After visiting more than half the state capitols in America, we still felt a sense of awe when we walked into the Pennsylvania state house in Harrisburg. It is a large majestic government building and the dome is green. That alone made everyone in our family pause as we admired the architecture. Inside the building is just as spectacular and grand, with stained glass, gold, and paintings. The female artists who painted all the murals did a great job and we just gawked at all the unique works of art. Miles was happy that the senate was in session and we were able to sit in the gallery while watching the inner workings of the state government. He quickly realized that sometimes things take forever in government and all we actually saw was the senate recognizing guests, commercial speeches promoting businesses, and a few senators putting up motions to make awareness months for various issues. Then they broke for lunch and although he has a lot of interest and patience, we didn’t want to sit in the empty chamber for a few hours till the senators reconvened. Of course by we I mean our five year old who finds the inner workings of government to be boring like most young kids. It was great to visit a lovely capitol building with a welcome center for the kids to learn at, but the best part was what we found outside the capitol building. We usually try to walk around the state capitols we visit so we can see all the statues and get lots of good pictures and often we find some great shots at different angles. Well outside the capitol building in Harrisburg they have a fountain that shoots water in a pattern and our kids sat transfixed by the show. It was a great end to a wonderful capitol visit and the capitol at Harrisburg became ours kids favorite, until we find another cool one of course.
National Park
An Urban Oasis
Visiting state capital’s and national parks has become a huge part of our lives in the last year. So what could be better for us than combining these two things into one great experience? While visiting the capital city of Maryland we stayed in Greenbelt National Park, which has an awesome location. It is also a great place to camp right near the city. We are still amazed at how many cool places there are to go and see in this country, no matter where we go there seems to be an endless amount of places we want to check out. State capitol buildings provide opportunities to learn about history while national parks provide us with experiences in nature. What I like about these places is that they are free or very inexpensive to visit. So read on and I will tell you about our family’s adventure to the wonderful capital city of Maryland.
A Unique Beginning for South Carolina
We traveled the state from a single camp.
It is unusual for us to stay in only a single campsite when visiting a state, but in South Carolina one stop was perfect. We saw all we had hoped to see. We stayed at an RV park called Barnyard RV. It was not great, but we made due for a week. The only good thing about it was its location. It was a quick drive into Columbia and less than two hours for us to get to the beach. Other than that it was noisy, the Wi-Fi was virtually non-existent, and the roads were littered with pot holes, just to name a few of the down sides. Despite the site being sub-standard we still managed to have a great time while visiting Columbia, South Carolina.
Winter in the Gulf Coast at Padre Island National Seashore
Padre Island National Seashore is 60 miles of beach on one side and a bay on the other
It is located in the Gulf Coast between Corpus Christi and Brownsville in south Texas. There are many amazing things about Padre Island, and I am grateful that we got to experience some of them. We originally intended to stay at the Malaquite campground inside the park, however, things do not always go as planned. We have learned to be flexible with our plans as they often change on the spur of the moment. The campground was completely full when we arrived, so we studied the map for a few minutes, drove to the other campground on the bay side, and then decided we would take the trailer right down to the beach. There are no amenities when camping on the beach, but the view is amazing and the price is reasonable (free!). It is possible to drive the entire length of the beach. Four wheel drive is recommended after the 5 mile marker, so we only took the trailer down about a mile or two. We found a great spot, backed in, and set up camp. I can’t think of anything better than camping on the beach in a national park in January. It was awesome.
Petrified Forest
Before leaving Arizona we made our last stop at Petrified Forest National Park.
All of the national parks are so different and interesting. There is so much to learn from these wonderful lands and I am grateful that we have been able to visit so many. Petrified Forest National Park is a very unique place. It is not the only place that petrified wood can be found; however, it is the largest concentrated area of petrified wood in the world. We were able to stay at a gift shop just outside the entrance to the park which was great because it was so close and had power for us! We needed it because it got pretty cold at night while we were there. The days were nice for hiking though so it all worked out.