OK, there is another side to Pennsylvania!

How would you like to call this town home?

From NYC, the four of us took the transit system back to the Newark airport, picked up a rental car and went in search of our pickup (we had prepaid and parked in off-site, long-term parking).  Of course, we had left our GPS in the glove compartment of the PU; so it wasn’t available, and none of our phones or online GPS systems could find the parking lot.  Poor Addison drove around and around (following various different sets of instructions from us) trying to locate the lot.  Finally, we stopped and asked someone (against the instincts of both males in the car) and found out how to get to it.  So, we pull into this little, short street and at the dead end there are two parking lot entrances.  Addison lets us out and pulls over to wait for us so they can follow us to the RV Park in Pennsylvania.  Pat and I walk up the road and I head left and he heads right.  He says, “Where are you going? “  I say, “This is where we parked the pickup.  I can tell by the way the entrance looks.”  He says, “No it isn’t.  This is the name of our parking lot.”  So, against my better judgment (since “my” lot looked exactly like where we parked just three days earlier), I joined Pat (who hadn’t even bothered to LOOK at the entrance to “my” lot).  We start walking into “his” lot, when a guy demands to know where we are going.  Pat says we are going to get our pickup.  The guy wants to see our parking receipt.  He takes a look and says, “That’s the lot next door.”  MY LOT.  Turns out the lot we had parked in wasn’t the lot we had prepaid for, so we had to pay twice!  Seemed like our Pennsylvania luck was continuing to hold.

Finally we headed back to the “5^th” in separate vehicles for the second half of the week.  The next day, we drove through Amish country to Gettysburg.  Saw lots of country, some buggies, ate at an Amish buffet, and spent the night.  Even though much of the national parkland that includes the Gettysburg battlefield was closed due to the federal government shutdown, the terrific museum is run by a private foundation and was open and many of the battle sites are in the town or along public roads, so we still got to experience a lot of the history.

 

We returned to the “5th” the next day.  Poor Addison had to drive all of this time with three type A control freaks (me, Pat, and Connie) all trying to tell him where to go and how to drive (I swear, that man is a saint!).

Connie and Addison on bridge over the Delaware River

The next day Addison once again agreed to drive (maybe the man is a glutton for punishment?) and we took a drive along the Delaware River, stopped and ate at an establishment that was built in the 1700's and then picked up the PU so that we could drive both vehicles to a motel close to Philadelphia and spend the night.  Had a little problem finding the motel (shades of trying to find the PU in Newark!); but finally located it.  The next morning, we parked the PU at a transit station and went into Philadelphia in the rental car (with Addison still at the wheel) to check out the sites before Connie and Addison caught a red-eye home. 

Once again, in a short amount of time, we managed to see the major sites (Liberty Bell, Constitution Hall, State House, Old Town Cemetery, Ben Franklin’s home site) and eat a Cheesesteak Sandwich at a local place before Connie and Addison dropped us at Philly’s main transit station and headed for the airport.   

It was a jam-packed week, and we enjoyed every minute....and missed them as soon as they left.