Mansfield, OH Weekend!

August 10-12, 2012

Charles Mill Lake Park

Off on another weekend camping trip! This time we headed to Mansfield, Ohio. Mansfield is known as “The Haunted Capital of Ohio”. Our reason for the visit was not for the haunted/paranormal activities, but to visit some of the places that were featured in the film “Shawshank Redemption”.

For this trip we camped at Charles Mill Lake Park ($29/night with electric hookup), which is part of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District.  The campground was quite hilly, making finding a level site a challenge. The bathrooms were some of the cleanest campground bathrooms that I have ever seen.  The campground has a lot of offer: boat rentals, fishing, swimming, horseshoes, volleyball, basketball, remote control car track, and play structures for the kids.

Ohio State Reformatory

Saturday morning, we headed to the “Ohio State Reformatory”. The tour was $9/person. You can wonder around much of the building, using the video kiosks for descriptions, or if you would rather, for $5 you can use a hand held audio tour. We spent about 2.5 hours in the reformatory. We arrived soon after they opened and were able to get parking without any issues, but by the time we left the parking area was overflowing with visitors.  The tour would not be good to take small children on, due to lead paint exposure and the many stairs. The interior of the building is pretty run down, with lots of peeling paint and broken windows.

Richland Carrousel Park

After the reformatory, we headed to downtown Mansfield, which is only about 2 miles away from the reformatory. We parked in a large parking lot across from the carrousel. We stopped by the “Bissman Building” for some photos. The “haunted” Bissman Building (1886) is closed to the public, but there are limited paranormal investigations that occur occasionally.

The “Richland Carrousel Park” is hand carved in the style of G.A. Dentzel, of the most revered carvers of the early 1900’s. The carrousel is enclosed and runs year round 11am-5pm. It is $1 per ride or $5 for six rides. There is a small gift shop in the building.

We continued to walk around town a bit and found an excellent chocolate shop called “Squirrel’s Den Chocolate Factory”. I got the “Paradise” chocolate, which had pineapple and coconut inside. It was very yummy! We also stopped by the bakery, but it was pretty much all sold out of everything.

Oak Tree - Shawshank Redemption

The last stop for the day was to check out the Shawshank Redemption “Oak Tree”. It was struck by lightning a few years back, so the dead part is at the reformatory.  There is not anywhere super close by to park, the tree is just standing in the middle of the field, and the lightning strike makes it pretty obvious.  Malabar Farm is very close by, but they charge a fee to enter.

Besides the things we checked out there are many more things to do in the Mansfield area: zip line tours, canoeing/kayaking, biblical wax museum, and gardens to name a few.

Mike's Birthday Travels!

August 4, 2012

"Red Barns Spectacular" Gilmore Car Show

It was an early start for the day as we headed for the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan. It was the “Red Barns Spectacular” Car Show and Swap Meet, my husband was very excited to go. The show was expected to draw around 1,000 cars. Besides the car show, the museum is also included with admission costs ($9/adult). The museum includes six buildings with all sorts of cars including:  Pierce-Arrow, Tucker, and Franklin just to name a few. Currently, there are additional buildings under construction. The facility is open from 9-5 daily and food is available on-site. Per the Michigan Travel Ideas Magazine 2012, the Gilmore Car Museum ranks #1 in the “10 Great Historic Auto Sites” column.

We headed back to Battle Creek for a very late lunch. We decided to check out the #7 ranked BBQ place in Michigan – Hogzilla BBQ Pit! We decided to opt for the lunch buffet ($9.99/person) so we could sample a little bit of everything. The meat was very smoky flavored and very lean. The BBQ sauce was spicy, kind of like the “Texas” type that some other BBQ places have. The mac & cheese was decent (good flavor and texture) – I am not a huge mac & cheese fan. I was disappointed in the corn bread; it was a bit blah and a bit over cooked. The baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad and spaghetti were all good. The owner of the establishment is very friendly and enjoyed talking about his business and the clients that he’s had.

Honolulu House

As we continued our trek home we stopped by Marshall. We had been to Marshall in the past, but it was in the early spring and the fountain downtown was not running. This time we were able to see the fountain in action and we also visited the historical Honolulu House. The Honolulu House tour was $5/adult and they start the tour whenever people show up. Photography is not allowed inside of the home. Our tour lasted probably about an hour. The tour is not really that formatted, so you can ask questions whenever you want. If you want more information on something the guides will share all they know, which could extend the length of your tour. There are many other historical homes in the area around the fountain. There are walking maps available at the Honolulu House.

Our last stop on the way home was Jackson. “The Parlour” is an excellent ice cream shop that has been serving since 1944!  The portions are very large – the banana split has six scoops of ice cream! They also serve food items, but we have only ever gotten the ice cream.

Lansing Area Weekend!

July 27-29, 2012

We decided to take a weekend camping trip to Sleepy Hollow State Park (Laingsburg, MI), since we had a birthday party to go to in the Lansing area. We set up on site 145, which was perfect size for our pop-up trailer. The site was very private, surrounded with vegetation.  The bathrooms were clean. The showers were warm, but nowhere close to being hot.

We did not spend a lot of time at the campground, but there is a kid’s play structure, disk golf, a picnic area, a beach and a hiking trail. Many people fish, boat, and kayak in Lake Ovid.

Peacock Road Tree Farm

The birthday party we went to was for a 1-year old and was held at Peacock Road Tree Farm, which is also in Laingsburg.  The farm has a petting zoo, train rides, and hay rides. The place was nice and very well maintained.

Prior to the party, we headed to downtown Lansing to check out the Michigan Historical Museum. The museum use to be free to get in but now charges $6 or less per visitor. If you have the “Recreation Passport” sticker on your license plate tab you get a discount. The museum is nice and would be a great activity for a rainy day and also for children. You may also want to visit the capitol building, which is a couple of blocks away. During the week, it appeared that you would have to pay for parking, but on the weekend it was free. You will need to check the hours for the museum, it varies.

Lansing Lugnuts 

Saturday evening we got tickets to see the Lansing Lugnuts baseball team. The Lugnuts are a Class “A” minor league team, affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays. We headed to Clara’s for dinner. Clara’s is housed in the “Union Depot”, which was built in 1902. There is a historical marker outside of the place, which tells you the history of the building. The building is very pretty. The menu at Clara’s is rather large and the prices are reasonable. I had a Calzone, it was good. It was well cooked and a bit smaller than what some places serve.

We kept our vehicle parked at Clara’s and walked the few blocks to the Lugnuts game. We had $20 clubhouse seating. While seating in that area, pop was $2.50 and you got free refills. Free popcorn was also provided. There were fireworks after the game, which were nice. It was about a 30 minute drive back to the campground.

The next morning we packed up headed home, with memories of an excellent camping weekend!

New York, New York! (Day 6-7)

June 25, 2012

Today Show

Since our trip was coming to an end soon, we decided it was now or never to visit the “Today” show. We hopped on the subway early to get a good spot, however we did not get there nearly early enough (7AM). Lucky for us, it started to rain and that cleared people out. The rain stopped so the TV people did come outside! We ended up getting on television twice – that was exciting! Monday is definitely the day to visit the Today show. It was Spiderman week; they were passing out masks, shirts and posters. It was also Hope Week – a New York Yankees charity. For Hope Week, they passed out hats, shirts, and buttons. Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte were also there, so we got to see them. Some of the USA women’s soccer team also visited the set while we were there.

After the Today Show, we wondered around the Rockefeller Plaza and checked out St. Patrick’s Cathedral. St. Patrick’s opened in 1897 and is a fine example of Neo-Gothic style. Neo-Gothic is an architectural style that was developed in the middle of the 18^th century in which the structures demonstrate a strong vertical emphasis, with sharply pointed arches and finials (decorative ornament). This church was also undergoing renovations.

Alice in Wonderland Sculpture - Central Park

We continued our journey towards Central Park – stopping by Trump Tower for some photos. There are many sculptures near the entrance of the park, and many throughout the park, as well. Some stops that we made included: Alice in Wonderland, Belvedere Castle, and Strawberry Fields. You could easily spend a day wondering around Central Park, we spent only a couple of hours.

Strawberry Fields - Central Park

We walked back towards the Broadway area, since we had heard about a really cool diner called “Ellen’s Stardust Diner”. The wait staff sings throughout the day and everything is in the 50’s style. The menu is huge and the food was good. I ordered the sloppy joe with onion rings and baked beans ($15). Allison had chicken tenders with fries ($15). We discussed going to the Today Show again the following day and decided to make a sign to take. As we headed back to the apartment, we stopped and got supplies for our sign. We also were in search of a Post Office to mail post cards home.

For dinner we walked to Little Italy, passing through Chinatown on the way. We got warned that in Little Italy all of the restaurants would try to pull us in to eat that their place. We had done some prior research (thanks Tripadvisor!), so we chose one of the higher reviewed places “Da Gennaro”. The prices were reasonable, $15-$20, and the food was good. It took a while for them to deliver bread to our table; it pretty much arrived the same time as our meal (I had a pesto dish). After dinner, we stopped by a bakery shop, where Allison got some cannoli – which she claims were nearly the best she’s had. I got chocolate caramel cheesecake at a cafe next door from the bakery – it was not very good.

June 26, 2012

First thing in the morning, earlier than the previous day, we hopped on the subway so we could get a better spot at the Today Show. We arrived a little before 7AM and managed to get a good spot along the fence. Our sign grabbed the attention of a lot of other visitors as well as the camera crew! We basically made a NYC Bucket List, with checkmarks by everything except for “meet Al”. Al did in fact come over to us! We got to shake hands and he talked about our sign on television! Having a good sign seems to be key to making it on the air for more than just a few seconds – that or find out where the hosts will be standing and get in that area. It was much less busy on Tuesday, compared to Monday. There were not any freebie handouts, but they did handout little cards that give you a 10% off purchases at the NBC store.

Central Park from the Top of the Rock

We had a few hours to kill, before we had to catch the taxi to the airport so we went to the “Top of the Rock”. There was no wait to go up first thing in the morning. It was a bit pricy ($25 for adults), but it provided a great overhead view of the city, better than the Empire State Building (which I went up a few years back). We spent probably about 30 minutes to an hour at the top.

Our New York City adventure was about to end…one last ride on the subway…one last view from the apartment. My cousin arranged a car to pick us up and take us to the airport. That worked out very well and I would recommend others to do the same, mostly because who wants to stand around and try to hail a taxi with luggage. We used the Dial 7 service. It cost only $5-$10 more than a standard taxi. Another tip – have the driver take the Brooklyn Bridge - there is not a toll. Our flight home was uneventful.

New York, New York! (Day 5)

June 24, 2012

Hamilton Grange NM

The day started with a run along the waterfront, it was very pretty. Then we hopped on the subway to visit Hamilton Grange National Memorial, in the Harlem area. Hamilton Grange National Memorial is the home of Alexander Hamilton. Chances are that you see Hamilton quite frequently –he is on the $10 bill.  Hamilton was an orphan from the Caribbean that later became George Washington’s right hand man. Hamilton was instrumental in the creation of the new Constitution, and he was also the first Secretary of the Treasury. Hamilton only lived in the home for two years, before he was fatally wounded in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. At this point in time, it was illegal to duel; however it still seemed to happen quite frequently. Hamilton’s son was killed a dual a few years prior to Hamilton. The park service offers tours of the home. The tour was good and lasted around 30 minutes. There is also a 30 minute film available, but we did not get a chance to watch it. The display boards were interesting. Allow 1-1.5 hours to visit the site, if you do the tour.

General Grant NM

Our next destination was about a 30 minute walk to the south – General Grant National Memorial. There was a 3 minute film at the visitor center, which does not really tell you much about the site, but rather about all the sites in the area. I would advise not to wait around for the film to be shown. There are a lot informational boards in the film area that you can read if you are so inclined.  Ulysses S. Grant (the guy on the $50 bill), was twice elected to president and he established the first national park – Yellowstone. Grant’s Tomb was the largest fundraising event, at the time, raising $600,000 for its construction. The granite and marble structure was completed in 1897 and remains the largest mausoleum in North America. Be sure you check the hours that the monument is open, it is only open every other hour or so.  Thirty minutes would be more than enough time to spend in and around the memorial, allow more time if you wanted to read the display boards at the visitor center.

General Grant NM - ceiling

For lunch, we took a short walk to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Harlem. This BBQ place was better than Blue Smoke, and a bit cheaper. I had the pulled pork sandwich, which came with two sides.

After lunch, we hopped on the subway again and exited in the Times Square area. We had nothing else planned for the day so we decided to go to a Broadway show. We got discount tickets at the TKTS booth. The TKTS booth sells day-of-performance tickets only. We opted to see Mary Poppins. We had mezzanine seats, which cost us $156 for two tickets (claimed to be 40% off). The show was good and of course kids would love it!

While we were in the area we stopped by the Hard Rock Café store to get my husband his beloved zippo. Then it was off to the subway and back to the apartment for a bit of relaxation before heading out to dinner. We had dinner at a place called Sarabeth. I ordered the chicken pot pie ($16), which was very good.

New York, New York! (Day 4)

June 23, 2012

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NHS

First thing in the morning, we hopped on the subway and headed out to the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. The park service offers a tour at the site and of course, we took it. The tour was very good! It lasted about an hour and was very informational. Roosevelt lived in the home until the age of 14. The house was demolished in 1916 only to be reconstructed in 1919. The home contains five period rooms, which is furnished with a lot of original artifacts. Allow 1.5 hours if you take the tour and look at the other displays.

Near the Roosevelt Birthplace is the FlatIron Building. Its architectural styles include: Beaux-Arts, Renaissance, and Neo-Renaissance. It was completed in 1902 and was once one of the tallest buildings in the city.

View from Governors Island NM

We headed back to the apartment, grabbing lunch at a Whole Foods store, before our afternoon adventure to Governors Island National Monument.  The Governors Island ferry is near the ferry for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island. The ferry ride was free! There are a couple of guided tour options at the site – we were able to do the National Monument tour, which lasted 45-60 minutes. The Roof to Castle Williams tour fills up fast is has a limited number of people allowed. The island also has a different schedule for the weekend and weekdays, and is only open at the end of May through the end of September. There are two forts on the island – Fort Jay and Castle Williams. Both forts were constructed between 1796 and 1811, as a part of the First and Second American System of Fortification. There is not really too much to see here, but the island provides an excellent view of the NYC skyline. Half the park belongs to the park service and the other half is owned by a trust, which plans to develop the island into a park area. The park was very busy and the ferry line can get long. Allow 1-2 hours to check out the island.

Brooklyn Bridge

After jumping on the ferry and arriving back in Manhattan we walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge (1883) is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the US. The bridge was very busy with pedestrian traffic.  Once we got to the other side – Brooklyn - we had pizza at Grimaldi’s. They serve coal brick-oven pizza, where a large runs you about $15. Be prepared to wait outside in order to get a table, we got in after about 20 minutes. After pizza, we headed to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. Ice cream was $4 for a single scoop – warning a single scoop is very large! Be sure to check out the pier area surrounding the ice cream place for some great photographs.

New York, New York! (Day 3)

June 22, 2012

Statue of Liberty

The plan for the day included a visit to the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and Castle Clinton. We walked along the waterfront all the way to Battery Park, which is where you can purchase tickets for the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Ferry. The ticket booth is inside of Castle Clinton. Tickets are $17 for adults; $14 for seniors over age 62, $9 for children 4-12, and under age 4 is free. You can also order tickets online if you know in advance when you want to go. The ticket line was short and the waiting line to get on the ferry was short also.  Again, you must go through security screening before boarding the ferry. The first stop, if you take the ferry from Battery Park, is the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France. Construction began in 1875 and it was dedicated in 1886. The Statue of Liberty was designated as a National Monument in 1924. The park service offers tour every 30 minutes at the flag pole in the middle of the courtyard. The tours last 30-45 minutes and talks about why and how the statue was made and a bit of the history behind it and the island. There were a lot of kids on the tour that we were in so it seemed that the guide directed the presentation to a kid level of understanding, which is good if you take kids with you. We walked by a different tour guide at one point and it seemed that his tour was more in depth, probably since there were no kids in that tour group. The inside was closed, due to renovations. Renovations should be done by the end of 2012, at which point you can get to the crown and into the lower pedestal. Beware that the crown is very hard to get up to, due to the fact that the park service only allows 10 people up at a time, with only 3 groups going per hour. Time to allow at this site would vary, depending on if the pedestal (museum) is open.

Ellis Island

Back to the ferry for Ellis Island (which is part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument). Ellis Island was America’s largest and most active immigration station back in 1892-1924. Over 12 million immigrants were processed in Ellis Island. The national park service offers a tour, which covers a large portion of the building. We took the tour and thought it was great. The tour was about 45 minutes in length. There were some kids on the tour, but the presentation was not really geared toward them.  There are a ton of displays and a few short films to view. The huge plus for us was that there was air conditioning! You could easily spend most of the day there. We were there for probably about 3 hours. The funny thing about Ellis Island is that New York and New Jersey keep fighting over what state it is in – the verdict – the building is in NY the grounds in NJ. NY claims it should be all theirs since the place was built on a landfill that is full of NY garbage.

Castle Clinton NM

Boarding the ferry we headed back to Battery Park. We checked out Castle Clinton National Monument. The fort was built just before the War of 1812, to protect the harbor from attack by the British Navy. Later, the fort served as an entertainment complex, immigrant processing station, and then an aquarium. In 1975, the fort was restored to its original fortress configuration. There really is not much to see at the fort, other than a few canons and some small display boards. The most interesting thing, in my opinion, was the photographs showing what the area looked like at certain dates in time. Plan to spend 30 minutes or less at the fort.

After the fort, we headed back to the apartment, making a quick stop for a late lunch on the way. For lunch, we went to a place called the “Shake Shack”. Allison had been here on her previous trip to NYC and said it was good. They sell burgers, hot dogs, fries, and custard. I had the shack burger and a vanilla shake. The shake was good the burger was not the best. I do not eat fast food, and I would consider this place fast food – very greasy.

For dinner we went out with the people we were staying with. We went to a place called 508 Gastro Brewery in the Soho neighborhood. We ordered a large variety of appetizers – truffled mac & cheese, spinach dip, Italian sausage flatbread pizza. The mac & cheese was very good. For my main course, I had a burger with fries. The fries were the best I have ever had – they add all sorts of seasonings on them. The burger was good, typical of a burger served at pretty much any establishment.