Tuesday, May 18, Day 69, Philly

After some research we found that there was a parking lot downtown Philadelphia that would take an RV, right in the middle of things. So downtown we went, just like we knew what we were doing! Going downtown in a huge city with an RV is always an adventure. We were able to find a spot, and did not smash any cars, run over any pedestrians or anything! Just had to deal with elevated heart rate and a few close calls.

After going to the visitor center to get tickets, we went for our tour of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights were signed. Then we took a tour of Congress building, when it was in Boston.


The Liberty Bell was cool, and we beat most of the school bus hoards that came later. In the picture of the bell, note Independence Hall in the background.

After looking at Carpenter House, and the area around Ben Franklin's house (not still standing), we went to the house where Jefferson stayed when he drafted the Declaration of Independence. We all easily connected this to the actual desk it was written on that we had seen at the Smithsonian in DC, and the actual Declaration copy we saw at the National Archives as well as the visit to Monticello.

The visit to the post office near Ben Franklin's house, and the printing press brought back memories of "Liberties Kids" TV show, which has proven to be a great teacher of early American History.

Grant pointed out that the US mint was nearby, and so we headed over there for a self tour of the stamping facility where coins are minted. No pictures of that! (Wanted to stay out of jail).

For lunch we had the required Philly Cheese steak sandwich! Even though it was lightly raining it was a fun visit to Philly.



Although we were talking about skipping New York City, we found an RV spot just across in New Jersey so we landed there for the night. And yes we could actually see the state of liberty from the window of our RV! That was a blessing because some of the kids really wanted to go to the statue, and we had decided it was too much to try to fit in. Especially since we did not book tickets for the crown in advance.

To cap the day off, Hope lost one of her front teeth! The picture is a self portrait by Hope.

Sunday/Monday, May 16/17, Day 67/68

Amanda-My Amish dreams have come true! Greg was under great pressure to take me to Lancaster County, PA after all the Beverly Lewis books I've read! Since we wanted to immerse ourselves in the cultlure, Sunday we rested just liked the Amish.



Monday we started with breakfast at the Bird-n-Hand Family Restaurant where "English" as well as Amish can take in a hearty meal. It was a Smorgasbord!



Then we went to the Bird-n-Hand Bake Shop where I stocked up on some baked goods like fresh baked bread, cookies, and a dessert sampler including whoopie pie, shoofly pie, and apple struedel. Also found a Lancaster made faceless doll and a bonnet for Hope. Also bought some locally canned jams. Good Amish find!



Then we went to Aaron & Jessicas's buggy rides for a 3 mile tour of the countryside in an Amish buggy with an Amish driver. He also drove us through a nearby dairy farm. We watched men working in the fields with their horses and all the homes had laundry out to dry since it was Monday-laundry day. After the ride we walked over to a local grocery store that sold bulk baking products to the Amish. I bought almonds, fresh ground peanut butter, honey with the comb in it, some yummy local yogurt and milk.



With a few snickers, we headed toward the town of Intercourse. Greg thinks the Amish have an interesting sense of humor. We went to Kitchen Kettle Village to watch the Amish women can in a large kitchen. Of course I had to stalk up on some more canned jam, apple butter, and even salsa.


Across the street I went to Stotzfus Deli. I love to try local food wherever I am, and I was not dissapointed. I bought the family a chicken pie, some local sausage, deli meat, different cheeses, and crackers. Fun!

The one disappointment is that many stores have sprung up trying to sell junk made to look Amish that is "made in China". You actually have to check labels to find things "made in Lancaster County". Short visit but fun. It began to drizzle as we headed toward Philadellphia via Delaware and New Jersey.

Saturday, May 15, Day 66 - Gettysburg

Hit the new visitor center at Gettysburg. It seems to be a sort of partnership between private and government. It makes for a nice visitor center, since it is not funded by the government, but there are more things to pay for! The park is still free.


We watched a movie and saw the "Cylcodrama", but after the number of visitor centers we have been too, we could almost recite the high points from memory. The weather was perfect, sunshine, but cool.


It was really something to drive along the battlefield and see the massive battle lines formed against each other. Sad war against ourselves. Very destructive, as war technology improved dramatically, but tactics did not, which created huge casualties.


Leaving Gettysburg, we drove to Amish country, staying near Lancaster. However, we decided to stop at Good and Plenty for dinner. The name pretty much says it all, just understated. After the homemade bread, with whipped butter, apple butter, and chow-chow (bean salad), we got into the meatloaf, fried chicken, ham, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, butter noodles, then came the ice cream, cheesecake, shoofly pie, cherry pie, rice pudding, strawberry rhubarb......GOOD and Plenty! In fact some of us ate so much that we did not feel good! We all groaned our way to the Old Mill campground for the next two nights.

Friday, May 14, Day 65

Our last day in DC. We started off by getting the buffet at the hotel! (kids eat free or $2 for the buffet). After the meal I knew we had gotten the better end of the deal!

Then we walked over to the Smithsonian Castle. The kids got a big kick out of the intro film, because the actor from Night in the Museum was the star of the film, and had some funny lines. Then it was off to join the vast hoards of school kids at the Natural History Museum. Found out that May is peak season for school kids.

The museum has some amazing things, but as a Biologist who has studied the origins of man, it was over the top as an indoctrination center for the religion of evolution. This was sad to see such biased information being presented, and such blatant reverse religious views in the displays.

The part of the museum we enjoyed the most was the rocks and minerals. Crystals, precious stones (the Hope Diamond, neclklaces given by Napoleon), meteorites, and every item of the sort. I love the naturally occurring pyrite form, better than most of the art over at the modern art museum.

The kids also got a kick out of the fossils, and dinosaur reconstructions.

We then grabbed our bags and headed for the Metro, with tired eyes, brains on info overload, and sore feet. The Amazing Mlezivas picked us up and transported us back to the RV. We said our goodbyes and found the road again, this time heading to Gettysburg, PA, crossing Maryland along the way. A great week 9, and we crossed over the 2 month mark.

Thursday, May 13, Day 64

Although we did not get tickets for the White House tour, we did go to the Visitor Center, and take a walk all the way around it. Also saw two guys on the roof carrying what looked like guitar cases, but were not!

Because the hotel we have been staying at was full tonight, we had to switch hotels this morning. Fortunately I found a Holiday Inn I could use more hotel points for, and it was actually closer to the Capitol, where we were headed.

Before catching our tour at Rep. Nunes Office, we made a call to the Library of Congress (one of several buildings). It was amazing (the architecture was beautiful). They also had a system where you could use an online account to cache documents that you could not take a picture of. Ancient maps, Thomas Jefferson documents... cool!

We also found out that our elected officials have a pretty good cafeteria, at a very reasonable price. I selected from the "Global" counter, and had a fried Peruvian yucca patty (Way better than it sounds!) chicken, beef, rice, and vegetables. It was actually one of the better meals I have eaten outside of the RV.

Nunes' office had set up a nice tour, our family and two other people. The kids loved taking the underground secured tunnel to the capitol! We also got to see some areas that the larger groups do not go to (the old supreme court, the old Senate Chamber, and one or two more).

The original art in the capitol rotunda, was great, and the kids enjoyed trying to find one artist (Trumble) who had carefully inserted himself into his paintings (like the signing of the declaration of Independence)!

Another full day in DC that ended with sore feet after miles of walking. We took the metro to our new hotel and enjoyed a nice meal at the hotel (kids ate for free!).

Wednesday, May 12, Day 63

After a quick breakfast at one of the abundant bakeries, we walked back over to Ford's Theatre to get tickets for a tour. In the museum, they had the actual gun, clothes that Lincoln was wearing and a host of other historical pieces. A ranger gave a lecture in the theatre as we sat under Lincoln's box. Seeing all of it really brings history to life. A quick tour of the house across the street where Lincoln past away, then we were on to the Spy Museum around the corner.


Assuming my new identity as John Campbell, a clothing salesman visiting the Ukraine, I aroused some suspicion "crossing the border", so I switched to my backup cover, Chang Yuen, a Chinese dentist, as last resort (a little tougher to pull off!). Did not have to resort to the shoe phone, the button camera, lipstick gun, or cyanide tablets hidden in glasses, but they did have them there. The kids had fun crawling through the spy ducts, and trying to find the hidden bugs and cameras planted in various places. A fun spot.

After lunch we visited the National Archives and saw the actual Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, and other amazing documents.


We pressed on to the National Gallery of Art Smithsonian, to take in the grand architecture and masterpieces from the last 500 years or so. It was nice to be able to take pictures inside. Most places in DC you are allowed photography. So far, we found we couldn't photograph the Star Spangled Banner flag (the one for which the song was written).

By now our dogs were barking (feet hurt!), so we headed back to the hotel. Along the way we found a drug store that had food, and bought some cold cereal for dinner. I also found the movie "Night at the Museum-Smithsonian" which we watched and laughed seeing many of the places we had seen, and few places we were still planning on seeing.

Tuesday May 11, Day 62

Rain Forecast today, so we decided to do a city bus tour today. It is a "hop on hop off" double decker, which the kids enjoyed despite the rain and cold!

First stop off, National Cathedral, impressive in size. We continued on down Embassy "Row" and Georgetown University, getting off at the Air and Space Smithsonian.
We did not have time to get out to the big hanger at Regan Airport, but the collection on the mall is impressive. We saw the actual Wright Flyer (first sustained powered flight, ever), Spirit of St. Louis, first plane to break the sound barrier, and the list goes on, not to mention the space pieces.


We jumped back on the bus and looked at a lot of places we will not have time to visit on this trip. Today we decided to pass on getting off at Arlington due to the rain and sore feet. Washington DC is nearly endless when it comes to places to visit. It truly is an impressive city.

We stopped at the Ford Theatre, but we were too late in the day for a tour, so we walked back to our hotel, eating at the hotel. Expensive, but convenient!