Pennsylvania - Sunsets, Bell and Boone

The most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen were almost a nightly occurrence for us when we lived in Hanover. I was always amazed just how vibrant and intense the colors were. The locals didn’t seem to notice and when I mentioned it on several occasions I was always met with remarks like, “aren’t they like that everywhere?” Well… NO! It’s always interesting to see how much people take for granted when it is around them all the time. Every sunset for us was something to behold.

Philadelphia was another place we visited every now and then. The Liberty Bell and the US Mint were favorites, among others. And no trip to Philadelphia is complete without at least one Philly cheesesteak! YUM!

David and I both have ancestors who lived in the Philly area hundreds of years ago so it was fun to visit some of those towns. I am a descendant of the family of Daniel Boone so of course we visited the Boone homestead.

We never made it over to the western part of the state. We sure enjoyed living in Pennyslvania and found it to be the friendliest of all the places we have ever lived. The winters were just too intense for me though.

a few photos of the intense sunsets we saw almost nightly

the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia

the Boone Homestead located outside of Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

OK, after a little sidetracking due to current situations I am back on track and continuing with my posts on Pennsylvania.

The town we lived in, Hanover, is known for its race horses. There are many farms where the horses are bred, born and raised, making for beautiful country scenes on any drive. Hanover is also the “snack capital” of the world… ever hear of Snyders of Hanover Pretzels? There were numerous pretzel companies, potato chip companies and various other snack companies located in Hanover. Hanover is also located just 10 miles east of Gettysburg so we spent a lot of time over there in the little Civil War town where Lincoln made his famous address. And of course there is Hershey… the sweetest place on earth! The entire town smells of chocolate. We made several visits to Chocolate World!

this was our house in Hanover... 57 Derby Drive

David's Surgery

Just a quick update... David's surgery went well today and his doctor said he may even get to come home tomorrow. It has been a long day of waiting at the hospital since his surgery was not on the schedule and he had to be worked in when they could fit him in. Once he was out of the recovery room I came home to rest for a while and let him sleep off the effects of anesthesia. I am going back to visit again after dinner. The surgeon felt the bone looked healthy and the antibiotics seem to be working to get rid of the infection. So that's the latest news. Thank you to all who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers. It is much appreciated!

Memorial Day Weekend

The holiday weekend didn't turn out how we had envisioned it would. We had plans to sit back and relax and enjoy the weekend on the lake. Instead Saturday morning I took David to the emergency room at the local hospital. He has a really bad infection in his big toe and the bone was exposed and extruding. He was admitted into the hospital and immediately started on IV antibiotics. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow to amputate that toe. So instead of a restful weekend at the lake he has had an even more restful weekend confined to the hospital bed and I have kept the roads busy driving back and forth. (The hospital is 20 miles from the campground). We are scheduled to move from this park and to another one on Sunday but after explaining the situation to the park ranger here they are allowing us to stay until June 15th which is a great help. Hopefully we can move before then but at least we know we have more time and can move when David is more mobile. For those reading this who don't already know it, David is an amputee. His right leg is amputated below the knee and he has had a lifetime of leg/foot problems. This toe amputation is a big deal since he has already lost the little toe on that foot to a prior infection several years ago. Of the 10 toes he will now only have 3 remaining. OK, enough talk about all of that.

Let me give you an update on the cardinal. I am not a violent person at all but I believe if I had a BB gun I would surely kill this bird. It has pecked at that window non-stop for 4 straight days and is driving me crazy. Today however it found a new window to share its time with. It is in love with David's truck window! It flies between the living room window and the back truck window, pecking away. We had this problem with a male cardinal when we lived in Austin too. We had these really high transom windows in our living room and it would peck at that window on and on and on. At least that was a big house and I could escape the noise by moving to another room. In the RV there is no where to go to escape the noise it creates. Below is a photo I took today of the bird pecking at the truck window. And so Memorial Day weekend comes to a close and I sit alone by the campfire blogging.

A Cat, a Dog and a... Bird?

It all started out being as cute as can be. Now it is annoying. The culprit??? A male cardinal. He found his way to one of our living room windows yesterday and started pecking away. It didn't take long for our cat, Oreo, to become very interested. The next thing I knew the cat was jumping up at the window creating an awful noise with the plantation blinds. I finally decided to raise the blinds so the cat could see better. Before long our little dog, Millenni joined in on the fun and both animals were jumping at the window playing with the bird that continued to tease them. I was certain the cardinal was only seeing his own reflection in the glass and attacking himself but as the day progressed I changed my mind. At one point I fed both animals and I couldn't believe what happened next. The cat and dog had both left the window to eat and the cardinal started pecking on the glass looking for them. It was like he was saying... hey, come back here, where did you go... He wasn't doing his normal thing with the window but instead just taking his beak and pecking in the lower corner then twisting his head and trying to peer into to the window to see the animals he had been tormenting. When Millenni and Oreo returned he would proceed to tease them again and again and each time they left he would start his pecking, begging them to return. This went on all day long yesterday and first thing this morning when we awoke it was to the sound of the cardinal pecking on the window wanting his buddies to come back to play with him again. I think it is going to be a long day. Below are a few photos I took of the trio. I kept trying to get a good shot of the animals in action and the bird flying but was never lucky enough to get one that was good enough.

Pennsylvania - Bridges and Canyons

We also enjoyed visiting the many covered bridges in PA. I love photography and covered bridges just seem to be camera hogs. One day we took a trip to see the “Pennsylvania Grand Canyon”. You’ll see the photo below. It was nothing more than a narrow gorge but we did enjoy the pretty scenery that day driving up into the central mountains. But I must say after going to the real Grand Canyon, seeing this one was a major disappointment.

Pennsylvania - Amish

We lived in Pennsylvania for a year and loved it there. As with other places we have lived, we try to get out and do all the tourist things and take day trips, getting off the beaten path as much as possible. We are never sure how long we’ll be in one place before moving on so we try to see all we can while there. One of our favorite spots in Pennsylvania is the town of Intercourse. This is an Amish community and although today is a big tourist area it is still fun to go there and see the Amish. I have always been intrigued by their way of life, especially living alongside modern technology and tourists all over the place. Their simple life is something to be admired. Each time we drove over to Intercourse we would get off of the main roads and drive thru the country away from the tourists where we could really see how the Amish were living. Sunday's were "family" day and we would see entire families walking to visit others. During the week I would see all the laundry hanging on lines strung from each house, children playing in their school yard and men working with their horses out in the fields. I will be posting on Pennsylvania for several days, each day hilighting something different so check back for more. Below are a few photos I took while in this Amish community.

these 3 little girls were adorable and waved as we passed by

Blue Heron

I was just out walking along the lake shoreline and look what I stumbled upon... a beautiful blue heron. I never get tired of seeing these graceful looking birds. Since we moved to this park I have been missing all the geese with their babies and the ducks too but seeing this guy made my day and I just had to share a few photos with you.

Washington, DC

A favorite place of mine to visit has always been Washington, DC. It is so full of cultural diversity, history, lots of wonderful museums and it is virtually a FREE place to visit. I've lost track of how many times I have been there. My mother will undoubtedly recall the time I flew the two of us there as a Mother's Day gift for her. We walked until she could only hobble! But she got to see some things she had always wanted to see. I love going to the museums. My favorites are the Natural History Museum, National Air and Space Museum, the American History Museum and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. I also enjoy visiting the National Zoo. And not to be missed are the Vietnam Memorial Wall and Daniel's Place. Arlington Cemetry is nearby and is another place to see. Over the years I have made many trips to DC and enjoyed it each and every time. When we lived in Maryland and Pennsylvania we were only a couple of hours away so we drove down every now and then. Below are some photos we took on one particular visit when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

Linda is all smiles standing in a grove of cherry blossoms

the Jefferson Memorial framed by cherry blossoms

the Washington Monument on another trip to DC

this is an older picture of me standing on the mall with the Capital in the background

Ireland

Going to the emerald mine naturally got me to thinking about my trip to Ireland. One of the places I had always wanted to visit was Ireland and a few years ago I had the opportunity to go. I had enough airline miles for a free roundtrip ticket to Europe so flew to France to visit some friends then off to Ireland for 10 days. I was with 2 French ladies. Francoise was the mother of one of my French friends and Monique was a friend of Francoise’s. Neither of them spoke English and I don’t speak French. We rented a house in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland and split the costs. The house was located within the castle walls and we had the freedom to walk around in the world class gardens and visit the museum located within as well as the giant telescope that at one time was the largest in the world. Luckily for me I met William Dumpleton, an Irish astronomer who was at the museum the day I was there and he took me on a private tour of the telescope. This is totally off limits to the public so this was a rare treat. Today the castle is the private home of Lord and Lady Rosse. I didn’t have the opportunity to meet them as they were out of the country when I was there, however, I did have correspondence with Lady Rosse to rent the house and she was so kind to us and had everything ready for our arrival. We used the house as our base and took day trips either by train or driving the small car I had rented. We took one extended trip to the beautiful southwest and rented a second house there for 2 nights. (It was too far for a day trip and we had several places to visit in that area). I packed in all I could fit into my time in Ireland. One day was spent in Galway and we took a bus tour of the Burren and visited the Cliffs of Moher. We had the best tour guide in the world who extended our tour and gave us a complete visit to that part of Ireland. We also visited the Blarney Stone, and yes, I kissed the stone! Cork, Tipperary, Killarney, Limerick, Adare, and every place in between. One day we took a train tour of the bog in Clonmacnoise. That was really interesting. Another day we took the train to Dublin and rode the double decker jump-on jump-off bus tour (my least favorite part of Ireland). We took another day long tour bus to visit the Ring of Kerry. Absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever seen! We were in Kenmare on the summer solstice and it was amazing to still be daylight at midnight. I loved everything about Ireland except for the fact it was so cold there. Probably my favorite of all was visiting the many stone circles and Newgrange. The driving experience was new for me… driving on the left side of the road and driving a stick shift and having to shift with my left arm was a challenge at times but gave us many opportunities of humor. Ireland was everything I had hoped it would be and more. I will always cherish this trip as one of my most favorite ever. The friendliest people on the planet live in Ireland!

Birr Castle, private home of the Rosse family

Birr Telescope, for over 70 years it was the largest in the world.

Linda at the Cliffs of Moher on a cold, cold windy day!

a beautiful scene along the Ring of Kerry

Linda standing at the entrance to Newgrange

Emerald Mine

We spent the day on Saturday in Spruce Pine, North Carolina at an emerald mine. One of my cousins was celebrating his birthday and a bunch of the family got together to spend the day mining for gems and celebrating with him. There were about 3o or so of us. We spent the morning digging in the rocks and searching for that priceless gem. Unfortunately no one found anything of high value but there were some emeralds and rubies and a few other gems discovered. We all had a picnic lunch then afterward some people dug some more while others just visited. It was such a fun day with family. Below are some of the many photos I took during the day.

Lindsey, Rusty and Debbie dig in a pit

Mom stops digging long enough for a photo

David enjoys his lunch break

after lunch chit-chat

these pretty white cows grazed on the hillside near the mine

an uninvited guest showed up at the birthday celebration

a wild turkey struts in a field nearby

the beautiful scenic Blue Ridge Mountains ... this was the scene from the mine

Baltimore

We lived for a while just outside of Balitmore, Maryland and visited the Inner Harbor on many occasions. It was a fun place to go and just hang out on a Sunday afternoon to listen to musicians there or to go visit the Baltimore Aquarium. Camden Park is near the harbor and we have watched the Orioles play baseball there. Baltimore in 1816 was the first city in the US to light its streets with gas laterns. The first gas light still stands in the city today. We took a tour of the city one time and I picked up that tidbit of info then. We’ve also taken the water taxi’s from the harbor over to Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner while looking at a flag flying over the fort. And Edgar Allen Poe is buried in Baltimore. I tried to snap a picture of his grave while on the tour but as you can see it is not the best shot.

Linda and David stroll around the Inner Harbor

the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Inner Harbor

David in the Inner Harbor

the grave of Edgar Allen Poe