Okay,
things are slowing down a bit for your intrepid travelers. Most of the Brits
have returned to England and Team VFH has started to sober up, or at least the
D.T.’s aren’t so violent the past couple of days. Janet though hasn’t taken off
her sunglasses for a week…
Now is
a good time then to try and recollect our thoughts about this summer, before
the next soiree in Delaware for the Labor Day Weekend.
I’ll
try and work my way backwards!?
The two
weeks that Janet’s extended family visited from England were crammed with
activities. This was not their first visit to the colonies, but we were
determined to show them as much as possible in the Philly area. Sadly, there’s
never enough time and we were all feeling stressed with the nonstop activities
over the course of the visit. We soon smartly jettisoned planned side trips to
Boston or tubing on the Delaware River near my house as they were over
ambitious in the time allowed. We did not want to risk making this visit
unpleasant. Besides, the purpose of such trips is to commune with family and
many days were spent paying visits and reconnecting with loved ones.
I know…sounds
like Team VFH is getting mushy huh.
Well,
between pub crawls and area excursions there were pleas to have us return to
England next year. Team VFH is always thinking ahead; it’s good to have a place
to stay.
We
still did quite a bit. One day we introduced the Brits to the game of baseball.
It was fun to explain the game when it seemed nothing was happening. (An extra
bonus: The Phillies won the game, a rarity these days.) We took the SEPTA
regional rail into the city, rather than drive all the way into Philadelphia. I
recommend looking into a One Day “Independence Pass”. For $11.00 it allows
unlimited travel on the regional rails, buses and the city’s subway system.
That day we hopped on and off the subway to visit various parts of Philadelphia
after the game and it saved us a lot of money. I also
recommend going to the stadium early, but not to watch batting practice, but to
visit the Xfinity live center. It is a confluence of bars and restaurants.
Victory brewing company, a favorite of Team VFH, has a brew pub there.
We spent
a number of days at the Delaware beach. Friends have a rather opulent beach
house there and they graciously opened their home to us. Our mini vacation included
a day of surf fishing, (We landed a small sand shark and a couple of Croakers,
although I thankfully caught nothing!) and a pub crawl in Lewes, Delaware. I
recommend having margaritas in the upstairs lounge at Agave.
We got
flagged at the Trappe Tavern one night. This level of penalty is difficult to
attain at the Trappe, which conveys a party atmosphere in its lively confines.
I think it was because members of our party were dancing when there was no
music being played. We did
manage to steal a couple of glasses as souvenirs and play a number of spirited games
of Cornhole! The food is reasonably priced and they offer a fine selection of
beers. I recommend buying a beer inside in order to get a glass and then find a
seat at the outside bar.
Another
ambitious trip was to drive to Gettysburg. This year is the 150th
anniversary of this Civil War battle and it was a nice slice of American
history to experience. It was our intent to drive back to Janet’s home along
route 30 to see Amish people cavorting about, but our little party spent the
entire day at this historic site. For the first time we “toured” the
battlefield and visited the museum and the panoramic painting that depicts the
infamous Pickett’s charge on that fateful third day of the battle. We
considered buying into a bus tour, but discovered cd’s were for sale in the
bookstore that explained the actions of the three day affair while in the
comfort of our car. The cd was just $27.50 as opposed to 30+ dollars each for
the bus and we were able to stop and walk around at various sites. It is well
worth the visit.
After a
number of visits to local pubs and more drinking on the back deck of Chez Janet
and parties thrown by friends it was time for the Brits to go home and time for
us to sober up!
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