Maritime - Week Three

Sunday, June 19, 2005 - Day 15

Washington, DC

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!

We left the campground about 10 or so this morning, and went back to the Mall area of DC, visiting some of the monuments and sites that we didn't get to the other day.  The first place we went was to the White House Visitor's Center.  This center is located near the White House and has a lot of pictures and displays of the history and occupants of the White House. Then we spent a couple hours visiting the FDR monument and the Jefferson Memorial.

We left the Mall area and drove up to the Georgetown area, the location of Georgetown University and The National Cathedral.  It is totally impossible to describe just how beautiful and impressive the Cathedral actually is.  Even though is was Sunday, the Cathedral was open to visitors between services.  Construction was started in 1912, and it is still under construction today.

After returning to the coach, we did a few housekeeping chores, and went to dinner at a local restaurant named Jasper's, a real nice place, with great food.

Monday, June 20, 2005 - Day 16

Philadelphia, Pa

We were back on the road this morning, headed to a KOA near West Chester, Pa., not far from both Valley Forge National Park and Philadelphia.  Today was one of those days that makes us thankful for Mr. Delorme.  First we missed the road off I-95 to take us to US 1.  We think that happened when we got too interested in a Cinnabon at MM 95 service plaza, and went past the turn. Mr. Delorme recalculated a new route, through Newark, Delaware.  Should not have been too bad, but another missed turned when the GPS was off for a minutes, and again Mr. Delorme recalculated.  It seemed that every time it recalculated, the road got narrower and narrower.  Finally we arrived about noon, got set up and settled in and decided to go to Valley Forge Park this afternoon.

Valley Forge is a really interesting place, the place where George Washington prepared his army during the winter for the battles that would come the next spring.  We went first to the Visitor's Center and browsed through the many displays of artifacts, as well as the various exhibits depicting the Park and the historical significance of the events that took place here.

It was during the winter of 1777-78, that the Continental Army, led by General George Washington camped here, and trained for their war against the British, eventually causing the British to withdraw from Philadelphia, the then capitol of the 13 colonies.

At left is the Isaac Potts House, Washington's Headquarters.

One of the most interesting parts of the Park was the Washington Memorial Chapel, which is host to an active congregation.  The beautifully appointed interior of this early 20th century church commemorates George Washington's service to his country.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - Day 17

Philadelphia, Pa

Today we drove into Philadelphia, about a 35 mile drive at 9:30 in the morning. Traffic was not real bad, although it was stop and go for a mile or so.  We exited the freeway directly into the Old Town part where many of the historical buildings and sites are located.  Traffic was not bad, we knew there was a couple of underground parking garages, but the first one we saw was full, but just our luck.. there was a street side parking space under some trees for shade.  $2.00 for 2 hours directly across the street from the Visitor's Center, the place to start the tour.  How lucky could we be. 

We checked in at the Ranger Station, got some brochures, had our 'Passport to the National Park' cancellation stamped, and made an appointment for the tour of 'Independence Hall'.  From there we walked across the street, went through security and entered the Park part of the area. 

We had about 45 minutes, before our tour time, so we went through the exhibit of the Liberty Bell. I know everyone has seen pictures, if not viewed it personally, and it is exactly like the pictures.  It is on display in an area that is open to the public, though roped off, with one side being a window to the outside.  The crack is even more that a crack, the bell is actually split, with the crack being about 1/2 wide.  Originally the crack was just that, but attempts to repair made the crack even worse.

From there we walked across the street to take a tour of Independence Hall.  Each group consisted of about 100 or so viewer, and started promptly every 15 minutes.  The Park Ranger that conducted our tour was very knowledgeable and informative.  The tour started in a large room in one of the wings with chairs on either side, and the Ranger gave about a 10 minute talk about the Hall and the significance in history.

From there we went in the main building to view the two different rooms where the Declaration of Independence was voted on and the room where the Constitution was written.

After leaving the security area, we had a little picnic lunch back at the truck (cheaper that way) and walked over to the Philadelphia Mint.  We heard that, although tours had been discontinued after 9/11, tours were again available.  We checked with the guard outside, ok to tour, no cameras or cell phone cameras.  Donna took my camera back to the truck, and we took the tour.  There were lots of displays about the history of the mint, and the various coins and commemorative coins that have been minted here over the years.  We were able to observe, through glass observation points, the various steps in the process of minting the coins.  It was sort of neat to see wooden boxes about 4ft x 4ft x4ft on pallets full of coins.

We walked by the Betsy Ross house, but didn't go in, and also by the Christ Church Cemetery, where Benjamin Franklin and three other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried.  We also drove over to the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial and the home of Edgar Allen Poe.  Both places were only open Wednesday through Sunday.  I did get picture of the Edgar Allen Poe home, with a statue of the Raven.

Just a little side note here.  As we were leaving the Old Town part, and trying to get back on the freeway, we were crossing under a freeway bridge, waiting on a light, when some Freak on a bicycle started yelling at us - "I hate Texans..  Get outta here.. I hate Texans."  I started trying to roll my window up, Donna decided it was time to hit the door locks (which were already locked), instead locked the windows.  Mine would not operate.  I hollered at Donna, "unlock the windows, before this idiot tries to get in my face"

Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - Day 18

Philadelphia, Pa

Welcome to Summer to all our friends down there in hot, East Texas.  Just thought we might mention the campfire last night, and NO A/C.  Today, since we are camped only 30 miles from Lancaster, Pa, we decided to drive over there, spend a few hours driving the back roads and observing the Amish lifestyle.  If you remember, we were here in August '02 for several days, traveling with Donna's parents, Mac and Lena. We visited several Amish Markets and road side vegetable stands, and drove a lot of roads enjoying the countryside.

At lunch, we stopped at an Amish Buffet, which was excellent.  We had a table by a big picture window overlooking a big valley where the Amish were busy in the fields.

We saw lots of crops such as alfalfa, corn, tobacco, and wheat.  Most alfalfa fields had been cut once already, or were being cut and baled right now.  We saw all phases of alfalfa production, cutting, windrowing, fluffing, and baling.  No harvest on the corn yet, as most was only 2 to 3 feet tall, with probably half and half field corn and pop-corn.  We saw the small fields of tobacco in several stages, from a group busy planting the seeding plants to fields where the tobacco was about a foot tall. 

This young Amish teen is cutting the hay.  He had 7 horses and mules pulling the cutter, which was power by a large gasoline engine.  Amish are not permitted to use tractors, but are permitted to use gasoline powered implements.

Here is another young man windrowing the alfalfa after it has been cut.

This young man is fluffing the alfalfa, after it had previously been cut, allowed to dry, then windrowed, allow to dry more then fluffed for more drying.

Here the man is loading the baled hay on the wagon.  The baler, like the cutter, is power by a large gasoline engine and pulled by a team of horses, being driven by the man's barefoot teenage daughter.

Almost all of the Amish homes had a vegetable garden which was also a flower garden.  The little home gardens contain the typical vegetables, but in all cases the row most visible from the street contained various type of flowering plants.  In addition the yards of the Amish were very well manicured and contained lots of flowers.

Thursday, June 23, 2005 - Day 19 --  NEW YORK CITY!

Happy Birthday, Lena

We have arrived in New York City!  Well, actually in Jersey City, across the river from Manhattan.  We got here about 11:30 this morning and are staying at Liberty Harbor Marina and RV park.  We actually are in sight of both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  Fairly uneventful drive from near West Chester, Pa.  We got on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at Valley Forge, then on to the New Jersey Turnpike, which dropped us off just a few blocks to the RV Park.

After getting into our site, having a quick sandwich, we decided to take a ferry tour to both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  The lady in the office explained that since we had a car, just drive about 12 blocks or so to the Liberty Harbor State Park, park in the parking lot, and take the ferry to Ellis Island, get off and stay awhile, then catch the next ferry to the Statue, stay as long as we like, but last ferry leaves at 6:30.

Ellis Island museum was huge and very interesting and informative.  From around 1900 to the 1950's all immigrants to the US through NY immigrated through Ellis Island, as many as 5,000 per day!  The primary reason for the processing was for health reason, and anyone with any health problems were retained, quarantined, and placed in the Ellis Island Hospital facilities, consisting of 29 building, the largest hospital in NY at the time.

Back on the Ferry, we went over to the Statue of Liberty Island, just a very short hop away.  There is no way pictures can portray the immensity of the Statue.  Built on the foundation of Historic Fort Wood.  The statue was shipped to New York from Paris and reassembled on Bledsoe Island (now Liberty Island) in 1886, and declared a national monument in 1924.  In 1986 restoration of the statue was completed in time for the centennial celebration on July 4, 1986.

Friday, June 24, 2005 - Day 20

New York City - Day 2

Hard to say where to start.  We left the campground this morning about 8 or so, walked 100 yards to the ferry docks to catch the ferry to NYC.  We disembarked at Pier 11 on the south and east side of Manhattan Island, just a few blocks from Wall Street.  We walked a few block through the Financial District, and caught a subway to 50th street and 8th avenue.  Another walk for a couple of blocks, and we bought tickets for a Two-Day, All-Tours, Hop On and Off sight-seeing double-decker bus.

Our first tour was the "uptown tour', which took us north into Upper Manhattan where we saw such things as Central Park, Lincoln Center, American Museum of Natural History, Apollo Theatre in Harlem, Harlem Market, Guggenheim Museum, and Central Park Zoo and Children's Zoo.  Then we went by Times Square which was the last stop before we returned to where we started, so we got off the bus, and wandered around Times Square, having lunch at Bubba Gump's Seafood House.  We then spent an hour or so wandering around Times Square and making our way back to where we were to get on the next tour - the downtown tour.

Don't know if this one was necessarily more interesting, but it was through areas that are maybe more well known, such as Theater District, Macy's, Madison Square Garden, Empire State Building, Union Square, Greenwich Village, SoHo, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, St. Paul's Chapel (across the street from Ground Zero) and Battery Park. 

At Battery Park where we got off and spent a little time. The Castle Clinton (no relation to Bill) is located here, which was built after an attack on June 22, 1807 by the British up the American frigate Chesapeake.  In the park, is a sculpture that was originally located in the plaza at the Twin Towers.  It was discovered during the clean-up, and placed in the park with effects of the towers' still exposed.

Having never been to NYC before, our only ideas about what to expect has been from pictures and from TV.  Nothing really can do justice to the crowds.  Manhattan is an island 12 miles long (or tall) and 2.5 miles wide at its widest point.  Over 1.8 million people live on Manhattan Island and another 2.5 million come to the island every day to work, arriving by ferry, train, subway, bus, car, bike and maybe even Sedgway.  On the streets everybody is going somewhere in a hurry, ignoring Walk / Don't Walk lights, paying no attention to anyone else.

On the ferry back to the coach this afternoon, we talked to a guy that parks his car in the lot next to the ferry dock every day.  Donna asked him where he lived, and he said in Pennsylvania, a 2.5 hr drive each way every day, plus the ferry ride, and the walk (or subway) to his office.  I told him I lived 7.6 minutes from my office.

Just a little about the 'campground'.  It basically is a gravel lot, with the aisles paved with asphalt.  Many of the spaces are very small and do not have enough electrical power for our rig.  But we were lucky and got a good site, with plenty of power.  We had some new neighbors move in late today driving a large motorhome, pulling a mini-van.  As they began piling out of the motorhome, we realized there were 4 teenage boys, 4 teenage girls, and a mother and father. They took two spaces, parked the motorhome in one, and starting pitching a tent in the other.

Tomorrow we will continue our tour going to Brooklyn.

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - Day 21

New York City - Day 3

Really long day today.  Since the Commuter Ferry here at the park does not operate on week-ends, we walked about 5 long blocks to the PATH station.  PATH is the New Jersey subway system that crosses under the river going to the WTC on 33rd street.  We went to WTC, and from there, finished our Downtown Tour, which we had started yesterday.  After that tour completed, we got on the Brooklyn Tour for a trip across the Manhattan Bridge to Brooklyn.

When we returned from Brooklyn, we were dropped off near the Staten Island Ferry, a free ferry traveling between Staten Island and South Manhatten.  Just for grins, and because we had plenty time we rode over to Staten Island then turned around and came back.  Not sure how many folks can ride at one time, but it has to be at least 5000.  And its probably full during rush hour during the week with folks commuting to work in Manhattan.

Later, after dinner at Applebee's at Times Square, we boarded another of the double-decker buses for our final tour, the Night Lights Tour.  This tour was partly Manhattan and partly Brooklyn, with a few duplicate site, but mostly new locations, with emphasis on the Light of New York.

Obviously, the most bright lit area was Times Square where thousands of folks were going and coming. It was literally human gridlock on the sidewalks.  We couldn't imagine what it's like on New Year's Eve when hundreds of thousand of folks are there to ring in the new year.  We decided we would rather watch it on TV. 

After the tour, it was back on the PATH from 33rd street, back to Jersey City, and we opted for a Taxi back to the campground.  Taxi was only $5, but with all the walking we had already done today, it was well worth it.