Wednesday, 4/13/11, zero dark thirty at night

Hi everybody

Sorry to have been silent for so long; it's been a wild two days! I'll try to remember this chronologically, but my senior brain will insert things randomly, whether I want it to or not. I am using the fabulous three headed flashlight with tripod base to see Barb's notes. Woohoo!

This morning we think Heather is going to cooperate, and by afternoon, she behaves like a crackhead again. It's just not right. Some Heatherisms: THWY is not thruway as you might have suspected. Listen up, now: it is "thwee.". No, no, don't ask what that means, it really sets her off when you question her. Just take her word for it. The George Washington Bridge might either be the Geo (like the car) Wash Bridge or the G Wash, depending on the phase of the moon, as far as I can tell. The Baltimore-Washington International Airport is the "bwee" or the Balt slash wash airport. She's a hoot, isn't she? Barb says she's a killer. Must be something British.

Now on to the part about being on crack. Never mind, I'll tell you that as we go.

Tuesday afternoon we traveled from RI to Philly. We stopped at Dad's house from when he was a little kid. You are right, Dad, the old 'hood is pretty run down. We took pictures, which, for my next trick, I will attempt to load here. This ought to be interesting, so hang on for
a minute. Sorry, it looks like I need to be able to drag and drop, which I can't do on the
iPad. I'll try to figure out something else. But not tonight.

To get to Philly, Heather took us through several states, some, it seemed, more than once. Even though we asked for the quickest route, she manages to send us through every scary city

she can possibly insert into our path. We actually went into both the Bronx and Manhattan, with ME driving! To get to Philly! Can you wrap some neurons around that idea???? Of
course, to have fun with all the pronunciations, we went across the George Washington Bridge.

Then when we got to Philly, we went for what seemed like HOURS down Roosevelt Avenue. Now
this is a city street, traffic lights, residential, etc. Really cute row houses block after block, on both sides, for miles. You mean to tell me there is no quicker way to get to 10th St? PLUS!!!! It is one of those streets that has two sections of two or three lanes in each direction, separated by cubs/median. The lanes towards the center have the advantage of not having to wait for cars to turn off across traffic, or into driveways. Sounds pretty smart, right? Oh, no, don't forget, we're being directed by Heather. Doesn't she keep trying to
send me from the express section to the local section, back and forth. I didn't fall for it,

which I am sure resulted in later paybacks.

Also took pics of a local school and church, in case Dad knows them.

We couldn't contact our night "hostess" in Philly, so we drove on. It was so close to
Swarthmore, we went to see it. Man, is that a beautiful campus. We took zillions of pictures. The flowering trees are all in bloom and it was incredible. All the homes are gorgeous too.

We made it to Delaware and found a state campground online--Lums Lake. It was a little late
(afte dark), and we used Heather to find it. The park office was closed, but the gate was open. At ther booth, there is a little box to pay for parking on the honor system. We paid our $6 and went in. No campsites. Just playing fields. We passed one other vehicle. Went back out to the ranger office and sat with Heather, trying to get her to tell us something useful, and the ranger pulled up. Here it is:
"You lost?"
"Yes, we wanted to camp."
"You can." (honest, that's all he said)
"Where?"
"At the campground." (seriously)
"Where is that?"
"The other side of the lake." (like, WHERE?????)

He did finally give us directions, and we got there fine, even in the dark. Set up the tent, in the dark. With the tent stakes, because the wind was gale force. DOESN'T IT START TO RAIN????? We took the tent down as fast as possible and jammed it in the box, which we had to put with the tarp under the car. We shoved (I mean arranged) all the rest of the stuff (I mean gear) in the front seats and slept in the back of the car. We were able to crack one window without getting wet,
and we were so tired we actually slept. Until 8:20 this morning!

One of the saving graces of this campground is that they provide power hot showers. Barb had a second one this morning to warm up. We cooked our oatmeal, and packed up. We dried everything the best we could, and repacked. (Thanks, Greg, for suggesting we bring two sets of towels, JUST IN CASE). The next adventure was at the park office, trying to pay. Why do I get the little old ladies, who have to ask the other people what to do every step of the way? It took 40 minutes to check out. She didn't think it took my credit card, and wanted me to go with her all the way back to the other side of the lake (!!) to check out. When she cancelled the transaction, THEN it took my payment. It was hysterical.

We had paid our parking fee, which the ranger told us to have refunded (I was almost afraid to bring it up; might not be worth getting the money back!). But, good cheapskate that I am, I explained. So then she had to figure out how to do that. While I was waiting, I browsed around the little gift shop. There were some cute little turtle "statues" (can something as short as a turtle be a statue?) and I decided to get one for each of us--thank goodness! That way I just gave her MORE money, and she didn't have t figure out how to give me any!

We ended up finally leaving at nearly 11 am.

I will leave today's story for the morning, so Barb can add to Tuesday, and help me with Wednesday. She went to bed a while ago, like the smart person she is! I will go there now.
See you in the morning.