Last Day, Amish and Gettysburg

We took a whirlwind tour today starting with Valley Forge










and then a drive through the back roads of the Pennsylvania Dutch country,













a stop in Intercourse PA where Russ got his hand wax dipped














and then finally to Gettysburg where we rushed through to finish our tour before the sun set. We barely made it. Wow, what a day though, each of our stops worth it and wonderful.

Philadelphia

On to the founding of our country. It is hard not be be patriotic when you are surrounded by so much history..
First a tour of Independence Hall, and the first Congress. Then a rainstorm so we went over to see the Liberty Bell. Then on to Franklin Court,,,Ben Franklin is America's answer to DaVinci, only he printed instead of painted, but the inventions and influence were up the same alley.

A drive around town trying to get on the right street driving the right way to see the First National Bank and the home where Jefferson wrote the Declaration.





A drive past City Hall to the very nice Art Museum and Rocky's statue.
We were impressed about how grumpy and unhappy most of the people we encountered were. They need a Baltimore fix.

















Then the game. We were very early, had lots of time to hang out in Ashburn Alley, look at Memory Lane and the Hall of Famers from the Phillies, only a few names I knew like Steve Carleton and Mike Schmidt. Then on to our seats on first base line. And the rain came again. After the first inning we experienced a rain delay of about an hour and a half, but by that time Boston was up 5-Nothing. The rest of the game wasn't much better. Had we been cheering for the Red Sox, like about a third of the stadium was, then it might have been a good game. But it was bad, it was late, it was cold and we left early...

Baltimore

Babe Ruth was born here ! A baseball throw from Third base. The home he grew up in long gone, now about center field. We walked over to the small Birthplace museum, once his grandparents house where his mother returned to give birth. Even a hundred years away you can feel the history in this place that helped produce the first hero of Baseball....the Sultan of Swat, the King of Swing, the Bambino, The Babe.

Then on to the party out back at Pickles Pub. Lots of people, lots of good feelings, lots of noise. I had a crab cake (the best I've ever had! delicious) and sweet potatoe fries... and we bought a Cal Ripken shirt for Hyrum... Did I mention I'd found the home for his favorite oriole shirt, the one he wore from age 5 till about 17? Everywhere I looked there were orange shirts, just like his ! (Well, except in this picture :-))

















Then trying to find our seats. We of course were on the complete opposite side of the stadium,,,,we had done too much walking, my feet were killing me. The Orioles lost to Boston, booo, but the stadium was rocking. Those fans they don't care, they were just going to have a good time anyway.
GO O's!

Washington DC

The next day we toured the heart of DC. Though, because we didn't have much time we settled for a few of the places we hadn't seen last time. First stop: the White House. With the street blocked off in front it is much quieter of a visit. Not so easy to get a tour as it was in 1976.


















Next stop: The Old Post office for a trip up the bell tower. They do ring the bells on occasion. That would be fun to volunteer to do. Great views from the top!


















Next Stop: Holocaust Museum. It had been two days since some crazy man had tried to blast his way in. How can anyone believe it didn't happen? Russ wanted to see this, I wanted to see the FDR memorial. So I dropped him off and then took off walking around the Tidal Basin. That is a beautiful walk. I love the Jefferson Memorial...its location if nothing else sets it apart. Then around to the FDR. I came into it from the back and walked backwards through his administration. But that was okay. This has lots of water features, some of his more important sayings, and a nice statue of his wife as well. I liked it. I could see spending some time there on a hot summer day.



















Last Stop: World War Two Memorial. I was really looking forward to this. When I stepped onto the lower level a powerful feeling just filled me up. I was choked up with emotion. So much of our country had been given to fight that war, so many men dead, every person affected somehow, someway. Just thank you to all of you.

Three Stadium tour

For Russ's birthday last year we went to the old Yankee Stadium before they tour it down. This year we did a three night, three game, three stadium tour through Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. It was fast, but it was fun. Unfortunately only one of the home teams won on our watch, dang!

Of course we had to do some tourist stuff as well and I found out I can't walk a whole lot further than Russ anymore. We were both sore after walking around Washington for two days and then walking around Philadelphia the next. The last day we just drove. Wow, I am older than I want to be, that is for sure.


In Washington we went to some places we hadn't seen before. We visited Arlington Cemetery with the Marine Memorial, JFK's grave, Arlington House and the Changing of the Guards at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We walked from our hotel in Rosslyn to the visitors center and then took the tourmobile around. It is a huge place. After seeing all the cemeteries in Europe it was good to see the "home" and the place all the others try to be.


Then we went to the National's game. It is a brand new stadium and felt new. Right on the edge of the Anacostia River, they have the running of the Presidents, and all the usual fun and games. We never did find our seats. We just sat on some nice padded ones right where we came out. Out front they have statues of some players from other incarnations of the team. Nationals though at the bottom of their division pulled out a win... YEAH