Junket to Philly

This weekend we  took a field trip with the students to Philadelphia and environs.  We enjoyed a tour of Valley Forge with our guide sharing some colorful stories to keep us awake.  The weather was just crisp as we tramped around the cannons and huts.  The Freedoms Foundation hosted our group, and their dog, Ulysses, was the biggest star of the show, even more than Thomas Jefferson.  Tom laced up his running shoes the moment we arrived and found some good trails.  We took a lovely walk through the Medal of Honor grove until the mosquitoes found us.

Saturday we spent in Philadelphia at the Constitution Center and Independence Hall.  I was surprised at the orange and blue paint--not what I remembered as a little girl.  After lunch at the Bourse we ditched for the Philadelphia art museum.  It will take me a few more visits to understand Duchamp's The Large Glass but I appreciated Van Gogh's Sunflowers right away.  While waiting for the Phlash bus we watched a bride being photographed, wind lifting her veil.  Our day was capped by a pizza dinner at Marra's on Passyunk, very south Philly, very Italian. The students made quick work of 12 pizzas and as many pitchers of soda.

James Madison was about my height.

We are almost packed for our move on Wednesday to the new townhouse and I have no regrets leaving this high rise apartment surrounded by corporate offices and shopping malls.  Vienna, where we will be living, is a nice mix of neighborhoods, parks and schools.  I'm ready to buy a pumpkin for the porch and choose some colorful mums for the garden.  I am getting lost less often and still cannot figure out why every third street is Old Courthouse Road.

Ours is on the left.