Traveling Mama

Another Drive through New York State

Thursday in August 2011:  We drove through New York on the anniversary date of when all the necessary states completed ratification of the women’s right-to-vote amendment (the 19^th amendment) in 1920.  Coincidentally, at first when I made our travel plans, I decided to plan for a stop at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York as we headed back towards home from New England.

         At this museum in Seneca Falls, I viewed a 25-minute costumed re-enactment film about the 1848 Women’s Conference that took place in Seneca Falls, New York.  Upstairs in the museum are many interpretive exhibits that discuss many aspects of women’s rights, such as education, fashion, pay equality, women’s labor in the workforce, and other topics.  For younger visitors, there’s a book nook with many picture books relating to women’s roles in life.

(Women's fashions on display at the Women's Rights National Historical Park Visitor Center)

         We arrived at the Hampton Inn in Webster, New York around 5:45 p.m.  This was after we had to make a slight detour around a serious car accident and then drive through a sudden heavy thunderstorm.  Other than the quick downpour, we had sun all day long.

         We grabbed a bite of lunch at a turnpike service area at McDonald’s, and we had dinner at a local independent family restaurant in Webster.  It featured a lot of Greek food on its menu, so I took advantage of ordering hummus, Greek salad, and spanokopita (spinach pie) for dinner.  After dinner the kids, of course, wanted to take advantage of the hotel pool.

(Playing in the pool at the Webster Hampton Inn)

Friday:  Today was a day catered to the kids as we completed our trip around New England.  After our night spent in the Rochester, New York area, we spent a good part of the day in Rochester and also decided that we’ll need to come back again in the near future (while the kids are still young enough to return to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester.)

         We ate breakfast at the hotel, did one final re-packing of the car and headed to a beach next to Lake Ontario.  I found Ontario Beach Park listed on the GPS, so we went there.  It was a really nice city park north of the downtown area—complete with playground equipment, picnic tables and was very well staffed with lifeguards, who not only sat in the tall lifeguard chairs, but also many other lifeguards paced back-and-forth along the beach front.  I was very impressed, especially since we didn’t pay any park entrance fees at all.  (They must have really have high taxes here in New York to help pay for this kind of public service).

(Families playing in the water at Ontario Beach Park)

         We gave the kids an hour to swim and play in the sand before getting some lunch at a nearby hot dog stand and then proceeding to Rochester’s children’s museum—the Strong National Museum of Play.  What an awesome museum!  We were at the museum for three hours and only saw about ½ of it.  The kids didn’t want to leave at all, but we left at 4:00 and till had another 4 ½ hours of driving to do—not including stops.  At the children’s museum, the kids played with vehicles, made crafts, tried acting and dressing up for the theatre, explored the Sesame Street exhibit, climbed the rock-climbing wall and Jack’s beanstalk.  We didn’t make it upstairs to the second level, to the butterfly garden or to the Berenstein Bears exhibit at all.  However, we did run into Pap Berenstein Bear for a photo op.

(Berenstein Bears at the Strong National Museum of Play)

         After an hour back on the road, we stopped in the city of Buffalo, NY for dinner.  My husband found a restaurant recommendation in the AAA Tourbook for Pano’s on Elmwood, near the art museums.  It was quite good, and also had kids’ menus.  (We’ll have to make a return trip to Buffalo, as well.)  We finally arrived home shortly before 10 p.m.

(Driving through Buffalo on the freeway)

Links:

• Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, New York-- http://www.nps.gov/wori/index.htm
• Hampton Inn, Webster, New York-- http://www.rochesterwebster.hamptoninn.com/
• Ontario Beach Park, Rochester, New York-- http://www.monroecounty.gov/parks-ontariobeach.php
• Strong National Museum of Play, Rochester, New York-- http://www.museumofplay.org/
• Pano’s on Elmwood, Buffalo, New York-- http://www.panosonelmwood.com/

 

Visiting Vermont Again

         We only took one day to drive through Vermont from New Hampshire on our way to New York.  We feel fortunate that we planned our trip only a week or two before Hurricane Irene hit the area. 

 Here’s my journal of that one day we visited Vermont:

 Wednesday—After three days of rain, the clouds finally cleared out and gave us a gorgeous day.  We had a real treat with beautiful weather as we traveled from Littleton, New Hampshire into northern Vermont and south down the state of Vermont to Bennington, Vermont.

         I had my moment of “duh” and slapping myself against my forehead the other day when I realized that Vermont is actually French: Vert+Mont, and the “Vert” parts means “green” and “Mont” means “mountain,” which is why Vermont’s nickname is “The Green Mountain State.”  Just north of Vert Mont is Quebec, where French is the main spoken language.  It also explains why in many places in New Hampshire and Vermont, you’ll see signs written in both French and English.

(Road tripping through Vermont)

         We had a late start to the day by leaving the hotel after 10:30 this morning, so we didn’t make it to either the Vermont Country Store in Weston, Vermont or the Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, but we did visit a couple places which were much more likely to appeal to the kids.  Our first stop was at the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Waterbury, Vermont. (It’s about 1 ½ hour from Littleton, NH).  We went on the quick factory tour before our lunch of wood-fired pizza and ice cream on the grounds of Ben & Jerry’s.

(Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory, Vermont)

         Photography isn’t allowed on the tours at Ben & Jerry’s.  But ice cream tasting is.  We tried the new ice cream honoring Stephen Colbert at the end of the tour.  What I really liked about their tour is how quickly they move along.  The Ben & Jerry employees do this to make sure as many groups of people get in-and-out as quickly as possible, but I think it’s also better people who have short attention spans, like kids.

         I’m so glad that Ben & Jerry’s finally made an ice cream flavor for those of us who are fans of mint chocolate chip.  I’ll be more likely to buy it now.  The chocolate chips are HUGE.

         The kids played at the Ben & Jerry’s playground, and we also visited the graveyard of extinct Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavors.  That was so cool!

(Ben & Jerry's flavor graveyard)

         Next, we were bound for Billings Farm & Museum in Woodstock, Vermont—another 1 ½ hour drive.  This was another great place to take the kids.  The Billings Farm and Museum is located within the boundaries of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, the only national park within the state of Vermont.  But we only had time enough to visit the Billings Farm section before they closed for the day at 5:00.

(A Jersey calf at the Billings Farm)

         The Billings Farm and Museum has a working farm and a house that was once owned by the farm manager and his family.  We saw some of the 70 head of Jersey breed of cattle, horses, sheep and chickens.  In the museum there was a temporary quilt exhibit, and visitors had the opportunity to act as jurors for the quilt contest.  Younger visitors were given scavenger hunt papers and are assigned to job of locating pictures within each quilt.

(Feeding apples to the sheep at the Billings Farm)

         We drove another couple hours from Woodstock to reach our motel—a Best Western—in Bennington, Vermont.  We stayed in this motel once before in April 2009.  Tonight’s room had been renovated a couple years ago.  Some of the others in the hotel have not yet been renovated.  I was shocked to learn that all the rooms in this hotel were completely booked for tonight, and we made these reservations a year ago!  However, after our experience here tonight, I don’t think I’d return here.  I would try the Hampton Inn a mile away, instead.  There were guys sitting next to the parking lot drinking beer and shooting off beer bottle bombs.  This made me a little nervous with kids in tow.  Also the renovated room had a bad musty odor.  When I asked at the front desk to switch rooms, the guy said he wasn’t allowed to move anyone to another room.  After complaining about the musty odor, he offered an air freshener, which doesn’t kill the allergens.  So he finally relented and gave me a key to check out a room, which was un-renovated, smaller, and in a mustier-smelling building.  Yuck!  The kids wanted to swim, but the only pool was outside in the center of the hotel parking lot near the guys drinking beer and shooting of beer bottle bombs; so we had to disappoint the kids this evening.  We ate dinner at a Chili’s restaurant down the road near the Hampton Inn.

Links:

• Ben & Jerry’s Factory Tours, Waterbury, VT--http://www.benjerry.com/scoop-shops/factory-tours/
• Billings Farm & Museum, Woodstock, VT--http://www.billingsfarm.org/

 

Second Visit to New Hampshire

Our family visited New Hampshire for the first time back in 2009.  We made a return visit just a couple weeks ago—thankfully, a couple weeks before Hurricane Irene struck the area.  My main goal in New Hampshire on this trip was to visit Franconia Notch State Park in the White Mountains.  Unfortunately, we were only in the state for about a day and a half, and I forgot to sketch out what we might do in case of rain, which we had on our trip.

         Here’s my journal of the trip as we continued to drive north from Rhode Island, through Massachusetts, and up to New Hampshire:

(In the Atrium of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, Concord, NH)

 Monday—At 3:00 we arrived at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, New Hampshire.  Space-bound teacher Christa McAuliffe and astronaut Alan Shepard were both from New Hampshire, so a space science museum was built in their names.  The museum was much larger than I expected, and we played with displays that weren’t necessarily related to space exploration, but were definitely science related.  We spent about 1 ½ hours at the space museum before getting back on the road to drive to our hotel for the evening—Hampton Inn in Littleton, New Hampshire.

(Littleton's Hampton Inn)

         It was neat to see mountains again as we drove through the White Mountains to reach Littleton.  My daughter was too young to remember seeing mountains in the Black Hills of South Dakota, so she was mildly impressed with the scenery.  Unfortunately, my son fell asleep immediately after we left the space museum and until we reached the hotel.

         We ate dinner down the road from the hotel at the local Subway.  Then my husband and I took advantage of working-out in the fitness center before I took the kids into the hotel pool.

         Oh, I’m so glad that I booked this hotel in Littleton and the Residence Inn in West Greenwich, Rhode Island a year in advance.  Both hotels were completely booked solid by the time we arrived.  At the hotel in Littleton there was some kind of convention in the area for Orthodox Jews.  Their overwhelming presence in the hotel did create some conflicts for the rest of us “gentiles”—like closing the pool area off two hours early to the rest of hotel guests so that the Jewish girls could swim without being seen by others.  They also refused to go to bed before midnight each night, and since our hotel room was right at the very end of the hallway next to the lobby, the noise from the lobby drifted into our room.  (I had to call the front desk at 12:15 a.m. about the excess noise on the second night of our stay and asked if I could close the door at the end of the main hallway by our room.  The hotel management was nice enough to remove the room charge for that night because the noise was keeping us awake.)

 

Tuesday—Today was our only day to explore the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and, of course, the rain continued.  We proceeded with our itinerary plans, anyway.  At least the rain may have kept some of the heavier crowds away, though.  But there were still more people than I would have expected, considering the weather.

(A foggy day in the White Mountains)

         Our first stop of the morning (after our hotel breakfast) was at the Cannon Aerial Tramway  in Franconia Notch State Park; it’s about 14 miles south of our hotel.  The kids enjoyed going up the mountain in the cable cars, but the disappointing thing was that we couldn’t see anything other than the clouds once we reached the summit.  On a clear day, you should be able to see four states and Canada from the top.  The kids thought I was nuts for making them wear cardigan sweatshirts underneath their raincoats until we reached the top of the mountain, where it was considerably colder than at the base.  There’s a little café at the summit, so the kids insisted on getting a snack while we were there.  There’s stuff like bagged chips, pretzels, beverages, cookies, etc sold at the snack counter.

(Ascending in the tram cars)

         Our next stop was a walk to “The Basin” in Franconia Notch State Park.  The walking trail here features waterfalls that splash into water-carved rocks called “the Basin.”  It was a pretty cool geological feature of the park and shouldn’t be overlooked in between visits to Cannon Aerial Tramway and Flume Gorge.

(Seen from the Basin walking trail in Franconia Notch State Park)

         Finally, before ending our Franconia Notch State Park explorations for the day, we visited the Flume Gorge.  We took a bus from the visitor’s center up to the “cabin” and walked through the Flume Gorge from there.  People can walk the entire 2-mile round trip walk from the visitor’s center, but it’s pretty strenuous.  I thought the ½ mile uphill walk from the cabin was strenuous enough, but then again, I have to use a cane and wear a brace on my leg for my bad knees.

(Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park)

         I loved the smell of the pine trees in the air. That’s one thing that photos don’t capture, and I can’t bring it home with me, although the gift shop at the visitor’s center did have pine-scented potpourri bags for sale so people could try to recapture the fragrance of the state park and bring it home with them. 

(Flume Gorge)

         The ½ mile walk through the gorge, especially with a little bit of rain to help the waterfalls, is stunning.  Again, photos don’t really capture the whole experience of visiting the Flume Gorge; you have to personally visit it to appreciate its beauty.  Photos don’t capture the sounds of the rushing waterfalls and the humid mist that clings to your hair, face and body as you walk through the narrow slot between the rocky walls and alongside the waterfalls.

(Flume Gorge)

         Good thing we had snacks with us in the van because we didn’t eat a full meal again until we completed our hike through the gorge.  We returned to downtown Littleton and ate at a pizza/Greek deli restaurant on Main Street.  I did a little bit of downtown window-shopping after dinner, and then we stopped for dessert at Bishop’s Ice Cream.  Bishop’s was mentioned in a “Best of New England” magazine that I picked up at a bookstore before leaving home. But bring cash because they don't take credit cards.

(Ordering ice cream at Bishop's Homemade Ice Cream)

         When we returned to the hotel, I took the kids in the pool.  The kids’ swimsuits are certainly getting their money’s worth on this trip.  So far, between getting in the hotel pools and going to the beach in Connecticut, Rhode Island and here in New Hampshire, the kids have been in their swimsuits four times during this trip.

Links:

• McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, Concord, NH--http://www.starhop.com/
• Hampton Inn, Littleton, NH-- http://www.littletonhotel.com/
• Cannon Aerial Tramway-- http://www.cannonmt.com/
• Franconia Notch State Park-- http://www.nhstateparks.com/franconia.html
• Flume Gorge in Franconia Notch State Park-- http://www.nhstateparks.org/explore/state-parks/flume-gorge.aspx
• Bishop’s Homemade Ice Cream, Littleton, NH-- http://www.bishopshomemadeicecream.com/

 

Road Trip to Rhode Island

The family and I finally made it to Rhode Island a couple of weeks ago.  For me, Rhode Island is the 43^rd state I’ve visited, so I was rather excited to see a new state on our recent trip.  The seven other states I have yet to visit are all west of the Mississippi River: Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Alaska, and Hawaii.

         Here’s my journal of our day and a half spent in Rhode Island with my husband, my brother and my two kids (ages 4 and 7):

Sunday—Today’s weather was quite a contrast from yesterday’s weather.  While we had warm and sunny weather yesterday in Connecticut, we experienced on-and-off drizzle for most of today.  However, we were lucky that it mostly rained when we were indoors, and the rain ceased when we wanted to be outdoors.

         After breakfast in the hotel the five of us headed over to Newport in the van.  We went on a volunteer-run excursion train so that we could see a different part of Newport that we wouldn’t have seen via car.  The train ride wasn’t too expensive, either--$7.50 per adult and $5 per child, provided you paid in cash.  Good thing I had cash on hand because they don’t take credit cards.

(Old Colony Railway in Newport, Rhode Island)

         They said the train went about four miles away from the depot.  The tracks are built along Navy buildings, and we were even able to view a decommissioned aircraft carrier, the Saratoga, from a distance.  The volunteer conductor told us that the Saratoga was used from the time of the Vietnam War to the Bosnian conflicts of the Clinton-Presidency era.  Some people now want to turn the aircraft carrier into a museum while the U.S. Defense Department would prefer just to scrap it.

(U.S.S Saratoga in Newport, Rhode Island)

         We headed to the very busy downtown area of Newport for lunch. (I’m sure this area would have been busier if it had been sunny.)  Just as the train ride was packed with families with young children, so was the restaurant we chose—the Brick Alley Pub on Thames Street.  We were lucky to find an available parking spot in the paid parking lot across the street from the restaurant.  The Brick Alley Pub was so popular that we had to wait about ½ hour before being seated.  My son wouldn’t eat his hamburger because he had snacked on cheese crackers and fruit roll-ups on the train.  But I loved the lobster reuben sandwich I ordered.  When I asked the waitress whether I should get the scallops or the lobster reuben, she said that I wouldn’t be able to get a lobster reuben anywhere else, and she’s probably right about that until someone else in the area steals the idea.

(Wall decor in the Brick Alley Pub)

         We headed over to Fort Adams State Park.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the fort at all because it was closed due to the rain.  That’s one thing visitors to Newport should be aware of: don’t expect to visit Fort Adams if it’s raining.

(Fort Adams in Newport)

         So we drove by a couple of Newport’s famous mansions before leaving Newport and headed to Jamestown, Rhode Island to visit Beavertail Lighthouse.  The kids enjoyed the lighthouse stop.  They visited the small “aquarium,” where a lighthouse keeper’s shed now displays several aquarium tanks with small animals like fish, turtles, snakes, lobsters, and crabs.  The kids also enjoyed climbing on the rocks.

(Beavertail Lighthouse in Jamestown, Newport)

         The last stop of the day before returning to the hotel to fix dinner was at a beach.  I wanted the kids to have a chance to play in the ocean before Rhode Island, so we took them to Roger Wheeler State Beach, south of Narrangassett.  When we arrived we learned that we got lucky in three ways:

1.    The weather earlier in the day had scared everyone away, so we had the beach practically to ourselves besides a couple other families,

2.    The weather scared all the beach employees away, including the parking lot attendants, so we didn’t have to pay the exorbitant $28 non-resident parking fee just to visit the beach for an hour.

(An empty beach area after it rained all day at Roger Wheeler Beach)

3.    The rain had completely stopped by the time we arrived.  So the kids had a blast playing in the waves and the sand.  Although, they didn’t much care for all the brown seaweed.  We did find a lot of shells and cool-looking rocks, too.

(Playing at Roger Wheeler Beach)

Back at the hotel I fixed tacos.  Plus, we also ate peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and leftover spaghetti.

         So, this being my first time to Rhode Island, I only come back with three impressions so far. 1.  Rhode Island LOOKS more sparsely populated than it actually is.  We saw a lot of trees along the main freeway and artery routes with house well hidden.  2.  Like much of New England, a GPS is absolutely necessary.  Many of the street signs for cross streets are missing.  So unless you’re a local, you won’t know the street you’re on.  3. Rhode Island has a bad reputation in the eyes of people from Massachusetts.  My brother, from Massachusetts, didn’t seem to have enough unflattering comments to make about Rhode Island even though he’d never been there before, either.  All he knew had been from friends in Massachusetts.  For some reason, the two states have a strong rivalry. Maybe it stems from back to the colonial days when Rhode Island was known as Rogue’s Island.

 

Monday—Today was a very, very wet day all day throughout our travels.  We started in Rhode Island, drove north through Massachusetts and up to Northern New Hampshire.  It rained the entire route.  Good thing, though, that all of our plans were for indoor activities today.

         We departed company from my brother, even though we were all traveling in the same directions.  But he chose to bike home (in the rain) as his mode of transportation.

         The first stop we made after checking out of the hotel this morning was at the Providence Children’s Museum in Providence, Rhode Island.  Going to children’s museums first thing in the morning is not a really great idea because the school groups usually visit at that time of day during the school year.  But it’s also not a good idea to visit children’s museums in the morning on a rainy summer vacation day.  We were lucky to get the only available parking spot in the small parking lot, thanks to my bad knees that require handicap tags.

(Rhode Island time tunnel in the Providence Children's Museum)

         My kids both enjoyed the museum, even though it was crowded with families of all sorts.  It is a nice museum, tough.  I really liked the idea of the Rhode Island timeline upstairs.  The kids can walk through a tunnel that leads them to individual rooms that allow the kids the opportunity to play in different time periods.  My kids really enjoyed the room wit the partial ship.  They pretended to sail a pirate’s ship for quite awhile.

         My kids also enjoyed the area of the museum with the body parts; they had to reconstruct a human skeleton.  They also enjoyed assembling 3-dimensional shaped puzzles.

(Playing with body parts at the Providence Children's Museum)

         We drove through downtown Providence. (I was able to view the state capital at a distance), and then we headed north through Massachusetts, where we stopped for lunch at an Old Country Buffet in Walpole.

 (State Capital building in Providence, Rhode Island)

Links:

• Residence Inn, West Greenwich, Rhode Island--http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/pvdpc-residence-inn-providence-coventry/
• Old Colony & Newport Railway--http://www.ocnrr.com/
• Brick Alley Pub--http://www.brickalley.com/
• Fort Adams State Park--http://www.riparks.com/fortadams.htm
• Beavertail Lighthouse State Park-- http://www.riparks.com/beaverta1.htm
• Roger Wheeler State Beach-- http://www.riparks.com/wheeler.htm

Providence Children’s Museum-- http://www.childrenmuseum.org/

 

Back to Connecticut

Our family just recently made a return visit to New England.  This time my main objective was to visit Rhode Island, the only New England state which we hadn’t yet visited prior to this trip.  But we also spent an interesting 24 hours in Connecticut before arriving in Rhode Island.

         After battling the traffic and road construction through Pennsylvania and New York, we finally arrived at the Courtyard by Marriott in Shelton, Connecticut around 8:00 on the first night of our road trip.  This hotel is fairly new and has a number of restaurants nearby in the area.  We got a quick bite of dinner at Panera Bread—just down the road from the hotel—before they closed at 9:00, and then returned to the hotel in time for the kids to have a quick dip in the hotel pool before we wheedled them into their beds.

         Day two of our trip was a long one.  After checking out of the hotel at 8 am, we went down the street from the hotel and stopped at Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery for breakfast since breakfast isn’t included in the hotel room rates at Courtyards.  Besides, getting a bagel or muffin at Bruegger’s is probably a little cheaper than the breakfast you purchase at Courtyard.

(Kids play at the Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut)

         After our breakfast in Shelton, we drove east to Niantic to visit a small children’s museum over there.  I liked the local themes of fishing and marine occupations in this museum, as well as the international focus they tried to inspire.  There was an Egyptian room, a Mexican restaurant, and a Chinese trading post.  The kids also enjoyed crawling in the submarine and treehouse located in the outdoor yards. 

(Egyptian room in the children's museum)

         After allowing the kids to play at the children’s museum for about an hour we drove over to Mystic, Connecticut.  Our initial intention was to meet my girlfriend since 6^th grade and her family, as well as my brother at Mystic Pizza in downtown Mystic for lunch, but that plan fell through when we learned from a gal at the tourist information office at Olde Mystic Village that there was an art fair in downtown Mystic, and it would hinder parking and driving.  So I called my friend and instructed her to meet us at Mystic Seaport instead, and then we had to track down my brother, who had biked down from Massachusetts, and we didn’t have his cell phone number to reach him.  We found my brother waiting in an empty lot across the street from Mystic Pizza, but I’m so glad we didn’t park because residents in the area around the art fair were charging people $5-$10 to park in front of their houses.  My brother is a serious biker, so we instructed him to continue biking to our hotel in Rhode Island, where we would meet him later that evening after visiting Mystic Seaport.

         My friend and her family who were meeting us at Mystic Seaport had to drive down from New Hampshire.  After they drove through road construction on I-95, they finally arrived at 1pm.  We had lunch at one of the restaurants in Mystic Seaport, and I will warn you that lunch is a bit pricey there.

(Ship sails at Mystic Seaport)

         Our two husbands, as usual, spent the entire time engrossed in conversation about computer technology, movies and politics.  (I don’t think they noticed much else around them.)  The rest of us visited a couple of ships with massive sails-one from 1882 and one from 1920.  We watched a blacksmith demonstration, visited a museum, learned about ships’ navigational tools, and my kids made toy boats.  The weather was perfect until late afternoon, when it became a tad bit too warm.

 (On board one of the ships at Mystic Seaport)

         Mystic Seaport closes around 5:00, and so we parted ways from our friends at closing time.  They went on their way towards Michigan, and we went in the opposite way to Rhode Island.

         By the time we arrived at our hotel in Rhode Island around 6:30, my brother was already there.  He was exhausted from his ride and from waking up at 2:30 in the morning to start biking for the day.  After his shower, he and I went to the grocery store, and then we all had dinner in the Residence Inn hotel room.  One thing nice about Residence Inn: having a kitchen so that you don’t have to go to an expensive restaurant.

 

         By the way, this was my fourth trip to Connecticut, and I have another blog article that I wrote earlier about a couple of children’s museums we’ve visited in the Hartford area.  Just look in the archives for my earlier blog articles.

 

Places to visit in southern Connecticut:

• Courtyard by Marriott in Shelton, Connecticut--http://www.sheltoncourtyard.com/
• Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut, Niantic, Connecticut--http://www.childrensmuseumsect.org/
• Olde Mystic Village, Mystic, Connecticut--http://www.oldemistickvillage.com/
• Mystic Seaport, Mystic, Connecticut--http://www.mysticseaport.org/

 

Up at the Lake

If you’ve read any of my other blog articles, you probably have figured out that I enjoy making lists.  What’s even more satisfying for me is actually accomplishing everything written on that list.  This weekend I just finally completed one list of places to visit without even having set my mind to do so, and that was to set foot in every single one of the Great Lakes.

         Now having grown up in Michigan it’s fairly easy to visit three of the Great Lakes that border Michigan.  Lake Michigan borders the left or western side of the “mitten” of the Lower Peninsula, Lake Huron borders the right or eastern side of the “mitten”, and Lake Superior is north of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  But you have to leave the state of Michigan to visit Lake Erie, which is on the northern border of Ohio, or Lake Ontario, which is on the western side of New York.

         This weekend was the first time I had ever actually set foot in Lake Ontario, and now I can say that I’ve finally set foot in all five of the Great Lakes.  We went to the Ontario Beach Park, located in Rochester, New York.

(Kids play at the beach at Lake Ontario in Rochester, New York)

         I was my daughter’s age, which is seven, when I went to Lake Huron with my family of origin, and it was a day I’m not likely to forget because it was the day our beloved family dog, Munchie, died.  My parents took us up to the lake and they left the dog locked in the hot car for entire time we were at the beach.  When we came home, Munchie tried drinking as much water as possible, including from the toilet.  Later that night, she shook in my dad’s arms on his bed, and he asked me if I wanted to say my last good-bye to her because she was dying.  She finally passed away late in the night, and we buried her in the back of our two-acre yard.  It was a difficult thing for my young mind to process as I lost my first best friend.

(Pictured Rocks at Lake Superior in 1999)

         The first of the Great Lakes my own kids have had the chance to visit was Lake Superior, but they don’t remember it.  My daughter first saw Lake Superior as we drove its perimeter from Duluth, Minnesota, up Highway 61 in Minnesota, across through Canada, and then down into Michigan by crossing the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie.  My daughter was only about 22 months old at the time, and I was pregnant with my son during that trip. 

(View of Lake Superior on Canada side in May 2006)

         We later took the kids to Lake Superior over Easter weekend in 2007 when my son was only five months old.  We stayed at Superior Shores Resort in Two Harbors, Minnesota, and there was a foot of snow on the ground when we arrived at the resort. 

(Split Rock Lighthouse next to Lake Superior in April 2007)

Our last visit to Lake Superior was when we were in the process of moving from Minnesota. We made a detour through Duluth from the Twin Cities and back down through Wisconsin just so we could see the lake one last time before settling in our new state.

(Lighthouse in Duluth, Minnesota next to Lake Superior--October 2008)

         We took the kids to Lake Erie this June, the day after we visited Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky.  They played at the beach for at least two hours, and I managed to acquire a  really bad sunburn on my shoulders after that visit because it was the one area on my body that I completely neglected to cover with the sunblock.

(Folks play at the East Harbor State Park beach next to Lake Erie in June 2011)

         Our last visit to Lake Michigan was when we took the kids to Navy Pier in Chicago last October.  We’ve also taken the kids to Lake Michigan when we stopped at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in October 2008.  But the last time I actually set foot—or my whole body—in Lake Michigan was after I completed my senior year of high school during a marching band trip to the Traverse City Cherry Festival in 1984.  The upperclassmen guys in the band thought it would be funny if they could throw into the lake everyone, who hadn’t already been in voluntarily, because the lake was so cold that day.

(Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore next to Lake Michigan in October 2008)

         Well, now that I’ve completed my list of visiting all five of the Great Lakes, I need to work on getting my kids and husband to complete theirs.  They just need to go visit Lake Huron, and this time without any pets in tow, which is fine by me because now I only have a cat, and she stays at home while we travel because, otherwise, she gets car sick every single time.

 

(The Mackinac Bridge in St. Ignace, Michigan.  It separates Lake Michigan from Lake Huron.  Photo taken May 2006)

Renaissance Festivals

This past weekend my husband and I took our 7 and 4-year-olds to the Great Lakes Medieval Faire in Rock Creek, Ohio.  I had just spent a good portion of the week preparing the kids for the festival with books and knights and castles, as well as accompanying worksheets.  I also allowed them to watch the Disney animated version of “Robin Hood” to learn about one of the stories that came from the Middle Ages in a format that my kids would enjoy. 

(Knights at Great Lakes Medieval Faire in Northeastern Ohio)

         During our day at the fair we watched a guy breathe fire (with the aid of certain drinkable combustible liquids), watched a jousting tournament, played with wooden swords and daggers, listened to music, and ate available fair food.  The kids played on pirate boats (playground equipment), became lost in the labyrinth, and made fairy crafts.  When we returned home, our kids continued theme of the Middle Ages by playing with their knights and fairy dolls in the bathtub, searched for knight coloring sheets on the internet and dressed up as knights and fairies as they chased each other through the house.  So I was very pleased that our attendance at the fair sparked our kids’ imaginations.

(Fire breather at Great Lakes Medieval Faire)

My husband and I have enjoyed attending Renaissance Festivals and Medieval Fairs in the past before we had kids.  But now that we have kids, the festivals are an educational tool to teach our kids about one period in European history, as well as being a form of entertainment for our family.  Renaissance and Medieval Festivals give the kids an idea of what life might have been like about a thousand years ago when knights jousted on horses to entertain the king’s cheering audiences or minstrels played courtly love songs on their lutes.  But they also give the kids an idea of some of the discomforts of life of the Middle Ages that people had to live through as opposed to some of the comforts that we take for granted in our modern age, like indoor plumbing (because most Renaissance Festivals use porta-potties) and air conditioning on unbearably hot days (because everything is outdoors).

We’ve attended the Renaissance Festivals when we lived Minnesota and Arizona and happily discovered that both of these festivals share many of the same performers:  Tortuga Twins (three good-looking guys who tell raunchy fairy tales using audience members), Puke & Snot (political humor), Zilch the Tory Steller (a story teller who switches his consonants around between words and calls it “spoonerisms”).  In researching the Renaissance Festivals across the country, I’ve noticed that many of performers do travel around.  For instance, we’ve seen the “Ded Bob Show” in both Arizona (2004) and Minnesota (2007), but for this year, it’s one of the acts at the Michigan Renaissance Festival but not in Minnesota.  The “Ded Bob Show” is a skeleton puppet who is quite raunchy, and audience members have to be trained to participate or will be “bonked” as punishment.  When “Ded Bob” says, “Hey, Audience,” the audience should respond by saying “Hey, what?”  I’ve also noticed that Filthy Rotten Scoundrels is on the list for the Michigan Renaissance Festival, and they were at the Arizona Renaissance Festival when we last visited there in 2004.

    

(Ded Bob Show in Minnesota in 2007)

        If you've never been to a Renaissance festival before, here are some things you should know, especially if you're bringing the kids along.  Some of the performances are not age appropriate for children, unless you don't mind them listening to R-rated raunchy language.  I would definitely avoid taking them to see the Tortuga Twins, for instance.   The Tortuga Twins flirt with the women in the audience and make sexually demeaning comments to the men.  Younger kids would be bored with Zilch the Tory Steller since he mixes up his words, and they won't understand what he's saying, either.  Sometimes Zilch tells X-rated/R-rated stories, too.  Definitely take the kids to see the sword swallowers or the fire swallowers and the jousting; those are just plain cool to watch.  Be aware that much of the jousting tournaments is theatrical; there is a whole production built around the knights insulting each other before they choreographically knock each other off their horses.  Food is expensive at the Renaissance Festival!  This last time we went, we packed 4 water bottles into a cooler bag and brought that with us, but it was kind of heavy, so we threw it into our stroller.  If you have a four or five-year-old, and you have a stroller that allows for his/her weight limit, bring it along!  It's easier to control these kids in the crowds this way.  Remember also to bring money along to tip the performers at the end of the performances; the performers earn their money through tips--not by admission fees.  Feel free to dress up your family in Medieval costumes if you so desire, but on hot days most people will prefer to wear t-shirts and shorts.

Some Renaissance Festivals across the country:

• Alabama Renaissance Faire—In October in Florence, Alabama--http://www.alarenfaire.org/
• Three Barons Renaissance Fair—Anchorage, Alaska in June-- http://www.3barons.org/wiki/Main_Page
• Arizona Renaissance Festival (Weekends, February 11-April 1, 2012), east of Apache Junction-- http://emol.org/azrenfest/Festival
• California City Renaissance Festival—October 15 & 16, 2011 in California City, California-- http://www.calcityrenfair.org/
• Escondido Renaissance Faire—October & November, 2011 and April & May, 2012 (Check website for exact weekend dates) in Escondido, California-- http://www.goldcoastfestivals.com/Escondido.html
• Northern California Renaissance Faire—Sept. 17-October 16, 2011 in Hollister, California-- http://www.norcalrenfaire.org/
• The Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire—April 7-May 20, 2012 in Irwindale, California-- http://www.renfair.com/socal/

• Colorado Renaissance Festival—June and July in Larkspur, Colorado--http://www.coloradorenaissance.com/
• Connecticut Renaissance Faire—September-October 2011 (check dates) in Hebron, CT-- http://www.ctfaire.com
• Florida Renaissance Festival—January in Key Biscayne and February to March in Deerfield Beach-- http://www.ren-fest.com/
• Georgia Renaissance Festival—April to June in Fairburn, Georgia-- http://www.garenfest.com/
• Moscow Renaissance Fair--Springtime in Moscow, Idaho-- http://www.moscowrenfair.org/
• Illinois Renaissance Festival—August 27 & 28, 2011 in Danville, IL-- http://www.illinoisrenfaire.com/
• Fishers Renaissance Faire—October 1 & 2, 2011 in Fishers, Indiana-- http://fishersrenfaire.com/fishersrenfaire/index.html
• Iowa Renaissance Festival—in May in Middle Amana, Iowa-- http://www.festint.com/iowarenfest/
• Kansas City Renaissance Festival—Weekends from September 3-October 16, 2011 in Bonner Springs, Kansas-- http://www.kcrenfest.com/
• Highland Renaissance Festival—June in Eminence, Kentucky-- http://www.kyrenfaire.com/
• Louisiana Renaissance Festival—Weekends November 5-December 11^th, 2011 in Hammond, Louisiana-- http://www.la-renfest.com/

• Maryland Renaissance Festival—Weekends in August-October (check website for exact dates) near Annapolis, Maryland-- http://www.rennfest.com/

• Michigan Renaissance Festival (Weekends, August 20-October 2^nd, 2011)-- http://www.michrenfest.com/
• Minnesota Renaissance (Weekends, August 20-October 2^nd, 2011), Shakopee, Minnesota--http://www.renaissancefest.com/MRF/

• Ocean Springs Renaissance Faire—October 22-23, 2011 in Ocean Springs, Mississippi--http://www.oceanspringsrenfaire.com/
• Nebraska Renaissance Faire—in April/May near Papillion, Nebraska--http://www.festint.com/nebfaire/
• Age of Chivalry Renaissance Festival—October 7-9, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada--http://www.lvrenfair.com/
• New Hampshire Renaissance Faire—in May in Kingston, NH--http://www.nhrenfaire.com
• New Jersey Renaissance Faire—June 2,3,9 &10, 2012 in Columbus, NJ--http://www.njrenfaire.com/Home.html
• Santa Fe Renaissance Fair—September 17 and 18, 2011 in Santa Fe, New Mexico--http://www.sfrenfair.org/
• The Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park—October 2, 2011 in New York City, NY--http://www.whidc.org/home.html
• New York Renaissance Fair—Weekends from August 26-September 25, 2011 in Tuxedo Park, NY--http://www.recfair.com/NY/
• Carolina Renaissance Festival—Weekends from October 8-November 20, 2011 in Huntersville, NC--http://www.royalfaires.com/carolina/
• Ohio Renaissance Festival—Weekends from September 3-October 16, 2011 in Harveysburg, Ohio--http://www.renfestival.com/

• Great Lakes Medieval Faire—runs through August 14, 2011 in Rock Creek, Ohio--http://www.medievalfaire.com/

• Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire—September 10 & 11, 2011 in Kings Valley, OR--http://shrewfaire.com/
• Canterbury Renaissance Faire—in July in Silverton, OR--http://www.canterburyfaire.com/
• Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire—Weekends from August 13-October 30, 2011 in Manheim, PA--http://www.parenfaire.com/
• Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival—Weekends in August and September in West Newton, PA--http://www.pgh-renfest.com/
• Siouxland Renaissance Festival—June in Sioux Falls, SD--http://www.siouxlandrenfest.com/
• Shakespeare & Friends Renaissance Faire—June in Rogersville, TN--http://www.shakespeareandfriends.org/
• Tennessee Renaissance Festival—May in Arrington, TN--http://www.tnrenfest.com/
• Four Winds Renaissance Festival—March, April and October south of Tyler, TX--http://www.fourwindsfaire.com/
• Middlefaire—October-November in Hillsboro, TX--http://www.middlefest.com/
• Scarborough Renaissance Festival—April 7-May 28, 2012 in Waxahachie, TX--http://www.srfestival.com/
• Texas Renaissance Festival—Weekends October 8-November 27^th in Plantersville, TX--http://www.texrenfest.com/
• Utah Midsummer Renaissance Faire—in July in Cedar City, Utah--http://www.umrf.net/
• Utah Renaissance and Fantasy Faire—in May in Marriott-Slaterville--http://www.utahrenfest.com/
• Virginia Renaissance Faire—Weekends in May and June in Spotsylvania, VA--http://www.varf.org/

• Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire—Weekends in August in Bonney Lake, Washington--http://www.washingtonfaire.com/
• Northwest Renaissance Festival—Weekends in Jun and July in Nine Mile Falls, Washington--http://www.nwrf.net/
• Janesville Renaissance Faire—in May in Janesville, WI--http://www.jvlfaire.com/
• Bristol Renaissance Faire—July to September in Bristol, WI--http://www.renfair.com/bristol/
• Wisconsin Renaissance Faire—in Glenwood City, Wiscosnin--http://www.wirenfaire.com/

 
 (Mischief-makers wearing fancy garb at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in 2007)

Weekend Trip to Lake Erie in June

Thursday—Today was the last day of school and so to mark the ending of the school year, our family took a weekend jaunt to Lake Erie, which included a day at Cedar Point, an amusement park that’s famous for its rollercoasters.  School let out at noon, so after a quick lunch we headed to our hotel for the night: Great Wolf Lodge in Sandusky.

         We arrived at Great Wolf Lodge around 3:30 and were able to check into our room right away.  Once we settled in the room, the kids spent the next 2½ hours playing in the hotel’s water park.  They had a blast sliding down the slides with and without tubes.  They loved running through the sprinklers, and just, generally, getting wet.   All this activity really exhausted them by the time bedtime rolled around. (My son already wants to go back for a return visit.)

(Waterpark in Great Wolf Lodge)

         We left the hotel for dinner at Ryan’s Buffet—just down the road, and then we returned to take them to story time in the hotel lobby at 8:00.  The kids’ story time at the lodge was pretty cool.  Animatronic forest creatures sing really sappy nature songs.  Then one of the Great Wolf Lodge characters comes out with a minder to read a story to the kids.  Then the kids get a photo op with the character.  (Kind of reminiscent of Disney World, but nowhere near as expensive.)

(Wiley Wolf leads kids in wolf calls at Great Wolf Lodge)

Friday—Mother Nature certainly wasn’t in the friendliest of moods when we visited Cedar Point today.  But the weather has certainly continued to follow this year’s trend of “too much rain,” so although disappointing, I would say it wasn’t surprising.

         We arrived at the park shortly after 9:00 this morning.  Most of the rides weren’t yet open, but my daughter and I did ride “Ocean Motion” (a swinging pirate ship) while my husband took our son on the carousel near the park’s entrance.  Soon after, the rain arrived and we spent the next 2 hours in and around the kiddie rides and the arcade.  My daughter played several games of skeeball and arcade bowling while my husband video games with the four-year-old looking over his shoulder until we all ran out of quarters and single dollar bills.  Then my husband decided to “brave the rain” by taking the kids on toddler rides, including another carousel.  We headed for lunch at Midway Market (a buffet restaurant in the park), and then the rain finally stopped while we were eating.

         The kids spent the remainder of the afternoon on more rides meant for kids under 48” tall—except when I took my daughter on "Blue Streak", a 47-year-old roller coaster.  I rode my favorite roller coaster, "Gemini "(built in the 1980s—when I was in high school), three times while the kids were on the kiddie rides nearby.

(Kids dance with Lucy and Charlie Brown)

         One of the highlights of the day was spotting Peanuts characters in the park.  The kids had their photos taken with Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, Charlie Brown, Schroeder, and Peppermint Patty.  They also danced the “Chicken Dance,” “The Limbo” and the “YMCA” song with the characters.

         A fierce wind signaling an approaching thunderstorm encouraged us to make a beeline towards the entrance gates.  My daughter and I were disappointed that we didn’t have a chance to ride any of the water rides in the park to cool down from the afternoon’s hot-and-sticky weather.  We departed around 5:30, and it was just as well because my son fell right asleep in his stroller on the way out of the park.

(Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point)

         We headed over to our new hotel—a Fairfield Inn in Port Clinton.  We ate dinner across the street from the hotel at a Mexican Restaurant called “Casa Las Palmas” before I took the kids into the hotel pool.

 Saturday—We had a great day today exploring the Port Clinton/Marblehead area of Ohio—near Cedar Point.  Weather forecasts warned of possible thunderstorms during the afternoon, but those never developed. (Whew!)

         After having breakfast in the hotel breakfast room we set out on the road towards Marblehead.   We stopped at Marblehead Lighthouse State Park, where today they were offering people the opportunity to go up inside the lighthouse for $2 per person (except for kids under 6).  The steep spiral staircase was a bit hard on my arthritic knees, and I had to walk backwards on shaky legs to get back down the steps.  The rangers also strongly urged anyone scared of heights to avoid going up in the lighthouse.

(Steps inside Marblehead Lighthouse)

         We took the kids to the beach down the road at East Harbor State Park.  My kids and I cooled off in Lake Erie from the high humidity while my husband sat in the shade and read his book.  We were at the beach for a couple of hours until stomachs warned us of hunger.  As we left East Harbor State Park we encountered a Civil War reenactment.  It was just finishing for the day, but we saw a couple cannon and musket explosions, as well as many people in Civil War costumes.

 (Civil War reenactment at East Harbor State Park)
         The Peninsula Restaurant—a mom & pop-type independent restaurant advertised lake perch, so we stopped there for lunch.  Prices were great.  However, no one chose the perch, which was one of the pricier items on the menu.  I did get the clam strips, though.

(Peninsula Restaurant--between Port Clinton and Marblehead)

         A couple doors down from Peninsula Restaurant is Train-O-Rama.  We paid good money to see some obsessive model train collector’s railroad display.  It’s a huge model railroad that our kids went nuts over, but be forewarned that it isn’t well child-proofed, so take really young ones by the hand as you walk through this place.  I asked a woman working there how long they had been collecting the trains, and she replied that it was since the 1940s.

(Carnival scene in Train-O-Rama)

         We headed over to the African Safari Wildlife Park in Port Clinton next.  It’s an interesting little zoo, but a bit expensive. (We paid about $53 for the 4 of us—with coupons!)  However, it does provide families with a much different experience than that of regular zoos.  Behind the gift shop the kids rode a pony and a camel.  The park also had a white zebra, white alligator and red kangaroo on its premises.  We ate some ice cream in the area behind the gift shop before venturing around the safari loop in our mini-van.  I don’t know if it was a mistake or not, but my husband chose not to stop to get the animal food before entering the drive-through loop that forced us to have vehicular encounters with llamas, alpacas, reindeer, bison and watusi (red oxen with really long horns).  I feared the horns might scratch the paint job on the van or break windows.  My husband made fun of the “angry looking” llamas and reindeer that had a staring contest with him through the window because he refused to pass out food to them.  In addition to the animals I listed above, we also saw zebras and giraffes on the drive through the loop.

(Red Ox at African Safari Wildlife Park)

         There’s a huge cheese shop (Cheese Haven) in Port Clinton that attracted many visitors.  I took my daughter with me into the store and we sampled a few different cheeses before departing with a bag full.  Then we returned to the hotel.

(Cheese Haven in Port Clinton)

         When we went for dinner it was a bit later than we usually do—due to the consumption of Cheese Haven cheese and crackers at the hotel.  We went to a place called Dianna’s that has American, as well as Greek and Italian food.  My husband and I ordered the lamb shank daily special.  It was excellent; the meat fell right off the bone.  We got a log of food with the daily special, and it was only $10 each.  I didn’t even have room for dessert.

Sunday—After breakfast at the hotel and packing up everything into the car, we headed back towards home.  We made a stop in Fremont, Ohio, which isn’t too far from Port Clinton.

         Fremont is a cute little town with lots of Victorian-style houses, including that of President Rutherford B. Hayes.  We made a visit to the Hayes Museum, where I learned much more about America’s 19^th President than I had before.  He isn’t as well-known because he purposely chose to be a one-term president.  He lost a few allies over trying to force the Reconstruction issue after the Civil War.  He had become President only by becoming the Republican nominee by default at the Republican National Convention.  He served as President after having served as a U.S. Congressman and three terms as governor of Ohio.

(Hayes home in Fremont, Ohio)

         We decided to forgo the tour of the house due to our kids’ short attention spans during guided tours.  But we did visit the gravesites of President Hayes and his wife Lucy, as well as one of his sons and his wife.  

(Portrait of President Rutherford B. Hayes)

Places to visit near Sandusky, Ohio:

• Great Wolf Lodge, Sandusky, Ohio-- http://www.greatwolfsandusky.com/
• Ryan’s Buffet, Sandusky, Ohio-- http://www.ryans.com/
• Cedar Point, Sandusky, Ohio-- http://www.cedarpoint.com/
• Fairfield Inn, Port Clinton, Ohio-- http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tolpc-fairfield-inn-port-clinton/
• Casa Las Palmas, Port Clinton, Ohio
• Marblehead Lighthouse State Park, Marblehead, Ohio-- http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/parks/marblehead/tabid/763/Default.aspx
• East Harbor State Park, Ohio-- http://www.eastharborstatepark.org/
• Peninsula Restaurant, Ohio
• Train-O-Rama, Ohio-- http://www.trainorama.com/
• African Safari Wildlife Park, Port Clinton, Ohio-- http://www.africansafariwildlifepark.com/
• Cheese Haven, Port Clinton, Ohio-- http://www.cheesehaven.com/
• Hayes Presidential Center, Fremont, Ohio-- http://www.rbhayes.org/hayes/

 

 

Made in America

A few weeks ago I was watching Dr. Oz on the TV while I was working out at the gym.  His topic was about purchases made at consignment shops and whether these items had any health concerns.  One woman had purchased some pottery that was made outside of the U.S, and Dr. Oz’s expert tested the pottery for lead, which was contained within the pottery’s paint.  This discussion made me wonder if any my non-American made dinnerware contained lead, so I purchased a lead testing kit from Amazon.com.  I began testing some of my painted dinnerware and coffee mugs for lead, and sure enough, some of the “Made in China” pieces were highly contaminated. Yikes!

         Before this all occurred our family had made plans to visit an American-operated pottery making business in Zanesville, Ohio during a weekend trip to Ohio’s Hocking Hills.  My initial interest in visiting Hartstone Pottery in Zanesville was to allow my kids the chance to see how pottery is made through a factory tour, and then give them the opportunity to express their own creativity by painting some pieces at the conclusion of the tour.  But now after having discovered contaminated dinnerware in my own cupboards, I realized a third goal at the Hartstone Pottery Factory: to replace my lead-contaminated dishes with some lead-free American-made pottery.

          We have heard so much about lead-contaminated toys arriving in this country from China, drywall containing sulfuric ash arriving from China that has corroded appliances and electrical wiring in American homes and made people ill with severe headaches, and tainted pet food arriving from China that has sickened or killed families’ beloved cats and dogs, that we wonder if anything arriving from China is safe.  At the same time, so many Americans have lost important manufacturing positions due to the outsourcing of jobs to cheaper labor overseas.  If you can find American-made goods anymore, you might have to pay a little more for the quality and the higher labor costs, but wouldn’t it be worth it to know that you might be getting a safer and more durable product and helping to keep American workers employed?

         Now, don’t get me wrong.  I love shopping at places like Cost Plus World Market and Pier 1 Imports.  But I’m getting a little tired of the deception that I’m faced with every time I go to the store.  For instance, I once purchased a collection of Schleich toys because they claimed to be German, but then my kids noticed that they all had “made in China” printed on the bottom.

         With this blog article I’ve decided to compose a list of places across the U.S. where you can visit on your travels and buy American-made products. (You can also order many online).  Some of these places also offer factory tours, which are great teaching tools for kids.  Sometimes kids have a better appreciation for those products once they’ve seen how they’re made.

         So when you’re out traveling and searching for souvenirs, take home your own photos of places you’ve visited and support the local businesses that stock American-made products.  Also, use my list when you’re shopping online for gifts for friends and family even when you’re stuck at home and not on the road.  Your money will go to American workers, who will then take their earnings and spend that in their local communities.   This helps America's economy.  The other thing I like to do on my travels is keep an eye out for unique souvenirs made by local artisans and craftspeople who may not be found on the internet at all.  

         One more thing: This isn’t a complete list.  If you know of a company that should be included because you absolutely love it, send me a comment, and I’ll add it to the list.  It’s been challenging to find everything on the internet.  Thanks.

 Alabama: http://www.alabamamade.com/

http://alabamagoods.com/

http://www.thealabamagiftcompany.com/

• Tiffin Motorhomes in Red Bay—This is very appropriate for fellow travelers.  You can tour the factory where RVs are made in Alabama.  Go to the website to get current factory tour information-- http://www.tiffinmotorhomes.com/
• Check out this webpage for more factory tours in Alabama: http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=AL
• Knives & Cutlery from Jacksonville-- http://www.bearandsoncutlery.com/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=About&category=About
• Socks from Alabama-- http://www.zkano.com/
• Socks from Alabama-- http://www.bargainsocks.com/

Alaska: http://www.alaskaguide.com/alaskan_gifts.htm

• The Great Alaskan Bowl Company, Fairbanks—makes wooden bowls—They encourage visitors to come and watch them make the bowls, which have interesting designs engraved--http://www.woodbowlalaska.com/
• The Alaska Rug Company in Kodiak—They make rugs out of recycled materials--http://www.alaskarugcompany.com/
• The Ulu Factory in Anchorage—They make a very unique chopping knife and offer guests tours to see the how the knives are made and used. http://www.theulufactory.com/
• Alaskan Brewing Company, Juneau—Only for kids over 21, otherwise, they need to be accompanied by a parent to tour the plant.  But if you’re interested in seeing how beer is made in Alaska, go to http://www.alaskanbeer.com/
• Soap products-- http://www.denalidreams.com/

 Arizona: http://arizonagift.com/index.htm

• Arizona Sun skin care products: http://www.arizonasun.com/default.aspx
• Cerreta Candy Company in Glendale, AZ—I’ve visited here once when we lived in Arizona, but I forgot all about it until my memory was jogged by the “Factory Tours USA” website.  Just don’t visit here in the middle of summer unless you bring a cooler along.  Your chocolate will melt before you even reach parking lot. http://www.cerreta.com/

• Check out “Factory Tours USA” for more Arizona tours: http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=AZ
• Arizona Cap Company-- http://www.arizonacap.com/madeintheusa.htm
• Stuffington Bear Factory in Phoenix-- http://www.stuffingtonbear.com/pages/Drop-In-Visit-Us-14.htm

 Arkansas:

• Regalia Handmade Clothing Studio, Eureka Springs-- http://www.regaliahandmade.com/
• Arkansas made products website: http://www.arkansas.com/uniquely-arkansas/products/
• Factory tours in Arkansas: http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=AR
• Dulcimers-- http://www.mcspaddendulcimers.com/

 California:

• Jelly Belly Factory & Retail Store, Fairfield—Factory tours available.  http://www.jellybelly.com/visit_jelly_belly/california_factory_index.aspx
• Products made in California-- http://www.madeincalifornia.net/
• Factory tours in Calfornia: http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=CA
• Tesla Motors Roadsters from Palo Alto-- http://www.teslamotors.com/
• Laughing Moon Toys from Ventura-- http://www.toymakerscollection.com/
• Tag Toys-- http://www.tagtoys.com/
• California wines-- http://www.californiawineinfo.com/
• Auto parts-- http://www.gibsonperformance.com/
• Women’s Clothing-- http://www.bluecanoe.com/index.asp
• Ceramics & dinnerware from Sausalito-- http://www.heathceramics.com/heath/
• Wine bags-- http://vinnibag.com/
• Purses/bags from San Francisco-- http://www.slaintebags.com/
• Men’s and Women’s Shoes from Burbank-- http://cydwoq.com/
• Soap-- http://store.destinyboutique.com/index.html
• Tool belts-- http://www.bestbelt.com/

(We toured the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, California in 2002)

 Colorado:

• Here’s a really nicely written list of products made in Colorado-- http://madeincolorado.wordpress.com/
• Factory tours in Colorado: http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=CO
• Hammond’s Candies in Denver-- http://www.hammondscandies.com/tours.ivnu
• Magnetic tiling toys from Boulder-- http://www.fractiles.com/
• Hats-- http://www.marnergroup.com/
• Marine corps rings & jewelry-- http://www.marinecorpsrings.com/
• Custom jewelry-- http://www.unitedcastingcompany.com/

 Connecticut:

• Products made in Connecticut: http://www.thisisct.net/2007/11/uniquely-connecticut-gifts.html
• Another website of products made in Connecticut: http://www.madeinct.com/
• When we lived in Arizona, my husband frequently brought home chocolate from Munsons when he had business trips in Connecticut.  They’re based in Bolton but have other locations throughout the state--http://www.munsonschocolates.com/
• Factory tours in Connecticut: http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=CT
• Signs from Manchester-- http://www.signsofallkinds.com/
• Signs-- http://www.thestonemill.com/

 Delaware:

• Factory tours in Delaware: http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=DE

 Florida:

• Pottery company from Sarasota, Florida--http://www.nelaceramics.com/ncpages/products.html
• Products made in Key West--http://www.keywestsites.com/Key-West-Florida-activities/general_info/products-made-locally-in-.shtml
• Factory tours in Florida--http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=FL
• Tibor Fly-Fishing Reels in Delray Beach-- http://www.tiborreel.com/
• Baby rattles from Clearwater-- http://magicalinnovations.com/
• Painted glassware-- http://www.Bellissimo1.com/

 Georgia:

• Factory tours in Georgia-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=GA
• Wine from Dahlonega-- http://www.naturallygeorgia.com/
• Honey and honey products in Savannah-- http://www.savannahbee.com/
• Candy from Savannah-- http://www.savannahsweets.com/
• Georgia Peanuts-- http://www.gapeanuts.com/giftshop.asp
• Here’s an interesting list of Georgia grown products: http://www.gastateparks.org/content/Georgia/pdf/GeorgiaMadeGrownShoppingList.pdf
• Products made in Athens, Georgia-- http://www.visitathensga.com/all_about_athens/local_products
• http://www.proudlymadeingeorgia.com/

 Hawaii:

•  http://www.aloha-hawaii.com/hawaii/gifts/
• http://www.dcwhawaii.com/
• http://madeinhawaiistore.com/
• http://www.captainpicard.com/
• http://www.molokaimadeinhawaii.com/
• http://classichawaiianproducts.com/
• http://www.foodsofhawaii.com/AboutMadeinHawaii.html
• http://www.parkerranchstore.com/pages/Made-in-Hawaii.html
• Factory tours in Hawaii-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=HI
• Coffee from Hawaii-- http://www.usacoffeecompany.com/

 Idaho:

• http://www.idahogiftswholesale.com/
• http://www.idahogiftbaskets.net/
• http://www.tastesofidaho.com/
• http://www.madeinidaho.org/featured.php
• Custom-made cowboy boots-- http://www.cowboybootsbygeorge.com/

 Illinois:

• Factory tours in Illinois-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=IL
• John Deere Company in Moline-- http://www.factorytour.com/tours/john-deere-pavilion.cfm
• Exhibitors that were at an Illinois products EXPO-- http://www.agr.state.il.us/marketing/expo/expoexhibit.html
• Some of the more expensive grills are made in Illinois, but the cheaper ones are made in China—http://www.weber.com/
• Candle-licious candles from Morrison-- http://www.candle-licious.com/html/about_us.html
• Mariano Metal Décor-- http://www.marianometaldecor.com/
• Sleep products in Elgin-- http://www.moonlightslumber.com/index.cfm
• Soap from Oregon, Illinois-- http://www.oregonsoapshoppe.com/

 Indiana:

• Albanese Candy Factory in Merrillville-- http://www.albaneseconfectionery.com/store/
• Factory tours in Indiana-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=IN
• Made in Indiana-- http://www.visitindiana.net/madeinindiana.htm
• Woolen yarn from Morgantown-- http://www.sheepstreet.com/index.htm
• From downtown Brookston-- http://www.bigsistersalsa.com/aboutus.htm
• From Kosciusko County-- http://www.koscvb.org/Shopping/LocallyMade/tabid/136/Default.aspx
• South Bend Chocolate Company--http://www.sbchocolate.com/

 

(We visited the South Bend Chocolate Company in South Bend, Indiana in 2008)

Iowa:

• Made in Iowa-- http://www.itsmadeiniowa.com/secure-itsmadeiniowa/Scripts/default.asp
• Factory tours in Iowa--http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=IA

 Kansas:

• Factory tours in Kansas-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=KS
• Products made in Greensburg-- http://www.greensburgks.org/visitor/the-big-well-gift-shop/kansas-made-products
• Products made in Kansas-- http://www.kansassampler.org/festival/page.php?id=366
• Products made in Kansas-- http://www.travelks.com/s/index.cfm?aid=16

 Kentucky:

• General Motors Corvette plant—Factory tours available on certain days.  I doubt that you can purchase your corvette here, though.-- http://www.bowlinggreenassemblyplant.com/
• Also, visit the National Corvette Museum while you’re in the area--http://www.corvettemuseum.com/
• Rebecca Ruth Candy Tours in Frankfort-- http://rebeccaruth.stores.yahoo.net/rebcanfactou.html

 (Corvette plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky)

Louisiana:

• Products from New Orleans-- http://neworleanswebsites.com/cat/lap/lap.html
• Cajun hot sauce-- http://www.purecajun.com/hotsauce.htm
• http://www.myneworleans.com/Louisiana-Life/May-June-2011/Louisiana-Made/
• Something really unique-- http://www.louisianaliving.com/product/alligator-wallets/gifts
• Other Alligator products-- http://www.louisianaleather.com/
• Spicy sausage-- http://www.louisianasausageking.com/
• Factory tours in Louisiana-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=LA

 Maine:

• Stonewall Kitchen in York, Maine—Specialty foods--http://www.stonewallkitchen.com/
• Haven’s Chocolates in Westbrook-- http://www.havenscandies.com/chocolate_factory_tours.asp
• L.L. Maine Hunting boots—http://www.llbean.com/
• Factory tours in Maine-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=ME
• Products made in Maine-- http://www.mainemade.com/
• http://www.crownofmaine.com/maine-products/
• http://www.mainebusinesslisting.com/Maine-Made-Products
• http://www.puremaine.com/
• http://madeinmaine.com/
• Oak wood products-- http://www.acornwoodproducts.com/
• Roy Toys-- http://www.roytoy.com/
• Birdhouses-- http://www.coveside.biz/
• Wooden toys-- http://www.knockabouttoys.com/

(L.L. Bean's hunting boots are made in Maine.)

 Maryland:

• Woolen products-- http://www.marysdelight.com/
• Factory tours in Maryland-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=MD

 Massachusetts:

• Hebert Candies in Shrewsbury-- http://www.hebertcandies.com/
• Leather clothing-- http://www.brooksleather.com/html/home.html
• Alden Shoes of Middleborough-- http://www.aldenshoe.com/index.htm
• Apropos shoes-- http://www.aproposfootwear.com/shop/home.php?ot_men=aboutus
• Factory tours in Massachusetts-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=MA

 Michigan:

• Factory tours in Michigan-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=MI
• http://www.buymichiganproducts.com/
• http://www.thinkmichiganmade.com/
• Faygo pop that I grew up with-- http://www.faygo.com/
• http://michigan-made.com/
• http://www.michiganweb.com/souvenir.html
• Uncle Goose Toys from Grand Rapids-- http://www.unclegoose.com/
• Tooth fairy pillow from Interlochen-- http://www.yourtoothfairypillow.com/
• Boats-- http://www.advancedcraftboats.com/
• Foot massager-- http://zendulum.com/
• Outdoor furniture-- http://www.americandreamfurniture.com/
• Jewelry-- http://www.saverinecreek.com/
• Jewelry made from recycled cans-- http://www.cangles.com/servlet/StoreFront
• Shoes-- http://www.fernandfootwear.com/
• Athletic socks-- http://www.soyadsocks.com/
• Snowshoes-- http://www.iversonssnowshoes.com/
• Wine-- http://www.leelanaucellars.com/home.html

 Minnesota:

• Lark Toys, Kellogg, MN—Minnesota made wooden toys.  They also sell stuff made in other places (like China)-- http://www.larktoys.com/
• Redwing Shoes, Red Wing, MN—Heavy-duty work boots and shoes--http://www.redwingshoes.com/
• Red Wing Pottery, Red Wing, MN—They make the distinctive off-white pottery with the identifiable Red Wing logo printing.  Visitors can watch the pottery being made in their pottery studio--http://www.redwingpottery.com/
• http://www.mn2020.org/giftguide
• Loon tune toy made in Rogers-- http://www.loontune.com/
• Teddy Bears-- http://lemonwolfbears.com/
• Bath boat toys from Princeton-- http://bathboats.com/
• Pet Food-- http://www.duffyspetfood.com/
• Bakeware from Minneapolis-- http://www.nordicware.com/
• Footwear from Spring Grove--http://www.footwearbyfootskins.com/
• Leather bags from St. Paul--http://www.jwhulmeco.com/about-us-s/108.htm
• Winter outerwear from Nelson--http://www.northlandwoolens.com/
• Golf products from Waconia--http://www.tpkgolf.com/
• Heavy-duty outerwear from Ely--http://www.wintergreennorthernwear.com/
• Sportswear from Eagan--http://www.wsisports.com/
• Factory tours in Minnesota-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=MN
• Folk music produced in St. Paul.  Many of the recording artists have performed with Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” radio show on NPR-- http://www.redhouserecords.com/
• Pottery from Hastings-- http://www.mississippiclayworks.com/
• Lawn & Garden products-- http://www.glamoswire.com/
• Stereo speakers-- http://www.magnepan.com/
• Wooden Urns-- http://nelsonwoodworks.net/default.aspx
• Women’s clothing from Eagan-- http://www.priscillasapparel.com/home
• Travel clothing from Minneapolis-- http://gotravelwear.com/

 Mississippi:

• Viking Gas Ranges in Greenwood-- http://www.vikingrange.com/consumer/index.jsp
• Factory tours in Mississippi--http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=MS
• http://www.themississippigiftcompany.com/
• http://www.theeverydaygourmet.com/
• http://msgifts.blogspot.com/

 Missouri:

• Wooden train toys-- http://www.woodentrain.com/
• http://www.missourimercantile.com/
• http://www.missourimade.net/
• http://www.missouriwine.org/
• http://www.smokehouse.com/
• http://www.montereymushrooms.com/indexflash.html
• Honey bee products & tours-- http://www.honeyheaven.com/bee_tours2
• Pet food from Kansas City-- http://www.greenies.com/
• Missouri-made BBQ products-- http://www.zarda.com/
• Candles from Kansas City-- http://www.creativecandles.com/
• Airplanes from Mexico, Missouri-- http://www.zenithair.com/zen1.htm
• Hand-blown glass from St. Louis-- http://www.ThirdDegreeGlassFactory.com/
• Recycled glass products-- http://www.thesmashedchefs.com/
• Factory tours in Missouri-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=MO
• Native American flutes-- http://www.FretwellFlutes.com/

 Montana:

• Factory tours in Montana-- http://factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=MT
• http://www.madeinmontanausa.com/ProDir.asp
• http://www.buymt.com/
• http://montana2you.bigcartel.com/
• http://www.montanahandmade.org/
• http://www.xplorermaps.com/products.html
• http://www.lindasmontanagifts.com/index.cfm?go2=products&search=made%20in%20montana
• http://www.medicineriverwoodworks.com/
• http://rockingkcustomleather.com/
• http://www.midrivers.com/~sandylea/products.html
• http://www.donovanslippers.com/

 Nebraska:

• http://www.finestofnebraska.com/
• http://www.finestofnebraska.com/gift-baskets.html

 Nevada:

• Factory tours in Nevada-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=NV
• http://www.napa-sonoma.com/products-page/baskets/made-in-nevada-basket/
• http://www.nevadamagazine.com/issues/read/made_in_nevada/

 New Hampshire:

• Factory tours in New Hampshire-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=NH
• http://www.nhmade.com/productsearch.cfm
• http://www.visitnh.gov/what-to-do/arts-and-entertainment/new-hampshire-made.aspx
• http://www.nhtourguide.com/made_in_nh/directory.htm
• Baby products-- http://www.cuddlebee.com/

 New Jersey:

• Factory tours in New Jersey-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=NJ
• Porcelain Sculptures-- http://boehmporcelain.com/index.aspx
• http://www.generalpencil.com/
• Tool company from Clifton-- http://www.forrestblades.com/
• Honey products from Tinton Falls-- http://www.emgoldbeekeepers.com/
• Food products-- http://www.jerseynaturals.com/New-Jersey-Tomato-Marinara-Sauce-p/jn001.htm

 New Mexico:

• Factory tours in New Mexico-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=NM
• Women’s clothing from Albuquerque-- http://www.seamstoyou.com/index.html
• Doggy treats-- http://whoozurdoggy.com/
• Gift products-- http://www.therealsouthwest.com/
• Products from New Mexico-- http://newmexicosown.com/NMO_Online-Market/
• Honey products-- http://www.nmhoney.com/nmhoney/Products.htm
• Spicy foods-- http://www.buenofoods.com/br_retail_products.html
• Condiments and foods-- http://www.santafeseasons.com/products.html
• Products and services from Santa Fe-- http://santafe.net/Products/index.html
• Gift baskets from Santa Fe-- http://www.simplyclassicgiftbaskets.com/santafe.htm

 New York:

• Tavern Puzzles-- http://tavernpuzzle.com/
• Giant stuffed animals-- http://store.bigplush.com/
• Factory tours in New York-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=NY
• Furniture from Jamestown, NY-- http://www.crawfordfurniture.com/Pages/index.html
• Adirondack furniture-- http://adirondackchairshop.com/
• Unique Silkscreened Gifts-- http://www.fiddlerselbow.com/Scripts/PublicSite/
• Men’s clothing-- http://www.mountainandsackett.com/
• Performance shoes-- http://www.tictactoes.com/
• Sports uniforms-- http://www.teamaco.com/
• Wooden Toys-- http://www.wildapples.com/
• Steamer trunks-- http://www.rhinotrunkandcase.com/pages/about-us/
• Products made in NYC-- http://www.madeinnyc.org/
• Products made in NYState-- http://www.madeinnys.com/
• New York products-- http://www.simplynystore.com/
• http://visitnewyorkstate.org/MadeIinNewYork.aspx
• http://www.newyorkcrafters.com/

 North Carolina:

• Factory tours in North Carolina-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=NC
• Leather Goods-- http://www.americancustomleather.com/index.html
• Furniture-- http://www.sittineasy.com/index.php
• Golf Equipment-- http://www.caddyit.com/
• Lacey home décor-- http://www.heritagelace.com/our-story.cfm
• Pet furniture from Charlotte-- http://www.etsy.com/shop/queencitywoodcraft
• http://www.madeinnorthcarolina.com/minnc-retailers.html
• Furniture-- http://www.carolinachair.com/
• Furniture-- http://www.highpointfurniture.com/
• This End Up Furniture from Sanford (They can schedule plant tours if you call in advance) (I love my This End Up furniture, which I’ve owned since the 80s)-- http://www.thisendup.com/about.htm
• North Carolina sauces-- http://carolinasauce.stores.yahoo.net/northcarolina.html
• Baseball caps-- http://americap.com/
• Jewelry from New Bern-- http://www.carolinacreationsnewbern.com/NewFiles/stuart%20nye.php
• Cabinet doors-- http://hardwoodstore.com/custom-made-cabinet-doors

 North Dakota:

• Factory tours in North Dakota-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=ND
• North Dakota gifts-- http://www.ndgifts.com/
• http://www.someonesinthekitchensd.com/ckshop.php?category=175

 Ohio:

• Guggisberg Cheese Factory, Millersburg, OH—Featuring Baby Swiss cheese.  Take the kids to see how cheese is made, and go across the street for lunch or dinner at Chalet in the Valley Restaurant--http://www.babyswiss.com/
• Harry London Chocolate Factory & Retail Store, North Canton (same exit from I-77 as the Akron/Canton Regional Airport)—Tours available.  Make appointment for tour ahead of time.-- http://www.harrylondon.com/tours.aspx  
•    (Harry London Factory makes chocolates in North Canton, Ohio)
• Hartstone Pottery Factory, Zanesville—Factory tours available on Fridays at 11am.  You can also call ahead to schedule a time to paint some of their pottery in their painting room.  (You’ll have to pay for the pottery that you paint and allow a couple weeks afterwards to either pick it up at the factory after they’ve glazed it for you or have them ship it to you after the glazing process is complete.)  You can also just simply buy some of their beautiful pottery at their store if that’s what you want; be sure to check out the “seconds” room for lesser quality but more inexpensive pieces.-- http://www.hartstonepottery.com/
   (It's fun painting pottery at Hartstone Pottery in Zanesville, OH)
• Longaberger Basket Homestead, Frazeysburg—Off Highway 16.  Watch how baskets are made, try your own hand at making a basket, and shop, shop, shop for American made baskets and basket accessories.  This is a big shopping experience, so allow at least a couple hours if you like to shop.-- http://www.longaberger.com/
• (Basket Making demonstrations at Longaberger Homestead in Frazeysburg, Ohio--2007)
• Eiler’s Chocolates, downtown, Dover—Homemade chocolates.  President George W. Bush made a Presidential stop here.  Cash only.
• Warther Carvings Museum & Retail Store, Dover—Take a tour of the museum about Ernest Mooney Warther and his carvings. Afterwards, purchase some of their kitchen knives made by his descendants. http://www.warthers.com/
• Amish-made furniture—all throughout Holmes County in Ohio you can find quality wood furniture made the old-fashioned way.  We purchased our dining set from a Yoder family (like my husband says, “Yoder’s in Amish Country is like looking for Smith in the phone book”)
• This artist is a relative of ours who designs products out of her house in Dover.  You can order her products online at: http://www.artexpression.com/byartist/Jill_Ankrom.htm

Or at: http://www.prints.com/art.php/Jill_Ankrom/?artist_id=21639

Or at: http://www.barewalls.com/ix-jill-ankrom.html

Or at: http://www.postercheckout.com/PictureGroup.asp?ArtistID=9045

Or at: http://artpassions.com/artists/jill-ankrom/

Or at: http://store.chooseart.net/showartist.aspx?id=73698

• Cottage play house-- http://www.myveryownhouse.com/playhouse/
• Step 2 Toys in Streetsboro (Be careful, though.  Many are made in China)-- http://www.step2.com/made%2Din%2Dusa/
• Factory tours in Ohio-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=OH
• Candy from Cincinnati-- http://www.marshmallowcone.com/index.htm
• Flashlights-- http://www.fultonindoh.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=31
• Ergonomic furniture-- http://www.ergodesktop.com/
• Pet cleaner-- http://happycatsolutions.com/
• Pet furniture-- http://www.dynamicaccents.com/
• Bob Evans-- http://www.bobevans.com/
• Smuckers in Orrville-- http://www.smuckers.com/
• http://users.starpower.net/mkluskens/genealogy/MadeinOhio.html
• http://www.atasteofohio.com/categories.php
• http://www.madeinohiogifts.com/
• Cheese from Baltic-- http://www.steinercheese.com/ohio-proud
• Furniture from Millersburg-- http://www.sheelys.com/current/amish_furniture.aspx
• More Amish furniture-- http://www.walnutcreekfurniture.com/customization.php

Oklahoma:

• Factory tours in Oklahoma-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=OK
• Charcoal Ovens-- http://www.hastybake.com/
• Leather products-- https://abas.affiliatetechnology.com/
• Whirlpool appliances (some are also made in Ohio)-- http://www.whirlpool.com/home.jsp
• Truck parts from Oklahoma City-- http://www.mar-k.com/
• Tortillas-- http://serapiostortillafactory.com/index.php/made-in-oklahoma.html
• Soap from Choctaw-- http://www.lrsoaps.com/
• Gift baskets from Oklahoma City-- http://www.kayesbaskets.com/products.html
• Dink's BBQ Sauce from Bartlesville--http://www.dinksbbq.com/
• Candles from Bartlesville--http://www.keepsakecandles.com/
• Pottery from Salupa--http://www.frankoma.com/
• Cheese sold from Watonga (but it's actually made in Perryton, TX)--http://www.watongacheesefactory.com/
• Oregon:

• Factory tours in Oregon-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=OR
• Soy candles--http://www.pauperscandles.com/index.html
• Women’s clothing-- http://sweetgrassfibers.com/
• Women’s clothing-- http://www.sympaticoclothing.com/
• Pet products-- http://www.bebopusa.com/
• http://www.madeinoregon.com/
• http://www.tistasty.com/
• Tillamook Cheese Factory-- http://www.tillamook.com/cheesefactory/index.html
• (Tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook, OR in August 2002)
• Blue Heron Cheese-- http://www.blueheronoregon.com/
• 
  (Visit to Blue Heron Cheese Company in Tillamook, Oregon in August 2002)
• http://www.hoodrivergifthouse.com/
• Columbia knit from Portland-- http://www.usa-wear.com/
• Shoes from Portland-- http://www.craryshoes.com/
• Hunting boots from Portland-- http://www.danner.com/
• Boots from Klamath Falls-- http://drewsboots.com/
• Hats from Talent-- http://www.hatpeople.com/
• Pendleton wool from Portland-- http://www.pendleton-usa.com/
• Shoes from Corvallis-- http://www.softstarshoes.com/
• Leather gloves from Bend-- http://www.sullivanglove.com/Scripts/default.asp
• Shoes from Scappoose-- http://www.westcoastshoe.com/
• http://www.therealmothergoose.com/
• Herbal massage cream-- http://www.oregoncreme.com/
• Bicycles-- http://www.rapha.cc/made-in-oregon
• Fishing lures-- http://www.blackpuglures.com/
• Fruit from Medford-- http://www.harryanddavid.com/

(If you love s'mores, be sure to visit Hershey's Chocolate World in Hershey, Pennsylvania)

 Pennsylvania:

• Hershey’s Chocolate, Hershey, PA—A major tourist attraction in Pennsylvania.  The whole town is built around the chocolate industry.  There are many places to visit in town.
• Hershey’s Chocolate World-- http://www.hersheys.com/chocolateworld/
• Asher’s Chocolates in Souderton-- http://www.ashers.com/page/retail_store
• Factory tours in Pennsylvania-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=PA
• Bath and Body products-- http://www.heidisherbals.com/index.html
• Candy-- http://www.justborn.com/
• Superhero costumes for kids-- http://www.babypop.com/shop/

 Rhode Island:

• Factory tours in Rhode Island-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=RI
• Tools-- http://moodytools.com/MTI_Index_4.html
• Men’s accessories from Pawtucket-- http://www.jjweston.net/
• Jewelry from Warwick-- http://www.thesilverdragonjewelry.com/
• http://www.onlyinrhodeisland.com/
• http://www.thingsmadewonderful.com/
• Wooden Toys-- http://www.beardedsealwoodcrafts.com/
• Woolen blankets-- http://www.risheep.org/rhodywarmwoolblankets.htm
• Fishing gear-- http://rhodeislandshellfishin.com/

 South Carolina:

• Factory tours in South Carolina--

http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=SC

• Adult and kids clothing-- http://www.bamboosa.com/
• Leather products from Ruby-- http://www.nstarleather.com/
• Goat products from Anderson-- http://www.splitcreek.com/

 South Dakota:

• Factory tours in South Dakota-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=SD
• http://www.dakotapride.com/
• http://www.madeinsouthdakota.com/
• Jewelry from Rapid City-- http://www.goldoutlet.com/
• Goat milk soap-- http://harmonycreamsoaps.com/

 Tennessee:

• Factory tours in Tennessee-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=TN
• Boots from Mountain City-- http://www.afboots.com/
• Guitars from Nashville-- http://www2.gibson.com/Gibson.aspx
• Socks from Niota-- http://www.worldssoftest.com/
• Cotton clothing from Chattanooga-- http://www.earth-wear.com/
• Clothing from Cleveland, TN-- http://www.hardwickclothes.com/
• Denim clothing from Brisotl-- http://www.pointerbrand.com/ProductCatalog.asp
• http://www.picktnproducts.org/
• http://www.tnvacation.com/listing/made-in-tennessee/
• Flags-- http://www.tnflags.com/
• Wood products-- http://www.adamswoodproducts.com/
• Wine-- http://www.tennesseewines.com/
• Lodge Cast Iron products from South Pittsburg--http://www.lodgemfg.com/

 Texas:

• Factory tours in Texas--http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=TX
• Kids books-- http://applepiepub.com/
• American logo clothing-- http://www.americanjoeapparel.com/Home.asp
• Floor coverings-- http://www.modutile.com/
• Kids’ shoes-- http://www.bearfeet.com/index.php
• Wine-- http://www.fcv.com/
• Jeans-- http://www.texasjeans.com/
• http://www.texasfood.com/
• Gift baskets-- http://www.lonestargiftbaskets.com/
• Furniture and Home Décor-- http://www.texastrue.com/
• Texas wine-- http://www.georgetownwinery.com/
• Ronn motor company-- http://www.ronnmotors.com/cms/
• Saddles-- http://www.easttexassaddle.com/
• Cowboy hats-- http://www.mikescustomhatters.com/
• Windows-- http://www.ringerwindows.com/made-for-texas.html
• Leggings for girls from Dallas-- http://www.berryjane.com/
• Boots from Fort Worth-- http://www.chippewaboots.com/
• Shoes from Austin-- http://www.dimovi.us/store.php
• Shoes from San Antonio-- http://www.sassysolesonline.com/
• Shirts from Samnorwood-- http://www.sosfromtexas.com/
• Swimming pool products from Wichita Falls-- http://texasrec.com/

 Utah:

• Kencraft Handcrafted Candy in Alpine-- http://www.kencraftcandy.com/factory/
• Sweet Candy Company in Salt Lake City-- http://www.sweetcandy.com/index.php?content=press&idx=41
• Factory tours in Utah-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=UT
• Camping gear-- http://www.butlerbags.com/cms/
• Safes-- http://www.libertysafesusa.com/

 Vermont:

• Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory—Factory tours available-- http://www.benjerry.com/scoop-shops/factory-tours/
• Vermont Teddy Bear-- http://www.vermontteddybear.com/
• Wooden products-- http://www.maplelandmark.com/
• Craftsbury Kids-- http://www.craftsburykids.com/
• Factory tours in Vermont-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=VT
• Flannel clothing-- http://www.vermontflannel.com/index
• http://www.bestofvermont.com/
• http://www.vermontmadeproducts.com/
• http://www.simplyvermont.com/shopping/vermont-gifts/
• http://www.central-vt.com/region/product.htm
• http://www.vermontdirectories.com/products.html
• http://www.vermontgiftbarn.com/
• http://www.madeinvermontusa.com/
• http://www.vtliving.com/products/
• http://vtsugarandspice.com/
• From Stowe-- http://www.stowecraft.com/ctgy/made-in-vermont.html
• Furniture-- http://www.copelandfurniture.com/category.php
• Home & Garden products-- http://www.newenglanddirect.com/state_VT.html
• http://www.stowekitchen.net/store/categorylist/1303//Made_in_Vermont
• Outdoors apparel from Johnson-- http://www.beaglewear.com/
• Clothing from Johnson-- http://www.johnsonwoolenmills.com/
• Ties from Middlebury-- http://www.beautiesltd.com/
• Socks from Northfield-- http://darntough.com/
• Shoes from Brattleboro-- http://www.famolare.com/
• Women’s undergarments from South Burlington-- http://www.herlook.com/
• Socks from South Stratford-- http://www.socklady.com/index.php
• Novelty socks from Morrisville-- http://www.wheelhousedesigns.com/

(We visited Ben & Jerry's in Vermont in August 2011)

 Virginia:

• Factory tours in Virginia-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=VA
• Kitchen knives-- http://www.sabaknife.com/
• Shoes from Lynchburg-- http://www.usmadeshoes.com/johansen/
• Window Treatments from Fredericksburg-- http://www.fashionwindowtreatments.com/
• http://www.madeinva.com/
• http://www.celebratingva.com/downloads/Virginia%20Products.pdf
• http://www.vapeanuts.com/default.aspx
• http://www.banders.com/stateofmine/madeinva/madeinva.asp
• http://www.shopvafinest.com/
• http://www.magnoliafoods.com/
• Window treatments-- http://www.shuttercompany.com/tag/richmond-virginia/
• Baskets from Ashland-- http://www.basketsbypat.com/
• http://www.thevirginiashop.org/madeinvirginia.aspx
• http://www.thevirginiamarketplace.com/
• Baby products-- http://www.simplelittlebaby.com/categories/Made-in-Virginia/
• Wood tables from Sperryville-- http://www.farmtable.com/
• Soap-- http://www.va-soaps.com/
•  
• Washington:

• Factory tours in Washington-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=WA
• Cookware-- http://cookware.manpans.com/index.shtml
• http://www.madeinwashington.com/
• http://www.pacificnorthwestshop.com/ 
• Solar panels-- http://www.sunergysystems.com/products/silicon-energy
• More solar panels-- http://www.firemountainsolar.com/
• http://www.gonorthwest.com/store/nwmade/made-in-washington.htm
• Pretzels from Moxee-- http://www.pretzellady.com/

 West Virginia:

• Homer Laughlin Fiesta Dinnerware in Newell--http://www.hlchina.com/
• Factory tours in West Virginia-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=WV
• Glassware-- http://www.heathceramics.com/go/heath/homeware/store/index.cfm?catID=74
• http://www.mountainmade.com/
• http://www.wvfruitandberry.com/
• https://www.scenesofwv.com/shop/index.cfm
• Candles-- http://www.lostroadcandles.com/

 Wisconsin:

• Harley-Davidson Motorcycles in Milwaukee-- http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Content/Pages/home.html
• Mortara Instrument ECG machines in Milwaukee-- http://www.mortara.com/
• Allen Edmonds Shoes in Port Washington (men’s shoes)-- http://www.allenedmonds.com/
• Wooden toys-- http://www.woodthatsfun.com/
• Factory tours in Wisconsin-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=WI
• Outdoor clothing gear-- http://www.tadvgear.com/
• Outerwear from Bayfield-- http://www.wolfsongwear.com/
• Furniture from Kiel-- http://www.aalaun.com/
• Socks from Sheboygan-- http://www.wigwam.com/AboutUs.aspx
• http://www.wisconsingoods.com/
• http://www.wisconline.com/store/index.html
• Cheese--http://www.marscheese.com/
• http://store.mustardmuseum.com/category/made-in-wisconsin
• http://www.wisconsinmade.com/
• http://www.wisconsinartists.com/
• Furniture--http://www.langfurniture.net/current/american_made_bedroom_furniture.aspx
• Cheese from Cadott--https://www.yellowstonecheese.com/
• Products from Wisconsin Historical Society--http://shop.wisconsinhistory.org/productcart/pc/viewcategories.asp?idCategory=69&pageStyle=P

 Wyoming:

• Factory tours in Wyoming-- http://www.factorytoursusa.com/StateList.asp?state=WY
• Denim wedding dresses-- http://www.idoindenim.com/main/page_home.html
• Wyoming wine--http://www.wyowine.com/
• Products from Cody--http://www.codywy.org/wygoods.htm
• Wyoming meat--http://www.wyomingtourism.org/overview/Made-in-Wyoming--Meat/1125506
• http://www.wyomingbuffalocompany.com/

 I just found this new link a month after originally writing this article: http://madeinusaforever.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return to Hocking Hills, Ohio

The last time our family visited the Hocking Hills region of Ohio, my son was about 15 months old and my daughter was 3 years old.  The only thing my daughter remembers from that previous trip was the purple cottage we stayed in at Ravenwood Castle and the stray gray cat that wandered around all the guest cottages there.  My son, of course, doesn’t remember anything from that previous trip, so we decided to take a weekend trip there now that the kids are much older at ages 6 and 4. 

(Ravenwood Castle in Hocking Hills area of Ohio)

         On our way to the Hocking Hills area we stopped in Zanesville at Hartstone Pottery’s flagship store.  They offer tours of the factory on Fridays at 11 a.m., and there is a painting room where visitors can paint their own pottery pieces made by the Hartstone employees.  We took the kids on the tour, so they could see how the pieces are produced, but they were much more excited about the prospect of painting.  My son chose to paint the small after dinner mug and my daughter had her heart set on painting the piggy bank.  I bought some pottery from Harstone after our painting project; I had to replace some lead-contaminated dinnerware that was made in China.  Harstone Potters pride themselves in making lead-free pottery.  The clay arrives from several places in the U.S, and the paint is all lead-free. (You can even place online orders!)

(Hartstone Pottery pig in the process of being painted by a 6-year-old)

         The drive from Zanesville to Logan, Ohio is about 1 ½ hours long.  We arrived at Old Man’s Cave around 2:00, so we walked the trails there until we could check into our cottage at Hocking Hills State Park at 4:00.  I was a little fearful we might run into thunderstorms that were predicted for the afternoon.  But we were really lucky as we walked the Old Man’s Cave trail.  It was humid and drippy along the trail, but recent rainfalls gave us an overabundance of waterfalls.  The rain held off until after dark.

 
(Old Man's Cave in Hocking Hills)

         Our next day in the Hocking Hills area provided us a good opportunity to visit Cedar Falls and Ash Cave, as well as Old Man’s Cave a second time before the thunderstorms arrived at 3:00 in the afternoon.  (We timed that well!)  The rain from the previous evening gave us a wonderful opportunity to see gushing waterfalls at all three places, as well as extra mud along the trails.  Cedar Falls was much more powerful this time than when we last visited in August 2008.  Back in 2008, the Falls were only a trickle.

 (Old Man's Cave)
         The kids wanted to see Old Man’s Cave a second time, so we went there first before the Saturday crowds built up.  We didn’t walk the entire loop again because it’s pretty strenuous, and there were a lot more people there than when we visited Friday afternoon. 

(Old Man's Cave trail)

         We drove down the road to Cedar Falls from Old Man’s Cave.  It’s so nice to come here in early spring to see all the butterflies and dragonflies but not be bothered by gnats and mosquitoes yet.  We ate a picnic lunch after walking the trails at Cedar Falls.

(Cedar Falls in Hocking Hills area)

         Our final walk for the day (and the easiest) was at Ash Cave.  My kids had a blast throwing sticks in the waterfall-created pond and digging in the sand under the gorge cave.

(Ash Cave)

         Every time we’ve visited the Hocking Hills area, I’ve been in awe of how lush and green everything is.  I love seeing the ferns growing out of the rocks, moss and fungi growing on trees, and the wildflowers splashed everywhere.  On this trip I saw both white and purple violets.  (I’ve never seen white violets before.)

(Purple Violets)

(White violets)

         After checking out of our cottage for the weekend, we ate Sunday brunch at the restaurant in the Hocking Hills State Park and then headed up to Newark, Ohio.  Today was another rainy day, so we couldn’t do much except drive home.  In Newark we stopped to see the Newark Earthworks, which are mounds made by prehistoric tribes from the area.  Luckily, it wasn’t raining when we made our stop.

(Newark Earthworks, Heath, Ohio)

Places to visit in Southern Ohio:

• Ravenwood Castle--http://www.ravenwoodcastle.com/
• Hartstone Pottery, Zanesville, Ohio--http://www.hartstonepottery.com/
• Hocking Hills State Park-- http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/parks/tabid/743/Default.aspx
• Newark Earthworks-- http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/c08/index.shtml