Sorry if it seems I've been ignoring you.
I hadn't had a vacation in two years. I had lots of PTO time so I decided to travel by car to Texas with my parents. My nephew's graduation from high school was taking place and we wanted t go. We decided to take our time and stop to do touristy things along the way. We stopped in Kentucky at Abraham Lincoln's birthplace and boyhood home and Museum(I always want to add an a to museum). Then in Tennessee we went to the Memphis Zoo(no, we didn't do anything regarding Elvis). It was hectic but good there.
The Graduation was very large (about 400 students) and long. while we were there went traveled a bit to the Waco Zoo (My fav zoo on the trip!!) It was small but had a good variety and it was very clean and didn't smell bad. I recommend it to anyone who's near by.
On the way back we stopped at Independence MO where we toured the Harry S. Truman Museum (It was great but so much info) and then we went to Leila's Hair Museum (I had added the a again). It was fascinating! Apparently in Victorian times the well to do women would take their own, their family member's, and horse hair and slowly wrap it around wire and (in a process like macrame) made it into wreathes and flowers. Also the would grind it up and mix it with egg whites and paint with it. These were called sepia paintings. It was very detailed and it could take a year to make one. often they labeled whose hair it was and made a family tree. pretty cool. Then, still in Independence we went to the Puppetry Art Institute. It was cool and I paid a few dollars extra to paint a puppet. That was fun. I picked out a frog that I painted like a poison dart frog (because I know that that is Benjamin's favorite).I let him name it today and he named it Magic.
From there we went through Oklahoma. One of the rest stops was a museum as well. It was great!! My favorite part was a army suit that you can tell was cut off of the person. I can't remember his name but he had been putting up a telephone pole and had been struck by lightning. In spite of being declared dead four separate times he recuperated. lol.
Then we went to Hannibal IL, the Birthplace of Mark Twain. We toured the buildings and museum and I was funny, sad, and delightful. I want to read his biography now.
On to Nauvoo. I got a brick made there and a ring made from a horse shoe nail. My favorite part was the Gunsmith. The tour guide was awesome! Apparently Browning was a Mormon and many of his designs were bought by Colt and Winchester! Crazy.
From Nauvoo we traveled to Springfield MO. There we went to another (better) Abraham Lincoln Museum. I almost cried. They had two shows "Ghosts in the Library" and "Lincoln's Eyes". They were both great but the former was the best.
then we traveled the rest of the day until we were about an hour from Columbus. then we went to the Zoo there the next day It was very big and the map of the Zoo Sucked and Mom and dad were getting Cranky at each other and we didn't see the baby elephant because the wait line was an hour We stopped at an Olive Garden(my first time eating there) on the way out. We got home about 9pm last night.
It was a long, but mostly enjoyable trip.