Lancaster, Pennsylvania - October 1 - 5, 2015

Lancaster, Pennsylvania - October 1 - 5, 2015

October 1, 2015

We are leaving New York just in time.  Stan was ready to commit hari-kari.  He has had WAY too much of New York. 

We started the morning by having a meeting at 9:00 a.m. to review the driving instructions.  Once we get out of New York/New Jersey area, it should be better – right?

We got ready and hooked up the car and started for the exit.  We were only a block out of the park when we encountered a road block.  There were cones in the road with a signal to turn left.  We followed others, or tried to, but the other RV’s were not moving, so we just sat there.  Finally, I walked down to talk to a police officer that was at the next intersection.  He said that he would move the cones so that we could all go straight.  So we were on our way until we found that our ramp to get on the freeway was closed.  Detour.  Yippee.  When we saw that 170 miles would take 4 hours, we thought they were nuts.  Turns out that it took FIVE hours!!!  Crazy!!!  We are not going to move to the East Coast any time soon.

Finally, we got to the park and once again we are so lucky – we got a 50 amp pull-thru next to Wisconsin & Minnesota.  How good is that?

As we waited for everyone to arrive, we got set up.  As people showed up, we all shared our horror stories.  Unfortunately, Steve & Pauline had the worst story of all.  They had missed the turn into the park, so were turning around and collided with a concrete mail box.  The lost – lots of damage to their rig.  After Pauline got hugs all around, we talked about the trip here.  It turns out that they also had a problem back at the detour outside of the RV Park.  It was a VERY narrow street and they clipped a car.  Needless to say they had a bad day.

We finished the evening with Walking Taco’s.  Luckily, we had them when we were on the other Fantasy Tour and thought they were not too bad, or we might have stayed in the RV and had popcorn. 

October 2, 2015

We all met up at 9:30 a.m. and headed off to our first destination, which was the Amish Experience.  It was ride share, so we asked friends, Jack & Joan, from Minnesota to ride with us.  What a hoot we had.  The “experience” started in the theater where they had multiple screens and special effects to show “Jacob’s Choice”.  It walked us through the process of teenager Jacob making the choice of committing to the Amish faith.  Very moving.

From there, we had a guided tour of a typical Amish home and heard about the lifestyle.  The Amish have a very strong sense of family.   From there, we went to the restaurant for an Amish lunch.  Oh my, it was SO good and a lot of it.  The meal was served family style and included, roast beef, chicken, sausage, vegies, mashed potatoes, noodles, salads finishing with three choices for dessert, Apple Dumpling, Shoo Fly Pie or Chocolate Cake, all with ice cream.

There was a gift shop there, and of course, bought a few things, but decided to go to the Craft Fair that we had heard about.  We were looking for more authentic Amish gifts, but this was mostly Christmas decorations.  Finally, we went to a Farmers Market that was HUGE.  We looked around there for a couple of hours, and found a few items.  By this time we were tired, so headed back to the RV for a quite evening.

October 3, 2015

We had another well-deserved day off.  They had a pancake breakfast, but we forgot about it.  Stan wanted to stay in bed and catch up on some sleep.  When he got up he decided to start his morning with a Bloody Mary – his favorite way to start the day.

At about noon, after having a shower, we decided to go for a little drive and have lunch.  We had a couple of things to pick up, so buzzed around for a couple of hours, then came back to the RV to watch the Nationwide Nascar Race.

It finally quit raining, but it is 52 degrees and windy, so not too nice to be outside.  We were glad to hear that the Hurricane Joaquin had turned out to sea and may not be hitting the East Coast quite so hard.  We are glad, since they had concerns at the RV park if the river near the park came over the banks, we might have to evacuate us to higher ground.   They got all of our phone numbers in case they needed to call us.  They had to evacuate the park at 3:00 a.m. a few weeks ago.  So far, so good.

 

October 4, 2015

Being in Pennsylvania, we got on the bus at 8:00 a.m., heading to Philadelphia.  It was about a 1 ½ hour ride.  Our first stop was to pick up Amy, our tour guide.  She told us about many of the places we passed on the streets of Philadelphia.  We went into the Comcast building and saw some amazing pictures projected up on the walls.  The pictures and sound were awesome. 

The tour guide told us about the Elfreth’s Alley neighborhood of Philadelphia.  Many years back when she was young, she could have bought one of the houses on the alley for about $2,000.  Unfortunately, she did not have the money and her parents told her she did not want to live in that area, because it was such a bad area.  Since that time, people have come in and restored the area – the same buildings are now selling for about $1.2 million. 

Elfreth's Alley is a street in Philadelphia which is referred to as "Our nation's oldest residential street," dating to 1702.  As of 2012, there are 32 houses on the street, which were built between 1728 and 1836. The Elfreth's Alley Museum is located at #124 and 126. From there went through the Betsy Ross House.

The Betsy Ross House is a landmark in Philadelphia purported to be the site where the seamstress and flag-maker Betsy Ross lived when she sewed the first American Flag. The origins of the Betsy Ross myth trace back to her relatives, particularly her grandsons, William and George Canby, and the celebrations of the Centennial of 1876. Evidence for the precise location of Ross' home came from verification provided by several surviving family members, although the best archival evidence indicates the house would have been adjacent to the one that still stands today as The Betsy Ross House. Although the house is one of the most visited tourist sites in Philadelphia, the claim that Ross once lived there, and that she designed and sewed the first American flag, sometimes called the Betsy Ross flag, are considered false by most historians.

We got see the Liberty Bell and hear about the attempt to repair the crack and improve the sound. 

The Liberty Bell is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formerly placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, the bell today is located in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. The bell was commissioned from the London firm of Lester and Pack in 1752, and was cast with the lettering "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof," a Biblical reference from the Book of Leviticus. The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose last names appear on the bell. In its early years, the Liberty Bell was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens to public meetings and proclamations.

We toured Independence Hall with our tour guide. 

“Independence Hall is where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted. It is now the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia.”

We went into the Bourse Food Court & Shops and had lunch.  What else, but Cheese Steak Sandwiches.  Yum.

Our final stop on the tour was at the National Constitution Center.  We were able to see a wonderful production, which included a narrator and a “theater in the round”.  It was very fun.  After that, we wandered around the museum.  Stan & Jack dressed up as judges.  Luckily, a staff member steered us to the room that had all of the statues.  Wow, so cool.

We had fun in the gift shop and didn’t buy a thing!!!  But as you can see, we had fun. 

“The National Constitution Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted to the United States Constitution and what it represents. Located on Independence Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the center serves as an interactive museum; a hub of civic education; and a national town hall for constitutional dialogue, regularly hosting government leaders, journalists, scholars, and celebrities for public discussions including presidential debates. The center houses the Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach, which offers civic learning resources both onsite and online. It does not contain the original Constitution, which is stored at the National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.”

We were tempted by a bunch of stuff.   We went back to the bus and a two hour trip back to the RV Park. 

October 5, 2015

Gettysburg is our destination for today.  It is about a 1 ½ hour trip from the park, so today Bev got smart and brought a book.  Stan had time for a little nap.

Our first stop was the Cyclorama – it sounds like we are going to go to a motorcycle museum.   It is, however, a museum about the Battle of Gettysburg.  This amazing painting  goes the entire circumference of the theater, and depicts the gruesome battle that raged from June 30 – July 3, 1863.

“The Battle of Gettysburg, also known as the Gettysburg Cyclorama, is a cyclorama painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett's Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. Four versions were painted, two of which are among the last surviving cycloramas in the United States.”

From there we go back on the bus with our Tour Guide, Jim, to tour the Gettysburg Battlefield area.  Jim is so passionate about his job, and talked non-stop about the battle.  He was so knowledgeable and informative.  The tour took about 2 ½ hours.  Amazing!!   Since the tour went long, we skipped going back to the museum, and just went to the gift shop, where Bev bought books and a DVD on Gettysburg.  One of the things Jim told us was that almost all public buildings were turned into hospitals.  The doctors would amputate body parts from the injured and through them out the window into the street.  It was the job of a 10 year old boy, to remove the parts and take them to dispose of them.  Yuk.  Life was not easy back in those days.

Then we went into Historic Gettysburg and had lunch with Jack & Joan and wandered around the shops before the bus ride back to the RV Park.  We had a short drivers meeting getting ready to leave in the morning.

When we got back to the park, Stan wanted to find a place to buy some of the Yuengling beer to take back home.  We are told that this is the oldest brewery in the country.  Being in Amish country, we weren’t sure we would find any, but lucked out and found a store only a few miles from the park.

When we got back to the park this time, Bev took her camera, wine & a chair and headed up to the road to sit with Joan and watch for the horses and buggies, so we could get some good pictures before leaving the area.  Once we got several pictures we went back to the RV.  Joan came over and we reviewed pictures and had a nice visit.  Jack was home resting.

The Seahawk game was on, but Bev didn’t stay up, as she planned – Stan did however.  Yippee we beat the Lions 13 – 10.