A Visit to Monticello

 It was raining when we arrived but it let up while we toured. Thomas Jefferson took forty years to build his home. He did not get to enjoy it much until he retired here at the age of 66. 

 

The first floor is the only interior part open for tours although they are working to open the upper floors in the future. The house has many ingenious efficiencies. Photos are not allowed inside so I recommend if you get the chance come and see it. One example, to save space he built beds into walls then built closets in the space above the bed.  Access to clothes was via ladders, I bet he had servants do the climbing. Come to think of it I bet Mr Jefferson would be impressed with the use of space here in our camper!

 Do you know what the "Piedmont" is? Mr Jefferson stood in this observatory to look over his plantation and the Piedmont. The word is derived from Latin for foothills or foot of mountains. It refers to the coastal plateau of the US east of the mountains and short of the coastal lowlands. 

 After the interior tour we had a second tour about slavery at Monticello. The presentation was fair and informative. This clock is visible on the front porch of Monticello - it is two-faced, the other face is on the inside in the entry. It is powered by weights in each corner of the entry. The weights do double duty to designate the day as they pass the name of the day on the wall. The clock even has a second hand. The clock is sort of a metaphor of a man who owns slaves and pens the words "All men are created equal..." The words are simple on the outside, living into them gets complicated. 

The gardens are a preservation seed bank of Jefferson era and 19th century vegetable varieties. The tour guide said a perk of his job is the bounty of the garden's harvest. 

Speaking of bounty of harvest- I just made an apple crisp with the last of our Maine apples. Yummmmmy :-)

Three Days in Shenandoah

We took a little break from all of the history experience to explore the natural beauty of Shenandoah National Park. The trees are beginning their colorful transformation. 

 We had nice weather. 

 I was impressed with the vast variety of trees. So many new ones to learn...beech, balsam, hickory. 

 We walked for a ways on the AT 

 That is Appalachian Trail. It is a national trail from Georgia to Maine. 

 The trail markers are clear and seem to defy most meddling. The mileposts for the 105 miles of Skyline Dr are similarly permanent. 

 We saw two bears as we drove yesterday morning. Sorry, I was not fast enough with the camera so no photos. The only wildlife I was able to capture with camera were a few deer and more stick bugs. 

 These two are working to insure the survival of the species. At first I was thinking why do these bugs hang out on buildings so much...then I realized they are probably all around they just show up better on buildings. Our first couple nights were at the north end of the park at Matthew's Arm. Last night we went to Mount Loft. 

 It was nice enough to sit out and quilt while enjoying a glass of wine.

Here are a few more photos:

 I love the woodsy woods. I look forward to more forest walks when we get to the Blue Ridge Parkway. In the mean time we will experience a bunch of our national heritage. 

Monticello, Colonial Williamsburg, etc

Lancaster County & Gettysburg

Our route from Valley Forge towards Gettysburg took us through a bit of Lancaster County. This is famously Amish territory, which was apparent on the road. 

School bus, two wagons & us all converging. When we arrived at the first little town I got pretty excited to see quilts and crafts. 

 This quilt was the top one in a stack of dozens. All were beautifully hand quilted. 

I opted to purchase a little fabric for my own creations. The way I spread my scraps out, these will end up on a dozen or more projects, each time reminding me of our trip trough Pennsylvania. 

Next stop Gettysburg. It was an appropriately gloomy day to visit such a somber place. Upon arriving we went to the film and cyclorama. The cyclorama is a huge round oil painting with foreground "real" stuff. We viewed the painting from a round platform 30ft from the painting. They play a dialogue with music and lights that make it feel like you are in the middle of the battle on Cemetery Ridge. We explored part of the museum before our bus tour through a large part of the battleground. 

Fences and orchards have been reconstructed to attempt to replicate 1863. 

Here is a view from the Union army's high ground. The final day's charge by the confederates was from the tree line up to this area. In the 3 day battle 51,000 soldiers were killed or sustained wounds that would kill them. 

These are a few faces of the confederate soldiers. There were two big walls of these images. 

 Sunset over Gettysburg last night. The old rhyme about pink sky at night did not hold out... We awoke to rain and the path to the bath put a different spin on the importance of "high ground". 

Valley Forge Visit

Valley Forge is just a bit west of Philadelphia, in fact the area is served by the city busses. We arrived a little after noon. We wandered and read some history in the visitor center, then watched the park film. Afterwards we changed into biking duds and took a ride. We rode 7.5 miles mostly on a paved loop with a spur to General Washington's quarters. 

 The first highlight of the trail we came to was Washington's Memorial Chapel. It is a large Episcopal church. A beautiful structure, but I think it is the first church I have seen with canons mounted out front. 

This  is where Gen. Washington spent the winter. The home owner was paid 100 pounds rent for six months. The house has been put back as best they could to look and be furnished as it was in 1778. Martha arrived in early February in time for George's birthday. 

These little cabins are replicas of the ones lived in by the General's guards. 

 On around the bike path we came to the Memorial Arch. The top is inscribed with quote from one of Washington's letters. As you can tell it was a beautiful fall day. The paths in the park were busy with walkers, joggers, and cyclists. I was very aware of the contrast with the crowds yesterday who were from all over the world. Today Valley Forge was full of healthy Americans enjoying God's creation and it just happened to be in the same place where 12,000 soldiers came to spend several cold wet months 236 years ago. Almost half of those soldiers died, but they found several thousand more recruits to take their place come spring. 

An interesting question from a park ranger, "Why have we all heard of Valley Forge, when we probably can not name the other 6 or 7 places the continental army wintered in the other years of the war?"

So today was a "travel day"; we made a whole 60 miles! Tomorrow the goal is Gettysburg. 

Our Philadelphia Story

 We are in Philadelphia for a couple nights and one day. Generally we avoid big urban areas. They are difficult and stressful in the big truck and camper. We have never visited Philly before and it just seemed wrong to pass by without seeing some of these famous icons of America. As we approached I did an internet search and came across a very helpful blog describing visiting here in a large RV. We followed their advice and came to a mobile home park north of the city that is near public transportation. We arrived late Sunday. This morning we got on a two mile bus ride to the Lansdale train station. There we caught a train that took us to downtown. 

 Our first stop was in the Reading Terminal. Pronounced "redding" -- I bet that is how the railroad in Monopoly is also supposed to be pronounced, who knew?!

This is not much of a photo and I only took the one. This place is the Philly version of Pike Place Market except more food and less other merchandise. It pretty much hit me with sensory overload. We wandered through, headed for the history stuff and came back for dinner before the train ride home. 

We had to get a ticket for a tour of Indepence Hall. We had a brief wait then a nice little tour. 

This is the room where our founders met and hashed out our declaration and constitution. We went on to see the first rooms where the house and Senate met for the first 10 years while the capital in Washington was being built. 

We asked a local person away from the tourist area where we should get the best Philly Cheese Steak sandwich--her recommendation was Ishkabibble's on South street. 

 It was worth the 8 or 10 block walk! Served piping hot and fresh! Mmmmm

This is Frankin Square -- an imaginative "replica" of Franklin's house. Historians do not know what the house looked like but the have the house plans and letters that describe it. So the replica is just an approximate shape and stones with quotes from letters on the paving stones that lead your mind to "build" the house in your own mind as you read them. 

Several times during the day we checked the line to see the Liberty Bell and it was crazy long. Finally about 4, the crowd dissipated and we got right in. 

 They have a nice display leading to the bell about all of the different ways she has been used as a symbol of our struggles and triumphs in the pursuit of liberty. 

Tomorrow we travel on. There is lots to see. Valley Forge, Gettysburg ...

One little back-up in this narrative: we took a pause from travel and stayed a couple nights with Dan's cousin and her husband in Madison, New Jersey. It was nice to sleep in a real bed and especially to use a regular shower. Saturday, they took us to the village of Chester for lunch and a little shop wandering. 

 I found a vintage sewing machine. It is a Singer 301A, built in 1951. I am thrilled! It only cost $40 and has quite a few accessories   I ran it a little, the motor is fine, the machine just needs cleaning and oil. We tucked the case in behind Dan's seat in the cab of the truck. I can not think of a better souvenir. 

I am a happy girl. Non quilters may not understand what a find the machine is, but on a Facebook quilt group I am in, my post about the machine has 320 "likes"

So the rest of the story-- the reason we took the extra time in New Jersey-- In my last blog post I wrote about sewing in the camper when we were in Connecticut. While I was sewing Dan had given me a glass of wine and was sitting opposite me at the camper table with the laptop out to work on. When I wasn't looking the computer took a gulp of my wine and died. Big oops, to say the least. 

 This is inside where all the wine hit that we could see. We took it to an Apple store in New Jersey where we learned that the hard drive and data were safe. We needed to decide whether to buy a new machine or pay a lot and wait a while to fix the old one. We took some time to think about it knowing there would be more Apple stores down the road. Our first stop here in Philly was Apple where we bought a replacement. It was our sales person who suggested Ishkabibble's. The data from the old hard drive has been put on the new one and we will pick it tomorrow. 

Always have took look for the silver lining...if I hadn't spilled the wine, we might not have had the extra time in New Jersey, and I might not have found my new old sewing machine. AND We might not have found out about Ishkabibble's. 

Connecticut Night (plus a bit)

Housatanic River near our campsite at Housatanic Meadows State Park campground in Connnecticut. 

After our drive through the Berkshires we came to this nice spot for a night in Connecticut. 

Old stone walls among the camp sights. 

We got parked early enough for me to get my sewing out. 

Here are what I am working on. They are 4.5" string blocks, all "neutrals". I will use them with other yet-to-be-determined blocks to make quilt.  I make 10 blocks at a sitting, yesterday was my third so I have 30 finished. It will take over 150 for a full quilt. 20%complete :-)

I like to listen to the radio when I quilt, usually NPR , sometimes I have to settle on something else. Yesterday I listened to a commercial station out of Danbury CT. As they gave the commuter traffic report they mentioned "Newtown".  I checked the map and we were not many miles from the sadly famous Sandyhook school. In all likelihood many of those child victims once played in this park.  For some reason that makes the event more "real" in my mind. The town of Weed CA has been a regular refueling spot on our trips to California, the tragic fire there saddens me more than a event in a place I have no knowledge of. Conclusion:

Traveling swells the heart.

This is not much of a photo-but those are turkeys! There were 18 wandering around a group of tents across the campground this morning. 

Tonight we are in a county park in New Jersey. I was surprised at the bear pictures and warnings when we registered. Apparently there are plenty of bears in this part of New Jersey. 

 This is a little stick bug I spotted on the side of the restroom building. 

Cost to camp sure baffles us. It is interesting how wide the prices vary. We stayed 6 nights in Acadia at $10 a night (Dan gets the senior discount), 2 nights in private parks in Maine were each $30 that included electricity and showers and those are "off-season" prices. For the last three nights we have been in state or county parks in MA, CT & NJ - the price has been $14, $30, & $16 respectively. In Massachusetts and Connecticut the facilities were essentially the same. No electricity but hot showers and flush toilets. Here in New Jersey for $16 (Dan got a $4 veteran discount) we have water and electric and hot showers. New York had the most complicated system- a base price for the sight plus about 3 surcharges on top no showers but they were flush johns. Always a variety, in our 163 nights so far this year our average cost is still under $12. 

We just went for another woodsy walk. I will close with a couple of those photos. 

I will title this one "Perceverance". Here is another of Perceverance -

We even met a little friend-

 

The joys of the road less traveled. jb