On Vacation!!!

We woke up to sunshine in Marion, Illinois this morning and we drove a couple of hours to Casey, Illinois. Casey is a small town with HUGE roadside attractions... like the world's largest rocking chair.  We found a giant pokeball!!!  It was a great day to walk around town and check out all of the big things... There was a pretty cool rock shop in town, and we tried fresh pretzels from Tetzel Prime. They were delicious! Then we drove to Schaumburg for the night. The weather has kind of scary- high winds and pelting rain. After we had some dinner and a quick trip to the mall we hunkered down at our hotel.  Today's State Count 1- Illinois Trip State Count 7: Michigan-Wisconsin-Illinois- Missouri-Arkansas-Oklahoma-Arkansas-Tennessee-Arkansas-Missouri-IIllinois

We woke up this am to sunshine in Little Rock, Arkansas. After yesterday's day of fresh air and sun we opted to sleep in and get a little bit later of a start. We originally planned on a zoo stop today, but decided some extra R&R was in order.  When we did hit the road, we drove to Memphis, Tennessee to the MOSH museum (Museum of Science and History). We spent quite a bit of time looking over the various exhibits. I think my favorite was the new area on artificial intelligence. There were a number of stations where you were able to play with/test the AI.  After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we drove to Marion, Illinois for the night.  Today's state count: 4 Arkansas-Tennessee-Arkansas-Missouri-Illinois Trip State Count 7: Michigan-Wisconsin-Illinois- Missouri-Arkansas-Oklahoma-Arkansas-Tennessee-Arkansas-Missouri-IIllinois

We woke to sun at the Queen of Diamonds in Murfreesboro, Arkansas today.  Our first stop this morning was right across the street at LoveJoys. We found some great screen sets and then made our way to Crater of Diamonds State Park.  Today was a digging day!! We found some hematite, barite, and a lot of mica. We also we able to bring sifted gravel home with us, so we have a few gallons of gravel to sift through when we get home. We were glad that we opted to take this trip in March, I would imagine that the mid summer heat would make the digging and sifting much more strenuous.  We learned about some other dig sites and metal detecting opportunities, I think we will plan another trip to this area sometime.  Then, we drove to Little Rock. We had some dinner and went to check out the Big Dam Bridge before hunkering down at our hotel for the night.  Today's state count: 1-Arkansas Trip State Count 6: Mic

We woke up this morning in Fort Smith, Arkansas to sun! We didn't have any plans in Fort Smith, it was just a good stopping point for our travels.  Our point of interest today was the Museum of the Red River in Idabel, Oklahoma. On our way, we drove through the Ouachita Mountains. The drive was gorgeous! The Museum of the Red River did not disappoint. Our main goal was to see the Acrocanthosaurus, but we enjoyed the other exhibits of art and artifacts as well.  We initially thought we might drive the 20 minutes over the border to Texas, but decided to skip Texas until next time and headed back north to Murfreesboro, Arkansas.  Today's state count: 2 Arkansas- Oklahoma Trip State Count 6: Michigan-Wisconsin-Illinois- Missouri-Arkansas-Oklahoma-Arkansas

We woke up this morning in Branson, Missouri to sunshine! Our first stop was the boardwalk aquarium.   My favorite spot was the jelly fish room with all of the mirrors.  Video of the jellyfish Then, we made our way to the Hollywood Wax Museum.  Our next stop was the Shoot for the Stars Putt Putt Golf Course.  We opted to stop for lunch at the Chicken House. After lunch we went on a shopping spree. (We needed to stock up on a few things at Target) Dane was on the hunt for some more dinosaurs and anime merch. Our favorite stop was the Prehistoric Fossil store. Dane found quite a few new specimens to take home.  Then we played another round of putt putt golf at the Dinosaur Canyon course before driving to Fort Smith, Arkansas for the