Last year we went to visit Emily’s family back East. Emily decided to surprise Chris by taking him to A Christmas Story House in Cleveland, Ohio. We arrived after Christmas and thought for sure the lines would be short. Once there we were informed they frequently have long lines. There was so much to look at that we did not notice the time we spent in line.
It’s a major award!
Plan to park down the road and walk a couple of blocks. Parking is very crowded. It seemed to be a semi-decent neighborhood and very well traveled: your unattended vehicle will be fine.
Now a B&B without all 785 dogs. 😉
Rowley Inn is on the same street as the museum. If you have no preference of your food tasting good, eat there, otherwise look for the nearest fast food restaurant. While we do not remember what we ate, we remember it was completely horrible. Even beer could not have saved the meal. The only interesting thing about the restaurant was the fact the cast would get their meals there. Take a picture and keep walking is our suggestion.
Chris has always loved this movie. Since visiting the museum Emily has a new appreciation for the movie herself.
One of the Great Lakes
Before you leave Cleveland drive over to Lake Erie. It had a chilly wind coming across it, but for us Kansans we were reminded of home. It was a cool (no pun intended) item to cross off our traveling bucket list.
We were in the highs of blogging when we decided to buy a house…located in the middle of no where. For a few months we lived with Emily’s parents and then transitioned into our “forever home.” Little did we know that was only the start of our wild adventure.
While we are not sharing the location to protect our privacy, we are each about an hour from work. The house we bought has some updates we plan to make over time, but the serenity it brings us is magical.
This is inside a drawer! 😧
The biggest project we have is getting rid of the BOLD wallpaper in every crevice of our upstairs floor. We also have been removing popcorn ceilings, which are upstairs AND downstairs. Our favorite areas would be our theatre room and our porches (front & back). It’s been nice to watch a movie in surround sound and take in some fresh brewed coffee in the mornings, respectively.
We do have an asparagus patch.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to do our best to bring you up to speed on our lives and activities. We hope you will stick with us. We are excited to be back and promise you nothing but our honest opinions on our travel/hang out spots.
“Home is the nicest word there is.”- Laura Ingalls Wilder
Many things have happened recently. We have been all over Kansas and all over part of the United States. We’ve celebrated many holidays, eaten so much tasty food, and been basking in our biggest blessing- TWO baby boys. Our goal is to catch you all up: we hope you’ll enjoy reading about our last year.
Food, Travel, & Love from Chris & Emily + 2 babies. ✌🏼
Oh yeah, we also bought a house.
P.S. Be on the lookout for our adventure blog posting in the next few days.
We love diners! We feel diners are the backbone of American culture. When we are in a town with a diner, we try to stop in…especially when they have high reviews. Lincoln Highway Diner was amazing!
Charming little, small town salad bar
The ladies were great! They checked on us an adequate amount and left us feeling like valued customers. In full disclaimer we did not take pictures of Emily’s meal because she had a chicken tender basket breakfast. The tenders nor fries were not fresh dipped or fresh cut, but the ranch was amazing and made the meal. Chris had a huge breakfast which was very filling. The hash browns were fresh cut and very tasty. Chris cannot tell you how the bread was because he graciously gave it to Emily, who loves bread. Emily thought it was amazing…our waitress noted it was fresh made in house.
Chris’ breakfast
We happily would return to Lincoln Highway Diner! We wish the diner was not 6 hours from Wichita.
We decide on the road we were not going to make it to Wichita in one day. We looked for a hotel along our route to stay in for the night. (For reference that is something we never do as it does not give us enough time to thoroughly look into our destination.) Days Inn in North Platte was one such place we would not have stayed had we planned ahead.
The couch Emily deemed the “Creepy-Scary Couch.”
The room was the largest we stayed in during our trip North. We were so tired when we arrived that we pretty much unloaded our bags and went straight to bed. We have no idea how the tv was, the amenities were or the taste of breakfast. The bathroom was clean and sufficient. The hotel had no elevator, so we had to lug our stuff up and then down the next morning.
We can tell you the most frustrating thing about Days Inn in North Platte was the fact they called us TWO minutes before we were supposed to check out. We had arrived late. There were few people staying in the hotel. Did they need to flip the room so quick they felt we needed a reminder call? We were four minutes late checking out and when we walked out the front door, there was no line.
Overall, it is our fault for not doing the research, but we would highly recommend you stay else where in North Platte. The price was right, but the customer service was not.
After our exploration on the mountainside, we drove for quite some time. By about 4:30 PM we were dragging. We were praying to see a gas station or coffeehouse. Our prayers were heard! We pulled into this tiny town with a pharmacy. Not what you were thinking, huh? Attached to the pharmacy was a coffeehouse.
We decided to add Emily’s usual coffee shop rating scale. Cleanliness (5), Cost (4), Customer Service (4), Espresso (4), Food (4), Location(s) (4), Milk Alternatives (3), Seating (5), Speed of Service (3), and Unique Finds (3). Grand total for City Brew Coffee is 39. We were dragging so much that not only did we forget coffee pictures, but we forgot to write down what our drinks were. Thankfully, we did fill in the numbers to Emily’s measurement system.
Right around the time Emily began lamenting about her hunger. She looked out the window and discovered Crazy Horse had a restaurant. It is difficult to say who was most thankful to see the restaurant, Emily or Chris. 😉
The host was very nice. She even accommodated our request at sitting next to the window.
What a view!
Our server came about ten minutes after we arrived. From the beginning she did not seem friendly. We told her we had never been there before and needed a few minutes to decide what we wanted. Even though we shared our drink order upon her first arrival it took quite some time to acquire a coffee and two waters. When she returned a third time, we were ready to order our food. The kitchen sent our food VERY fast. The restaurant was not busy, but it was like they wanted us to hurry up and get out of there. After our meal arrived we did see our server, but we felt each time she was hoping we were done, so she could hand us the ticket. It would have been great to have some actual conversation with her as we needed some extra napkins.
Buffalo burger with sweet potato fries
Chris ordered the burger. It was “okay” and the fries were not fresh cut. Full disclosure, we rate local restaurants on their ability to have fresh cut fries. After all, we can go to a chain restaurant and eat frozen fries.
Indian taco salad
Emily ordered the salad. She has never had an Indian taco salad, but made the comment to Chris, “This tastes like a normal taco salad. What’s so awesome about this?” Emily who loves lettuce, also felt it had an over abundance of lettuce. She also commented to Chris, “I’m thankful to have food, but I think these people think I’m a bunny.”
Indian fry breadKuchen: The Official Dessert of South Dakota
The dessert was probably our favorite part: the Kuchen our favorite of the two. Kuchen is a traditional German pastry. It is based with a sweet dough, filled with custard and can be topped with a variety of things from fruit to chocolate.
You really can’t beat that view for lunch!
Overall, we do not recommend Laughing Water, but if you’d like an amazing view during your lunch then the experience is worth it…once. We hope you have a friendlier server than we did though.
Please remember what we like or do not like may not be the same as what you like or dislike. In all of our reviews, keep in mind opinions change between people. We want to encourage you to keep it local and support your area businesses.
About 30 minutes from Mount Rushmore is another amazing and currently in the making historical monument. As kids we had learned about Crazy Horse, both the monument and the person. We hadn’t received an update in several years and thought we would go and check it out for ourselves.
Admission is $12 per person.
The museum has tons of Native American relics. We could have easily stayed there longer, but as Emily likes to say she was starting to get hangry.
Be sure to give yourself enough time when visiting Crazy Horse. Also, before you head out to the museum, ask if the information video is playing in the theater. If so, watch it to get some background information on Crazy Horse Mountain.
Do you know the story of Crazy Horse?Now you know.
Remember when we said Emily was getting hangry? Hidden away towards the backside of the museum is a little restaurant. We decided to eat lunch there and were able to stay a while longer at Crazy Horse Mountain. (More to come) The following picture of Chris is after our lunch and after Emily was much happier. 😉
Be sure to collect your own piece of history while you are there.Maybe one day we will get to see it finished.Crazy Horse has been in progress since 1948! 🤭
You didn’t really think we were going to post the location as the title did you?
We drove through a cool tunnel and down a winding road to…
Surprise!
We walked straight to the monument, took some pictures, and then decided to grab ice-cream. An ice-cream recipe, two cones, and one bottle of “cheap” wine cost $31. Had we seen the prices ahead of time, we probably would have rethought our decision.
Mediocre ice-cream for sure, but the experience was fun.
After our treat, we went to the over-priced gift shop. Do yourself a favor and plan to get minimal souvenirs. In fact, from Rapid City to Mount Rushmore is all a tourist trap. It really takes away from the ambiance. While admission to Mount Rushmore is free, parking does cost $10.
How big is Mount Rushmore, really?🇺🇸
How incredible is it to think this was man made? It took fourteen years to complete. We wanted to hike the trail to get closer, but it was closed (thanks again Covid). This was the first trip we took binoculars on and we really enjoyed looking up close at things. The only snow we saw on Mount Rushmore was a spec to the left of Former President, George Washington’s head.
Be sure to explore the museum. Walk towards the end of the observation deck and take the elevator to the bottom level. (We almost missed it because of construction.)
The museum was awesome. Full of interesting facts. Be sure to watch the information video!
Coming down the mountainside people were stopping to take photos. We almost missed these little guys. They seemed pretty at ease with the paparazzi that was following them.
Completely frozen
Further down, we saw this frozen man made lake. Be sure to read the history of it if you ever pass it. We always are looking for history as we travel this amazing country.
Sometime we will share where our inspiration comes from when traveling, but for now, we will share another adventure. Before we got caught in a snow storm, we stopped in to another National Park. While we did not get to see the cavern (thanks Covid), we were able to see the pretty land above ground. We also got to see the visitor’s center and learned a little history.
We didn’t quite slow down enough to get a quality photo, but the point is, we were there. Let us know what your favorite National Park is and maybe sometime it will be featured on our blog.
By the time we got out of the snow storm and down the dark mountainside we were ready to chill for the night. Originally, we were going to stay at Sleep Inn, which we already had a reservation for. Upon arrival, there was only one car in the parking lot. We skated across the icey, empty lot to the door. There was one lady at the reception desk and several light turned out down the halls. We commented about the empty lot and low lighting to which she responded, “…you’re not staying here.” She then directed us across the highway to Comfort Inn. We skated back to the vehicle with confusion. We hoped the employees at Comfort Suites knew what was going on because we sure did not.
We skated on an even icier parking lot into the busiest hotel we had seen our entire trip. We expressed confusion to the reception desk about our Sleep Inn conundrum. The ladies were very kind and expressed their apologies for the little explanation we were given across the highway. The ladies said their owner has multiple hotels in the area and when one hotel is low during the off season, they move people to the nicest hotel. We were given an upgrade for our troubles, which we tried to decline as it was just the two of us, but thanked them nevertheless. (Two beds and a pullout is a bit large for people who do not live the “Ricky & Lucy” lifestyle. 😉) The ladies shared local dinner ideas with us and made sure we knew they would be available should we need anything.
We were given a room near an elevator, something we do not prefer. However, the room was clean and even though we were across from the elevator, we heard very little through the night.
There were no major concerns about our room. We did notify them a light bulb was burnt out, but overall, the room was comfy. The bathroom was clean, but it got quite hot when showering. Comfort Suites should invest in some exhaust vents. If we would have stayed another night, we would have requested housekeeping. We use it as a way of treating ourselves. We are conscientious of our footprint on Earth and while we might reuse a towel at home, we prefer fresh linens each night of our hotel stay. Below you will find the housekeeping slip they are currently offering to guests.
Breakfast. While the offerings were better than the other two hotels we stayed at, it was nothing fancy. Chris had a blueberry muffin and yogurt. Emily had some dry Fruit Loops. (It is important to note, Emily does not drink milk or eat a big breakfast, so the cereal was satisfactory for her.)
In our Best Western post, we mentioned we take our own toiletry supplies. The reason we do this is because we collect the small hotel toiletries and donate them to the Ronald McDonald House. RMC provides lodging for family’s whose children are having procedures done at the hospital and need a close place to stay.
If you would like collect your hotel toiletries instead of using them, we will gladly coordinate a time to pick them up and take them to RMC the next time we are there.
Donate your hotel toiletries to the Ronald McDonald House.
Food, Travel, & Love 