Quick Hits From the Absent Weeks

I went to Philadelphia for a conference. Visited the historic areas and I will take the family back. American history, which I enjoy, is as much Philadelphia as it is anywhere. More than Boston. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, B. Franklin's home, businesses, and gravesite, place where the Declaration of Independence was written, adopted, and read aloud for the first time to the people crowded in the square, City Tavern where Washingon, Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson would spend the evening hours chatting up some historical documents, and the sight where the first two presidents presided over the country since Washington, D.C. was still a swamp - all in Philadelphia.-


While there, I actually stayed a little to the west of the city near Concordville, and this was beautiful countryside with covered bridges and white farmhouses and splendid little meadows laced with trails that led into the leaf-changing woods.

I was there for six days and with a lot of time on my hands I drove the back roads and saw:

1. Amish buggies all over
2. Quaker Meetinghouses as old as 1676.
3. Wilmington, Delaware. I asked a lady at the hotel what there was to see in Wilmington. She said nothing. I agree.
4. Route 100 runs roughly north and south from Hwy 1 to Hwy 141. One of, if not the best, road I have been on.
5. No street lights anywhere. After dark, it is difficult to get around.

In Philadelphia again before my return flight, I visited the Italian Market made famous primarily by the movie Rocky. You remember the scene where he is running in the gray sweats through the streets of Philley where people are cheering him on, huddled around barrels with fires built in them for warmth, people selling fruit and dried meat? I was there, but I didn't run or yell "Adrian." I was already attracting some attention anyway. I left before dark.

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Halloween. Erin was Princess Leah(?) from Star Wars. Jeb was a young Obe-wan-kenobee(?). Caleb helped supervise. Our street does Halloween well. Alot of decorations and adults dressed up to scare. It seems that our street gathers alot of visitors because of all of the good candy.
And speaking of candy. The best Halloween candy is Nerds. It's small, fitting in a box, weighty enough to chunk, tasty, not chocolate so there is no melt factor, and it is difficult to sabotage.

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Caleb had to take care of the Home Economics Robotic Baby this past weekend. He named it "it. " He also punched it in the head. Several times in the night he had to rise and take care of it to keep it from crying. It cries at different times and has a computer chip that records what happens. For example, it would record how long it cried before it was taken care of. With Erin's help, Caleb has the potential to get a good grade. Unless the computer chip discerns head trauma. On the last evening, our preacher, one Joel Quile, dropped the baby and it wailed.

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Upcoming. We are headed to DisneyWorld. Our family has never been and it is a trip that is atypical for us. However, we are looking forward to it. We leave Friday, the 16th and start home on Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving night we will be in a hotel somewhere, probably Louisiana, eating chicken tenders from Popeyes.