Here are some of my favorite pictures from Philadelphia.

Historical reenactor climbing the steps in Congress Hall

Miniature Cast Pewter Toy Train at the Liberty Bell Center

Elfreth’s Alley

Second Bank of the US

Historical reenactors walking to Congress Hall

Dragon above parking lot in Chinatown

Window of the Second Bank of the US building

Elfreth’s Alley

That are other pictures if you click through to FLickr, including pictures of cobblestones and bricks, because they fascinate me.

Besides being sick for weeks keeping my away from here, we also went to Philadelphia last weekend.

Why Philadelphia in January? Because our friend Tania was on the east coast! (YAY)

But since I’d never been to Philadelphia, we made it an extra long weekend, and took in the sights.

There were a couple disappointments: Christ Church Cemetery is closed January and February, so I could peek in through one set of bars, but a brick wall blocked me from seeing the vast majority of the cemetery. And I would have enjoyed seeing the inside of one of the restored old homes, but for the most part, we had a lovely trip, and got to see almost everything we wanted.

Probably my favorite thing all weekend (besides seeing Tania and Nathan) was the Printing Office in Franklin Court.

The park ranger running the printing press was fabulous. There were a handful or so of kids when we walked in, and he was demonstrating the press, and showing them all the bits and telling them how things worked–it was really lovely.

The press he was using was set up for a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

The second press was set up to print various pamphlets that would have circulated in Franklin’s time running the printing office.

One of the things we learned was that the terms “Upper Case” and “Lower Case” came from typesetting. Capital letters were kept in the top boxes, hence “upper case.”

I asked my own questions, and purchased a copy of the Declaration that had been printed there.

We also went to the post office, where I mailed my postcards. I didn’t take any pictures, but the woman there was very nice, and told us about about some of the things Benjamin Franklin did as post master, including “franking” or marking mail with the signature B. Free Franklin.

Friends and family should look closely at the post mark on the postcards they receive, as it’s one of a kind.

As I said earlier, I spent a lot of time walking around and photographing the ruins of St. John’s Episcopal Church at Harpers Ferry.

The church was used as a barracks and a hospital during the Civil War, and was damaged at that time. Although the church was rebuilt, it was soon abandoned after a new church was built, leaving these remains on the hill.

Facing north, from below the ruins. ^

Facing WSW, looking in through one of the doors. ^

Facing ENE, taken from the hill behind the ruins. ^

Facing east, looking into the ruins from behind. ^

Facing southwest, from inside the ruins. ^

I took a lot more pictures, many of which are on my Flickr stream.

Almost no flowers this time of year, but Harpers Ferry still had some fall color.

I also found some interesting rocks:

And of course I found water.

This weekend we drove to Harpers Ferry.

For those of you not familiar with American History and/or the Civil War, Harpers Ferry is where John Brown seized the US Armory and Arsenal that was one of the events that brought the issue of slavery to, perhaps, a boil.

Of course, other things happened in Harpers Ferry, and the Appalachian Trail cuts through Harpers Ferry.

This is the building where John Brown and his group holed up. However, this is not the original location–the building has been moved multiple times, including, at one point, to Chicago.

Facing west.

Facing east, towards the Potomac River.

This monument marks the original location of the building.

The national park has images from the time of the Civil War posted about the city/park, and the fact this building was moved made it hard–initially–to orient the current city to what was in the pictures.

The fact that the two arsenals are ruins now, but were in the pictures, made it even more confusing to me.

But I eventually figured it out.

There are a LOT of ruins around Harpers Ferry. The ruins of St. John’s Episcopal Church particularly fascinated me, and I spent a lot of time wandering around them taking pictures. Enough pictures they’ll be a separate post.

Arsenal ruins: the park has signs with a picture showing the archeological dig of the foundation. The ground level here is about three feet higher than when the building was built.

Virginius Island is an abandoned area. There are ruins there of a water powered cotton mill and other water-operated machinery.

Ruins of bridge footers across the Potomac River.

Ruins of bridge footers across the Shenandoah River.

Stone stairs (here’s a picture that might give you a better idea of the steepness of the stairs.)

It was a gorgeous day, and the advantage of going in November, is there weren’t huge crowds of people.

Pictures from the South High Street cemetery as well as main campus, taken Saturday and Sunday.

Tree in the setting sun.

Sycamore in front of E Moore Hall. I am very fond of this old tree.

I can’t help it. I’m obsessed with reflections.

I’m surprised this butterfly could actually fly, as there were gaping holes worn in its wings.

Our plan yesterday was to drive to Harpers Ferry today. However, the fact I went to bed early and still slept ten hours meant that we ended up looking for somewhere closer.

We set off for Swallow Falls, only to discover it was still closed from the storm. (Yeah, Michael somehow missed the giant bold text at the top of the page, saying they were closed.)

So, we redirected towards Deep Creek Lake.

Since the lake is low, we walked along the shore.

I was (unsurprisingly) fascinated with the multiple tree stumps, lying on the shore like strange, tentacled, sea creatures.

But we also just enjoyed what a beautiful day it was.

We have bird feeds.

Multiple bird feeders.

Initially, they were mostly to keep the cats entertained, but as we’ve had the feeders for quite awhile now, we get a lot of birds.

This year, we discovered we have two different species of woodpecker. Which is kinda surprising, since we live “in town” and have a lot of traffic, day in and day out.

What was not a discovery was that my windows are filthy, so if I want a clear picture, I have to go outside. Which, of course, scares away the birds.

This woodpecker, however, was quite fearless, and didn’t seem to mind me at all.

(Downy woodpcker)

This one I could only catch a picture of through the (filthy) living room window.

(Red bellied woodpecker)

I’m trying to figure out a way to get clear pictures without scaring off the birds, so I can get pictures and figure out what other kinds of birds we have (besides sparrows).

After escaping the crowds at Bridge Day (I love watching the BASE jumpers, but then, so does everyone else), we went to Babcock State Park.

Amusingly, many many other people had the same idea, so by the time we left, the parking lot was overflowing.

Babcock State Park is famous for its grist mill–you’ve probably seen a picture of it.

You had a wait quite awhile to get a picture without people.
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One week after our last visit, we were back at the New River Gorge, this time for Bridge Day.

The skies were overcast and grey, but there were still BASE jumpers to watch.

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Part of the reason we wanted to drive, is so we could see parts of the country we hadn’t before. Which is why we came back through the Great Smoky Mountains. It was an amazingly beautiful day, which made the drive all the nicer.

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The special exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium was frogs.

I can’t say frogs are a personal favorite, but my friend Susan loves them, so I paid close attention and took lots of pictures, because they made me think of her.

They had Poison Dar Frogs, which are Susan’s favorite. I didn’t get many good pictures of them.

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I love aquariums. Every time we visit Cincinnati, we have to visit Newport Aquarium. And we used to visit at least once a year. So I was looking forward to seeing the Georgia Aquarium.

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