Provolone or cheese whiz????

There's a big ongoing debate in Philadelphia about which is the best cheese for a Philly cheese steak. What a battle – strong opinions on both sides! Although we thought provolone would be our “cheese of choice” we decided to order one of each and do our own taste test! Although we liked them both ( of course Gary likes anything he eats.....) much to our surprise we both liked the cheese steak with cheese whiz the best! A good lesson that it pays to keep an open mind!

Whew! – we just finished our tour of  the remaining 3 BIG cities we had planned for our trip - Philadelphia, New York City and Washington D.C. Our plan was to stay way outside the cities in big ole Rose and use public transportation to visit the historic sites that we wanted to see – our plan worked out just the way we hoped it would! Rose was quite content to stay in the country and and we were quite happy to scurry back to Rose every afternoon after a great day of seeing the sites in the cities- well worth the visits and the risk of an allergic reaction to cities!

Some of the highlights :

New York City

• Seeing the Statue of Liberty - what an incredible symbol of freedom!

It was a gourgeous day!

• Learning about Ellis Island and touring the building where 12 million immigrants first stepped foot in America with great anticipation of a better life

• The “rebirth of ground zero with the building of the new Freedom Tower and the south tower

• The very heartfelt tributes to the victims and first responders of the 9/11 attacks that were in St Paul's church near ground zero. This is the church that provided the volunteers with a place to sleep.

Rememberances placed on a alter in the church by loved ones

Patches from first responders who came from all over the world to help after 9/11

• Time Square

Occasionally we make it to midnight on New Year's eve to see the ball drop but not often!

Philadelphia

• A tour of Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed

• Seeing the Liberty Bell - another great symbol of freedom

• Seeing the Valley Forge winter encampment for George Washington and the Continental Army

George Washington's headquarters in Valley Forge

Soldiers built cabins to live in during the winter encampment at Valley Forge

Washington D.C.

• Air and Space Museum – loved the jet fighter simulator! Gary flew the jet and I shot down 9 enemy jets

This is an F4 like the one Gary flew in the Marine Corp

• National Marine Corp Museum –excellent exhibits that gave a great history of the US from the American Revolution to present day

Fredericksburg, Virginia

• Visiting Monticello , Thomas Jefferson’s home, father of the Declaration of Independence

• Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville Civil war battlefields – biggest battles of the civil war lasting 18 months

Chatham was a plantation visited by 5 presidents - Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Jefferson. It was also used as a confederate hospital

• Visiting Montpelier, James Madison’s plantation – father of our constitution

James and Dolly hosted lots of parties on the lawn at their plantation - so many that they went broke and had to sell the plantation....

Next and last stops on our 6 week Northeast trip – Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Newport News and the Outer Banks!

What do Witches , Pilgrims, Minutemen and Pirates have in common?

They were all in Massachusetts in the 17th and 18th centuries….. it’s a colorful history!


• The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620


• The witch trials were in Salem in 1692


• The Minutemen fought in the first battle of the American Revolution in 1775 in Lexington and Concord


• Pirates were busy up and down the coast the whole time!


We learned about all of these events and much more during our visit to Boston and the New England coast. It was so fascinating to actually be in the places that we learned about in American History classes when we were in school!


Plus – our first big city experience in Rose and Scooter proved to be much easier than we thought it might be – safe and uneventful - thanks to Gary’s good defensive driving!


Along the way….


Molly saw these dogs in their personal strollers and now she wants one too!

A problem with the air brakes – fortunately only a slight delay thanks to Gary the chief mechanic and bus driver

Some of the highlights:

• Walking the 3 mile Freedom Trail in Boston and seeing where Paul Revere began the midnight ride, site of the Boston Tea Party, tour of USS Constitution "Old Ironsides" and Bunker Hill

Bunker Hill Monument

• The Minuteman National Park in Concord and Lexington where the American Revolution began

The North Bridge where the "shot heard round the world" was fired and started the American Revolution

Minteman fireing a musket - click the arrow to see the video

• Salem – the site of the 1692 witch trials and learning about what really happened

Salem Witch Museum

On the main street in Salem - a great place to see in October!

When in Salem.....

The house of a person who was hung as a witch

 

• Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard Islands

The classic Lighthouse of Cape Cod

Classic New England seaside

Martha's Vineyard

• Learning about the Pilgrim’s voyage on the Mayflower and their colony at Plymouth

A replica of the Mayflower that actually sailed from Plymouth England to Plymouth Massachusetts

                                                                      Plymouth Rock - small but an American icon 

• A hike around Walden Pond

Little known fact - Thoreau lived on Walden Pond for 2 years and was only 30 minutes walk from his parents home

• Mystic Seaport and Submarine Museum

 

A fantastic outdoor museum of maritime history in America

We toured the Nautilus submarine and also learned that submarines were instrumental in the defeat of Japan in WW11

• A tour of the Vanderbilt "summer cottage" in Newport RI. 

                         Newport is VERY posh! The sheep in the fields were better "coiffed" than we are ( of course that wouldn't take much)!

 

Next stops are New York City, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. – lots more “living history” to explore! We’ll definitely need some peaceful time in the countryside after 3 BIG cities in a row!

Ready or not we're on the road again!

Ready or not we’re off on our New England and Mid Atlantic trip! We’re ready to see some beautiful fall colors in Vermont and New Hampshire and visit many of our country’s historic parks where the American Revolution and the Civil War were fought. What we’re not ready for is visiting the REALLY big cities where many of the historic parks are located – we’ve decided we must be allergic to big cities because we avoid them as much as possible. Avoiding the big cities on this trip is just not possible so here we go!

  Rose getting a bath before the trip

Our first week we spent exploring the countryside in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, the Catskill mountains in New York and Vermont and New Hampshire. We visited the famous battlefields of Appomatox, Antietam, Harper’s Ferry and Gettysburg –it was so moving to actually see the civil war battlefields and hear the stories of the sacrifices that were made from both sides of the war .

House in Appomatox where Lee surrendered to Grant

Antietam - bloodiest day of the civil war - 23,000 soldiers died that day

Harper's Ferry changed control between Union and Confederate 6 times during the civil war

Living history re- enactment at Gettysburg

A live demonstration of Union soldiers firing their muskets

We also visited FDR’s home and library in Hyde Park, NY and Eisenhower’s home in Gettysburg and Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania – being in Amish country was like stepping back in time 100 years – fascinating!

FDR's office where his radio broadcast of fireside chats were held

An Amish scooter - a regular form of transportation

A common site around Lancaster county - the Amish "car" - we even saw them in the Walmart parking lot!

Fall harvest on an Amish farm

The fall leaves were at their peak in Vermont and New Hampshire - as brilliant as we had hoped they would be– so beautiful! There was quite a bit of storm damage still visible in Vermont but thankfully many of the quaint little villages and covered bridges escaped the floods and are as lovely as ever!

Flood damage - such a loss of history

Milking cows in Vermont - sure glad not to have this job!

Covered walking bridge in New Hampshire

Beautiful fall leaves

Fall leaves at their peak in New Hampshire

Molly making freinds along the way



Now we’re headed to our first of four big cities – Boston. It has an amazing amount of historical parks to see and fingers crossed the traffic and crowds won’t be too bad! After four days in Boston we’ll welcome a few days at our next stop, Cape Cod, to get back to nature and walk on the beach!