Cleveland, OH

I've always wanted to visit Cleveland as it is the home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as well of two of the coolest sports franchises in the country. Unfortunately the Tribe was playing on the road, but we still enjoyed seeing both stadiums downtown. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was a music lovers dream. The displays and information about the history of the music as well as the influential people who shaped the music over the last 70 years was a great way to spend the better part of a day. They have a movie with clips from the live performances at the induction ceremonies over the years that is truly inspirational. Our other sightseeing day was to explore the national park in the area, Cuyahoga National Park. The park reminded us a lot of central park in NY where it is a protected area for the people of the cities to be able to hike, bike and enjoy nature. The history of the park is rooted in the canal system that was built in Ohio in the 1820's and 30's to move goods from Cleveland to Portsmouth on the Ohio River which connected the state to the rest of the developed East coast. At one point in our history, Ohio was the 3rd richest state because of the new trade routes. We wrapped up our sightseeing with a stop at The Christmas Story house and museum. If you are a fan of the movie like we are, this is a must stop when in Cleveland. We enjoyed our time in Cleveland and have been impressed with the natural beauty of the area. This is our furthest east stop this year, so now we begin moving back towards Boise over the next few weeks.

Indianapolis, IN

What is Indiana best known for?  The Indianapolis 500 of course!  While we were in Indy, we made sure to tour the Brickyard.  Extra points for touring during May.  :)  For a nominal fee you can take the tour onto the track and get to stop at the famous bricks.  Of course Gary had to kiss the bricks.  After the tour we visited the museum, which is full of cars from various race eras.  It's a great way to spend an afternoon and learn all about racing. 

We also toured the Benjamin Harrison House.  He was the 23rd president of our great country and the grandson of William Henry Harrison, who was the 9th president.  The house is full of many personal and historical things like a letter written to him by Abraham Lincoln.  It is definitely worth seeing if you are ever in the area. 

The last day we were there we drove out to see our country's newest National Park.  It was a National Seashore until February of this year.  It is called Indiana Dunes.  It runs along the shores of Lake Michigan.  Very pretty area!  If you climb to the top of one of the dunes you can see across the lake and see the outline of downtown Chicago.  Pretty cool!  A lot of the areas are closed for now due to the crazy winter the area experienced.  Unfortunately, some of the dunes have been washed out or damaged.  On the way back from the dunes, we drove through Gary, Indiana.  Let's just say it should be renamed Scary, IN.  Yikes!  I think there was a 3 block radius where there was not a single building fully intact.  I was never more thankful to find the freeway entrance to get out of there! 

On to Cleveland! 

Lake Haven Retreat, Indianapolis, IN

This is our second stay at this park and we were happy to see that they are working on improvements. The park has many long term residents in the more developed part of the park and the shorter term residents in what looks like a newer section. The short term section has new fencing and small bushes recently planted to help delineate the sites. The sites and roads are still gravel and ground up asphalt organized in a shared hook up area with your neighbor. The park has working wifi, good bathroom/showers and laundry and a large open filed and playground area next to their fishing lake. After seeing the improvements in the short term area, we are rating this park a 3 out of 5.

St. Louis West KOA, St. Louis, MO

A scenic KOA with all of the great amenities right off I44 and across the street from Six Flags. The downside to the park is the noise from the roads and the trains that run just across the street all night long. Even with a noise maker, the sound and shaking of our coach woke us up multiple times every night. The sites are gravel with grass between the sites. The grass quickly turns into mud with the rains that are normal in the spring and early summer. The park has a pool, which is open seasonally, playground, inflated jumpy, bike rentals, horse shoe pit and reasonable restroom, showers and laundry. The park had working wifi that only slowed down during peak times. We rate the park a 3 out of 5, with the trains being the major issue. We will definitely stay elsewhere the next time we are in the area because of the trains.

St. Louis, MO

As we continue our midwest exploration, St. Louis was the next natural stop to see the sights and enjoy the food. We started with the most iconic structures in the midwest, the Gateway Arch. The museum and movie in the visitor center is well worth spending the time to experience. We learned a lot about the history of St. Louis and the important role it played in the exploration of our country. The movie was a documentary about building the Arch and many of the engineering challenges that they had to overcome to complete the project. I was geeking out. Then we wedged ourselves into the very small capsules that transport you to the top of the Arch. The views at the top were amazing. You are able to appreciate the downtown St. Louis area to the west and the Mississippi river to the east. The river is at severe flood levels right now, which was even more apparent when viewing it from 630 feet. We were able to quickly visit the Old Cathedral that is near the Arch and learned about its historic importance to the area and our country. We finished the day with an amazing dinner at Pappy's Smokehouse where we had the meat tornado. We had the good luck to have the Stanley Cup playoffs in town and we decided to go see the St. Louis Blues play the Dallas North Stars. As is typical for the Gilliam family, the home team loses when we go to the game. The Blues played and looked lethargic, but did make it interesting late in the game. We also had the good fortune to be able to meet some long time friends for dinner at a local winery. The rural areas south of St. Louis are beautiful. We wrapped up our stay in St. Louis with a stop at the Anheuser-Busch brewery for Cinco de Mayo. The tour was a little underwhelming, but we did enjoy the clydesdales and the history of the brewery.

Branson, MO: Come to the mid-west they said, we'll have a few laughs

After seeing many commercials from the Branson tourism board, we were excited to explore the area.  The drive in was absolutely beautiful, the Ozarks are rolling and full of trees and just stunning. We couldn't wait to park and discover the secrets of Branson. 

We drove into historic downtown where they have an actual 5 & Dime and a historic scenic railroad train.  Also in the area is Branson Landing which is a newer part of town that is basically an outdoor shopping area interspersed with restaurants.  It is pretty because it is built right along the river. After walking around that area we drove over to the area called "The Strip".  This area was very...interesting.  It's kind of like an old, cheesy beach town without the beach.  A lot of garish buildings and a few putt putt courses, go-kart tracks and interesting little "museums" like the Toy Museum.  But the big draw is the variety shows.  There are about 50 different shows to choose from.  There are magic shows, comedian shows, family variety shows, tribute shows, murder mystery dinner shows  and sometimes country acts will come through to perform.  There is pretty much something for everyone. 

Because it's us, the weather wasn't exactly cooperating and we tried to plan our time in Branson around the forecasted thunder storms.  So the next day we decided to board the historic train and take the 2 hour scenic ride along the countryside.  The train was definitely something to see since it still has the dining car, a car with a sleeping cabin and it piped in old songs like, "The Chatanooga Choo Choo".  :)  The scenery was pretty but it wasn't what we were expecting.  Afterward, we went to the war memorial museum which was full of amazing memorabilia from every war we have been in from WWI to the recent conflicts in the Middle East. We have been fortunate to visit the national WWI and WWII museums and this little museum still moved and humbled me.  After that we headed home to what we thought would be a relaxing evening.  Remember when I said the weather wasn't cooperating?  WELL, we got back to the rig and about 15 minutes later my phone sounded a shrilling emergency update.  It said, "Tornado Warning in this area. Take shelter now."  WHAT???  Of course Gary is outside roaming around and texts me, "Can you hear the sirens?" !!!!! He comes inside and we decide to go to the RV park office to see where we should go.  They were ready for us and immediately showed us to the basement.  We spent about an hour and a half exchanging stories with the other campers in the park, meeting all the doggies (my favorite part) of the campers and watching the clouds.  YIKES  After we determined it was safe, we again headed back to the rig.  Of course the weather calmed down for the rest of the evening until we went to bed.  The rest of the night we spent being startled out of our sleep every hour or so by the INTENSE thunder and lightning and rain.  I miss insulation.  ;) 

Our last day we decided to go check out the amusement park that we missed the previous day due to riding the train.  Again, things just weren't cooperating.  :)  The park was closed so we couldn't see up close what we missed.  But, we did get to discover another part of Branson.  It is built around the lake called, "Indian Point".  The whole area kind of reminded me of the Jersey Shore. It is a place full of vacation rentals, boat slips and pools.  I can see this area being completely full of families during the summers enjoying family and friends time.  It made me happy.  Luckily for us we hadn't planned to spend the day at the amusement park because we had tickets to one of the shows I told you about.  Because we love Broadway musicals we chose, "The Best of Broadway".  It was a show full of songs from at least 15 Broadway shows and they did a number that highlighted FIFTY shows.  Parts were completely amazing.  We were entertained. 

All in all, we are glad we went to Branson.  It is a place that is definitely God and Country.  You can't go anywhere without people honoring our veterans and active military (which is how it should be).  Their love of God is equally apparent and everyone is extremely friendly.  We will come back one day.  We want to have better weather (haha!) and get a chance to go to the amusement park, take in another show and experience the atmosphere of the lake. 

America's Best Campground, Branson, MO

A very quiet park just a couple of miles away from the Landing shopping area and the Branson strip. The check in/office staff was great. They were very helpful with answering questions about the shows and getting us tickets. The park has a nice pool area by the main building and several laundry/bathrooms with showers spread around the park. The facilities were all reasonable. The wifi was stable and strong. The sites were gravel and close to each other. Each site has a picnic table and BBQ grill. Our site was so sloped that we needed 6 inches of blocks for the back in order to get level. We enjoyed our stay here and rate the park 3 out 5 and will gladly stay here again.