Atlanta with Kids

The second stop on this summer's road trip (read part one here) was in Atlanta.  We could've obviously spent a ton of time just in that city, but since we're trying to hit all 50 states before the kids leave for college, we're on a deadline.

Atlanta is supposed to have an amazing Aquarium, but we can do that in Baltimore, and they've got some good civil war history, but we live in Manassas for cripes sake, so we don't need ANY MORE of that.  So, we decided to go to the World of Coca Cola Tour.

Now, let's back up.  If you are going to be in Atlanta for a few days, you should GET A CITY PASS. These were actually available in a few of the places we stopped, but we weren't any one location long enough for it to work for us.

For example, in Atlanta, you can visit
World of Coca Cola
Georgia Aquarium (with expedited entry)
Inside CNN Studio Tour
Zoo Atlanta OR The Center for Civil and Human Rights
Fernbank Museum of Natural History OR College Football Hall of Fame

For our World of Coca Cola tickets we paid $16 an adult and $12 a child.  That was a grand total of $84.  The City Pass Tickets are $73 an adult, but the value is $129.  Way better.  If you can groupon it, even better.

Anyway, we paid our exorbitant fee and went in.  It was kind of like being at church for Coke.  There was a movie about all the ways Coke enhances our life, exhibits with things like the American Idol couch (Coke sponsored the segment), a 3D type ride to discover the secret ingredient to Coke (Hint! It's You!), and a walk through the vault where they keep the secret recipe.

It was a little weird for me.

There was also a room where you and your children get a cup and can try all the soda you want from all over the world.

It's arranged by continent and labeled by country.  Very educational.

Plus, your kids can run all over a room (well, run as fast as they can while their feet stick to the floor) and drink ALL THE SODA THEY WANT.  Some of which are delicious.

When you want your children to stop, take them to Italy and let them taste this little gem:

Her reaction is not as intense as mine was.  

When you first sip it, you think it's just club soda, but then you get the distinct feeling that you've just vomited and the flavor is still in your mouth.

Awesome.

On your way out, you get a Coke in a commemorative bottle.

As you can probably tell, this wasn't my favorite stop. I think if you're a person who collects Coke bears or Coke Santas, or you actually drink Coke on a regular basis, you might really connect with their message.  Since we spend most of our time telling our kids that soda is a gateway drug, we didn't really connect with what they were going for.  I think I was expecting more of a factory tour, which could've been neat, but I didn't totally love this.

Next stop- food.

Actually, I believe this is backwards and we went to food first, but I am entirely too lazy to fix it right now.  We went to Greenwood's which is a really eclectic little place tucked away near a Jewish temple and a cemetery from the 1800s.  (I know this because I went on a walk after eating with my boys.  I love old cemeteries, so we explored). 

We got the fried chicken, which is sweet (weird for me, but good) along with a host of traditional side dishes like mac and cheese and collard greens.  I loooove collard greens.  So good! If you ever go, note that the fried chicken takes a full 30 minutes, so order it first and be ready to wait.  Also, the fried chicken is enough to feed 2 hungry adults or 1 adult and 3 kids....so don't be like us and order 3 and have enough to feed the whole restaurant :) 

Yes, that's Elvis.  Yes, he's watching over a totally sarcastic sign listing all the reasons you "Shouldn't have to wait for a table at Greenwood's".  Clearly these are my people.  

What else happened in Georgia...

I think that's it :) From Atlanta, we drove to Alabama.  Did I mention that we spent a good portion of this trip speed camping? We did. You can get great rates in camper villages as a tent camper, so we stayed most of these places for $20-$30 a night, and we just rolled up our tent and hit the road in the morning. 

It was hot, frequently, but it was gorgeous, especially in Louisiana, but we'll get to that later :) 

 I have no idea what my mom and my husband are talking about here....but his hand motion is certainly uncomfortable looking...

Camping! Whoot! 

Next up....Louisiana.

Fun with Kids in Charlotte, NC

As I mentioned in a previous post, we did a massive road trip this year for our summer vacation.  We're trying to take our kids to see all 50 states before they graduate, mainly because I like a challenge, but also because it keeps us seeing new places!

Two years ago we did this:

We've currently done: Virginia,  West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, California, Florida, New York, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.  That's halfway!! (PS, if any of you own summer homes in Hawaii or Alaska and want to invite us out, we are totally game.)

Do we see everything a particular state has to offer? HECK NO.  That would involve way more money and vacation time than we have.  But we do have a little fun and get the flavor of each state, plus the kids have fun ticking it off a map and doing a little workbook page about each state with its flag, flower, bird, motto, etc.

Anyhow, I thought I'd share a few things from our trip. Like this awesome picture of me imitating a mug:

It's really amazing to me that I'm not more popular. 

The first leg was down to see my cousins in Charlotte, NC.  They're the same age as my kids (second marriage), which is both weird (who wants a bossy adult cousin) and awesome (because they have so much fun with my kids).  Charlotte is a lovely area, and we enjoyed trying out a few things there:

1. Discovery Place Charlotte

We were able to take the LYNX Train to downtown Charlotte, which is about a 3 block walk to the museum.  My kids have ridden the metro enough times to not care one lick that we were taking a train, but my cousins were super duper excited to get to take "the metro".  If you use LYNX, note that tickets are sold in kiosks outside the train and you just keep them with you in case of a spot check. Prices vary for kids and adults, and you'll want to not mess up and click "round trip" on the kids tickets and "one way" on the adults like I did.  #MyBad

It wasn't cheap:

Museum	$15.00	$12.00	FREE	FREE
IMAX Discovery Film	$10.00	$9.00	$5.00	$5.00
Museum + IMAX Discovery Film	$20.00	$17.00	$5.00	$5.00

But the kids had a lot of fun.  If you go, be sure to check out one of the shows, we saw Rat Basketball and a liquid nitrogen show that included a giant ice cloud the kids got to run through.  They were definitely a good time.

PS, I don't understand in any of these kid themed museums why in the heck they charge more for adults.  You know what we're going to do? Sit on a bench and take iphone pictures while our kids do all the fun stuff.  That's what. It should be more for kids and a pittiance of an "observer's fee" for adults.

I digress.  If you are a WIC/EBT recipient, you can get up to six tickets for $1 each.  Bring your card (or whatever you'd use to prove this applies to you).

2. Rock Bottom 

Rock Bottom restaurant was located just across the street from the museum, so we headed over there for lunch.  It was really tasty, I got a side of mac and cheese and a side salad.  

Because I can, people.  Because I can. 

3. Staying with friends and family is great because you can also get in a little freebie/down time.  We enjoyed hanging out at the neighborhood pool, playing games, and the kids tried to get as much time "playing minecraft together" as humanly possible when you need an adult to put a password on your ipod to get to play.  

4. Waldhorn Restaurant

My uncle being something of a foodie, and all of us being part German, he took us to check out the Waldhorn Restaurant.

This was amazing.  My daughter got the cheese spaetzale which was amazing, I had sauerbraten, people had roladen, blaukraut was passed around....noms.

All the noms.

If you don't normally have German food or if you've never tried it before, this would be a good place to start!!

Filial piety compels me to mention that their Black Forest Cake was not anywhere near as good as my mother's.  It's not their fault, they are simply too far away for her to bake for them nightly.

Following our two days in Charlotte, we left for Hotlanta, which will be coming at you next :) 

Ohio: Coco Key

If you're trying to knock states off your list, you can get a few done in just a few minutes if you stay in Cincinnati.

Bam.  Three states! My mom and I actually visited this same area when we went to hang out with some great friends of our family who were staying at the Ronald McDonald House while their daughter had some very extensive surgery.  There's a great aquarium, a zoo they apparently enjoyed, and there's some really really good ice cream.  There's also White Castle, which I personally will leave to Harold and Kumar because, well, I think it's gross.  I'm sure many of you will disagree, but this is my website and I get to make outrageous claims about fast food institutions.  So there.

This time, we came to Cincinnati straight from the Creation Museum in Kentucky.  We figured that after a hard day museum-ing (and sitting in the car on the way from West Virginia following the STRANGEST Google Maps directions ever) the kids would enjoy something active.  Enter, our hotel.

(Photo Credit: Coco Key) 

We stayed at the Crown Plaza Cincinnati North, which is attached to a Coco Key Resort.  I originally found this hotel on Groupon, and while I couldn't get a stay the night we needed, I did get our park passes from Groupon.  (Travel Tip: Check the deal sites for the city you're visiting! You might score a great deal!).  I got a deal for 4, which was perfect because people who aren't swimming don't pay, and I am not water-slide material right now.  After checking in, we ran the kids over since they would only have a few hours before the waterpark closed for the night.  There's the large slides, which go outside the building before dumping the rider back inside, a larger play structure surrounded by a lazy river with a giant bucket that dumps water at regular intervals, a lazy river, and a smaller play structure for younger kids.  There's also an arcade.  Life jackets are available, and there's also a bar and food available for purchase in the waterpark area.  

(Photo Credit: Coco Key)

The kids had a really great time, and older children will be able to enjoy this waterpark without too much worry about their swimming ability (all my children are swimmers, but you wouldn't have to be to have fun here).  My mom noted that the steps were kind of grody- that waterpark lots of people feeling.  Everyone had fun and we stayed until the park closed, which was about two and a half hours, and my kids probably would've stayed longer.  Well worth the money for them to get out their energy and play like crazy! 

Tickets are $25 at the door, but do check online, both at deal sites and on the Coco Key page, as right now they're running a special for half-price tickets when you purchase online. 

Since we didn't feed the kids dinner so they could play as long as possible, we took them to dinner after showers at 10pm.  

In case you didn't know it, I'm running for mother of the year.

We decided to try Cincinnati Chili.  Not my favorite, either- it's got cinnamon in it and while I'm a fan of cinnamon in my savory food (see: Lebanese Taverna's Chicken Fatteh, which I make a mean at-home version of) the kids liked it and everyone was a huge fan of Pleasant Ridge Chili, especially their Gravy Fries.  These sound horrible- they're fries with cheddar cheese and house-made gravy on top.

They're so freakin good.  Terrible for you, but good.  This little diner-style restaurant was hopping, too! We left around 11:30 (they're open until 4:30) and every bench in the place was packed!  Definitely a great Yelp find :) 

So that was Ohio, we had a fun time and stayed up way too late! 

Official Count: 4 States Down, 47 States To Go
(Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio)

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Disclaimer: We got a great deal on Priceline on our Hotel and a Groupon for Coco Key, but nobody paid me, solicited my opinion, or gave us anything, and as usual, all opinions are my own. 

Kentucky: The Creation Museum

After we left West Virginia, we headed through Pennsylvania and Ohio into Kentucky, where we checked out the Creation Museum.  We homeschool, and I teach my kids multiple theories of creation, including the Big Bang, Evolution, and Creationism, offering them background and research on each one, so I was excited to bring them to check out this museum.  The Creation Museum is a gorgeous facility and focuses on Young Earth Creationism, or the idea that a literal interpretation of the Bible makes the Earth about 6,000 years old.  I realize that this post might not be for everyone, so if it's not for you, no need to start a fight, just move on to the next post.  Deal?

A lot of the museum was what I was expecting, there were beautiful exhibits showing diversity of species, there were some great exhibits detailing the differences between Natural Selection and Evolution, and there were a few great panels talking about the potential problems with radio-carbon dating as evidence of the age of the Earth.

There were some excellent collections of species diversity, and the kids really liked the displays with the insects.

When you enter the museum, there is a display on Lucy, and then there is a tunnel showing some modern issues that have arisen because of a lack of adherence to Biblical morals (they're mostly magazine covers with news stories about school shootings, etc).  After that, there is a room with some church history, and eventually you walk through a version of the Garden of Eden and a replica of Noah's Ark.

Many of the rooms feature animatronic people or animals, which are really neat.  Several of the characters will talk to you and let you ask preselected questions off a touch-screen in front of them, which the kids really enjoyed.

After you exit these portions of the museum, you enter into more exhibits detailing the differences between Creationism and Big Bang/Evolution, which was where most of the apologetics I was hoping we'd see were located.

Unfortunately, I had pretty much lost my kids at that point.  They did okay in the first room with images depicting problems we have in the world (see picture above) although the younger two found it slightly scary.  However, there's a room you walk through after the fall in the garden with video footage being projected onto the walls, and as far as I could tell, there wasn't really a way around it.  When we walked through, it was images of concentration camp victims and wars, and my two youngest were overwhelmed by it.  It would be really great if there was some kind of warning about what you were walking into, or an optional route for parents whose children might be particularly sensitive to strong images. If I had it to do over again, I would have taken my children though backwards, so we started with the exhibits on bugs, dinosaurs, and rocks, and then worked my way back, and skipped the images room and gone back to the beginning.

Photo Credit: Creation Museum

The Creation Museum has more than just the museum, although it was hot the day we went, so we opted to stay with just the indoor activities.  There's a beautiful botanical garden, a petting zoo, camel rides, a zip line, a planetarium, and frequent workshops and events for all ages.  There are also several movies that take place both as part of the tour and throughout the day, which are posted in the day's schedule.  You could easily spend an entire day here and have a lot of fun, both inside and out.  The entire museum facility is beautifully done and meticulously maintained.  Tickets are $29.95 for adults, $23.95 for seniors, $15.95 for children ages 5-12, and 5 and under are free.  Adults get $5 off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and all tickets are valid for two days.  The planetarium is an additional fee. There are some special promotions, as well, with Mothers free on Mother's Day, Fathers free on Father's Day, everyone free on Christmas Eve Day, and Veterans free on Veteran's Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day.

Wether your children would enjoy seeing familiar stories brought to life, or your older children would benefit from the apologetics, this museum is very well done, with the exception of the two rooms I mentioned being too much for younger children.  There were lots of younger children at the museum the day we went who didn't seem bothered, though, so it may have just been us.
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Disclaimer: We were provided with tickets to attend the museum, but all opinions are my own.

West Virginia

So, I have this crazy idea.  Typically my best ideas are my crazy ones.  I want to take my kids to all 50 United States before they graduate.  This was all inspired by a Pinterest find, a quilt made of state t-shirts.  That's what I want to send them off to college with.  Riley, my oldest, is 9, so I have to shake a leg.  

Over this last week, my mom was attending a family reunion in Wisconsin, and wanted to take the kids.  Originally, my dad was going to go, but he ended up being unable to attend, so I decided that I would go since it was going to be a massive drive for one adult alone.  I couldn't drive, but I could help with the kids, so we packed up and off we went.  Our first stop was West Virginia.  Not much of a drive, but it got us started.  My godmother lives in West Virginia, so we were excited to have a visit with her!  Originally, we were hoping to go with River Riders on a tube trip down the river.  We've used them before for White Water Rafting, but right now, tubing is way more my speed- especially with the munchkins! Unfortunately, the recent rain made the water level too high, and they were only allowing ages 12+ on the water.  Boo.

 Aunt Beth, my godmother, took us to JayDee's Family Fun Center (2332 Henshaw Road, Inwood, WV) to go to their indoor "Nature Center".  I wasn't really sure what to expect, but it was awesome!  For $5 admission, we really got a great deal!  The Nature Center is really more of a children's museum and it's got several rooms, each with a theme.  There was wind and water, which had hoses and a water table to play with and explore, see above.

 In another room, there were minerals and rocks, another had rainbows and mirrors that distorted your view so show the power of light, still another room had oceans, there was a farm you could "plant" and "pick", and there were animals and bugs displayed, too!

 The final room had live animals, including birds and lizards.  Two of the birds will even talk to you.  The kids had an amazing time, and every room had hands-on components.  It was a great deal for a clean, well-kept children's museum! I know they called it a nature center, and I can see that title, but it was really very children's museum-esque and we would actually drive out again to go- maybe as a homeschool field trip later this year!

 One of the reasons I never would have expected such a great experience was that JayDee's is really like an extreme House of Mouse (you know what I'm talking about!!).  When you first walk in, you're inside an arcade and there's a cafe selling pizza and other food.

 Outside the back door, there's a waterpark.  Slides, a splash zone, and lots of people having fun! Also out the back door, there's putt-putt golf, a batting cage, and a small train that will take you up to a "mine" so you can pan for gemstones.  My middle child, Logan, is a nut for gemstones and keeps a collection, so I ponied up for the large $9 bags of gemstones and dirt and away we went.  The Nature Center closes earlier than the rest of the facility, so we had to be done there in only an hour, and could have easily spent two or three there.

After a train ride through the parking lot, the kids got to "pan for gold", shaking their gemstone bags into the screen-lined boxes and then lowering them into the water. We've done this before at Cox Farms, but the kids LOVE it, and are always so excited to get to do it, anyway.

After JayDees, we headed to check out Despicable Me 2, which I think I already mentioned on Facebook was a HUGE win with my kids.  Savannah is 5 and she enjoyed it, but not as much as Logan (7) and Riley (9) who were almost rolling in the aisles.  Even the three adults really enjoyed the storyline, which has a bit of a love story to it.  Definite win!

Official Count: 2 States Down, 48 States To Go
(Virginia, West Virginia)
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Disclaimer: I was not compensated or provided with anything in return for this review, I'm just sharing my own opinions and experience.  Yours may vary, but if it does, I hope it's because it's way more awesome than I'm sharing.