Presidents of the 1960s Were Required to Be Known Only by Their Initials

After watching HBO’s All the Way tonight (which was excellent), it seems fitting to talk about visiting LBJ’s ranch in Texas last month.

Blue and Gray on Labor Day Weekend

Part 1: Gettysburg

We took an impromptu trip on Labor Day weekend 2015 to see some sights in Pennsylvania, starting with Gettysburg. Our main reason for visiting (because, remember, we are not normal) was to see Eisenhower’s home, which is part of the national park. But, we also made time to see some of the battlefield and got a pretty good overview.

Martin Van Buren Is OK

Wicked Awesome Road Trip

Day 3
Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Niagara Falls, NY, to Kinderhook, NY
322 miles

Our goal for today was to travel across much of New York state and hit the first of many dead prez fixes for this trip: Martin Van Buren’s Lindenwald in Kinderhook.

We seemed to have some trouble getting totally awake (by “we” I mean “me”) and had to make a stop pretty early in the drive to fuel up on sugar (Timbits!) and take a break. The weather wasn’t too great, either, so driving wasn’t very fun.

Quick Spin around the Circle City

We took a brief trip to Indianapolis for my niece and nephew’s spring break in early April and crammed a variety of activities into about thirty-six hours. That’s how we roll.

We arrived in town late in the morning and made our way to the Butler University campus to scope out the parking situation for the show we were seeing there that night.

Next stop was Crown Hill Cemetery for a quick dead prez fix at Benjamin Harrison’s grave. I visited here several years ago, and there wasn’t much to see, but it seems Benjamin has gotten a recent upgrade. It sometimes pays to revisit places from time-to-time to see how things have changed.

Back on the Train Gang

Not to be outdone by his sister, my nephew got his own private vacay in July. As I have mentioned in previous posts, he is a huge fan of trains. So, we went to the train Meccas of Altoona and Scranton, Pennsylvania, with a few other sites thrown in for good measure.

Admittedly, I am not a train buff myself, but I enjoy these jaunts to train attractions because I see things I probably wouldn’t see otherwise, and there is usually a tie-in to something historical, which I do have an interest in. Everyone wins!

Day 1: We left on a Saturday afternoon and drove to Johnstown, PA, for the night. We had planned to take the incline and see the view of Johnstown below before turning in. However, we ended up parking at the top, which was good, because the incline was not working (and we found out the next day, had not been working for a while), but we still got to see the view and watch some fireworks off in the distance.

On the Holiday Road 2013: Las Vegas to Anaheim

July 13, 2013—Day 8

Our goal today was to meet up with the rest of the family in Anaheim, first stopping a few short miles away in Yorba Linda for a dead prez fix at the Nixon Museum and Presidential Library.

The ride itself was rather uneventful. We downloaded the Tina Fey movie, “Admission,” and watched that for part of the journey. Hmmm. Best part of this film: Paul Rudd, who is usually the best part of any film he’s in. I was hoping it would be funnier, but not so much.

We ate at our first In-N-Out burger somewhere near a strip mall. The place was packed! I can see why everyone raves about this restaurant—it’s tasty and cheap. And that chocolate shake lasted for many, many miles.

We spent a lot of time looking at the exhibits at the Nixon museum. I thought the part about Watergate was intriguing and pretty comprehensive. Kudos to this museum for not trying to cover it up. (Heh heh.) I think the museum did Nixon justice and painted a rounded portrait of him, not just focusing on the good, but also not showing only the crooky-ness.

Michigan Seems Like a Dream to Me Now

I interrupt the California road trip report already in progress to recount my Labor Day weekend jaunt to Michigan. It started out as an overnighter to see the Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival in Clarkston but soon turned into a full-fledged girls road trip (you know the girls: my mom, my niece, me). I will discuss the festival in a separate post.

Day 1: We drove up the middle of Indiana to Michigan (listening to a lot of Jim Gaffigan along the way, which would explain our obsession with talking about bacon the whole weekend), making our first stop in Saugatuck. My niece and I were looking forward to an adventure with Saugatuck Dune Rides, and we were not disappointed.

The Ultimate Presidential Road Trip

Attending a work conference in Washington, DC, presented an opportunity for me to take a little Virgina road trip and mark a TON of presidential sites off my list. Wow. I am totally set for a while.

First, though, I got to do some late afternoon/early evening sightseeing in DC when the conference finished up for the day. Mostly, I saw memorials because nothing else was open. Cool, but not my favorite thing ever. I did get to peek in on the Capitol and the Library of Congress, albeit briefly.

A two-fer. The Washington Monument as seen from the Lincoln Memorial. (What’s the difference between a monument and a memorial?)

Christmas in Music City

The day after Thanksgiving 2011 brought another of our famous girls trips. This time the girls hit Nashville for a show, some lights, some artery-clogging vittles, and of course, DEAD PRESIDENTS!

We left fairly early and hit a small town in Kentucky for a picnic of turkey sammiches whilst sitting in front of the courthouse…in a drained and dry fountain. It was odd, but so something we would do.

Once we hit Tennessee, we travelled a little south of Nashville to visit Polk’s home. Since I’ve already written about his home in a previous post, I won’t go into details here. It was pretty much the same as it was two years ago.

On our way back north, we stopped in at the Loveless Cafe to jam pack our guts. Huge portions. The biscuits were scrumptious, and we all bought some jam to take home. Was it worth an out of the way trip? Probably not, but it was a fun little spot for an evening’s meal and entertainment (we especially enjoyed toying around with the cardboard cutout thingies and taking weird photos).

Another Labor Day Weekend, Another Trip to Tennessee

As many of my trips this year have been threatened or altered by weather, a hurricane warning diverted our Labor Day weekend plans and saw us make a detour to the Smoky Mountains, staying at, of course, a Hampton Inn in Pigeon Forge. It was a decent Hampton, but something about it being pet-friendly squicked us out a little.

On our way, we took a little side trip to admire the Cumberland Gap and stopped off at Andrew Johnson’s homestead in Greeneville, TN (we always seem to sniff out the presidents anywhere we go). We also paid our respects to Andy’s grave. We’ve already decided to return to Cumberland Gap when the leaves change and explore the area more. And, I can now proudly cross all the Tennessee presidents off my list!