Whirlwind Mid-Atlantic Road Trip!

While Lizzy got a 5-Year Check-Up at Colonial Airstream…

We left New Jersey a week ago Tuesday, for a 9-day Road Trip to Philadelphia, Annapolis, and Dover. In 9 days (including stops enroute, on 3 driving days) we packed in quite a bit, walking quite a few miles as we wandering all over on foot, and learning a lot of Colonial/American Independence History (among other things)! We…

Visited with some family and a new acquaintance

• Lunch with Gail’s niece Olivia in Philadelphia
• Lunch & Visit with Mark’s sister Mary Anne enroute to Annapolis
• A short “catch-up” visit with Ranger Tim at Harriet Tubman URR NHP (we met him at the Trinity Site, April 1)

Visited 3 new National Park Sites and 1 revisit:

• Independence National Historical Park (#5-Revisit), where we revisited the Liberty Bell and visited many places we missed on our first visit in 2002, like Independence Hall, Congressional Hall, and Benjamin Franklin Memorial & Museum.
• Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site (#206), at the only surviving Poe home in Philadelphia. The six years Edgar Allan Poe lived in Philadelphia were his happiest and most productive.
• First State National Historical Park (#207), the one-and-only National Park in Delaware. We visited sites in New Castle and Dover and learned about the early history of Delaware, and more stories about American Independence. Who knew that the three counties of Delaware were part of Pennsylvania, until just days before the Declaration of Independence? Delawareans decided to not only part ways with King George, but with Pennsylvania, as well.
• Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park (#208), near where Tubman was born, had a great exhibit telling her story, and preserves the same landscapes that Tubman used to carry herself and others away from slavery.

Toured 2 new State Capitols:

• Maryland State Capitol in Annapolis (#23), where we took a self-guided tour. It is the oldest state house still in legislative use (completed in 1779). It was the site of George Washington’s resignation as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, and the ratification of the Treaty of Paris.
• Delaware State Capitol in Dover (#24), where we got a short, but great tour with lots of stories, from another retired teacher…Delaware being Dutch, Swedish, Dutch, Swedish, Dutch, Swedish, English; being part of Pennsylvania, until July 1776; how the State Lines for Delaware were set; and the story of Caesar Rodney‘s historic ride in 1776. Now we know who’s on the Delaware State Quarter!

We also visited

• Fairmount Water Works in Philadelphia, site of the first? municipal water works
• Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, where we watched them “make cents”!
• The United States Naval Academy and US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. Oh My!
• Amstel House in New Castle, home of Governor Nicholas Van Dyke during the Revolutionary War
• William Paca House & Garden in Annapolis, an 18th-century Georgian mansion, largely designed by William Paca himself, Founding Father, signatory of the Declaration of Independence and a three-term Governor of Maryland.
• Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover, a last minute discovery. Oh My! The best part was the WWII personal stories we heard on our 2 hour tour of 4 aircraft.

New Jersey now…Massachusetts tonight!

We made it back to New Jersey last night, and after 10 nights in hotels, we can hardly wait to get back to Lizzy this morning…as soon as Mark gets back from getting the 85K mile oil change/tire rotation on the The Beast. Then on to Sturbridge, Massachusetts for a couple of weeks. July 4 on Lake Lashaway!!!

For more pictures, see (in-work) Adventure Album:  Mid-Atlantic Tour

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