The City I Most Want to Visit in Each State, Part 4: Kansas to Maryland

This is the fourth post in a series. I recommend reading the first, second, and third posts before this one. Today I'll be picking the city in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Maryland that I most want to visit, then listing my top 2 attractions in each location. 

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The City I Most Want to Visit in Each State, Part 4: Kansas to Maryland

 

The city I'd most like to visit in Kansas is Wichita. Quite a few celebrities grew up in Wichita, including Mars, the pygmy hippo who stole the internet's heart. Mars lives at Tanganyika Wildlife Park, which is my top attraction in the Wichita area. The next place I'd visit is the Museum of World Treasures. 

Paducah is the city I'd most like to visit in Kentucky. Paducah looks like such a charming town. It is one of 10 cities in the US that have been designated a UNESCO Creative City (I've been to 8 of the 10 and I very much want to finish that list.) I most want to visit the National Quilt Museum. Now that I'm a (novice) quilter, I am especially interested in spending time there. Steve and I watched Chef Sara Bradley cook during the Tournament of Champions All-Star Christmas and would really enjoy eating at Freight House, her restaurant in Paducah. 

Before visiting Natchitoches, I need to practice pronouncing it. It's NACK-uh-tish. I can pronounce it just fine until I see the word again and my brain goes to to Spanish. Anyway, Natchitoches is the city in Louisiana I would most like to visit. While there, I would go to Cane River Creole National Historic Park and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum.

The city I most want to visit in Maine is Augusta, the state capital. When there, I'll visit the Maine State Capitol, as well as the Maine State Museum. Of the 5 remaining state capitals we haven't visited, this will probably be the last, as it is the farthest from us and not close to any of our other remaining must-see destinations. Fun fact: Augusta, Maine (which is obviously part of the contiguous United States) is significantly farther from us here in California than either Juneau, Alaska or Honolulu, Hawaii. 

This may be a bit of a surprise since I'm not a beach person, but the next time I visit Maryland I would most like to go to Ocean City. My highest priority would be taking a boat tour from Ocean City to Assateague Island. The other thing I'd most like to visit is Ocean City Life-Saving Museum. 

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Are there any other must-visit places I need to know about? Please let me know in the comments!

State Name Art: Kansas, Delaware, Iowa, and Nevada

I finished a second batch of State Name Art. This time, I made Kansas, Nevada, Delaware, and Iowa. I love how they're completely different from each other and from the four I previously made. Affiliate links below. 

 

State Name Art

Materials:

• Bristol vellum
• Flair pens
• colored pencils
• white Posca pen (Nevada)
• microtip scissors
• colored cardstock
• glue stick

Steps: 

Print or trace the outline of a state onto paper. (Bristol vellum is my favorite when working with colored pencils.) I made the outlines using the graphics on PicMonkey, but there are plenty of places to find outlines. Students can draw their own outlines or use pre-prepared tracers. 

Use a pencil to very lightly sketch in the letters of the state. Make adjustments until you are happy with the letters. Some letters may be distorted or have missing parts; that's perfectly fine as long as the state name is legible. Outline the letters with a Flair pen, then color in all spaces that aren't part of the name.  

Lightly sketch a scene across the white space of the letters that represents the state. When you are happy with what you've sketched, fill it in with colored pencils. I did sunflowers for Kansas...

... the beach for Delaware...

... a cornfield for Iowa...

... and a night sky in Nevada. After coloring this scene with colored pencils, I used a Posca pen to add the stars. 

Cut out the state and glue it to colored construction paper. 

I had a lot of fun with this latest batch of states. Figuring out each one is very satisfying. As I said before, I have no intention of doing all 50, but I'll keep going for now! 

The Best and the Worst of the 50 State Seals, Part 2

This is the second post (of five) rating the designs of each of the 50 state seals. I suggest starting with the first post, which gives the background and explains the criteria I'm using for grading. 

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Rating the State Seals: Hawaii through Maryland

Hawaii's state seal was adopted at statehood in 1959. It features King Hamehameha, the goddess Liberty holding the Hawaiian flag, a rising sun, a phoenix, 8 taro leaves representing the 8 main islands, banana leaves, ferns, a kapu stick, and more. The state motto, written in Hawaiian, translates to “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” There is no question that this seal represents the state well with all those elements, but the resulting design is very crowded. It would be a much better design with just half the elements. 

Design 2.5, Representation 5 = 7.5

The state seal of Idaho was updated in 1957 to highlight Idaho’s main industries (mining, agriculture, and forestry) and the state’s natural beauty. The woman symbolizes justice and the virgin land of Idaho and the man is a miner; together, they protect the items shown in the shield. Idaho's state flower (syringa) is represented, as is the state motto. It represents the state well and is nicely balanced, if a bit crowded. I'd change the colors to be more harmonious. (Fun fact: Idaho has the only state seal designed by a woman.)

Design 3, Representation 5 = 8

The state seal of Illinois was most recently updated in 1869, replacing the original seal that was nearly identical to the seal of the United States. The design features a bald eagle in profile, on a rock, holding a shield, with a banner in its beak proclaiming the state motto (State Sovereignty, National Union) reading from bottom to top, with a twist in the banner that makes word Sovereignty upside-down. There is an oddly-shaped sunrise over water. I am not a fan of this design. While it no longer looks like the seal of the US, it still has many of the same elements, including a shield with 13 stars and stripes. Illinois is the 21st state, not one of the original 13 Colonies. The statehood date (1818) appears twice, which is unnecessary. There is no reason for 1868, the year the seal was redesigned (before being adopted in 1869), to appear on the seal. I hate the spacing / kerning of the text. 

Design 1.5, Representation 1 = 2.5

The most recent version of the state seal of Indiana is from 1963. It features a forest with a man felling a sycamore tree, a bison running away, and the sun setting behind some hills. The designs in blue on either side of the date are the leaves of the tulip tree (the state tree), with dots and diamonds in between them for no apparent reason. (Am I the only one who sees a chicken?) There are 14 rays on the sun (Indiana is the 19th state, so this is not symbolic). I don't hate the seal, but I don't like it either. Without the text and the date, I would have never known this was supposed to be Indiana. Many states have (or had) bison, forests, and hills. 

Design 2.5, Representation 1.5 = 4

The state seal of Iowa was created in 1847, a year after statehood. It includes a soldier in a wheat field (the predominant crop of 1840's Iowa vs. the corn and soybeans that dominate now). He is holding a gun and the US flag topped with a liberty cap. He is surrounded by symbols of farming, mining, and transportation. The ship is the Steamboat Iowa, famous for holding the speed record on the Mississippi from 1843 to 1849. An eagle at the top of the seal holds the state motto. (Fun fact: The wording describing the seal is controversial, but it remains unchanged as of January 2026.) The design of this seal isn't terrible and it represents 1840's Iowa decently. The scale of the items is weird, unless that's a child's dollhouse with a working chimney. The motto is hard to read, since you have to start with the bottom left, move above it, then across, then down. I'd like this seal more without the soldier, US flag, and (especially) the gun.

Design 2.5, Representation 3 = 5.5 

The state seal of Kansas, adopted in 1861, focuses on the history of the state. It includes a sun rising in the east, a river and steamboat (representing commerce), a man plowing (representing agriculture), a settler's cabin plus covered wagons heading west (representing pioneer life and Westward Expansion), indigenous people on horseback hunting bison, the state motto ("To the stars through difficulties") and 34 stars representing Kansas' admission as the 34th state. This is a well-balanced design that represents the state very well. I appreciate that the original inhabitants are acknowledged (and not in an adversarial way). 

Design 4, Representation 4.5 = 8.5

The state seal of Kentucky was originally designed in 1792, then simplified 170 years later to portray "a pioneer meeting a gentleman in a swallowtail coat." Many believe the man in buckskin is Daniel Boone (a pioneer in the exploration of Kentucky) and the man in the suit is Henry Clay (Kentucky senator and eventual Secretary of State), but officially they are not specific people and instead represent all frontiersmen and statesmen. The seal also includes the state motto and goldenrod, the state flower. This seal could be so much better, but at least it's not too busy. 

Design 1.5, Representation 2.5 = 4

The state seal of Louisiana was most recently revised in 2006. The seal is very distinctive, featuring a pelican in her piety, traditionally a Christian symbol of self-sacrifice. The state motto (Union, Justice and Confidence) appears prominently. While the pelican might have first been chosen to honor the state's Catholic heritage during a time of anti-Catholicism elsewhere, I'd rather see the Pelican State design a more secular seal with a pelican that isn't actively bleeding. It's not the Self-Sacrifice State, after all. 

Design: 2, Representation 2 = 4

The state seal of Maine was adopted in 1820. In the center is a shield featuring a moose, resting in front of a pine tree, between the water and the woods. Two men (a farmer with a scythe and a sailor with an anchor) stand on top of a banner, on either side of the shield. The top of the seal has the state motto ("I direct") and the North Star. This design isn't particularly attractive, but it could be dramatically improved with just a few changes. I would expand the scene in the shield to fill the entire background of the seal, then move DIRIGO to where MAINE is located and write STATE OF MAINE in large letters across the top. Right now, the red DIRIGO banner looks like a brand name on a package of pasta sauce. 

Design 2, Representation 4 = 6

The state seal of Maryland is two-sided, but since the front was never cut and thus not used as a seal, I'll be focusing on the reverse. It was updated in 1959. It features the Calvert coat of arms being held by a farmer (holding a spade) and a fisherman (holding a fish). Behind them is ermine fur and at the top is a crest with two pennants. Below is the state motto. The literal translation is "Deeds are males, words are females" but in 2017 they changed the official translation to "Strong deeds, gentle words." The poorly-spaced text around the seal translates to "With favor wilt thou compass us as with a shield" and 1632 is the date Maryland was established. This design represents the origin of the (province then colony then) state well enough, but I think there is too much emphasis given to the founder. I'd like to see more of the natural resources, industry, or something else. 

Design 3, Representation 3 = 6

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So far, we have Arizona (10), California (9.5), Kansas (8.5), Alaska (8), Idaho (8), Delaware (7.5), Hawaii (7.5), Colorado (7), Florida (6.5), Maine (6), Maryland (6), Iowa (5.5), Kentucky (4), Louisiana (4), Indiana (4), Alabama (3), Georgia (3), Illinois (2.5), Arkansas (1.5), and Connecticut (1). Let me know in the comments if you agree with my rankings. Tomorrow I'll look at the next ten seals. 

The Best Tour in Every State, Part 2

This is the second part in my series about the best tour I've taken in every state. I recommend starting with the first post, which provides important background information, including my definition of a tour. 

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Hawaii

The best tour I've taken in Hawaii was The Best of Hilo. Highlights of the tour included the Tropical Botanical Garden, Rainbow Falls, Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory, Volcanoes National Park, and walking through a lava tube. It was fantastic.

Idaho

I've been to Idaho seven times in the last ten years to visit my family, so you'd think I would have taken at least one tour. Nope. While we've done a lot of fun activities in Idaho, none of them were tours. The closest to a tour would be the World Center for Birds of Prey, where we watched docents and staff give presentations. 

Illinois

The best tour I've taken in Illinois was by the Chicago Trolley and Double Decker Co. We had a fantastic guide who took us to all the best places in Chicago and taught us so much about the history, geography, and culture of the city. 

Indiana

The best tour we took in Indiana was Indy Fun Trolley Tours. Our guide went above and beyond, teaching us everything there is to know about Indianapolis - not just the history and points of interest, but restaurant recommendations, great stores, and even where to get the best donuts in each side of town. 

Iowa

The best tour I've taken in Iowa was a guided tour of the State Capitol. By being with a guide, we were able to go places that self-guided visitors can't go, including up a circular staircase to the dome. We had a great guide who told us so much about both the building itself and those who have worked there over the years. 

Kansas

The best tour I've taken in Kansas was the Dome Tour of the Capitol building in Topeka. Not only was it interesting and informative, but it was quite a workout!

Kentucky

It was really, really hard to pick a favorite tour in Kentucky, as we have taken quite a few excellent ones. Ultimately, I had to pick the guided tour of Churchill Downs as the best. We learned all about the history of the track, the Derby race itself, and the various winners. The highlight was going onto the track and standing in the winner's circle.  

Louisiana

Picking the best tour in Louisiana was very difficult. We had several outstanding tours, but I think I have to pick the guided tour at Mardi Gras World as my favorite. I loved the behind-the-scenes look at everything that goes into making all the incredible Mardi Gras floats, and particularly enjoyed seeing the artists at work. Trying authentic King Cake for the first time made the tour even more fun and memorable.

Maine

The best tour I've taken in Maine was a guided walk at Acadia National Park and Cadillac Mountain. It was absolutely beautiful and our guide was excellent. It was exciting seeing a variety of animals and experiencing multiple biomes during a relatively short walk at Acadia. The views from Cadillac Mountain were stunning. 

Maryland

The best tour we took in Maryland was the guided walking tour at the United States Naval Academy. We learned so much about the Academy and what student life is like. So interesting and a really different college experience than the one I had!

I'll be back on Monday with the best tours I've taken in the next ten states. 

50 State Quarters: Coloring Pages Using Ohuhu Halawa Colored Pencils

I've finished coloring all of the 50 State Quarter coloring pages! The last four states in my 8-month long project completing the 50 pages using different art materials include Alaska, Texas, Kansas, and Ohio. I colored these four with the Ohuhu Halawa colored pencil set. Affiliate link here and below. 

Ohuhu fans like me have been waiting (im)patiently for Ohuhu to release a colored pencil set and it's finally here! Ohuhu has a well-deserved reputation for making high quality art materials at affordable prices and I'm happy to report that their colored pencils uphold that reputation. This was my first time trying them and I was really happy with their performance. I wasn't entirely happy with MY performance; I'm used to wax-based pencils, so there was a learning curve with these oil-based pencils. I intentionally tried a bunch of different techniques while coloring to see how they compare to the other brands I've used. I also tried to use as many of the colors as possible across the four pages.  

The Ohuhu Halawa colored pencil set contains 72 pencils with ultra-soft lead in a nice range of colors. At only 62 cents a pencil, they are significantly cheaper than other brands of equal quality. They're packaged more securely than pretty much anything I've ever received through the mail. That said, I did have issues with repeated breakage in one pencil. None of the others broke, even with hard pressure. I'm looking forward to coloring with them again, particularly in combination with Ohuhu's markers. 

Here are the art materials I used for the rest of the coloring pages:

• Ohuhu Kaala markers (Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Wisconsin)
• ink and Prismacolor colored pencils (Connecticut, Idaho, Missouri, Montana)
• Flair pens (Delaware, Indiana)
• Sharpies (Maine, South Carolina)
• Stabilo Woody 3-in-1 (Colorado, New Hampshire)
• Folk Art acrylic paint (Wyoming, Rhode Island, Mississippi, Michigan)
• Crayola crayons (Florida, Maryland, South Dakota, Vermont)
• Himi gouache (Iowa, New York, Utah, West Virginia)
• Derwent Inktense pencils (Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana)
• Ohuhu Pupe markers (Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Washington)
• Koi watercolors by Sakura (Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oklahoma)
• Prismacolor art markers (Minnesota, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Virginia)
• Kuretake Gansai Tambi (California, Georgia, North Carolina, North Dakota)

Tomorrow I'll rank the 14 art materials from my favorite to least favorite for coloring the 50 State Quarters. If you've been following along, you can probably already guess what will be at the top and what will be at the bottom!

Western Meadowlark Magazine Art

Ready to see my latest bird art? I loved making it. 

 

The project starts with a coloring page of the Western Meadowlark, the state bird of Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. I found this coloring page at MontanaKids.com, which is run by the Montana Office of Tourism. State websites are a great source for coloring pages and other resources. Obviously, you can use the technique below for any coloring page, or even for a design you draw yourself! 

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Western Meadowlark Magazine Art

Materials:

• Western Meadowlark coloring page
• old magazine
• craft glue (affiliate link)

Steps:

Search through the magazine and tear out blocks of color to complete your image. I found the perfect yellow throughout Visit California's Travel Guide. Tear the block of color into small pieces. For a bird, you want those pieces to mimic the shape of feathers, so aim for some longer, thin pieces (rather than squares). 

Use craft glue to adhere the torn pieces to the coloring page. I had planned to start with the bird and then do the background, but realized it would be a lot easier to do the background first and then put the bird in the foreground. So I switched. 

In the photo below, you can see that I tore out pieces for the legs but didn't glue them down. Instead, I started working on the sky. For that, tear long thin strips of sky blue. Don't worry if you cant find enough of the same color blue for such a large area. The real sky has variation. And besides, it's the background. 

After completing the sky, I worked on the fence post, then added the legs and feet on top of that. I tore the beak from the same area as the legs. I used text for the mottled color of the meadowlark's head, wings, and tail. I finished with the black bib and eye. The last step was trimming my artwork to clean up the edges. I cut mine to a square (because I like squares) but it's perfectly fine to leave it rectangular. 

It took me about 75 minutes to make this project from start to finish. It was very relaxing and I'm happy with how it turned out. 

Western Meadowlark Diamond Art Ornament

I liked my wood slice American Robin ornament so much that I made one for the Western Meadowlark. It is the state bird of Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming and is easily recognized by the black V-shaped bib on its yellow breast. Beautiful! 

As with the robin, you can make this with leftover drills from previous diamond art projects, buy a bunch of colors, or get just the colors that you need. I used a variety of greys to make my bird since that's what I had on hand. Affiliate links below. 

 

Western Meadowlark Diamond Art Ornament

Materials: 

• wood slice ornament
• DOTZ Stick diamond adhesive
• pattern (below)
• diamond art drills (8001, 8318, and a variety of greys - I used 8440, 8441, and 8444)
• dotting tools
• cornstarch / baby powder

Steps: 

Paint a thin coat of DOTZ Stick onto the wood slice, following the package directions. Don't use too much or the moisture can cause your ornament to crack. 

When the adhesive is ready, apply the drills. The stars on my pattern mark the center of each axis, so the plus sign is the center of the whole design. 

In order to center the meadowlark, put the center drill onto the center of the ornament. Then fill in the rest of the drills around that central one. 

Ordinarily, I'd suggest sealing your diamond art, but since these ornaments can crack with too much moisture, I wouldn't risk it. Instead, rub cornstarch or baby powder over the uncovered area of the wood. That will eliminate the tackiness of any extra adhesive not covered by drills. 

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Have you seen the Aububon Birds stuffed animals from Wild Republic that feature a realistic call? I love them! There are over 30 different birds. This is the Western Meadowlark. 

Interested in learning more? Read about the Western Meadowlark and hear its calls at Audubon.com. 

Our Most Short-Changed States

When you attempt to visit all 50 states, there are bound to be some states that get short-changed. In our family, Maine tops that list. We have spent only a single day in Maine. It was a great day, full of neat experiences, but there's obviously a lot of things we missed. Just like anywhere, you could spend months and not see everything. I'd love to return to Maine and see some of what we've missed. Just look at the beauty of the Pine Tree State.

 

Delaware is our second most short-changed state. We spent a full day in Delaware in October 2017 and had a lot of fun, but there's a lot we didn't see. It's a small state (the second smallest) and we drove through about half of it, but didn't visit the more touristy area in the south. Someday! Look at all that the First State has to offer.

When planning our June 2023 New England trip, I really wanted to spend two days in Connecticut. But the timing just didn't work out with what days of the week certain things in other states were available, and I had to cut it down to a single day. Thus, Connecticut is our third most short-changed state. We packed in a lot of really fun things, but we'll be back to see more of the Constitution State - tentatively in the fall of 2026!

Our July 2019 trip to Missouri and Kansas was split into 6 days in Missouri and one day in Kansas. This was more a reflection of how easy it was for us to get to and from Missouri than it was to Kansas. We were able to take a nonstop flight to St. Louis from Sacramento, then another nonstop flight from Kansas City to Boise to visit my family. Flying in or out of any city in Kansas would have involved layovers. Not only would it have taken a lot longer, but the flights were more expensive. So Kansas became a day trip from Missouri. Here's some of what we saw, and some of what we missed, in the Sunflower State.  

Of our most short-changed states, the one that makes me the saddest is Wyoming. We had to cancel a 2020 family reunion in Yellowstone and Grand Teton because of the pandemic. That was so disappointing. We had been to Wyoming already, but had only spent one day visiting in June 2015. So Wyoming comes in at #5 on our most short-changed state. 

Our family has spent the least amount of time in Maine, Delaware, Connecticut, Kansas, and Wyoming, in that order. But there are two other states that need an asterisk:

• New York: As a family of three, we have spent only a few hours there. We sailed into New York harbor aboard a cruise ship, then had a brief city tour on the way to the airport to fly home. However, each of us has been to New York separately for multiple-day trips. Trevor visited without us on a school trip in March 2019. 

• Virginia: This is the only state we have not visited as a family of three. However, we've each been there separately (another stop during Trevor's school trip) and spent a decent amount of time. 

Any thoughts on don't-miss places to go when we eventually make it back to our most short-changed states? Let me know in the comments!

More Nests: Northern Mockingbird, Western Meadowlark, and Baltimore Oriole

I liked the American Robin nest craft so much I made three more! To make your own, follow the directions for the robin nest, with the following small modifications. 

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You will need a 13/16" template for the eggs of the Northern Mockingbird. Paint them a very pale greenish to bluish grey. When the paint is dry, use a stiff brush to pounce a bit of cinnamon colored paint on the eggs. The blotches should be very light at the pointy end and heavier on the rounded end.  

The Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. 

 

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You will need a 1-3/16" template for the eggs of the Western Meadowlark. Paint them a creamy off-white. When the paint is dry, put brown paint on a stiff brush, then run your thumb across the bristles to splatter the brown paint onto the eggs. (Do this somewhere that brown paint splatters won't matter.) The splatters should be a bit heavier toward the rounded end. 

The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. 

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You will need a 5/8" template for the eggs of the Baltimore Oriole. Paint the eggs a very pale grey. When the paint is dry, use a sharp brown colored pencil to draw squiggles onto the eggs as shown. The squiggly lines are more concentrated toward the rounded end. 

The Baltimore Oriole is the state bird of Maryland. 

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While doing my research on state birds, I came across an awesome shop that sells State Pride t-shirts that feature birds (affiliate link). That link goes to my state bird, the California Quail. I chose random states for each of the four birds' nests I made to feature below; if you don't see your state, follow this link to check yours out!