As I wrote in yesterday’s blog, when we were in town on Wednesday, we spent some time at the National Museum of American History, which is one of the dozen or so museums that make up the Smithsonian in Washington. This is our favorite of them all.

We saw all kinds of interesting exhibits and famous things, including the original flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the siege of Baltimore in the War of 1812, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner, which became our country’s national anthem.  No photographs are allowed of the flag to protect it for future generations.

But I did get some pictures of a few other things you will recognize, including Archie and Edith Bunker’s chairs from the sitcom All In The Family.

And here’s some memorabilia from another favorite old television show, the jacket worn by the Fonz in Happy Days. Next to the jacket is country comedienne Minnie Pearl’s famous hat, complete with dangling price tag!

And for the ladies who like cooking shows, such as Miss Terry, they even have Julia Childs’ kitchen on display!

As well as the ruby slippers that Dorothy wore in The Wizard of Oz.

The museum’s collections include everything from musical instruments to coins, dresses worn by America’s First Ladies, weapons, computers, and anything else that tells the story of America and Americans.

We’re supposed to leave here Sunday, and our original plan was to go to the Thousand Trails campground in Gloucester, Virginia for a couple of weeks. But we have a new issue of the Gypsy Journal to get out, and I’m having trouble finding a newspaper printer in the area who uses the same size paper we do, and who can do the job at a price we can afford.

Newspapers don’t get printed at quick print type places, they require a specialized press that is about three times the size of your average motorhome, and cost about 100 times more. We really don’t want to go to the new size of newsprint, which is about two inches narrower and three inches shorter per page than our current format, but sooner or later we may be forced to.

So we’re up in the air right now as to our next move.  I have some feelers out to other newspaper printing plants in the region, because our only other option is to go all the way back to Elkhart to get printed at our regular printer in that area. We really don’t want to backtrack that far if we can help it.

The big storm that has been pounding the east coast certainly pounded us here at Cherry Hill Park in College Park, Maryland. We decided to just stay home yesterday and take a day off from playing tourist, but if the weather gives us a break, we’ll be back at it today. We only have a couple of days left here in the Washington D.C. area, and there is so much to see and do that we could never get to all of it. But, it sure is fun trying!

Bad Nick took advantage of the rainy day yesterday to write a new Bad Nick Blog titled Why Didn’t They Resist? Check it out and leave a comment.

Thought For The Day – The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.

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It’s okay if you find yourself humming the tune to Maria’s song from The Sound of Music, given today’s blog title. But I thought I’d share some of my favorite things in the RV lifestyle, from my favorite truckstop to my favorite campground, to name just a few, and why they rate so high with me. I’m curious how my list compares with yours.

Favorite Truckstop – I love the Iowa 80 Truckstop in Walcott, Iowa. Billed as the “World’s Largest Truckstop,” this place is so big that they have two or three semi tractors on display inside the showroom! Along with every kind of gadget and goodie a trucker (or an RV driver) could ever want or need. Not to mention a 300 seat restaurant with a 50 foot salad bar, a movie theater, game room, barbershop, dentist office, garage, big rig wash, CAT scales, a Wendy’s and a Dairy Queen! What’s not to love?

Favorite Campground – Hands down, that would be our present location, Elkhart Campground in Elkhart, Indiana. Located in the RV Capital of the World, you can find anything and everything related to RVing in the surrounding area. We have been coming here for so many years that the owners, Bob and Gita Patel, have become part of our extended family.

Favorite Escapees Park – Raccoon Valley in Heiskell, Tennessee. We love the surrounding area, the friendly people, and the twice weekly jam sessions by local bluegrass musicians.

Favorite Corps of Engineers Campground – We have never stayed at a COE campground that we didn’t like, but my very favorite has to be Toad Suck Park, near Conway, Arkansas. The name alone makes it a winner, but our huge RV site with 50 amp electric and water, located right on the bank of the Arkansas River, was wonderful. We loved sitting and watching the riverboats pushing barges through the locks at the dam adjacent to the campground.

Favorite Snowbird Roost – This is another easy choice. We love the area around Rockport and Aransas Pass, Texas, on the Gulf Coast. It’s affordable, slow paced, the people are friendly, the seafood is plentiful and cheap, and if you enjoy fishing and kayaking, you’ll be in heaven.

Favorite Route – There are many that we have loved traveling, from historic Route 66 across the country, to U.S. Highway 2 across Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula, but the very best has been U.S. Highway 101 along the Oregon coast. There are breathtaking vistas around almost every bend in the road.

Favorite Big City – We try to avoid big cities whenever we can, much preferring the slower pace of small town America, but two big cities we have loved have been Boston and Washington, D.C. It’s a hard choice, since both are loaded with the history we love exploring, but since I can only have one favorite, it would be Washington. From museums to monuments to famous buildings, we could spend weeks in D.C. and not see it all.

Favorite Museum – We’ve been to many wonderful museums in our time on the road, but my favorite of them all has been the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., where we saw so many of our nation’s historic documents  and artifacts on display.

Favorite Free Overnight Parking Spot – We never miss the chance to stop at the Cabela’s Outfitters store just off Interstate 90 in Mitchell, South Dakota. They have a dedicated parking lot for RVs, complete with a dump station, and it is within walking distance to a restaurant, Super Wal-Mart, and a Menard’s Home Improvement store.

Favorite Fast Food Restaurant – How could I not end this blog with at least one place to eat? We think the Cheddar Butterburger at Culver’s Restaurants can’t be beat. Whenever we have been in an area where there is no Culver’s, we stop at the first one we see when we enter their market area.

Thought For The Day – If it wasn’t for my faults I’d be perfect.

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