Herbert Hoover National Historic Site - June 2017

Our first stop on our 2017 Out West trip (other than bathrooms and picnics!) was Herbert Hoover National Historic Site located in West Branch, Iowa.  This was not an original planned site for our three week expedition but we would be driving right by it anyway so we added it to our list.  This is also the first site where we were able to get our National Parks Passport stamped - so it ended up having memorable aspect to it.





President Hoover's dad was a blacksmith.  The site had an interactive blacksmith shop that was fun to explore for the kids.  There were also lots of walking paths for the kids to get out some energy!




My parents also joined us for the first ten days of our trip - so we were fortunate to have them take a few family pics of us all.  Also, the weather was mild and cool and it was nice walking the grounds of the NHS.  This NPS site is also free - so we didn't even have to get our our National Parks pass to visit!


Overall, it was a worthwhile stop on our trip to enjoy a walk and some fresh air as we made our way to Des Moines for our first overnight stay on the trip!  We stayed at the Sterling Hotel & Suites.  It was a very economically priced hotel with a great location and free breakfast.  It also had an outdoor pool which helped us refresh after a long day of almost 11 hours of travel time/


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