Philadelphia and Valley Forge

10/20/15, Tuesday. Arrived at Quaker Woods Campground in Quakertown, PA.  Got settled and set off for the campground showers to wash my hair.  Oops - should not have done that as the showers were lousy--no stools or benches, small showers, and only warm water.  I have been fighting spasms in my back muscles for about a week and this shower did me in.  By the time I got back to the RV, I was in bed for the rest of the night.

Could not move next day, Wednesday, so had to stay put.  Tom cleaned up the coach and washed and walked the dogs.  I mostly caught on my reading.

10/22/15, Thursday.  Tom left on his own and drove to the Simeone Auto Museum in Philadelphia.  He really enjoyed it.  All of the cars there were operational.  All were racing sports cars.  Since they had just had an event the evening before, they had to move a lot of cars around.  Tom could hear the engines running.  Here are two pics for the blog:

1938 Alfa Romero

LeMans Racing Cars

Liberty Bell

10/23/15, Friday.  Tom and I ventured out to downtown Philly for a tour of the historical district surrounding Independence Hall an the Liberty Bell.  The three main buildings were the Court House (where the first Supreme Court was held), Independence Hall, and the Congressional Hall.  Philadelphia was the hub of our founding fathers' meetings.   The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were both created and signed at Independence Hall.  Even though the first capitol of our country was in New York, it was only for 2 years, and then moved to Philadelphia, where it stayed for 10 years from 1790 to 1800 (while they were building Washington DC out of swamp land).  Then it moved to Washington DC. We talked to many of the park rangers and security people and found out that life in the 1700's in politics wasn't very much different than today.  Our forefathers fought constantly, even violently, in congress and in the senate.   Actually Jefferson and Hamilton were arch enemies and found on two sides of almost every debate.  Jefferson pushed for more states' control, where Hamilton wanted bigger government.  Seems like we have that today.  Here are some of my pictures.

Independence Hall Front

Side of Independence Hall

Congress Hall

Philly City Hall

After our day in the city (and the horrible traffic), we headed back to the campground but stopped in a little town called Spinnertown, where we had dinner at the Spinnertown Hotel.  The founders of the town (the Spinner family) built the Hotel and Restaurant in 1811 as a stopover between New York and Philadelphia.  We had the best full dinner of the trip.  The onion soup was the best I have ever had.  The dinner was delicious (I had short ribs and Tom had pork loin) and the dessert - Wow!   A dinner that goes down in the memory book.

10/24/15, Saturday.  Tom and I went to Valley Forge Historical Park in PA.  It was larger than we expected - about 5 square miles.  It is a valley surrounded by hills where Washington wintered his troops in preparation for battle with the British.  The winter was harsh.  The men had no proper clothing, or shoes.  Also food and other supplies were scarce.  Disease killed many more men than the fighting.  I cannot fathom how hard that must have been.

After the battlefield, we went to the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site.  It was an ironmaking plantation from 1773 to 1883.  They produced their own charcoal to fuel the furnaces.  They cast iron cannons, stoves, kettles, and other pig iron items.  From these furnaces, grew America's iron and steel industry.

Hopewell Fireplace

Hopewell products

New Jersey and New York City

Wednesday, 10/14 - Arrived in New Jersey at Tom's brother's house.  The weather is definitely turning colder and the leaves are falling everywhere.  We parked in his driveway, unloaded all of Mom's stuff, and got her settled in her new digs.  Cathy is a great cook and made homemade chili for dinner.

Thursday, 10/15 - A catch up day - Laundry, blogging, email, and planning for the tours on this stop.  Due to the massive traffic in New York City, we decided to do the two NY trips on Saturday and Sunday while the traffic is lighter.  On Friday, we can see the Edison home and lab here in New Jersey.

Friday, 10/16 - Cathy joined Tom and I in a tour of the Thomas Edison's property in Orange, New Jersey, about 21 miles from their house.  It was much larger than I expected, with many buildings in the laboratory complex.  His home was closed until 3, so we will not be able to see it.  We went to the largest laboratory building (it was 3 stories high).  On the main floor, we saw his library and his desk. When he died (at the age of 83), his wife locked it up.  When he would have turned 100, she unlocked the desk and donated it to the musuem.  His projects were stuffed into cubby holes.  It seems he never stopped working.  Here is his desk and library.

Edison Library

Edison Desk

We then quickly went up to the third floor where a docent (a man in his late 70's) gave us a talk on the phonograph.  They had many in the room.  He told us that Edison himself thought the phonograph was one of his best inventions.  We walked downstairs to the heavy equipment room and then through long hallways of many inventions behind glass.  I had no idea he was so diverse and so prolific - from the light bulb to office machines to the movie camera.  While we were looking at one of these, the docent from upstairs pulled me aside and asked me to follow him down the hall.  I did, and he took me to a photograph of Edison taken in 1915 with a group of men who had convened to help the Navy during WWI.  He asked me if I recognized anybody else.  I immediately pointed out FDR on the lower right, and he look at me surprised.  "Hardly anybody recognizes him at the early age," he said.  I told him we had just visited the FDR home and Library 2 days earlier, and he just nodded.

 As soon as we got home, I looked up the fact that Edison had filed 1,093 patents in the US and over 2,300 worldwide.  He was truly a work-oholic.

Saturday, 10/17 - Charlie (Tom's brother) drove us into NY City to the Frick Collection on 5th Avenue and 70th.  I am glad we were not driving!  Mr. Frick made his money in the coal and then steel industries and became very wealthy.  Then he partnered up with Andrew Carnegie to run the steel business until they parted late in his life.  He always had a love of portraits and landscapes, and in his 50's he began to collect artwork of the masters of the Renaissance.  His home was built from 1913 - 1915 and the street floor was always intended to be a museum.  The family lived on the 2nd and 3rd floors.

The artwork is one of the best collections I have ever seen (including public museums).  He had 7 Gainsboroughs, and many other famous painters - Reynolds, Rembrandt, Renoir, Titian, Goya, Degas, El Greco, and many others.  The house is light and airy and gives lots of space between the paintings.  In one room, the walls were covered with the most beautiful french Fragonard paintings (about 10 panels  floor to ceiling size)  They were purchased by Mr. Frick from the J.P. Morgan estate after his death in 1913 for $1,250,000.  That was a lot of money in 1913!  There were also landscapes, sculptures, furniture, and ornate clocks.  It was a feast for the eyes.  I could not take pictures inside the museum, so I bought a book of the museum.

Sunday, 10/18 - Charlie drove us into the city again - this time to visit Ground Zero and the new Memorial Park and Museum (opened 5/2015).  The grounds, reflecting pools, and the buildings take your breath away.  Here I could take pictures.

The New Tower

New York Skyline from the freeway in NJ

Names grouped by where they were
The New Tower in back

Flight 175 names

Looking Up -see the window washers?

North Tower Reflecting Pool -New Tower in left rear,
Museum in right rear

Falling Water in South Pool.
It looks like diamonds in the sun

Entrance to subways

We went into the Memorial Museum.  I was surprised to find out that there were 6 floors, 2 above ground, and 4 below.  The two top floors are for administration, a cafe, and a museum store.  The actual museum is all underground underneath the original two towers.  Here is the original cornerstone of the Twin Towers. 

Cornerstone of original towers

The North Tower (with the radio tower) was hit first.  Here is a good description of how it happened. 

The North Tower is hit

a steel girder

Ladder 3 Firetruck with front demolished

Here are some of the artifacts:

footing of North Tower.
Can you see the base of the pool above?

Reflecting pool base above.

The Reflecting pools were built exactly in the footprint
of the original tower.

Vesey street sign

The Survivor Stairs

Hundreds of the people in the building escaped by way of the Vesey stairs.  Because they were covered, the survivors were protected from falling debris, and were able to get out.  They were called the "Survivor Stairs".  These granite stairs (about a 60 foot section) were moved from their original site to the museum.  The damage to the stairs happened during the clean up and moving process, not due to the attack.  

Everything in the museum touched your soul.  It was very hard to come out of there without a tear in your eye.  Quite an experience.

Monday, 10/19 -Another catch up day.  Shopping for groceries, mail, email, etc.  Great dinner by my sister in law, Cathy.  She has treated us with great Italian meals.  Charlie has been a wonderful chauffeur, and we really appreciate it.  Mom is settled in at their house, and we are preparing to leave tomorrow morning.

Hyde Park, New York

10/11/15 - Sunday - A travel day.  Had a hard time finding a campground due to the Columbus Day Holiday.  It is a really big deal on the East Coast.  Got a spot in Rhinebeck, NY.  Beautiful campground and very  woodsy.  They are celebrating Halloween early because they are closing next week.  We got a spot next to the camp manager who is closing the place up.

10/12/15 - Monday - Off to Hyde Park, NY for a visit to the home of FDR and the FDR Library.  Mom joined us on this tour.  We first went to the home of FDR.  It was really his mother's home.  He was born there and lived his whole life in this same house.  However, in 1915, it was remodeled and made much larger and much grander than the original farm house that his grandfather built around the turn of the 18th century.   I thought it was very dark, and the furniture was very heavy and dark, but it was all original - nothing had been updated since his mother furnished the house. His mother died in 1941 at the age of 86.  Franklin and Eleanor remained in the house until his death in 1945 (at the age of 63).  After FDR died, Eleanor moved out of her mother-in-law's house into her own home and stayed there until her death in 1962.  The house was donated to the National Parks on the wishes of FDR.  Here is a picture of the outside of the house.

Roosevelt Home

After taking the tour of the house, we went to the Presidential Library which is on the property.  FDR was the first President to open a Presidential Library.  I was impressed by the Library.  It really helped me and understand the man, and the difficult time that he handled as President - The Great Depression; World War II;  League of Nations.  All of this while he was also dealing with paralyzed legs from polio and hiding it from the public.  The Library is a testament to a very strong man.

FDR Library

We all enjoyed the day, but it was a lot of walking and Mom and I were very tired.  The fall colors are coming out even more here.  I could not pass up this tree.  It had very color of the fall colors.

10/13/15 - Tuesday - We talked about taking another tour today, but legs were tired, so we stayed in and played games and read.  Tomorrow we leave for New Jersey and Tom's brother's house.  We will be there for 6 days and will try to get some tours in in New Jersey and New York City.  I will keep you all posted.

Gilette Castle, CT

10/9/15 -Friday - a driving day from NH to Connecticut.  It rained as soon as Tom took the dogs out for a walk, but he came back almost dry?? Turned out, when the heavy rain started, some other campers asked him to take shelter under their awning with the dogs to wait it out.  It worked out great.  I think this is why I like camping so much - we really have met the nicest people everywhere.  We are in Clinton, CT at a beautiful woodsy campground. Lots of people here and kids everywhere,  as it is a long holiday weekend.  On top of that, many of the campgrounds up here in the northeast close after the Columbus holiday, so the last weekend is PARTY TIME.  We sat up and watched TV, then read until 11:00 so we could sleep.

Gillette Castle

10/10/15 -Saturday - Tom and I set out to tour the Gillette Castle.  It was a complete surprise to both of us.  We were expecting an elaborate and ornate castle by the Gillette family (of the razor company), and instead we found a large house made of a pile of rocks!  Quite ugly in fact.  Here is a picture.

Turns out, the Gillette owner was a stage actor.  He was quite famous in his time, but neither of us had really heard of him.  His name was William Gillette and he was a hunk in his day--a handsome man with blue eyes--reminded me of Tyrone Power.  However, he didn't make movies, only stage performances.  When he was about 40, he met Arthur Conan Doyle and read his books.  He fell in love with the character of Sherlock Holmes and decided to write screenplays to bring the stories to the stage.  Over time, William Gillette became the personification of Sherlock Holmes, and all the pictures or profiles you may have seen are of him.  He performed as Sherlock Holmes over 1300 times.  Here is a poster of one of his plays.

Poster

Inside the castle, he loved gadgets and especially wood carvings.  There were 47 doors in the castle, all hand carved with elaborate locking mechanisms.  One of the doors was cut in half to allow it to swing open over a sofa he loved. 

open door

closed door

Dad - these are for you as I know you love good woodwork.  Here are pictures of the window mechanisms, the light switch, and the servant buttons.

Window mechanism

Servant call button

Light Switch

Cape Cod, Mass.

 10/5-10/9/15 In Thousand Trails, Cape Cod, MA

Monday - We got the vehicles and the tow bar driveable, so back on the road.  We will get the body work done when we get home.  We are in Thousand Trails at ‘Gateway to Cape Cod’.  It is very woodsy and very much the same as other Thousand Trails campgrounds.  We really like them.  Our neighbors are mostly local people who stay here regularly.  Tom and I sat outside around the campfire with people from New Bedford (about 25 miles away) and got to know them. 

Tuesday, 10/6 – Tom and I got in the Jeep to leave and it wouldn’t start AGAIN.  This is the 3^rd time, so we put the charger on it, started it and went to a garage.  They tested and found that the battery was history (what else is going to happen this trip?).  We bought a new battery and left for Plymouth, Mass.  First stop – Plymouth Rock.  Actually it is just a symbol of the landing of the pilgrims in Plymouth in 1620, but the townspeople carved the year in a rock, put up a monument in the 1800’s around it and now it is a big draw for tourists – just like us.  The current monument was built in 1920 to commemorate the 300^th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower.  Here is a picture of Plymouth Rock and the monument.

Plymouth Rock

Add Monument around Plymouth Rock

After Plymouth Rock, we went to tour the Mayflower II, which is moored in the same memorial park.

Mayflower II

 I was surprised at how small the ship is (the deck is only 90’ across) and two decks for people (the bottom deck was for cargo and supplies).  Even so, the Mayflower carried 102 passengers and about 40 crew.  The voyage was 66 days from England.  It must have been horrible.  Most of the passengers got sick.  One died, and one was born on the ship, so it landed with the same number of passengers – 102.  I thought it was interesting that 3 women made the voyage ‘with child’.  The first birth was on the Mayflower and was stillborn.  The second was also on the Mayflower and was a boy born to the White family.  His name was Perigrine White (like the falcon).  The third was born on American soil, but I don’t have any information about it.  

Wednesday – 10/7 – Tom and I are off again, this time to Plimoth Plantation (no, I didn’t misspell Plimoth).  Actually I asked, and found out that Plimoth is the most common spelling from England, but when the city was founded, they spelled it Plymouth.  When the non-profit group that runs Plimoth Plantation picked a name, they decided to spell it with an “i” to differentiate it from the city. 

To Allen and Joy Hildebrandt – this is for you.  Allen and Joy are friends of mine who told me to be sure and go and see the Plimoth Plantation if we were in the area.  It is a re-creation of the life of the pilgrims in 1620.  The staff actually live there, wear the garb of the day, use the tools of the day, and live in the houses they constructed there – just like the pilgrims of 1620.  Even their language and terminology is of the time, and it only got me tripped up once.   When we went into the first house, I asked the attendant where the bathroom was, and she looked at me with questioning eyes.  She said, “bath?”  I said, “toilet”.  “Oh,” she said, “I will ask you politely, do you have to relieve yourself?”  I said, “no, but if I did, where would I go?”  She said, “we have a chamber pot.”  Oops!  The word bathroom did not exist in 1620.  Here are some pictures of Plimoth Plantation.

The English Village

The blacksmith making nails

Tom and I really enjoyed our visit there.  They really made you feel that you were living in that time. 

Thursday, 10/8 – Tom and I headed to Newport, Rhode Island (about 40 miles from the campground).  We had been here before around 2000, but only had time to see one of the historic mansions, The Breakers.  Today, we had time to see 4 more mansions; Rosecliff, Marble House, Chateau-sur-Mer, and The Elms.  The mansions are all on one street or area of Newport.  There are 10 of them open to the public and offer tours of the houses.  Most of them were built between 1890 and 1905– the Gilded Age, when money was no obstacle for the very rich of the Era.  Two of the houses were built for the Vanderbilt family, Breakers and Marble House.  I could not take pictures, but if you want to see any of them, you can see them at https://www.google.com/search?q=newport+mansions&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CEgQsARqFQoTCPba3JS2tsgCFUeqgAodAjoNUw&biw=1527&bih=781

After all of this touring, we were hungry, so we went down to the wharf in Plymouth, and guess what we had for lunch?????  Of course, it was lobstah (as they pronounce it in New England).  We had fried lobstah- yum.

Fried Lobstah

On the way back to the RV, we passed more harvesting of the cranberries.  Cranberries in Massachusetts is big business.  The Ocean Spray plant is near Carver, Ma (they may have more in other towns).  Everywhere we went, there was cranberry stuff.  Even the campground we were at was surrounded by cranberry bogs.  

cranberry harvesting

In Massachusetts

10/2/15 -Friday - In Littleton, Mass.  The trip from NH to here was eventful. About 30 miles prior to arriving at the campground, we were driving on the freeway when we felt a surge in the motorhome that caught our attention.  When the second surge happened, Tom realized that the tow bar had come off the motorhome.  As quickly as we could, we slowed and got off the freeway and pulled over.  In the meantime, our Jeep hit the motorhome twice as it was hanging on by the secondary cables which allowed it to 'fishtail' behind us.  It hit us on both sides before we could get stopped.  Nobody hurt, no other cars involved. Just a tear or two shed over the damage to our 'Winnie' and the Jeep.  The fiberglass back of the motorhome is busted up on both sides, and the Jeep lost the right headlight and got the hood dented.  Here is a picture of the damage.

Jeep Damage

Rear bumper of the motorhome

Left Rear of the motorhome

We unhooked the Jeep and I drove it separately to the campground, which was only another 30 miles or so.  When we got parked we assessed the damage we could see, and thanked God that nobody was hurt and that it was only body damage to both vehicles.

10/3/15 - Saturday - The weather has been fine - just a little cool.  No rain, and no hurricane.  However, all tours for this stop have been cancelled.  That means we will be minus 2 castles and the town of Salem, MA.  Our first priority is getting the tow bar and hook up system working, so we can continue.  Tom spent the day running around town to get parts to fix the headlight on the Jeep as best he could.  At least it works and the car is drivable, even though the glass on the headlight is glued together.  The hood damage and front grille can be fixed when we get home. On the motorhome, he crawled underneath and found that the fiberglass body broke away from brackets that held it to the frame, so he bent the brackets back and attached the fiberglass body to stabilize the body.  He also taped up (good old duct tape) the cracks in the outer shell.  I spent the day doing my monthly bills, so nothing exciting to report.  At least we have a good internet connection and good phone reception here.

10/4/15 - Sunday - Tom worked some more on the vehicles and made a list of parts we needed.  The main one was a new umbilical cord for the electrical from the MH to the car.  The old one was was history.  We made a trip to Nashua, NH (about 25 miles from the campground) to Camper Inn.  This is a chain of RVing stores much like Camping World in our area.  Camper Inn is mostly in the eastern part of the country.  He got the parts he needed, and while he was shopping I sat and visited with four RVers in the lounge area and talked about their travels.  Making friends everywhere!  We left there and made a stop at Costco and the grocery store to restock the food, and back to the RV.  Tom worked some more on the coach.  He still has a little more to do in the morning.  He says we will be ready to travel in the morning, and I believe him.  He has been working so hard, and his work is so good.

The plan is to leave tomorrow around 11 and head for Rochester, MA.  We have a lot planned for this stop, so hope all works.

New Hampshire for the Fall Colors

9/28/15 -  Monday-We camped in Ashland, NH at a beautiful woodsy campground.  The sun was shining and it was warm (about 68 degrees), so we decided to sit outside with a beer and read a good  book.  It was a great idea, as there is plenty of time here to tour.  Here is Lucky very intently watching Tom washing the windshield.

Lucky watching Tom

9/29/15 - Tuesday -Happy Birthday to KOLE - Hope you have a wonderful day!  Today he is 7, and I hate missing the birthdays.

Mom decided to stay back with the dogs, and Tom and I headed back north in NH to see fall colors and some of the sights.  First stop was Little Squam Lake, where 'On Golden Pond' was filmed (at least that is what the internet said).  Not quite true.  There are actually two Squam Lakes, Little Squam Lake and Big Squam Lake.  The Marina was on Little Squam Lake (here are the actually gas pumps that Henry Fond filled his boat with).  And the right is Little Squam Lake.

Little Squam Lake Marina

Little Squam Lake

The House and 'Pergatory Cove' were on Big Squam Lake.  I spoke with the boatsman of the Squam Lake Boat Cruise and found out that they don't go by the house anymore because the trees have overgrown the house and you cannot see it from the lake.  Also the road into the house is private and does not allow any access.  What a disappointment!   I really wanted to see the house.

Tom and I continued north and found a couple of covered bridges and drove through one.

Squam Lake 1990

Blair Bridge 1870

Driving through Blair Bridge

Further on, we stopped at Indian Head Resort for a bowl of clam chowder.  The resort was big - a little for everybody to do there - and their dining room was a wall of glass overlooking a pond and beautifully landscaping.  

Middle of pond

Right side of pond'

A Canadian Goose that thinks he is a duck

Since we are further north, the colors have changed more. We decided to wait to do our FULL fall color tour tomorrow and go further north. 

On to Canon Mountain and the 'Face of the Old Man' in the mountain.  We got there, but the fog had come in and we couldn't see anything, so we turned back and stopped at a resort for postcards with pictures of the things we could not see.  We found out that the 'Face of the Old Man' was a rock formation in the side of the mountain (discovered in the 1800's), but it collapsed in 2003, so it wasn't even there anymore.  Fog or not, we never would have seen it, so here is a picture of the postcard. 

The Face of the old Man prior to 2003

While we were there, we also got a postcard of the fall colors in in small town, so we had something to look forward to. 

Beautiful Fall Colors

On the way out, I spied this sign.  It seems the UFO abduction of Betty and Barney Hill in 1961 happened right where we were in NH.  

On the way back to the RV, it started to rain.  And boy did it rain - very heavy and all night.   Of course, our roof leaked into the TV cabinet and Tom was bailing water again.  He actually had to get up every hour during the night to empty the bucket.  

9/30/15 -Wednesday.  Tom and I planned to drive north to see the fall colors, but it is still raining very heavy, and we have to stay back and bail out the water.  The news says we got 3 inches from a tropical storm, and Hurricane Joaquin is headed to the NE coast next week.  I guess we better find somebody to fix our roof!!  Oh well, we will stay in today and read.  Maybe the weather will improve.  Later in the afternoon, Tom took this picture of the RV and car in our camp spot. 

Ames Campground -Ashland, NH

10/1/15 - Thursday.  We woke to blue skies and no rain.  Tom and I will do the 'fall colors tour' today.  Mom isn't interested, so she will stay back.  We left and headed north to do the "Kanc" (as the locals call it) or Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountain National Forest.  It is very well known as the place to go to see the turning of the leaves.  Two days ago, when we were up in this area, the trees had just started to turn.  Today was a completely different story.  We saw beautiful colors, from the slightly yellow to brilliant orange and reds, as well as some dark purple.  Here are some pictures along the road.  

And here we are at the top of the pass (at 2800 ft).  The colors behind us are a little hard to see because they are too far away, but the view was great.

 The views in the forest are just as beautiful.

Deep in the Forest


A look at these waterfalls - WOW!!

a babbling brook

Sabadqay Falls

Silver Cascade

As we came down from the "Kanc", we ended up in Conway, NH., a very nice little town.  I spent a little time on the phone with my cousin, while we stopped for lunch.  We decided to take the northerly route around White Mountain before we headed back to the RV, especially since the weather was cooperating.  Oops! I forgot to bring my phone charger, so I will conserve on pictures. 

At the most northerly point, we came upon Bretton Woods, and this resort called the Mount Washington Resort.  It was so big, I had to have a picture.

The Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods

On the way out of the overlook, I saw a sign explaining why this was a famous site.  The Bretton Woods Conference was held there at the ending of WWII among 44 countries, to discuss monetary issues, and establish the International Monetary Fund.   Here is a link if you are interested in the history:  http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwii/98681.htm.

It was a good day, and the weather was perfect.