We were at Wegman’s grocery store and saw something called a tomato pie. It was in a cardboard box, so we couldn’t see it very well, other than it had crust and a tomato based topping. We thought we would give it a shot.
We got home, unpacked, made dinner, and thought we would try the “pie” for dessert. Did you catch the quotes there? Yup, it was a pizza pie, as in a pizza with no cheese. What?! Who in their right mind makes pizza without cheese.
You would have thought I had learned my lesson that New Yorkers, who are supposed to have great pizza, are weird and don’t always put cheese on their pizzas. Nope. A few days later, I was ordering pizza online from a restaurant down the street from the campground. I ordered a few different things, including and “Old Fashioned Pizza” with half pepperoni. Guess what? No cheese! The other specialty pizza we got had cheese listed, so I just assumed that cheese came on all their pizzas (like it should).
So, if you are in New York and ordering pizza, make sure you ask if it comes with cheese (no matter how ridiculous you feel asking, because pizza without cheese is just sauce bread.
Hey guys, this is another blog post with Will! I am here today to talk about something I love…HISTORY! Today we are going to be talking about the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site, where President Roosevelt was sworn in as president. You have to make a reservation for the site because of Covid, but if you are fine with that I would recommend going. The front of the building is much like it was except with the addition of a modern stairway so that guests don’t ruin the old stairway of the house. The house originally belonged to Roosevelt’s friend who was living in Buffalo at the time. The entrance to the building is where the National Park Service set up their office and reception area.
To start off the tour they play a little introduction with an actor playing Theodore Roosevelt. After that you are allowed to enter the room to the left which is an exhibit for the “Rainbow City”. This is an exhibit on the Pan-American Exposition featuring Edison’s light bulbs, the finished monograph and other wonders of the modern world. See how Americans have welcomed immigrants into the workforce, and how we have tamed the natives of these lands. See our power over nature, and visit the moon in our exhibit: Visit the Moon! Sadly when President Mckinley visited our great city it would be for the last time. While talking to the crowds of onlookers an anarchist shot our fair president. Vice-President Roosevelt has left the city after being told that the President would live bringing his family into the wilds to explore. Sadly I bring news that our president has died. Roosevelt is hurrying back to Buffalo to mourn with the rest of the city over the president’s death, but he is still somewhere in the wild back roads of America.
This is the spiel of the guide as he walks us through the exhibits and shows us several pictures and videos that have been gathered by the park service. Next we walk through a narrow corridor to the right of the entrance to the room, and come into the main part of the house. To the left is the dining room where Roosevelt dined with his friend’s family, and up ahead is the front door. To the left of the front door is a room that our guide brings us to, but first we must go to the room on the right. This room features the problems that Roosevelt faced as the new president, such as what to do with the military, how to face racism, and the problems of the working class. Then we watch a short video on president Roosevelt’s inauguration, or swearing in, as president. Then we get to walk in to the room on the left which is where all of the action really happened. This is the recreation of the room that Roosevelt was sworn in as president. There are even some original pieces such as the book shelf in the right hand corner of the room which was originally going to be thrown in the garbage, but was saved by the neighbors. They also have books from before the 1900’s that might have been featured in this room. Sadly, there are no photographs of the inauguration as Roosevelt wanted the attention to be more on McKinley’s death rather than the new president.
Next the guide led us up the steps and through a barren room with a fireplace, and through another room decorated as a parlor. Next we are led briefly through another corridor filled with signs, which I wish we could read, but our guide had other ideas. Lastly, we enter an interactive room where we can pretend to be president and make decisions and see what Roosevelt did instead. We also got our pictures taken in the president’s chair, and got it sent to our emails.
After the tour we got our National Park passport stamps, and left. Thank you guys for reading my blog and make sure to check out our YouTube videos where we have a lot of good content. See you guys next time!
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: $12/adults, $7/child. Included in the America the Beautiful pass. COVID Restrictions: masks required, prepay/timed entrance (does require a $1 fee if you are an America the Beautiful pass holder)
HOURS: W-F (10:30am-3:30pm, tour every hour), S-U (11:30am-3:30pm, tour every hour)
PARKING: Yes
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1 hour
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
The boys and I picked up lunch from a restaurant down the street from the campground called Adrian’s. Every time we drove by, there were people there, so we figured it must be good!
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We picked up a few things from the menu: hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken finger sandwich, roast beef sandwich, and some custard. The beef sandwich was called a Beef On Weck. The weck is the bun, a bun topped with salt and caraway seeds. The sandwiches were delicious and I loved the taste of the weck bun.
There were a ton of choices for the custard. We tried peanut butter swirl, peanut butter chip, and Kahlua Almond. It was all really good. We got the small, which had 2 scoops!
We were driving around Buffalo and stumbled upon Porchfest. We had no idea what this was and did a quick search. Porchfest is an annual free music event that happens in US and Canada. It started in New York and is held on…you guessed it, porches. This year Buffalo held theirs on 6/12.
We saw some porches decorated, some serving/selling drinks and food, and even a food truck at one location!
It looked like a huge neighborhood party and was a really neat atmosphere. People were traveling from block to block finding new music. Some of the restaurants in the area had musicians set up outside as well. I wished we had one back home. Maybe I can convince Nick to give it a go next year.
We drove around seeing what there was around Buffalo. We stopped at a Farmer’s Market in Clarence and picked up some buttermilk biscuits. We also explored Antique World, which was advertised at Western New York’s largest antique/flea market. There were a few indoor buildings, but most of the booths were located outside. We had fun looking, but didn’t buy anything.
After driving around downtown Buffalo and seeing some sites, we decided to stop in at Hofbrauhaus for lunch.
It was pretty empty while we were there, but everyone was nice and service was fast. They had live music going on, which is always nice. We tried the currywurst, schlachtplatte, and of course the large pretzel with beer cheese.
Our waitress Jordan was nice to talk to and we discovered she is saving with the hopes of traveling the US too!
We have really been missing Costco. There were none in Maine and there weren’t any close in Vermont or Pennsylvania. While near Niagara Falls, New York, there were several across the border in Canada. We had heard crazy stories about the food courts in Canada (think poutine!) and really wanted to see what the Canadian Costcos were like. Unfortunately, the borders were still closed (COVID).
To get our Costco fix in (and some protein drinks for Will), we drove almost an hour and a half to Rochester, New York. We did manage to get the protein drinks, new shoes and gym shorts for the boys.
We saw a few new items as well.
Their food court was very busy and understaffed, so it took quite a while to pick up our pizza. When we got it, it was the first time we had been disappointed in a Costco pizza. It wasn’t cut well and the toppings were a little messy.
Someone recommended the Anchor Bar as a place to try while near Buffalo, as it is the home of the original chicken wings.
After riding Maid of the Mist and walking to see Horseshoe Falls, we were hungry and there just happened to be an Anchor Bar nearby. Of course we needed to go, as Will loves chicken wings!
We got a few different items to share: wings, burger and fries, and a salad.
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The food was really good and Will loved the wings.
We did have to wait quite awhile for a hostess to come to the stand and for our food to arrive. It wasn’t that busy and they seem adequately staffed. It could have been because this location was located at a local hotel.
One of the things that had been on Ben’s bucket list, was to ride the Maid of the Mist. He has wanted to ride it since he saw then on a trip to Niagara Falls when he was a kid.
We bought our tickets online the night before and headed over the Niagara Falls State Park when Ben was done with work. The ride lasts about 20 minutes, so even though there was a line, we didn’t have to wait long.
It was a pretty warm out, so we didn’t wear the poncho (per the recommendation of the staff). We did get wet, but it felt nice in the sun. We saw a couple of rainbows in the mist. The American Falls were easy to see from the boat and to get some pictures. The Horseshoe Falls had a lot of mist! If you wear glasses/contacts, I would wear contacts if you go so you can see better. I had my glasses on and they quickly became hard to see out of.
The boat did have speakers, but we couldn’t hear any of the recorded message being played.
Canada still had its borders closed, so we didn’t get to walk over the bridge to see the Falls from their perspective. I bet they are pretty amazing from there, although they were still great from the US side.
After the boat ride, we walked over to Goat Island and and saw the Horseshoe Falls from the top.
This campground wasn’t too far from a working maple syrup farm, a National Historic Park and Site, the Quechee Gorge, and New Hampshire.
The campground had an office camp store, laundry room, playground, a dog park, a fishing pond, and a pool. Trash was placed at the end of your site for pick-up. Recycling could be placed in a separate bag for pickup as well. The office sold ice, firewood, and bait. There were banana bikes for rent. They did a nice job communicating by text!
The KOA was 18 minutes from Sugarbush Farm, 7 minutes from New Hampshire, and from 4 minutes from Quechee Gorge. It took 18 minutes to get to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. There were two Walmarts at 8 and 18 minutes away, and a Hannaford’s 9 minutes (in New Hampshire).
Will and I explored the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site. This park was located across the river in New Hampshire, but was only about a half hour drive from our campground in Vermont.
Saint-Gaudens was a sculptor and the grounds contained information about his pieces and life. The house was closed, but the other buildings were open. I would not recommend this one for younger kids, as it was a lot of reading and not really interactive. There were some trails, including the Ravine Trail (which the Ranger told us was really more of a moderate path). However, since there was a heat advisory out (92℉), we did not do that trail.
The park also had a phone audio tour available, which was a nice feature to learn a little more about the pieces shown. Will completed the Junior Ranger program there, and they had a neat looking badge.
DETAILS:*
TICKETS: $10/adults, children 15 and under free. Can use America The Beautiful Pass. COVID Restrictions: masks required, House closed
HOURS: May 29-October 31 (9am-4pm)
PARKING: Yes
BATHROOM: Yes
TIME RECOMMENDED: 1-3 hours
*Details correct at the time of posting, but please double check before you go.
