support.  So on our “Family Day” in DC, after visiting the President’s home, and Daniel’s Home at the Holocaust Museum, we brought our family to Chick-fil-A.  We have never been to a Chick-fil-A before, and they were phenomenal.  We all ate as much as we wanted deciding we didn’t mind supporting the cause.  And we were very full and satisfied when we left.

I just want to say, it seems to me,  when people start yelling that they are being discriminated against, many times they start stomping on the faces of others to do it.  Why can’t someone support traditional families?  That is a part of our society that historically has improved and helped form the world we live in.  Why does that have to be negated?  Saying you support something you believe is good, it is not hate!  You gotta’ love having an opportunity to take a political stance, even if it’s as simple as eating a chicken sandwich.  I’m sure my boys would say, it’s the most enjoyable political statement they’ve ever made : )

After Chick-fil-A, we met my cousin’s family in Alexandria.  Alexandria, Virginia is beautiful.  I would have loved more time to walk around and enjoy it all.  I’m glad they suggested the stop.  Our children love there new found cousin, and we all had fun visiting.  And after Alexandria, we headed off together (well as much as you can in DC traffic) to the Nationals game.

All the older boys and Mr. S were beaming when we showed up at the game.  It’s been too long since we’ve been to a professional baseball game.  It used to be a regular pastime for our family in Southern California.  It’s been long missed, and everyone had a great time.

I can’t say enough about how fun it’s been to see my cousin after so many years.  How surprising it is, that instead of being awkward, it felt so nice.  I was so sad to leave them, and I hope we are able to keep in touch.  It was one of my favorite parts of our Washington DC trip, to be able to reunite with family we have missed seeing all these years.

View of the Potomac and a Navy battle ship from our seats at the Nationals Game.

This is our last night in Washington DC.  We will be close for a couple more nights as we do the 2^nd Battle of Manassas reenactment, but we will not being turning back in this direction again.  We stayed much longer than we had ever planned.  Our planned 6 day stop in the Washington DC area turned into 12 memorable days.

(*NOTES: You will not see any photos in Washington DC this day, because when you go to the White House you cannot bring cameras or bags, so we didn’t have any cameras on us that morning for the White House, and then for the Holocaust Museum)

Summary of Day 35
Drove:  97 miles (99303-99400)
Places we visited or saw: White House, Holocaust Museum, Chick-fil-A, Alexandria, Virginia, Nationals Game, Bull Run Park
 

Our favorite experience in Washington DC
(excluding battles which we will rate tomorrow)
Jawbreaker: Can’t choose, loved it all
Spitz:  American History Museum, Spy Museum, Nationals Game
Bazooka: Natural History Museum, and the Nationals Game
Warhead: Spy Museum, Arlington and Chick-fil-A
Starburst: Spy Museum and the White House
Fireball: Seeing my cousin Daniel
Mr. S:  Washington DC Temple and the Nationals Game
Mrs. S:  Being with cousins, Washington DC Temple, Mount Vernon, and Holocaust Museum

DAY 29 – July 27, 2012 – Walking DC

Today we tried the same motor home trick we did yesterday.  Mr.S dropped us off within a block of the Washington Memorial where we were meeting our guide.  We made it just on time.  But Mr. S and Jawbreaker had to drive back to Union Station and run back about 2 or 3 miles.  I was feeling so bad for them.  Then Mr. S decided to use the bikes we have been hauling around for 4000 miles but haven’t used yet.

We brought two bikes thinking we could use them to run errands, but they ended up being more of a burden than any help until now.  The problem was one of the tires had gone flat on the trip.  But Mr. S always being resourceful, got the bike fixed and they biked through DC and caught up with us pretty quick.

We took two tours today.  They are through a group that can be found at freetoursbyfoot.com.  They came highly recommended by a friend.  This group does tours in Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington DC.  They get paid by tips, so you tip them at the end of the tour.  It ends up being much cheaper than other options.  And they turned out to be great!

Our first tour, was a tour of the National Monuments.  Last year we toured the monuments with no tour guide, and can I tell you, the tour made it so much better.  We learned a great deal about the monuments, details that we totally missed just looking at them ourselves.  It was a 2 hour tour, and it was well worth it.

At the World War II Monument, one random fact they shared was about Kilroy.  “Kilroy was here” was a graffiti fad during WWII and can be found twice on the World War II Monument.  He told us since he had been giving tours only children had ever found it, and one adult who cheated with a phone.  Well that was a challenge!  And we found it!  We were the only people in the group who found Kilroy, and the tour guide let Starburst show everyone where he could be found.  He didn’t believe that I found it without a phone (apparently he hasn’t seen the crap phones we carry around).  But now he can’t tell anyone no adults have found it.  I guess I’m childish enough to figure it out.

After the tour we ate and helped the little kids earn the Youth Ranger Badges for the National Monuments.  Then we walked down to Thomas Jefferson’s Memorial who was not included on the tour.   He is one of my favorite people ever.

“…I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man” Is the quote written around the inside of the dome.  That quote explains him perfectly.  I love how broad his intelligence was.  He wasn’t just great at one thing,  he was brilliant at many things.  John F Kennedy said it best to a room of Nobel Prize winners when he said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”  I love that Memorial, but probably mostly because I love him.

The boys used the bikes to run over to the Holocaust Museum to get us tickets.  I didn’t think there would be any left, since it was the almost 2:30pm, but they were able to get some for us for 3:45pm.  But now I know why, that is not a good time to go.  The museum closes at 5pm, and we did not have long enough to get through it.  So I would highly recommend getting earlier tickets.  I saw on the website if you don’t want to stand in line to get early morning tickets, you can pre-buy tickets for $1.  That might have been worth it.  There are parts of the museum that you can see without a ticket.  So we will be going back tomorrow to see those parts.

In the Museum they give each person an identification card that tells the story of one Jew.  We all had different people, and some of our people we reperesented died, and some lived.  Mr. S had a very sad story.  What made it sadder to me was I could picture Mr. S being this man.

His name was David Petranker.  David was very religious, and was hoping to move to Palestine soon.  David had three daughters.  His oldest daughter did marry a man from Palestine and moved there.  The Germans occupied his city in 1941.  Before the year was over they had killed his wife and younger daughter…all he had left was his middle daughter Amalie.  In 1942, he was deported on a train headed to the Belzec death camp.  He pried boards from the car floor and escaped by lowering himself from the moving train onto the tracks.  He found work at a peasant’s farm but wanted to go look for his daughter Amalie.  He boarded a train heading back to his home town.  En route David was betrayed, turned over to the police and executed.  Unknown to him, his daughter Amalie had already escaped from their hometown and was living near a farm where he had been working.

It was a very moving museum.  It’s just so hard to believe that we could live in a world where people do things like that to each other.  And yet as I say that, even today, there are times you can see people’s hearts turning colder.  I can hardly comprehend what it takes for a person to have their heart turned so cold, they could hate another group of people to that degree.  It makes me sick inside to think about.

After the Holocaust Museum we had just enough time to catch dinner and head to our evening tour that started at 7pm.  It was the Abraham Lincoln free walking tour.  It was also great.  We walked all over town discussing what happened the night of Lincoln’s assassination, and where everyone was that played a part that night.  Seeing where everything was, made it even more interested than just hearing the story at Ford’s Theater, it added a new dimension to it that was great.  The older kids said it was well worth it.  So tomorrow we will be going back for a walking tour of Arlington.

I love how the Vietnam memorial makes you feel a part of it. My favorites are definitely the Vietnam and Korean Memorials for their visual effect, they truly draw you in… Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials…because I love those men, and their Memorials reflect them well.

We walked for 14 hours today.  My feet are so tired.  But during the walking tours, we did have many times when we sat down and listened.  And working on the ranger books with the kids did give us a reason to sit down a while also.

We had these two bikes that we had to keep with us all day, so Mr. S put them to great use.  We must have been quite the spectacle..but I think the younger kids were very grateful.  Bazooka kept one bike and rode from place to place with it.  Then Starburst sat on the other bike, while Fireball sat in the bike’s back basket, which we all padded with our backpacks so he could sit on it.  And our never tiring Mr. S walked them around on their personal bike taxi.  So they didn’t have to do much walking today.  The bike’s ended up being a double blessing.

I will sum up what my kids think were the best sites at the end of the Washington DC visit, but I think it’s going much better than I expected.  The amount of walking we were going to do really worried me, because of our younger kids.  But today was our worst walking day, and Mr. S found a way to solve the problem.  I think everyone is really enjoying our time here.

Did I mention I got in trouble again with the law today.  We just attract cops like flies!  I tried to go in a building to eat.  The building was a federal building, but it had a food court and we were too tired to walk any further.  When we went in we realized the building had security checks at the door.  No big deal.  They searched our bags, had us empty our pockets and then asked for ID.  Well we had decided before the trip not to carry two wallets. I left mine at home, and Mr. S emptied his of everything but the bare essentials, so we wouldn’t have to deal with worrying about two wallets getting lost or stolen.  I did bring my drivers license so I could help drive, but I put it in Mr. S’s wallet (thank goodness I didn’t leave it in the motor home like I had intended on doing).  Anyways the policeman asks me for ID.  I told him I didn’t have any (Mr. S was outside parking bikes).  Then I got a drill that would have made you think that I was a criminal.  And it turns out there is a law in Washington DC that you have to carry ID on you at all times, so I was breaking the law.  About that time Superman walked in and saved the day, by producing my drivers license.  And all of this just to eat a Subway sandwich.

Summary of Day 29

Drove:

Walked: 7 or 8 miles

Places we visited or saw: Washington Memorial, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, Holocaust Museum, White House walk by, and tour of all the Lincoln sites of importance the night of his assassination.