MANATEES!!!

Since I had never seen manatee (and its on my bucket list), I decided that we needed to go to the Columbus Zoo to see some! The zoo was filled with cool, unique animals. AND it was decorated with Christmas lights since it was their annual Wildlights celebration. I learned a lot about manatees and saw some pretty cute critters! 

A mama and her baby

Sleepy tiger

Snake necked turtle

Another sleepy kitty!

Niagara Falls

We got to go up on a sort of bridge type thing near the falls to take pictures. The sound of the rushing water was so loud! I don't know what kind of crazy person would want to go over it in a barrel! It was freezing! But it was really cool that you could see Canada just across the river! 

Hershey's Chocolate

We got to go to Hershey's Chocolate World in southern Pennslyvania. There is a factory in there, but you can't take a tour of it. We didn't get to do much because we were running from bad weather. But we did get to (of course) shop! We looked at all the many chocolates and Hershey's kisses. I got mint chocolate truffles (which are delicious). We also found huge bottles of chocolate syrup. 

Up, Up, and Away

We started the big plane expidition by seeing the very first one. We saw the Wright Brothers plane in the Carillon museum in Dayton, Ohio. It was so amazing how precise and just plain brilliant the Wright brothers were making the plane! Super impressive. 

The Wright brothers bicycle shop

The plane!

Next we went to the Wright Patterson museum also in Dayton. We saw so many planes and other aircraft!! It was simply amazing. 

Winchester, Indiana

One of my new favorite towns! Got AMAZING pie (black raspberry and sugar cream) for breakfast. We found it when I saw a sign that said "try the pie". So we went and tried multiple pies! 

We also met a cool dude named Tom who owns the Country Gentleman. Dad got the jacket he needed and we got great information about where to go next. 

The Process of Cheese-Making

We highlighted every single cheese-making factory in Wisconsin and I was instructed to direct us to any one of them in the general vicinity. The first one was called Cedar Grove. When we entered we sampled sheep milk cheese. It was really strong and really good! Then we were showed us the factory part where the cheese is actually made. The cheese is watched by a certified cheesemaker (someone who went to a special school to take up cheese making). We learned about the entire process, the bacteria in the cheese, different types of cheese, what curds are, and many other cheese related facts! Of course we also bought cheese and took a card to we could have cheese shipped to us! 

Where the milk is stored.

Curds being made.

Buckets of CHEESE!!!!

Mall of America

We went to the Mall of America in Minneapolis! It was all decorated for Christmas. The decorations were beautiful and very twinkley!!! The mall has a bunch of rollercoasters in a mini amusement park that we rode. We then went and explored all the shops. It was like a regular mall except GINORMOUS!!! 

The drop on one of the rides. I had to stand almost on the other side of the mini amusement park because it was so tall!!

Made completely out of average sized legos!! 

A President, Stray Cats, and Tadpoles

In Springfield, Illinois, we saw the Lincoln house and museum. We saw Lincoln actual house and got a tour. We learned some pretty interesting things about Lincoln! Like that he love animals. He had a dog named Fido. He also would bring home stray cats he found and would play with them. I learned that Lincoln nicknamed his son Thomas, Tad, because Lincoln thought he looked like a tadpole when he was a baby. Still don't know if that's a good thing or not... 

Marry Todd Lincoln's actual cake plate!

The guest room

Lincoln's bed that was 6 feet and 9 inches long!!!!

Back of the house (minus the concrete sidewalks!) 

George Rogers Clark

Here's someone you don't read about in textbooks! George Rogers Clark and his men walk through frozen rivers with no food for days. Their goal was to get to Fort Sacville and attack the British. They surprised the British and British Governor Hamilton was forced to surrender. The victory gave America the Northwest territory. The Northwest Territory gave us lots more transportation opportunities! It is the largest memorial built on a fort (Fort Sacville). A bonus fun fact: George Rogers Clark is William Clark's older brother! While George was fighting at age 26, William was at home in Virginia at age 9! 

Inside the memorial 

Santa Claus, IN

Today we went to Santa Claus, Indiana so send Christmas cards. There is a giant Santa Claus in front of just about every store!! Very cute little town. 

Vicksburg, Mississippi

We started the day at Vicksburg. We followed a path and saw markers where the Union and Confederate soldiers were. It was really cool. There was a huge Texas granite memorial for all the Texas soldiers that fought. We got to look at and go inside an iron clad boat called the Cairo. It was really cool and really inspired Dad. 

Cairo

Happy Happy (really) Happy

At Duck Commander we did get to see the Duck Dynasty trailer and RV. That was really cool! And we saw the warehouse. We saw the famous wooden Duck Commander and Buck Commander sign out front. From there we went to the gift shop. There were t-shirts and ornaments and bobbles heads and Si cups. There was Duck Dynasty gear EVERYWHERE!!! 

The famous sign

The trailer

The merchandise.