Pennsylvania Has a Rich History That is a Must See!

Pennsylvania was one of the few places where I felt like there was so much to do and I just did not have enough time. As a history buff, I had my heart set on seeing as many historical things as possible. Therefore, we found a vacation rental home in Philadelphia where it seemed the majority of the things we wanted to see were.

Priority number one for me was to see the Independence Hall which is actually directly across from the Liberty Bell. There is so much meaning in that location to our nation, it was a little bit overwhelming to hear them talk about the rich history that went on there. Lucky for us, the place was not all that crowded and getting a good view of things was not really a huge problem. I think anyone who went to see it though, that enjoys history, would absolutely love it though.

The second thing we had to do was go to the Gettysburg National Military Park. According to my father, we actually have a relative that is buried there. This was important to me to see as I do not know a whole lot about my family history, but it intrigues me. Knowing that I had a distant uncle directly involved in this war is something I take pride in.

Lastly, my kids who are probably not quite as big of history buffs as I am wanted to “do something” rather than “see something”. So, this meant that we had to at least go to Hershey’s park once. Still, it has a pretty rich history of its own considering the park was actually built by Mr. Hershey for his employees only. It was later on down the road that the place was opened to the public. The kids also spent a good amount of time swimming in the vacation rental homes pool. The pool was pretty large, went to 8 feet deep (the kids loved this as they enjoy swimming), and a short diving board.

Ohio Is Great For Family Fun

Good clean family vacations are hard to come by these days. Most of the places we have already been to with our kids several times, so I started doing a little research on other unique places around the states and came with the idea of taking my kids to Ohio.

What was relatively close to our vacation rental home, and one of the primary reasons for choosing this destination was a place called the Wilds. It was a huge hit with our kids! It is meant to be a safari style trip that you can go on where you have giraffe’s, rhino’s, and other wild animals roaming around nearby. The animals seem to be unaffected by the crowd, but being that close was really enjoyable.

Another reason we went there is because I have always wanted to learn how to surf. I guess I have just never had the guts or the time to really take lessons. I figured this would be the best time as any as the kids are really starting to enjoy the water activities. I know what you are thinking, surfing in Ohio? Well, they have an awesome indoor water park where it even includes an indoor surfing wave. I got the opportunity several times to try to ride a wave, unsuccessfully of course. Still, it was a lot of fun! The Kalahari Indoor Water Park was close to our vacation rental home which made it really convenient in the evening when we were drained from swimming all day.

Virginia A Jump and Skip Away From the Nations Capital

When most people think of Virginia, their initial perception is probably not a very good destination for tourists. But actually, that is a huge misconception! If you go to the right place in Virginia, you are guaranteed to have a good time!

Did you know that Washington DC is just outside of Virginia? This is exactly where my family rented our vacation rental home. The area we were in was quite unique. It had lots of stores and was a pretty busy area in terms of the traffic, but there seemed to be a lot of trees and greenery. I suppose I am not used to that being from a place where mid-summer it looks and feels like a desert. In the middle of the summer though in Virginia it is absolutely gorgeous!

I took my family and decided that instead of driving, we would take the subway. Yes, they have a subway that goes from Virginia into the middle of Washington DC. We drove to the closest subway station which only was a few miles away from our vacation rental home. From there, we would take the subway in. A few days worth of doing this and we got to see a lot of stuff! We saw basically every popular place in the area including the White House, the Capital, and The National Monument. My kids, who are getting older, seemed to appreciate the rich history that was in the area. They listened intently when tour guides would talk about the meaning and significance of different things. At times, I saw people in tears as it was quite emotional to see how great of history we have as Americans.