Skip to main content
Day one of the trip east with David.  I will not count the flight and the car renting fiasco as day one.  That experience will go down as day none.  It is enough to say that we did not get to our motel until after one o'clock.  Up at six and on the road to Philly a half hour later.
     Independence Hall is where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were written.  The park ranger who gave us the tour was a wise acre.  Very funny and yet informative.  He reminded me of Sammy Davis Jr.  I half expected him to break out into "Bo Jangles."  He said he did not want any questions concerning religion, politics, or "National Treasure."
     There is always a lot of hype over the Liberty Bell.  It has a good sized building all to itself.  I would not stand in along line to see it.  We waited ten minutes.  It is still cracked.
     The person most associated with Philly is Ben Franklin.  He made his fortune as a printer here.  His print shop is gone but you can see where it stood.  He is recognized as a genius.  David was wondering why, if he was so smart, he had his out house right next to the well he drew his drinking water from.  His grave is covered with coins.  David added a dime.  I was too cheap to co tribute anything.
     We could not leave Philly without having a Philly cheese steak.  We bought ours from a street vendor who has been selling on the same corner for 27 years.  He last took a vacation four years ago.  He said he could hardly wait until next year when the Pope comes to visit.  I am not sure if it was because he was eager to see the Pope or if he thought the Pope's visit would be good for business.
     When we left town, David asked if we were going to see Valley Forge.  I told him we did not have time.  Twenty minutes later I took a wrong turn, got lost, and ended up, you guessed it, in Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smithsonian

There is so much to see in the museums on both sides of the National Mall I cannot possibly mention everything. I will list that which stands out.      Mueum of Natural History:  a huge stuffed elephant that dominates the rotunda, dozens of dinosaur skeletons, the Hope diamond, gemstones galore, and Egyptian mummies.      Museum of American History:  the section on civil rights from 1863 to 1963, the stories of Medal of Honor winners, the section on America at War, the section on Thomas Edison.     Air and Space Museum:  the Wright brother's plane, all the Apollo space stuff about how we went to the moon, the section on telescopes,  the section on aircraft carriers, the section on taking photographs from the air.  This last sectio n covered everything from the first pictures taken from the air in baloons and from cameras strapped to the bellies of birds to pictures taken from modern satellites.  Of all the museums...
Post a Comment
Read more

President's Graves

On this trip with David we are going to visit the graves of five Presidents.  One of the greatest, George Washington at Mount Vernon.  One of the worst, James Buchanan at Lancaster, PA.  Three in the middle.  Woodrow Wilson at the National Cathedral in Washington.  John Kennedy and Howard Taft at Arlington Cemetary in Virginia.  The two most impressive Presidential graves I have been to are Lincoln's in Springfield, IL, and Grant's in New York  City.      I have been to 17 of the 39 Presidential graves.  Most of them are very humble.   many are located in regular cemetaries.  Their grave stones are less remarkable than many others in the same cemetary.  I found this to be true of Buchanan's in Lancaster and Tyler's in Richmond.  Many are buried at their Presidential libraries, such as Hoover and Truman.  Some are buried at their homes, such as Washington, Jefferson, and FDR.      I think Lin...
1 comment
Read more

Gettysburg II

The fact that Lee was missing two of his best generals probably cost him the battle.  Stonewall Jackson was killed during the Battle of Chancellorsville two months before.  He was accidentally shot by some of his own men while he was out scouting the front lines at night.  He would have taken Culp's hill at the north end of the battlefield on the first night.  That would have made a big difference.  JEB Stuart, Lee's most able cavalry commander was off on a wild goose chase and did not arrive until two thirds of the battle was over.  Then he failed to get to the Union rear on the third day as Pickett attacked the Union center.  He was thwarted by none other than George Custer, who at 26, was the youngest general for the North.  Lee took full responsibility for the loss, but his commanders let him down.      We stayed at the same mom and pop motel that I usually stay at.  It is at the south end of town near the cemetary where L...
Post a Comment
Read more