One of the things we try to do as much as we can, is to leave our trips as unplanned as possible. This does a couple things: First, it keeps me from fretting about time and what we have and haven’t done etc. If we don’t have a hard timeline, then we can take as much or as little time at places as we want, and if we see something interesting, we can just stop.

One of those places we decided to randomly stop at was the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles.

I am fascinated by old vehicles.

First, I love the way many older cars look.

Secondly, I read a lot of historical mysteries and romances–some of my favorites are those that weren’t historical when they were written (like Arthur Conan Doyle & Agatha Christie).

It’s one thing to read about a doctor’s buggy…

…or a stage coach…

…or a WWI military ambulance.

It’s something else entirely to see that vehicle in person.

To imagine packing all your worldly goods and everything you’d need to build a homestead into a Conestoga wagon and taking off for parts unknown.

Or to be rushing through London streets in a Hansom cab (or even worse, to be thrown from atop a carriage in an accident).

The carriage suddenly jolted violently, knocking her to the floor, and for a split second, it felt as if the whole of it would tip on its side. But after a few terrifying heartbeats, it slammed back down to the road and came to an abrupt stop.

…

Bess’s voice came from the other side of the carriage and Winnefred’s calm disappeared in an instant. Bloody hell, the girl had been thrown from the top of the carriage.
—Nearly a Lady by Alissa Johnson

You observe that you have some splashes on the left sleeve and shoulder of your coat. Had you sat in the centre of a hansom you would probably have had no splashes, and if you had they would certainly have been symmetrical. Therefore it is clear that you sat at the side. Therefore it is equally clear that you had a companion.”
— The Adventure of the Creeping Man by Arthur Conan Doyle

So I was delighted to stumble across this transportation museum and be able to take my time looking at all the different vehicles, and maybe tie them into the stories I’ve read that featured them.

My dad always had aquariums.

When I was little, there were tropical fish, but later, after Brian and I were both grown, he got his first salt-water tank. Brian took that when we sold my parent’s house, and several of the fish my dad had bought survived Brian’s move to South Carolina.

Which is a long way of saying that aquariums make me think of my dad.

I had my own tropical fish for a while, but our house is small, and when Grandmom moved in, the fishtank (and a lot of other stuff) had to go to make space.

I never got another tank, even when we had room. They take maintenance, and I’m a little too lazy, which is why I love visiting aquariums when we travel. No work on my part, plus the kinds of creatures I enjoy watching you can’t have in a home tank anyway.

So this trip was planned around two aquariums: Mystic Aquarium, and Adventure Aquarium.

Mystic Aquarium was the first we visited, and I found I really enjoyed walking around Mystic. (And eating all the fresh seafood.)

Because I am terrible at paying attention to details, we discovered that much of Mystic Aquarium is outdoors.

And it was raining that morning.

I took very few pictures there, although I of course got some of my favorites.

I love watching jellyfish. Unfortunately, the rooms that hold them tend to be small and loud and echo-y, so that removes most of the relaxation factor.

I stripped all the sound from the videos. You’re welcome.

We went to Adventure Aquarium in the middle of our stay in Philadelphia. Travel-wise we’d probably have been better going on Friday, but aquariums can get busy and crowded, so we opted for a Wednesday.

Not sure it made much of a difference, as it was stroller day, and there were multiple school groups.

These were all kinds of creepy.

I mean, seriously creepy.

Luckily, there were some of the more calming species to watch.

Both aquariums were nice, but neither was a favorite I’d want to necessarily go out of my way to visit again.

Let me say first, there is something seriously wrong with Pennsylvania.

We went to multiple state parks, and there was not a SINGLE postcard to be purchased at any of them. I get that not as many people send cards and letters these days, but it’s not like postcards expire, or go stale and have to be thrown away.

And I doubt they’re THAT expensive to print. So: what the hell PA? Sure some of the places we stopped weren’t that exciting, but some of them were gorgeous and stunning and amazing–so very many missed postcard opportunities.

We attempted to avoid Interstates as much as possible, enjoying the scenery of back roads and trying to stop at places that looked interesting.

Our first stop was Bald Eagle State Forest which ended up being a brief stop, since where we ended up didn’t have much hiking. So after a quick scenic view, we moved on.

Winkleblech Vista

We went onto the Street of Shops in Lewisburg which was listed in one of the PA books as an interesting place to see.

I texted that picture to my brother with the quote, “Read the TV Guide, you don’t need a TV.”

It was strange and interesting and a lot. It quite literally had a little bit over everything.

We had a fun wander, but I got a bit overwhelmed so we moved onto Sellinsgrove where our hotel for the night was.

Michael starting off his vacation right

Then we took a short hike at Shikellamy State Park.

Why, you ask, did we choose a hotel in Sellinsgrove? Because it was ALSO for Shamokin Dam, and how could we not visit a place called Shamokin Dam?

But also because it was close to where we wanted to hike the next day: Ricketts Glen State Park.

This is why I couldn’t believe the state parks didn’t have postcards.

I mean, the Falls Trail has twenty one waterfalls.

It wasn’t an easy hike, at 5.7 miles of steep and rocky trail, but it was the perfect day for hiking, and the scenery was gorgeous.

The next day was a scenic drive through the Delaware Water Gap with some hiking.

Then eastward, for our first aquarium. (Aquariums in a separate post.)

Following a day of aquarium, wandering the town, and eating lots of seafood, we had another day of scenic driving with some hikes thrown in.

First stop was Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center for a hike along Bushkill Creek.

Then a wander around Ringing Rocks Park.

The final stop of the day was Ralph Stover State Park.

Then onto Philadelphia, where stayed and explored for several days.

Hard to believe, but we actually left the house for an extended period of time.

It was weird.

I’m still not ok being indoors unmasked (and I’m never ok with crowded places). Luckily, we spent the majority of our time outdoors.

We drove to Maine with my mother, and our first stop was a place we visited a decade ago: Hickory Run State Park.

The main draw is the boulder field.

I can hear you being unimpressed, so… do you see the people in the above picture?

Does that help? Do you see the person in the red jacket? And all the people past them?

This picture of Michael? There are at least twelve people behind him to the left, and at least one behind him to the right.

This boulder field is more than 20,000 years old. It’s a giant lake of boulders stretching 400 feet by 1,800 feet, and as deep as 12 feet in places.

It’s very hard to walk on (I wished I’d had two hiking sticks and not just one) but very much worth it to go out even a few feet and to see just how stunning the boulder field truly is.

Just don’t look down too closely.

So very many giant spiders.

There are other things to do in the park, and we did manage a brief hike.

We would have taken a longer hike, but when it rained on us, we headed back.

I did get this short clip of Sand Spring Run along the trail.

Saturday we took a family trip to Ohiopyle PA. The leaves have started to change, the weather was beautiful, all in all it was a lovely day.

Weird. A picture of me.

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.

We went to Ohiopyle again, this time with my brother et al.

Brian decided we needed to go bike riding, so we left at 8AM Saturday morning.

It was really lovely, and my legs may one day forgive me.

Since I hadn’t been on a bike in … a really really long time … I didn’t take ay pictures while biking, but did get some pictures walking around town.

Saturday we went to Ohiopyle State Park (in Pennsylvania) and stopped by Fort Necessity.

For some reason I’d never been to Ohiopyle before, and I have no idea why.

I have memories of going to Fort Necessity in 2nd or 3rd grade; it was even smaller than I remembered, and my memory was of thinking, “this is it?”

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On the final leg of our trip, we stopped at Hickory Run State Park in Pennsylvania. It was amazing, and I’d love to go back.

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