Autumn Day Returns

Last year was the first time that I was able to make it down to Elizabethtown for Autumn Day. As you may recall, it was a very special occasion as many of us converged on the retirement community to attend the dedication ceremony for the Eternal Flame. It was one heck of a day and I enjoyed spending time with many of the brethren from my lodge especially those whom I don’t see often. This year, I was equally excited to be attending Autumn Day but for a completely different reason.

Every once in a while I like to bring my wife and family to various masonic events. We have all been pretty busy this past year but we have been planning for a little while to come together and enjoy the day at Elizabethtown. Not only were my wife and son with me this time but my parents and sister’s family also joined us for the walk around the campus, crafts, food, and other laid back events lining the streets and halls of the Masonic Village. This is what made the day special this year.

The timing of the event worked out well for us as the weather is beginning to cool and our son is enjoying being outdoors and looking at the trees. It was fun walking him around, some pushing in the stroller and some carrying in my arms, and seeing his eyes dart from new sights to new sounds, up and down, and back to mommy and daddy. I enjoying bringing him to these new places and giving him experiences that will hopefully instill in him a desire to see more.

It was also a great time for us all to get out as a family (the first time since the reunion over the summer). This time without the long distance travel and having to stay in an unfamiliar hotel room. We were able to come together for a day trip and have a relaxing (for the most part) day walking around, exploring the buildings and grounds, enjoy some free food, and browsing the arts and crafts the residents have for sale. It was also an opportunity for me to share just a little bit about freemasonry with my family… there are always a lot of brothers in attendance at the event to tell you about freemasonry, their lodge, and their appendant body. This was also a great opportunity for me to find some appendant bodies outside of the city that can save me some commute time.  

For me this was the second year in a row that I have gone down to Elizabethtown. However, I hope to make Autumn Days an annual family trip where we can just enjoy being outside, have great conversations, and watch the kids play in the bountiful open spaces. Something else to look forward to next year (and every year after that)!

Family Day Trip… To Delaware

My wife and I grew up in the Philadelphia area but there are many places in eastern Pennsylvania that we have yet to see. This is largely what motivated us to begin taking day trips last summer. While we have been less active this season, we are still getting out when we can and visiting places that, for one reason or another, we have not explored in previous years. Thankfully, my aunt and uncle helped us check another one of those places off our list yesterday when they treated us to a day at Winterthur.

After falling behind schedule early in the morning trying to get a few urgent items taken care of for the lodge (it is that time of year again) we made our way south and across the state line to meet them in the parking lot of the historic site. We got there a little later than expected but the timing actually worked out well as it allowed us to enjoy a nice lunch in the cafeteria before beginning the tour of the old DuPont estate. Of course, we also discussed some recent genealogy findings during the meal but that is another topic for another post (very exciting new information though).

Half past noon and we boarded the tram car at the visitor’s center to meander through the gardens, forest, and fields. While I wasn’t able to capture much of the 25 minute journey I did manage to get a few reasonable pictures across the vast fields of the gazebo….

…and a farm house in the distance.

It really is an excellent little ride and I am certain that it would be even better during the spring bloom. Maybe next time we will just spend the day walking around the grounds and enjoying the sights and smells.

The ride terminated at the massive mansion which truly is something that you have to stand beside to appreciate the immense scale. Even when looking at the main entrance it is startling to think that this once was a private residence.

Within a few minutes of arrival, we were back in the reception area waiting for the house tour to begin (actually, it is only one floor of the house that you are touring). Before piling our small group into the elevator we passed an interesting hallway that gave a little hint as to what was to follow.

While that small hallway was a hint, it really couldn’t fully provide us an insight as to the elaborate staging that was to follow as was evident in the first room that we entered after getting off the lift…

After a couple more rooms and many details, most of which I cannot recall, we turned the corner and I couldn’t help but notice the silhouette at the far end of the building…

We made our way in that direction and while we didn’t venture out into the sun room with the sculpture, we did find ourselves beside pains of wavy windows…

…and in front of a magnificent staircase.

When you look at the staging and the impact of the sweeping curve it just makes you want to ascent the stairs. As that was not a possibility, I had to at least lean over and take a picture up the center of the spiral…

At this point we were at the far end of the building and while we made a few stops and toured a few rooms on the way back, it was a few of the items in the rooms that caught my attention such as the chandeliers that hung from the ceiling and the varying designs and styles of each one.

However, every once in a while you come across items that make you stop for a moment. The kinds of things that you nearly forget that you have a camera in your hand because you are just caught in the history of the objects before you. That is the kind of feeling you get when you stand in front of George Washington’s china set from Mount Vernon.

While it seemed like it had just begun, the tour was over, we went down the escalator, and we were walking back through the main foyer with a feeling of wanting to see more. Still early in the afternoon, having seen a little bit of the inside, it was time to explore a little of the outside spaces. So we made our way past the soup terrene exhibit and up the stairs where you can get a clear view of the extensive window work currently underway.

From there we strolled down the paths past the open windows…

…the blooming trees….

…and into the open courtyard.

Just above this entertaining space was the heated pool full of fish (I couldn’t catch any with the camera so no picture of the pool this time). Just beyond the far end of the water, you could really appreciate and you could almost see the houseguests slowly making their way down the long staircase from the house to the pool.

 

We took a few minutes to sit and chat when I noticed that the camera card was full so this is where the pictures end. Front this outdoor entertainment area of the main house, we made our way across the entry courtyard (where we first entered the house) and into a smaller but still grand structure which served as the second DuPont residence when his collections overtook the main space in his home. Now the gift shop and café, we were able to enjoy a quiet cup of coffee and continue our conversation throughout the remainder of the afternoon.

By 4:30 we were heading back to the car and on the road again heading toward the state line. I honestly can’t remember the last time that I spent the day with my aunt and uncle beyond the usual family get together or being at my parent’s house. Actually, I had sadly forgotten how much I enjoy spending time with them and talking with them. I’m glad that we made the time to do this and I am happy that my wife and I were able to see Winterthur for the first time with them. I really couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend a Saturday.  

Summer Travel Pit Stop

Giving the camera and travel journal a little rest before resuming our day trips.

The past couple of weekends my wife and I have just been tired. By the time the work week has come to a close neither one of us is in the mood to do anything and we are lacking the energy to convince ourselves otherwise. With all that we have been doing lately it really isn’t a surprise but it would be nice to get back to the routine of our weekend day trips. Now just isn’t the time, we need to take a break and just be for a little bit.

After all, we have 7 more weekends left in the summer and a list of places we have yet to visit. So far, we have a few commitments already made and trips roughly planned to Knobles, Indian Echo Caverns, Winterthur, Milford, and a few other places. A bit different this time around is that we will not be alone on a few of these little adventures with a number of family members and friends joining us in our travels. And, no surprise, there are a few Masonic commitments that I will be attending as well. It should be a pretty busy summer from here on out.

At the same time we are already beginning to plan the adventures for next summer including an extended trip to Virginia to both enjoy the family history and to explore a place where I haven’t been since the family reunion in 1987. Can’t say I remember much but I do recall having a great time and with all that I have learned in recent years, I am looking forward to seeing everything through a completely different lens. Plus, it is another place that my wife has never been and I always enjoy bringing her places where she can experience something new. This trip will be in addition to our little Masonic excursion to Pittsburgh.  

Anyway, that is next summer. Beyond those two trips we really don’t have anything planned beyond the fact that we will try to visit the places that we don’t get to this summer. So, I guess we better get moving again or we are going to have too many things to do and places to see next summer and not enough time to get to all of them. Just look at our work situations, if the difference between last summer and this one has taught us anything it’s the fact that you never know how much your life can change from one year to another. Life is meant to be lived now not put off for the future or else you will just be stuck in a cycle of perpetual planning.

*As a side note, if you want to read some posts from someone living for the moment go visit my friend Nadine's blog about her walking the Camino in Spain! She has some amazing photos too!

Eating Buffalo In The Mushroom Capital

Well, the summer day trips have officially begun. Of course, that means more pictures that I will be sharing some photos of the places that we see throughout the commonwealth. Well, at least this part of the state. For the first trip of the summer, we drove down to Kennett Square to spend a relaxing afternoon walking along the main street through town.

Having slept in to recover from the long short week, we got a bit of a late start on the drive so by the time we made it there (it is about an hour away on a less than smooth road) we were ready to find a quiet place to grab some lunch. With our first mission in mind we walked by a small breakfast place with a rather large cock outside…

 

…and a more reserved looking place with spring flowers hanging from the awning, nice lamps mounted to the brick, and metal tables and chairs on the sidewalk.

 

Finally, we remembered a place that we saw on the Travel Channel just a few nights prior. With a place in mind, we made our way to Half Moon Restaurant & Saloon where I could break down one of my wife’s food barriers with a buffalo burger (highly recommended for great food at good prices).  

After an excellent meal in a nearly empty dining room we just sat there for a few extra minutes looking out the front window. It is nice to get out sometimes, go to different places, and just people watch. It’s also nice to look around at all the old buildings that line the street and the balconies that overlook the constant flow of tourists and cars.

 

With bellies full of buffalo (and mushroom bisque), we walked up and down a few of the small side streets weaving in and out of shops. While we were unsuccessful finding some inexpensive Wizard of Oz books for my wife (one store didn’t have anything old and the other one was closed by 4:00pm (Really?)) we did manage to find a nice little tea shop, Mrs. Robinson's, with surprisingly reasonable prices (and, no, we did not run into Simon or Garfunkel).  

 

Not surprisingly, we walked out with a small sample of a few teas selected from the hundreds that lined the shelves (including Carrot cake tea which should be interesting). Small splurge in hand, we slowly made our way back to the parking garage but not before taking a few extra pictures. While most of the storefronts seemed to be thriving, there were a few beautiful buildings standing there, vacant, with balconies empty, waiting to be used.

There were also a few alleys that I could imaging being packed full of people every fall for the Mushroom Festival.

 

Just before turning down the brick path to the car, I had to take a final picture of Marilyn posing in the middle of the Mushroom capital of the world.

It was a great trip for the two of us and a nice easy way to get us back into the routine of our adventurous weekends. While some of the places will be repeats there will be a few new destinations like our trip to Kennett Square. Stay tuned for more travel blogs throughout the summer as we continue our explorations of Pennsylvania. There will also be a few surprises this year!

I Couldn’t Get The Timing Right Today

I begin this post as I have many others. It was way too early to be getting out of bed this morning but somehow, after about 4 hours of sleep, I managed to crawl out of bed and into the shower. While it may be a great time of day for some, five in the morning is not a good time of day for me. But, some work days begin earlier than others and today was definitely one of those days.

I was moving particularly slow this morning and quickly started running behind. About 20 minutes behind schedule, I got in passenger seat of my wife’s car, and we were off to the airport. We pulled up to the US Airways terminal with what I thought was plenty of time… that thought persisted until I got in line to go through security. 40 minutes and a security checkpoint change later and I was finally on my way to the gate. Normally I arrive at the gate in plenty of time to sit and relax before flying, this morning I didn’t even have time to hesitate, and I walk right onto the plane. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with a front row, first class seat.

Surprisingly, given the fog, we took off on time. The next two hours comprised a large number of bumps, so I was told, and a lot of sleeping. Some people can work the entire flight, from gate to gate, like my boss sitting next to me. That is something that I have never been able to do. The best way for me to be productive is to get as much sleep as possible so that I can get work done later. By the time the plane touched down in Atlanta, we were running back on schedule. By the time the car service dropped us off at the client’s office, we were running ahead of schedule.

This is when the fun began. While the meeting was long, over six hours of constant discussion, it was a great back and forth both of information and opinion. This was a discovery and messaging meeting that is a fascinating thing to watch let alone participate in. By the time the information fire hose is turned off at the end of the day, you have all the information you need and a lot of ideas that you don’t. It is also a great opportunity to get to know the people at the company and find out a little bit about how they go about their work as well as a little about themselves which comes out is little drips throughout the day.

Before we had a real chance to breath, the day had passed and the car service was calling us wondering when we were coming down since they had been waiting outside for the past 45 minutes. Oops, time to wrap things up and head out the door. And just like that we were on our way back to the airport to catch a 7:50 plane back to Philadelphia. Even running behind and the notorious Atlanta traffic, we got to the airport with enough time to sit down for a quick bite to eat. With egg and cheese sandwiches and Pepsi (I know, I was shocked) in our stomachs from Der Waffle Haus, we walked over to the changed gate and got settled in our aisle seat in the middle of the plane.

Two and a half hours and some restless sleep later we were back in Philadelphia and waiting for transportation home. So, nearly 17 hours after my day started, I walked back into the apartment. Even though I was obviously dragging, I was wide awake and ready to get things going after an excellent day and meeting. However, my first business day trip (via an airport) is a little nuts when you think about it. Oh well, sometimes you have to do what you have to do and I prefer sleeping in my own bed and coming home to my wife. So, while hectic, it was a good day all around.

Milford And Waterfalls And A General Store! Oh My!

This week’s Shabbat adventure was more about driving than exploring one particular area. Our plan this past weekend took us as far as Milford, Pennsylvania where we turned around and stopped at a few places on the way back.

It’s always interesting as to where ideas come from with regard to places to visit. During an excellent discussion on Thursday, the woman interviewing me mentioned Milford which is situated just above the Delaware Water Gap. Our plan for the weekend was to explore the Gap and so this provided us with the perfect turn around point.

The drive began under an overcast sky with the clouds occasionally breaking.

We arrived in Milford in the early afternoon with music and tourists flooding the streets. For us, a music festival does not make for an ideal situation for a relaxing weekend but it was still a very nice town. After stopping at the Louis Bar in the Hotel Fauchère for a quick lunch where I had an amazing cured salmon reuben sandwich, we slowly walked around the town and stretched our legs as I took some pictures of the old buildings surrounding us.

After about 90 minutes we were back in the car on our slow journey back home. There were a couple of places we both took note of on our way up and we soon found ourselves entering the Delaware Water Gap where, a few miles in, we made our first stop at Raymondskill Falls. We parked the car in a small lot and followed our ears toward the sound of falling water.

Being the only ones on the edge of the water, we got right up to the railing and we took turns taking pictures of water beginning its freefall.

While my wife focused on the group of kayakers that floated a little too far down river, I was busy leaning over the edge to capture as much as I could of the natural beauty.

Seeing the top of the falls is one thing but we both knew that the truly astounding view is from the bottom so we made our way down the minimally maintained path to the bottom. Fortunately I am part spider monkey so it wasn’t too challenging despite my lack of physical fitness.

 As you can see in the following pictures, the view did not disappoint.

The hike back to the car was easier than expected and soon we were back in the car and on our way through the park down Route 209. We were both glad that we stopped at the unassuming falls especially when we pulled into the cluster that was waiting for us at Bushkill Falls at the southern end of the Gap (we felt like we were back in Edison, New Jersey). As it was now mid afternoon and the purpose of our day trips is to be an inexpensive weekend getaway, we were not going to spend $25 to walk down paths that resembled cattle shoots more than nature trails so, no Bushkill for us.

  

Rather than backtrack along the same route we came up (iPhone GPS sometimes has a very interesting way of getting you from point A to point B) we decided to just stay on 209S which we knew from our experience going to Jim Thorpe a couple of weeks ago that it would take us directly to the Northeast Extension. After seeing a few tantalizing billboards along the way, the road took us directly to our final stop of the afternoon in Lehighton. 

As you can see in the picture, Country Junction touts itself as “The World’s Largest General Store” so, naturally, we had to look around. We walked through the front doors and were immediately greeted by what, for my wife, was a very good sign…

Being the Wizard of Oz fanatic that she is we had no choice but to follow the yellow brick road. This store has everything and once we saw the prices we couldn’t help shopping for a few items that we have been meaning to pick up (as well as a few treats for later). We could have spent hours walking around and exploring the different departments but we knew our time was limited so we paid for our items, put them in the car, and concluded our visit by walking through the petting zoo.

I don’t know if it’s the world’s largest general store but I can say that we agreed on the final verdict. Greatest. Store. Ever.

By the time we got back on the highway we were a little tired from driving around most of the day but also reinvigorated by our little voyage which was reflected by the change in the sky as we relaxed in the car and started planning our next trip.

Time To Embrace My Mountain Heritage (At Least For A Day)!

As I mentioned in my last post, my wife and I have started to take day trips on the weekend to get out of the apartment while spending some time together and exploring places in our state that we have never seen (or haven’t been to in a while). The first of these day excursions was last Saturday, May 25^th, when we drove up the Northeast Extension to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania (we were away the weekend prior but it was a trip to New Jersey so that doesn’t count).

Jim Thorpe, formerly Mauch Chunk, is a small town tucked in a valley at the southern most boundaries of the Pocono Mountains. This picturesque village, commonly referred to as the “Switzerland of America” and the "Gateway to the Poconos", is a well known regional tourist destination but with little exposure beyond the tri state area. I consider ourselves very lucky to be only about an hour and fifteen minutes from this mountainous respite.

I have known of this place for some time but never had the chance to drive up there and explore (pretty sad since I have lived in Pennsylvania for most of my life). However, my wife had never even heard the name and didn’t have a clue as to where it was or what was there to see. It didn’t take much to convince her to make the drive… all I had to do was give her the address for the tourism website and a quick click on the YouTube found on the home page.

Early the next morning, my wife woke me up and informed me of our decision to put off cleaning the apartment until Tuesday so that we could spend the day together exploring Jim Thorpe. About an hour later, here was the view of the town as we descended on Route 209S toward the heart of the valley.

After a quick detour to the other side of town and talking with some local residents, we backtracked to the main parking lot along the west bank of the Lehigh River. Given our proximity, our first stop was at the visitor’s center at the old train station where we picked up a map, got a recommendation for lunch, and took a quick look at the train as it was pulling out.

From there we only made it about a block and a half before we stopped for lunch at Bear Appétit. With our stomachs full, it was time to start our lazy walk up and down Broadway where we found this café (which reminded my wife of her sister).

We weaved our way in and out of shops and up and down some of the side streets for a couple of hours before we started to make our way back to the car. Having enjoyed our brief tour of the town, we made one last stop at The Inn at Jim Thorpe before we made it back to the parking lot. It was time to use the gift certificate to BedandBreakfast.com we received from my brother and sister-in-law which had been slowly fading in my wallet for the last six years (no expiration date)! In other words, look for a follow up to this post later this month.

Back in the car, we did a very quick drive by tour of the rest of the town as well as some surrounding communities (you can cover a lot of ground when the speed limit in between is fifty five) with our final stop being the overlook on Flagstaff Mountain where our final picture of the trip was captured.

*Please note that all pictures we taken by my wife during this trip. I look forward to contributing my own photography to future trips and posts.