Tag Archives: tourist

Arnold’s Country Kitchen — Nashville, TN

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John — 13

Arnold’s Country Kitchen is one of the quickest places to eat at.  The restaurant is made to look like a school cafeteria.  But, the food is a lot bettter than school food.  The place is near a rough part of the town of Nashville. The resaturant is small, and you want to be on time when they open or you will be waiting outside for a long time to get your food.  The reasturant’s employees are nice and even carry the tray with the food you bought to a table to sit and eat.  They have a calender that shows all the specials they have for that day.  Today it was Friday and the meats were roast beef, catfish, and shrimp.  When you are picking up your tray they have the prices for what you want to buy.  The pick three sides and one meat was around $7.50; the lowest price was one side and one meat.  The restaurant has one small women’s restroom and one small men’s restroom.  On the wall are all the famous people who have eaten there.  On one wall all alone is the Food Network – Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives symbol.  The restaurant is kid friendly, and they even have a kids menu like the adults but cheaper and has less food on there plate.  The first section of the cafeteria style counter is where you get salads, deserts, cottage cheese, other cold foods. The second section is where you get your appetizers and meat. The last section is where you pick out your drinks ( lemonade or ice tea , sweet or unsweet) and where you pay.  In the restaurant you find all types of the society.  There are the men in suits, families, college students, and all sorts of people.

My favorite thing to eat there was the mac n cheese.  They use a lot of diffrent spices in the mac n cheese.  The mac n cheese is one of the things that they are known for making.  The other is the roast beef.  The roast beef is full of juice and really tender.  For the kids they even cut up the meat for them so that you don’t have to.  My second favorite thing to eat there was the green beans.  They were really spicy but held a lot of good flavers in them.  I couldn’t help myself and ate them really quickly.  My sister (who deosn’t eat much) gave me her plate, and I ate half of her food before we left the restaurant.

I would recommend eating there if you are in the area.  But, be sure to get there early and beat the crowd to eat.  When we got there at 11:1it was a perfect time, but they don’t serve breakfast so don’t go there o early.  I thought that it was a really fun place to ea,t but it was also really easy to eat there too.  So if you are looking for a good place to eat that is a reasonable price, then you go there and try it.

Barnett — 8

We walked in and had to wait just a minute to get our food.  It looked like a lunch cafeteria.  It was not very big, and it was crowded.  It was not very fancy because it was not a sit down restaurant.  The food was good.  The mashed potatoes were even spicy.  They were a good spicy.  I also had the roast beef and green beans.  I didn’t eat the green beans, but I bet they would have been spicy too.  I had too much on my plate, and I was too busy eating my roast beef.  It was really juicy and tender.  I also ate half of a roll.  It was both soft and hard.  Hard on the outside and soft on the inside.  I had sweet tea to drink.  Good sweet!  I would maybe eat there again.  The roast beef was good, and I like the tea.  But, it was crowded.  I would like to try the shrimp and macaroni and cheese.

Hadley-10

Arnold’s is a good place to eat it has good food and all the food is homemade.  When you first walk in the place it is normally crowded and you mitght have to wait to get your food.  When you get to the counter where they serve you, they will ask if you want just meat, or meat and 2 sides, or meat and 3.  The meat can be roast beef and sometimes shrimp or catfish. The sides can be turnup greens, mac and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, fried green tomatoes, and scallopped corn.  To get your food you go through a cafeteria  line and you tell the servers what meat and sides you want.  Then they let you pick your drink; I recommend getting the sweet tea; it is really good and sweet. You might want someone to save a seat for you because it gets really crowded. The atmosphere is really cool because a lot of famous people have been there.  I had the shrimp, fried green tomatoes, and macaroni and cheese.  I tried my sister’s roast beef.  The roast beef was good, juicy, and had a lot of flavor.  The fried green tomatoes were not my favorite.  The green tomatoes were very sour.  The macaroni and cheese had a lot of cheese on it.  It was definitely homemade.  Next time I would get the roast beef.  I would also get the mashed potatoes and turnip greens.  I tried my mom’s and they tasted a lot like green beans – and I like green beans.

Shipshewana Flea Market — Shipshewana, Indiana

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John–12

The  Shipshewana Flea Market is one of the largest flea market in the Midwest.  With a hundred acres full of venders.  It is held every  Tuesday and Wednesday through May to October.  The flea market sells stuff from fresh vegetables and fruit to hand crafted art and furniture.  They also sell fresh Amish cookies, pies, pretzels, and ice cream.  They have hundreds of stands and each and every one sells something different.  They also sell parts for cars, pocket knives, and other stuff that are at a good, reasonable prices.  One of our favorite stands there is a place called C&J’s dips.  They sell dips from appetizers to desserts.  But, just a year ago they came up with soups.  The dips are really easy to make and almost anyone could do it.  The other places that sell dips look good, but once you buy you feel bad that you wasted your money there and not at C&J’s. When my family goes we get to spend about ten dollars each.  So one of my things that I got was a nice pocket knife; I thought it was going to expensive, but it actually only ended up costing three dollars.  So I would recommend going sometime to the Shipshewana Flea Market and spend some money there.  Just be warned it is hot and there are a bunch of people there too.

 

Hadley – 10

The Shipshewana Flea Market is one of the biggest flea markets in the Midwest.  A flea market is a place where stuff is sold at low costs.  It is like an outside mall.  The stores are separate booths and tents set up to sell different things.  They sell food, clothes, music stuff, junk, a lot of toys, and a lot more.  I like to buy that you would not always find in other stores.  I like to buy pocket knives, hats, and interesting stuff.  Today I saw squirt guns that shoot water everywhere.  There was also an IPOD speaker that could be attached to anything and play music.  They have produce there to buy.  The best thing to get to eat are Ben’s pretzels.  They are made by Ben’s Bakery.  They make them there at their booth.  The dough they use is good.  They also have a lot of butter and salt on them.  Another good place to get food is the Ben’s Bakery booth.  We always get cookies there.  The molasses cookies and the monster cookies are really good.  There are over 900 vendors there. Every year there are over a half million visitors there.  The Shipshewana Flea Market is fun to go, even if you don’t buy anything.  But, I recommend you buy a few things!

Barnett – 7

The Shipshewana Flea Market has a ton of things to buy.  I like to look at everything there before I buy anything.  My mom bought me a fake hair ponytail.  It is a long, straight ponytail that clips onto my real hair.  I bought a Webkinz Schnoodle.  It is a half poodle, half schnauzer stuffed animal.  I also got an American Girl doll dress.  It is orange and sparkly.  There is a booth where a lady makes doll clothes and sells them.  I had to think which dress to pick – it was really hard.  There were a ton of dresses to choose from.  I had $10.00 to spend.  We went to Ben’s Bakery.  We bought cookies and a pecan pie.  We went to the soft pretzel stand.  We bought extra pretzels.  My mom dropped one on the ground, but my brother still ate it!  They would eat anything!  We had to buy things for my grandma – calendars, scrubbies, and cookies.  We saw many Amish people.  They were at the flea market.  Afterwards we were going to pick berries, but they had already been picked.  We ate lunch at the Blue Gate Restaurant (that will be in a later post).  You should go there, it is really fun.

Chinatown – San Francisco, California

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John – 12

Chinatown located in San Francisco is the largest Chinatown in the United States.  It is the oldest Chinatown in America too.  Chinatown is 1 mile long by 1.34 miles wide. Chinatown was founded in 1848.  In 2000 the census said that an average of 100,574 people lived in Chinatown.  Chinatown is a city within a city.  The town has over 300 restaurants and just as many shops.  One of the places we ate at was a dim sum restaurant.  It was called City View Dim Sum.  (We will be doing another blog on City View – so watch for it!)  Chinatown compared to other places is really huge with an area of 24 square blocks.  My family and I tried to walk all around all it, but we didn’t get done in the amount of time we had.  We went into one of the shops located there.  It was three stories tall and had over one thousand trinkets and gizmos.  Chinatown is a fun place to visit and to walk around.

 

Hadley-10

Chinatown in San Fransisco is the biggest Chinatown in the world except China.  In Chinatown the best place to eat is a Dim Sum restaurant.  There are dozens to choose from. When we were there, we walked around in a bunch of stores.  The one we went in is three stories tall with stuff.  You can also buy clothes from China.  They also have a bunch of restaurants that have unique and interesting food.  I recommend going for a long time to see every thing and be prepared to spend a lot because there are a lot of fun things to buy.  Chinatown is definitely worth going to if you are in San Fransisco.

Barnett – 7

 

Store in Chinatown

Chinatown Cable Car

Chinatown Shops

South Tahoe Standup Paddle — Lake Tahoe, Nevada

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John – 12

Have you ever been paddle boarding? Well, if you haven’t, you should try it. It may sound hard at first, but it is really quite easy. The first thing they do is give you a paddle that fits your height. Then they tell you to stay up on your knees. When you are ready, you stand up.  You can get going quickly, but if you fall off you get soaked in cold water. -The warmest Lake Tahoe water gets is 68 degrees,even in the summer!  It is really easy to control the paddleboard and to paddle/row it.  It is fun for the whole family; if you have kids younger they can sit on the edge of the front part of the board, or they can have there own board. My sister (7) had her own board and did really well. It was fun to paddleboard at Lake Tahoe.  You could see clear down to the bottom (about 10 feet where we were at). -Lake Tahoe is over 1,600 feet deep in some places!  The place that we went to, South Tahoe Standup Paddle, was really helpful and nice.  They helped us with getting our paddleboards, and they also helped carry all of our equipment down to the beach.  Their shop had a nice atmosphere, and they were nice and kind to all of us.  I recommend going sometime and trying it out.  Included in the rental price was a 15 minute lesson that was very helpful.  The price is $20 per person per hour.  That can be a little expensive, but it is worth it!

Hadley – 10

if you have been kayaking, then you will love to go stand up paddleboarding. We went to a place called South Tahoe Standup Paddle.  You can probably guess that it is in Lake Tahoe on the south shore.  It doesn’t matter what age or size you are for paddleboarding.  You do not want to fall into the water at Lake Tahoe – it is really cold!  You can get a 15 minute lesson that is free with board rental.  They also have 1 hour lessons for $35.00.  They were very nice.  Everyone in our group wore life jackets – kids have to wear them.  At Lake Tahoe you can see through most of the water, but if you look down while you are paddleboarding, you lose your balance and could fall.  It is easy to catch on to paddleboarding, but they suggest you start out on your knees and work your way to standing up.  I liked it because I felt like I could see more than when I am kayaking.  I think people should try this experience.  I would go to the same store if you are in Lake Tahoe, they were really helpful for beginners like us.

Barnett – 7

Have you been paddleboarding?  I have.  It looks hard, but it is actually easy.  The idea of standing up when there are waves coming in sounds hard.  It is easy because you can stay on your knees if you want.  It was fun.  I fell once into the water – it was freezing!  It is OK to fall in, just get back up on the board.  The people at South Tahoe Standup Paddle gave us tips and instructions.  Some other people in the area gave us tips too.  Everyone was very nice.  Here are some tips:  start out on your knees, try to stand up, don’t look down, keep your knees flexible, and when you wobble fall back onto your knees.  Little kids should always wear a lifejacket.  Adults should probably wear one too.  I would go back to South Tahoe Standup Paddle because they were nice and it was fun.  We even saw a person paddleboarding with their dog!

 

Outside of the shop

Paddleboards

Inside of their shop

 

Marion Splash House

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John-12

Marion Splash House is an awesome place to visit. My favorite thing to do there is the wave pool. They have a bunch of different waves they throw at you. Each round they do different patterns of waves – some are normal waves, some are off the side waves, some alternate high and low waves.  They also have three slides. They have a toilet bowl slide and two regular twisty slides. The two twisty slides are fun, but the toilet bowl slide really hurts your back.  The Splash House also has stuff for the younger kids. The splash pad is for kids that are 48 inches tall or less. The wave pool is for all sizes and all ages. There are at least two lifeguards at each pool. They also have a lazy river. You have to have a tube to go through it. There is a little swimming pool in the middle of the lazy river. You can get in there without a tube, but you then have to stay in there or get out. It also has two concession stands.

I think it is worth going sometime to the Marion Splash House.  The hours are Monday-Friday 11:00am – 6:00pm; Saturday: 11:00am – 9:00pm; Sunday: 12:00pm – 6:00pm.  It cost — regular: $5.00,  students: $4.00, seniors 55 & over: $3.00, children 2 and under: free, groups  (15 or more): $3.00/person.  It opens Memorial Day for the summer.

Hadley–10

Have you ever been to a splash pad? Well, Marion Splash House is not a splash pad; it is a mix between a pool and a water park. The Marion Splash House has 3 water slides, two of the slides are racing slides, but riders don’t use tubes, the other slide doesn’t use a tube either, but is a toilet bowl. If you are not 48 inches tall, then you can’t go on the slides, but you can go on a kids water place that has a small slide. The Splash House has a lazy river.  In the middle of the lazy river is a pool for relaxing. My all time favorite there is the wave pool –  which is allowed for all ages and heights. When you are there, you don’t have to worry about your kid drowning there because they have a ton of lifeguards. The Marion Splash House is really worth your money.

Barnett–7

Have you ever been to Marion Splash House? Well, there is a wave pool, the wave pool has a sensor for every 10 miutes to have waves come out.  It is very fun. They also have a lazy river.  There is a middle part where you can go without a tube,but in the lazy river you have to have a tube at all times. They have 3 big slides. Two slides are racing slides.  The other slide is toliet bowl,  and you don’t use a tube on this one either. They have a type of kids waterpark if you are not 48 inches tall.  You should go to the Marion Splash House because it is really fun.

Slides and Lazy River

Wave Pool

Kid’s Water Area