Thursday, September 16, 2010
West Chester KOA, Unionville PA - June 19-23
We don't usually stay is KOAs, but we made an exception in order to be near Babs & Barry Marrs, friends of Willie's from Cleveland. Driving in PA is an experience. First they take a trail that one of the Founding Fathers staggered down on the way home from a local pub, pave over it, & call it a 2-lane road. Then they let the vegetation grow by the road to the point that two-thirds of the road signs are not visible ("Did you see what that sign said?" "Yeah, I think it said 'Stop'"). The signs that you can see can be cryptic, too. As you're leaving towns, you see signs that say "End Speed Limit 35" -- no clue as to what the new speed limit is. 55? 25?Getting to the KOA was also an adventure, since you had to drive on a road on which vehicles wider than 102" & longer than 28' were prohibited -- we are both. But another sign said that RVs were permitted, which meant that we were too big for the road but KOA wanted our business. Quite an adventure. Right before the KOA we had to cross a narrow bridge with 90 degree turns at each end. You just looked as best you could & then went for it. KOAs usually have the problem of being right on a busy highway -- this one wasn't!
Things were somewhat hectic at the Marrs, since their younger daughter Wendy is getting married this coming weekend, & last-minute preparations are in the works. We still got to spend considerable time with them, first visiting Longwood Gardens, a 1050-acre horticultural display garden originally started by Pierre S. duPont, chairman of DuPont & GM. Longwood is now a non-profit org receiving no govt funds. We spent 5 hrs there, strolling & viewing various gardens, 2 choreographed fountain displays plus a separate Italian Water Garden, the large Convervatory housing a mind-boggling orchid collection as well as numerous other tropical rooms, a 50-foot high waterfall, & a tower with a new 62-bell carillon.
We next visited Nemours, a 102-room modified Louis XVI chateau built in 1909 for Alfred I. duPont. There were many interesting innovations of duPont's in the house. There are also lovely formal gardens & a garage housing many of his 1920's limousines.On Saturday, we took an all-day guided tour of Philadelphia in order to get a brief overview of many interesting historical sights. In one busy day we saw Independence Hall (site of Second Continental Congress, appointment of Washington as Comm in Chief, & adoption of the Declaration of Independance); the Liberty Bell; Carpenter's Hall, site of First Continental Congress; Franklin Court; Declaration House, in which Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independance; Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the Am Rev; Elfreth's Alley, oldest continuously occupied street in America; Betsy Ross House; plus a brief drive through Valley Forge Natl Hist Park.
Our final night we had the pleasure of a wonderful dinner with the groom-, bride-to-be & her parents.
# posted by Doug and Willie @ 9:10 PM 
