I’m a pretty big fan of Dan Brown, so of course I purchased a copy of The Lost Symbol the week that the book came out. I read it in a day and really enjoyed it (though “Angels and Demons” remains my favorite of the “Robert Langdon” books). More than any other reaction I garnered from the book, I was left with an increased desire to visit some of the historical landmarks of Washington D.C., which is where the book took place.

I’ve always wanted to go, but now I really want to go. Without giving away any of the plot lines of the books, here are four of the landmarks featured in “The Lost Symbol”:

The Library of Congress, along with being the largest library in the world, is “the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and serves as the research arm of Congress.” The Thomas Jefferson building, which hosts the Library of Congress Experience, is located on 1st Street S.E., between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street, on Capitol Hill. It is open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. There is no charge to visit, though entrance wait times sometimes exist, and vary from 15 to 45 minutes. Tours occur daily, and various concerts, exhibitions, and other events occur throughout the year.

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Who can argue that autumn is one of the most colorful times of year?

That was a rhetorical question.

Fall is pretty, mostly because of the glorious displays put on by the fall leaves changing color.  This phenomenon occurs all over the United States, but some spots offer better views than others.  Grab your camera and a road atlas and take a day trip to one of the 11 best fall foliage sites in America.

11 Places To See Fall Leaves

Fall Leaves on Carriage Road at Acadia National Park

1.  Acadia National Park – Maine

Of course anywhere in the North East is going to boast spectacular fall foliage.  The Acadia National Park offers gorgeous views and extensive Ranger-led educational programs so that you can learn more about what you’re staring at.  Make sure to head to Bar Harbor Maine before the end of October to take full advantage of the sights and services available.

Fall Leaves at Oak Mountain State Park

2.  Oak Mountain State Park – Alabama

Oak Mountain State Park is Alabama’s largest state park.  This nearly 10,000 acre forest is featured on several sight seeing lists.  Admission is only $3 for adults on weekends and holidays.  You can visit the park for fall foliage viewing from 7am to sundown.

Fall Foliage in New Hampshire

3.  Mt. Washington – New Hampshire

While it’s typical to see fall foliage while you’re driving, the Mount offers guided cruises on the M/S Mount Washington.  Starting Sunday, September 27, the Mount will offer Fall Foliage Dinner Cruises from 4:30 to 7 p.m. each Sunday through mid-October. The cruise departs from Weirs Beach, boarding at 4 p.m. Cost for adults is$43. Visit Cruise Mount Washington for more information.

Fall Color in Colorado

4.  Aspen – Colorado

It’s no surprise that Aspen, Colorado is the perfect place to watch the Aspen trees change colors with the seasons.  San Isabel National Forest offers extensive trails for viewing of some of the most fabulous aspen trees in Colorado.

New York Fall Foliage

5.  The Catskills – New York

The Catskills and Hudson Valley region is about a two hour drive from New York City.  One of the unique features of this area is that the color changing season lasts about six weeks, with colors rivaling those of its North Eastern neighbors, Vermont and Massachusetts.

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Kanab Utah Main Street

Many people call Kanab, Utah the Gateway. Kanab sits in Southern Utah along route 89 about seven miles north of the Arizona border and subsequently gets visitors on their way to the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park among many others. Summer finds the town packed with RVs towing boats and wave runners on their way to Lake Powell and family vehicles bursting at the seams with camping and hiking equipment. The winters in Kanab are not quite as busy but still full from people going to ski at

Coral Pink Sand Dunes

Brianhead Ski Resort and snow tubing at Coral Pink Sand Dunes. The beauty to be found in Kanab and the surrounding area is breathtaking and you usually take a little bit home with you in the form of the red dirt that Kanab is famous for.

Kanab’s population is small, about 3,500, and the residents rely heavily on tourists as the largest source of income for the city. The slow-paced small town feel is a nice change from the crowded attractions and parks and the people are friendly as you walk down Main Street to check out the stores. Frontier Movie Town is a short walk away from downtown where you’ll see authentic movie sets and memorabilia from some great western movies made there. They also have the Pioneer Museum with classic western and pioneer artifacts. Read More »

The 2009 Harley Street Glide that we rented, with the Grand Tetons in the background.

If you have yet to visit the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, I suggest that you hasten forthwith and plan a trip as soon as possible.  For it is within this park that you can witness a story like the following unfold before your very eyes.

My husband and I stayed for several days at Teton Village, which is just south of the boundary into the Grand Teton National Park. We rented a motorcycle for two of those days, and had an incredible experience exploring all corners of the park. At the end of one particularly long day of riding, we were heading back toward our hotel via Rt. 26/89/191, along the east side of the park, north of Jackson Hole. All of a sudden, my husband’s helmet-muffled, “Hey!” and pointing finger turned my attention to the right side of the road, where we saw this:

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The Old Faithful Inn, in Yellowstone National Park.

The Old Faithful Inn is everything that all of the documentaries, Travel Channel specials, magazines, and hundreds of publications say it is. It’s beautiful. Picturesque. Stunning. Historic.

It’s also a darned uncomfortable place to spend the night.

I must say that when my husband and I first set off on our Epic Road Trip, we didn’t expect our stay at the Old Faithful Inn to be the lowlight of our vacation. So here’s a perspective you probably won’t hear very often:

Four Reasons NOT To Stay at the Old Faithful Inn:
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Hello, all! I’m writing this during our Epic Road Trip, from my hotel room in Teton Village, near Jackson, WY. We’re right on the doorstep of the Grand Teton National Park. My husband and I just returned from journeying the length of the park, so before I crash for a well-deserved nap, I thought I would share a few of the scenes from today’s adventures.

Bridge across Cottonwood Creek, with Tetons in the background. Pic taken at the Jenny Lake Visitor's Center in Grand Teton National Park.

Cottonwood creek, with the Tetons in the background, shot from the Jenny Lake Visitor Center in Grand Teton National Park.

A moose, pic shot from a road bridge using the zoom lens. Moose Junction turn-off, Grand Teton National Park.

I’ll continue to post as I get the chance, and share this wonderful experience with you all. It’s truly a stunning setting, and we’re having the time of our lives.

Summer plans to visit my mother in-law allowed us our first ever visit to the lovely southern state of Tennessee.

Never having been to Tennessee I was sort of excited about the idea of visiting a new state. The boy did his 5^th grade state report on Tennessee so we got to read a lot about the Civil War, the Chickasaw, and Choctaw Indian tribes, the Predators, the Grizzlies and the Titans (the boy was sorely disappointed to learn that Tennessee does not have a pro baseball team), Elvis Presley, Davy Crockett and Billy Ray Cyrus. But nowhere in our research did we come across anything about …The Lost Sea.

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Geothermal paradise of Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone is the crown jewel of our National Park System.  It was the first of its kind, and remains the most unique and diverse wilderness experience that you will find in this country.

It’s also an extremely cool place for kids.

But with almost 3500 square miles of lakes, geysers, canyons, and hot springs, there’s too much to see in one short stay.  So, after three visits to Yellowstone, and consultation with my own children, I have compiled the following list of park sights and activities that will make your family trip an especially memorable one.

Ten Cool Things For Kids (and Grown-Ups) in Yellowstone National Park

1.  Dragon’s Mouth Spring

Dragon's Mouth Spring

How can you resist telling your kids that a dragon lives in a cave near a mud volcano?  It doesn’t take much imagination to think that this cavern, with its growls and thumps, and spitting steam, might just hold a real dragon.

2.  Fishing Cone

Fishing Cone Geyser at Yellowstone Lake

It’s probably just a tall tale, but the story goes that the early trappers and explorers would catch fish in Yellowstone Lake, swing them directly into the Fishing Cone geyser just off shore, and have a meal of boiled fish in just minutes.  “Hook and cook,” they called it.  Like the dragon cave, another cool sight that will fire up the imagination.

3.  Old Faithful Inn

Old Faithful Inn

What kid won’t love the largest log hotel in the world?  Just walk inside the 100-year-old Inn’s lobby, with its four stories of lodgepole pine balconies and 500-ton stone fireplace, and your kids might just want to sit for awhile.  Preferably in one of the many handmade wood rocking chairs.  Better yet, stay in one of the Inn’s rooms.  Prices are reasonable, and the food in the dining room is first-class.

4.  Fountain Paint Pots

Fountain Paint Pots

This is what I remember best from my own childhood memories of Yellowstone.  The short half-mile trail is the perfect primer for the various thermal features you’ll see throughout the park.  It’s a little bit of everything, with numerous geysers, bubbling mud pots, hot springs, and steaming fumaroles.  With all that activity in a small space, it’s kind of watching a three-ring circus.

Buffalo Warning

5.  Dangerous Animals

Your kids might not be impressed by the thousands of bison that roam all over the park until they see the signs warning that these animals weigh up to 2000 pounds, run over 30mph, and think nothing of skewering a camera-toting tourist on the end of its horns.  They can be extremely dangerous.  Same goes for the grizzly bears, wolves, moose, elk, and badgers.  But worry mostly about the bison (sometimes called buffalo), because they will be all around you.

6.  Junior Ranger Program

The Junior Ranger program at Yellowstone is one of the coolest of all the National Parks.  It gets the kids involved in all sorts of activities involving wildlife, ecology, geology, hiking, and education.  If they complete the program, kids get an official Junior Ranger patch.  Best of all, they learn something while having fun.

7.  Stagecoach Rides

From Roosevelt Lodge in the northern part of Yellowstone, you can take a trip to the past with a rattling, bumpy ride on an old west stagecoach, just as visitors did back at the turn of the century.  The ride lasts an hour and is quite reasonably priced at $8 for kids, $10 for adults.  A nice way to soak up the scenery.

8.  Upper Geyser Basin

Geyser watching

You want geysers?  This is where you’ll have your fill of them, as the basin contains over 150 geysers.  That’s the highest concentration of geysers in the world.  Walking through this alien landscape makes you feel like the Earth’s crust could burst open in a cataclysmic hydrothermal explosion at any moment, totally ruining your dinner reservations at the nearby Old Faithful Inn Dining Room later that night.  But seriously, this is the best place for you and your kids to see geysers going off right and left.  Many of them, such as Castle Geyser, Grand Geyser, and Riverside Geyser are highly predictable, so you can figure when and where you need to be for the show.

9.  Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring

Not everything in Yellowstone bubbles, growls, and erupts.  Grand Prismatic Spring is simply a gigantic pool of steaming water.  In fact, it’s the largest hot springs in the United States.  You have to see it for the beautiful colors, from deep blue to orange to green to red, produced by different species of bacteria living in the water.  It makes for an interesting biology lesson for everyone.

10.  Old Faithful

Old Faithful Geyser

You know this would be on the list.  How could it not be?  It’s the most popular feature in Yellowstone, and is the park’s defining symbol.  The area around Old Faithful is crowded, commercial, and noisy, but it’s still very cool.  The geyser usually erupts on a predictable schedule, roughly every 90 minutes.  Up to 8,000 gallons of scalding hot water shoots upwards of 185 feet while busloads of tourists “ooh” and “ahh.”  On our last visit to the park, my kids and I made a game of running to watch Old Faithful go off.  Staying in the nearby Inn made that easy for us, and we ended up viewing eight eruptions during our weekend at Yellowstone.

Photos courtesy of the National Park Service