Serene Wandering

We started our summer road trip in the heat!  We left Phoenix at 110 degrees and traveled west into California where it was even hotter! 

Fortunately, our day was uneventful and comfortable in our air-conditioned vehicle.  

We saw wind turbines and lots of solar panels generating electricity. 

There were 17 fires in California on this day, so perhaps that was the cause for the colorful sunset as we approached Bakersfield to spend the night.

North of Bakersfield we saw an EV power plant.  That was not surprising so I didn’t take a picture.

What was surprising was seeing hundreds of oil rigs.  Most were still, but some were active.   I hadn’t known California had substantial oil reserves.  California currently produces 8.3 percent of the nation’s oil.

Is climate change responsible for the SS Minnow being stranded in south central California?

Our destination was Sequoia National Park. We’ve been to most of the national parks in the western US but had never visited Sequoia or nearby Kings Canyon National Park.

The park’s entrance sign, in place since 1935, has its own history.  It was carved in the 1930s by George Muno who served in the Civilian Conservation Corps.  The 4 by 10 foot sign was carved from a fallen sequoia tree that was about two thousand years old.

Muno’s intent was to honor Sequoyah, the Cherokee scholar who invented an alphabet for their language. Having a written form helped advance literacy. Many believe that the giant sequoia trees were named for Sequoyah.

Regardless of intent, Muno based the profile on the native man on the old “buffalo” nickel. It actually resembles a stereotype of a great plains American Indian, and not Sequoyah or the peoples who called these lands home for thousands of years.   

In present day, the appropriateness of this sign is sometimes reconsidered.  An article on the park website states:  “National parks preserve a complex web of history, not all of it inspiring. Some symbols of our past may not interpret our nation’s past in a sensitive and respectful way.”

Sequoia was America’s second national park, after Yellowstone.  Sequoia was established on September 25, 1890 as a permanent refuge for the sequoia trees.  It remains the only park established to protect a plant species.

The first substantive road into the forest was completed by the US army in 1903 under the leadership of Colonel Charles Young.  He was the first African American to achieve the rank of colonel.

The current road, the Generals Highway, was completed in 1926.  The road is in very good shape considering weather, fire and funding.  During the highway’s construction, workers saw the last grizzly known to be in California.  Although a symbol of California, grizzly bears were assumed already gone in the state. 

These days black bear are common and signs and notices on how to avoid them are everywhere.

As we passed through the foothills of the park, we drove through oak forests.

As we rose in elevation, the trees changed.

These trees are called the Four Guardsmen. 

We visited the Giant Trees Museum and had an opportunity to learn about giant sequoia trees. At a very basic level we learned that sequoia are a different species than the other giant trees in California, the coast redwoods. 

It is unclear whether sequoias have a natural lifespan. Some of the trees in the sequoia groves are thought to be 13,000 years old. When trees are tall enough to rise above the forest canopy, the top dies off.  They continue to grow thicker, not higher.  

Their ability to grow rapidly over many years allows for the sequoia’s very large size.  

This picture shows the same museum building being used as a market with associated people, cars and engine exhaust.  Across the road were 100 hotel rooms. 

Over time, foresters and scientists realized that the trees needed space to thrive.  There was an effort to reduce and remove encroaching civilization. Trees are sometimes protected by fencing to discourage “love rings” which are caused by thousands of people touching the tree at approximately the same height.

We walked the Big Trees Trail near the museum.

Along the way we learned that this area has characteristics that sequoia trees need, such as moist soil, an open sunny forest, a climate that doesn’t get too cold, and bare ashy ground. 

The meadow’s soil is too wet for the roots due to rainwater and snow runoff collection. Although sequoia need enormous amounts of water, they collect what they need as the water drains toward the meadow. 

Sequoia have a shallow root base, needing only about three feet of soil.  Adjacent trees will intertwine their root system providing stabilization.

This tree likely fell when the ground became too soggy, possibly with assistance from a strong wind or shifting foundation.

As the trees grow, lower branches are lost because of the lack of sun or forest fire.   Regular fires are beneficial to sequoia, creating conditions for cones to open and release their seeds.  The seeds then sprout on the bare ground enhanced by ash.

Large sequoias are likely to have fire scars but survive because of thick bark with air pockets that insulate the wood. High branches keep foliage away from most fires and the bark has very little sap so is not highly flammable. 

This tree fell in 1992, likely because of damaged roots interacting with soggy ground and wind.  A road was cut near its base early in the 1900s likely damaging the tree’s root system.

This told the story of a ranger hearing a sequoia falling for no apparent reason reason in 1974.

Another interesting sign was nearby.

The trees made us look tiny!

Many of the tree names in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks have a civil war association.  This tree is called the Clara Barton tree.

The must do in Sequoia National Park is visiting the General Sherman tree – the largest tree in the world. The determination of “largest” is made when combining height, diameter and volume. The walk to the tree was on a paved path – about a half mile all down hill.  Hmmm.  You know what that means.

It was nigh impossible to get a picture of the whole General Sherman Tree without people in the picture!

The height of General Sherman is 275 feet.  On a football field it would reach from one goal line to the opposite 9 yard line. The tallest sequoia is an unnamed tree measuring 311 feet.  The tallest coast redwood is 369 feet.

General Sherman’s weight is estimate at 1385 tons – more than ten blue whales. Its diameter is 36.5 feet, wide enough to block three lanes of traffic.

To grow this high, heavy and wide, the General Sherman Tree is estimated to be 1800-2700 years old.   It is not getting taller but is still increasing in girth: getting wider in diameter and increasing in volume.  

This picture shows rangers using structure wrap to protect the General Sherman Tree during the KNP Complex Fire.  This strategy can help a few sequoias but won’t save groves of trees.  The KNP Complex Fire in 2021 did a lot of damage!

Unfortunately, sequoias are being lost at an alarming rate because of the intense fire seasons related to climate change.  The entire placard is interesting but notice that 13 – 19 percent of sequoias were lost during the 2020-2021 fire seasons alone.  

This stump section of a giant sequoia tells that the tree lived 2210 years and survived 80 fires that left scarring.    

We began the trek back up the trail to the parking lot.

I did not enjoy it.

We had some interesting sights as we drove to our accommodations for the night.

We were spending one night at the Wuksachi Lodge within the park.   Reception, the restaurant, and gift shop were in this building.   Accommodations were in separate buildings near by.

The woman checking us in told us our room was on the entry level.  We thought that was good since she also told us we needed to take everything that had any hint of food out of our car because of the bears. Only our room wasn’t on the entry level. 

We (mostly Randy) had to lug two suitcases, our ice chest and our snack box up the stairs because there was no elevator.

Our room was a nice size but did not have air conditioning.  We tried to “chill” for the rest of the afternoon.  

Our dinner reservations said “business casual” so Randy put on pants even though he was skeptical.  His skepticism was correct in that most people came in their regular vacation clothes. He grumbled.

We have prioritized staying in national park lodges all over the west and have thoroughly enjoyed the effort overall. Wuksachi Lodge wasn’t a net positive in the heat of the summer.  Only the location was superb.

We were in Sequoia National Park in July 2024.

Next up:  The General Grant Tree in Kings Canyon National Park

So….you can’t come to Philadelphia and not do a little history, right?  Randy agreed. I spent most of a week in the city with my mom about 20 years ago and we did it all. As a result, I could do this abbreviated version without regret.

Our Philadelphia History Tour began at the Archer Street Quaker Meeting House.  It was built in 1804 on grounds granted by William Penn.  The Quakers welcomed all faiths in Penn’s Philadelphia.  The meeting house has been used continuously as a place of worship.

This statue of Ben Franklin was made using 1.8 million pennies donated by kids at 500 local schools. It also included brass from nameplates of Philadelphia firefighters dating from 1736.

One thousand keys are visible at the surface, symbolic of Franklin’s experience with static electricity from lightning and a key.

Adjacent to the statue is one of 4000 murals in Philadelphia, much of them centered in the historic area.  This one is about Ben Franklin and his co-founding of the Union Fire Company in 1736.  It was also known as the “Bucket Brigade” and was the first formally organized all volunteer firefighters group.

We did a quick stop outside of Betsy Ross’ house.  She is credited with sewing the first version of the Stars and Stripes for George Washington.  There is no official documentation of her doing so as it would have been a treasonous event.

Generations of family lore, with similar details from different branches of the family, brought the story forward about the time of the nation’s centennial celebration.

Regardless of whether the original flag story was true, she was a woman business owner (upholstery and flags) in colonial America and provided gun powder and bullets to the revolutionary soldiers.  She was exceptional if only for these documented activities.

Elfreth’s Alley is the nations oldest, continuously occupied, English speaking street.  (The oldest continuously occupied street is in Saint Augustine, Florida.)

Six houses were at risk when the I-90 interstate was expanding.  Efforts were made to give the alley historical status protection and that was achieved.

Twenty-nine of the 31 houses are owned by individuals. Two houses are owned by the local association as a museum.

This house is currently for sale for $1.25 million.  Our tour guide thought that it was overpriced as the last house on the alley sold for about half that (before Covid).

We moved on to Christ Church.  Mom and I had been able to tour the church but this time we were there on a Sunday morning and services were being held inside.  The church was established in 1695.  This is its third structure and dates to 1744.

We heard the same church bells that fifteen signers of the Declaration of Independence (who were members) would have heard.

The 197 foot church tower was the tallest building George Washington ever saw.  It was the tallest structure in North America for 56 years. 

This United States Post Office established under “B Free Franklin.”  He was instrumental in forming what later became the United States Postal Service.  This is the only post office not required to display a flag.  It has operated since colonial times, but not continuously. 

This is Carpenter’s Hall where colonist leaders and the First Continental Congress met to say we don’t want taxation without representation.

This statue is called The Signer in tribute to those who put their names on the documents.

This is Independence Hall where the Second Continental Congress worked through the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution. 

Philadelphia was the first capital of the nation.  This building was Congress Hall with Upper and Lower chambers.  John Adams was sworn in here in the first peaceful transfer of power.  Good for them, and so many others, who have transferred power peaceably.

Of course this is the Liberty Bell with feet.  It was actually my best shot at getting the Liberty Bell without people around it! I’m not photo savvy enough to remove them and it really isn’t realistic to get a photo of the Liberty Bell without people around.

Our next activity was a Philadelphia Food Tour.  We met on a corner by the Masonic Lodge and enjoyed some views.

We saw these guys!

Ben Franklin, the craftsman, was across the street.

The architecture in downtown Philadelphia was great!

Our food tour guide brought us cheese steak sandwiches and told us about this large building. It is Philadelphia City Hall, the largest government building in our country.

It is the second largest masonry building. City Hall has the tallest statue (William Penn) of any building in the world at 37 feet tall, and weighing in at 27 tons. 

This was William Penn’s plan for his city of brotherly love. Philadelphia was to be laid out in a grid.  The white blocks are open space, parks, or places of service to the community.

A transit center is under city hall plaza.  The water is lit to show the color of the subway train going underneath at the time.  Nothing was moving beneath us at that moment in time.

Philadelphia has a lot of street art as one percent of a project’s contract has to be used to provide art.  This looks like a clothesline clip or two lovers embracing.

Our guide showed us interesting architecture including this Art Deco building.

Our guide showed us several murals done by the Mural Arts Program.  As we had learned before, the city found that painting over graffiti just gave the artists a clean surface to paint again.  The goal was to provide a good outlet for the artists to the betterment of the city.  They started by inviting graffiti artists to participate but it took awhile to build trust.  It eventually became a successful partnership and now includes elementary and secondary students and an array of artists, both street and more traditional. Our guide had been a participant as a student and instructor.

We didn’t eat at Mac Mart on our tour but how did we not visit a restaurant specializing in Mac & Cheese?

We did get to choose cookies at Insomnia Cookies – a franchise begun in Philadelphia by college students trying to stay awake to study.

We had chicken and donuts at Federal Donuts.  On vacation, you enjoy the unusual!

In Baltimore we had been introduced to sites related to B&O Railroad.  In Philadelphia it was the Reading Railroad.

This was what the terminal looked like in old days.

This is it now. 

We walked through here on our way to Reading Terminal Market, active since 1894.

This pig is a donation collector.  You put spare change and bills in his mouth and it falls and collects at the other end.

We had a couple food items in the market.

We concluded with ice cream from Bassets, operating since 1861.

The next morning we had an uneventful trip to the airport (no flat tire) and uneventful flight home. It was a good and interesting trip.

We added four states to our map: Maryland, West Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey.  We have six to go! Where will we go next year? Connecticut seems to be the only one that could be easily paired with a Mariners or Diamondbacks road trip to New York City. I’ll start planning when the 2025 schedule comes out!

We were in Philly in May 2024.

Our last activity in Cape May, New Jersey was a Whale and Dolphin Watching Cruise.

We sailed through the Cape May Canal, a 3.5 mile canal dug by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1942. 

It enabled captains to avoid the German submarines they would have been exposed to if required to go around Cap May point.

Currently, we learned that tourism and fishing are the basis for Cape May’s economy. 

There is also a Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May, training 3000 recruits a year.  It is the only US Coast Guard training center in the US.  Training takes eight weeks.   We learned that many trainees, or those stationed at the base, often return to Cape May when their service is complete.

Coast Guard ships are named after enlisted heroes.

The Lawrence Lawson is named to honor Lawson’s service as a US Lifesaving Service station-keeper in Evanston, Illinois. He led his oar-powered crew into icy, stormy waters and rescued the crew of the steamship Clalumet on Lake Michigan in 1889.

The Angela McShan was named for the first African-American to be appointed an instructor at the Chief Petty Officers’ Academy and later the first to be promoted to Master Chief Petty Officer.  

We came out into the bay and saw bottle nose dolphins. 

We never got any good pictures as they move very quickly. Gray on gray on gray didn’t help either.

We had crew serving as spotters and narrator.  He told us that a female dolphin goes back to her matriarchal pod when expecting.  Dolphin gestation is 12 months.  She also nurses her young for 12 months. 

Dolphins employ cooperative fishing in their pods and each dolphin eats 10-15 lbs. of food per day.

Bottlenose dolphins can be seen near Cape May from April to December because the water temperature is usually 50 degrees or higher. They do not have natural predators but are injured or killed by boat strikes, pollutants and trash. 

Wild dolphins can live for 45-50 years.  Those in captivity live about 5 years.  The Flipper TV series was on for less than three years and went through five dolphins.  

These are the remains of an experimental concrete ship, the S.S. Atlantus.  It is one of 13 concrete ships built in WWI. It has been receding into the bay since it ran aground in 1926.

After exploring the shoreline of the bay, we went out to sea in search of whales.  Unfortunately, and despite the odds, we never saw whales.

We felt badly for those who really wanted to see whales but we have had the good fortune to see them many times. We were perfectly happy with the dolphins.

The next day we departed for Philadelphia and, for at least the second time, had low pressure in one of the tires.  Randy had already filled the tire once or twice and here we were doing it again.

You may remember we were given an “upgrade” to a mini van in Baltimore.  Considering our experience with Enterprise thus far, we were highly skeptical about whether the intake people at the Philadelphia airport would really fix the tire even if we told them about it.

We weren’t happy about it but felt like we needed to just get the tire fixed for two reasons.  First, the car was going to sit in a parking garage for two nights and we didn’t need a flat when we headed to the airport early in the morning.  Second, it was a mini-van likely to be rented by a family with kids on vacation and they didn’t need to deal with a flat tire either.

I called Enterprise and they directed us to a tire repair shop in the general direction of Philadelphia.  We were told that the tire service would be pre-approved by the time we got there.  Except it wasn’t. 

We told the service consultant to just fix the tire, thinking we’d be out the $15 to have it repaired.  Credit to him, he kept pursuing Enterprise approval and got it.   The tire repair just cost us some time.

We took a bit of a detour to go to Atlantic City, New Jersey and visited the boardwalk.  We were there early on a dreary weather day, so there wasn’t much going on.  We saw enough of Atlantic City to think we aren’t likely to go back.

We did spend a little time walking on the beach though, something we’d hardly done on this trip to the eastern seaboard!

We had been paying road tolls here and there and had to pay to cross this bridge.  Apparently you pay this direction (leaving New Jersey into Pennsylvania) but not in reverse.  The joke we heard later in Philadelphia was that you had to pay to leave New Jersey, but not to go into it. That is not a friendly neighbor perspective, and we certainly don’t have a broad view of New Jersey, but Cape May was delightful!

We arrived in rainy Philly and made it to our Bed and Breakfast Inn, The Thomas Bond House.

Thomas Bond, 1712-1784, was born in Maryland.  He trained as a physician and surgeon in Europe.  He worked in Philadelphia and contributed greatly to medical science in early America.  He, with his friend, Benjamin Franklin, founded the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751, the first public hospital in the United States.  He was on the first Board of Trustees for the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania.

The house was built in 1769 by Dr. Bond and additions were made in 1824 and 1840. 

The house served as a residence until 1810 and then as a stocking factory, leather tannery, leather goods manufacturer, rag supplier, customs broker and retail shop.

It was restored as a Bed & Breakfast in 1988. 

Our second floor room was very, very nice.

We set off to find Philly Cheesesteaks.  I got mine “wit-wiz” with beef, grilled onions and cheese wiz.  

Randy had his loaded with provolone, peppers, onions and mushrooms.  We both liked mine better.

Our next activity was the Phillies baseball game. When I had tried to buy tickets on my baseball app for the Phillies vs Nationals baseball game, I could not get the purchase to go through – over and over.  Eventually I figured out the problem was that “select games are available only to those with addresses in the Tri-State area of PA, DE and NJ.”  That was surprising considering there were still tickets available and it was the day of the game.  I had to buy our tickets from Ticketmaster, a re-seller.  They did not care that we weren’t from the tri-state area.

We got directions on how to use the subway system to the game.  That required a ten minute walk to get on the blue line going west and then changing lines at the city hall station to get on the orange line going south to the sports complex where the Phillies, Flyers, 76ers and Eagles all play.  It was another ten minute walk to get to Citizen’s Bank Park.

We found that our seats were open to the rain so we moved several times in covered areas until people came to claim their seats. Eventually, the stadium filled up so we went to our own seats.  By then the rain was a mere mist and not a problem.

There were military parachute jumpers entering the stadium as game preparations  continued.

We were entertained by the original mascot, the Philly Phanatic. The Phanatic was portrayed from 1978 to 1993 by David Drummond.  From 1993 to present (2024) the Philly  Phanatic has been portrayed by Tom Burgoyne.  That is two people in 46 years!

The other thing we noticed at the game was one of the most enthusiastic waves around the stadium we have ever seen.  When stadium crowds around the country are getting annoyed with the wave, it was interesting to see Phillies fans embrace it so completely.  Hey, it was a good time to be a Phillies fan. At the time of our visit, they had the best record in baseball.

It was a great game and the Phillies ended up winning in extra innings which made the home crowd happy.  We didn’t really care, but our reversed subway ride was jovial.

Our ten minute walk from the subway stop to our B&B felt a little dicey after dark.  There were lots of people around so it didn’t feel overtly dangerous, just not comfortable.

We had a good night’s sleep and were ready for Philly Day 2

We were in Philly in May 2024.

Randy was in a ‘limited participation’ mindset on visiting museums but it was still raining. So, we chose a museum of interest to him, an Aviation Museum in Hanger 1 at the former Naval Air Station Wildwood.

The Naval Air Station operated from 1943-45 to train navy pilots in dive bombing techniques.  In October 1944, there were 17,000 take offs and landings, one every 40 seconds. Trainees flew at night, simulating their future duties in the Pacific.  Practice targets were constructed in Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

In 36 months, there were 129 crashes resulting in 42 deaths. 

During WWII, there were 22 all wooden double wide hangars built to support training navy fighter pilots.  Each hangar had over 4400 windows and covered 92,000 square feet.  Hangar 1 is the only one of its kind left.

After the war, dentist and Navy pilot Dr. Ralph Cox operated a low fare airline called United States Overseas Airlines out of Hanger 1.  With 18 planes,  Overseas Airlines was a safe and reliable carrier. It made flights within the country, to Hawaii, and to other places around the world.  The airline ceased operations in 1964. 

Hangar 1 deteriorated over the following years. Dr. Joseph Salvatore purchased it for $1 from the county with the intention to establish a group to restore the hangar and open it as an aviation museum.  The museum opened in 1997.

The museum has aircraft, of course, but also a variety of other exhibits.  Having read a number of novels about British efforts to break the German Enigma codes at Bletchley Hall, it was interesting to see an Enigma Machine.

This plane, silhouetted against the many windows in Hangar 1, is a Northrop F-5E Tiger  II.  This plane was, reportedly, the ‘aggressor’ in the original Top Gun movie.

Randy’s checking out the TBM Avenger.  It was a torpedo bomber.

Not an aircraft, but a 41 foot Coast Guard vessel.  It was used for search and rescue as well as law enforcement.

This was the exhibit that was most interesting to me – All Available Boats.

It had a number of information boards about the various boats, retired boats, captains, agencies and volunteers that responded to the 9/11 attacks in NYC.  There were a myriad of coordinated, and uncoordinated, efforts to get people away from the island of Manhattan.

This 1969 Sikorsky helicopter was deployed on the US Coast Guard Ice Breaker, Polar Star, in waters off Alaska.  

The Polar Star and sister ship Polar Sea are the oldest icebreakers in the coast guard fleet. A third, USCGC Healy, was commissioned in 1999.

Another section of the museum focused on the contributions of women in service to the country.

That included a display about the WASPs – The Women Airforce Service  Pilots.  The WASP were 1102 female civilian pilots who flew missions (bomber, cargo, drone, training and transport) accounting for over 60,000,000 miles during World War II under the command of the US Air Force.  We first learned about the WASPS at a museum in 2016 and have appreciated seeing reference to them since.

We also saw a display about the WAVES – Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service into the Navy.  There were 8000 female officers supervising 80,000 female enlisted personnel performing a variety of tasks for the Navy.  By the end of the war, they accounted for 2.5 percent of Navy personnel.

This is a Lockheed TWV Seastar that operated from 1953 – 1970.  There were a dozen or so planes presented with only statistics. An airplane must have a “story” to be of much interest to me – like the plane below.

This F6F-3 was put into service in 1943 with a squadron from California.  After returning in 1945, it was ditched at sea by its pilot twelve miles off San Diego.  Twenty-six years later, it was retrieved from 1800 ft. below the surface.  The plane was in excellent condition.  Unfortunately. it did not receive additional care and it deteriorated.  The plane was later acquired by the museum and restored.  It is the only surviving Hellcat of over 4000 that were built.

These are students on a field trip.  We visited quite a few places on this trip along side student field trips.  It sure brought back memories for me!

While we were there, the staff were preparing for a wedding to be held at the museum.

The photographer was doing the artsy shot!

We went outside to see more planes but by then my interest and note taking was not what they could have been.

Now this was familiar from all those years watching MASH.

We were in Cape May in May 2024.

Next Up: We pay to go to Philly!

Tower operations were directed by Fort Miles and tasked with protecting the area from incursion by German ships and troops.   However, they found that the real threat was from enemy submarines which destroyed hundreds of merchant ships, many within sight of land.

In the 1940s, the Navy, Army and Coast Guard all had bases near Cape May.   This is Cape May’s World War II Tower.  It was one of fifteen towers to monitor activities at sea to protect the Delaware Bay.  This is the only tower still intact in New Jersey. 

In 1942 the entire eastern seaboard was designated a military area and Cape May residents and visitors had to comply with black out measures to reduce risk.

Men assigned to the tower watched the waters and provided coordinates to the battery on the beach to initiate an attack.  

This tower had only one viewing slit at the top while some others in Delaware had two or three.  Only one was deemed necessary because this tower was connected with only one battery. 

In 1943, the allied effort gained ground and military efforts around the world became more offensive than defensive.  The improvement in amphibious warfare rendered permanent fire towers like these less useful.

The tower walls were made of one-foot concrete poured in place.  The tower is seventeen feet wide with an interior that is fifteen feet in diameter.  The walls were reinforced with iron bars but almost everything else was made of wood.  Metals were needed elsewhere in the war effort.

The stairs go six floors up to the scouting area.  

There were displays positioned on different floors.

This phone was used to relay enemy coordinates down to the battery on the beach.

The docent at the top was very interesting with his facts and stories about the World War II tower.

From the top, we could see our next destination – the Cape May Lighthouse.

Here is a closer view of the Cape May Lighthouse.  It was built in 1859 and is 157½ feet tall. This is the third lighthouse near this site.  The first two, built in 1823 and 1847 were lost due to unstable shoreline and poor construction respectively.

It is one of the oldest continuously operating lighthouses in the country.  It went dark during World War II, when all lighthouses did the same guarding against enemy submarines.

The cost to build the Cape May Lighthouse was $40,000.  It is wider at the base than at the top.

There is an inner wall and an outer wall.    The outer wall is just short of four feet thick at the base tapering to one and a half feet at the top.

The inner wall is 8 and a half inches thick for the entire length.  These openings between the two walls were placed throughout.

There are 199 steps and six landings.  The light house operated for the first six years without any railings.  The outer railings were added in 1865.  (The inner railings were added in 1988 for tourists.)

The original Fresnel lens cost $15,000 and is on display at the county museum.  This is just one component of a Fresnel lens.

The lighthouse now uses a Visible Rotating Beacon manufactured in New Zealand and installed in 2016.  This is the current industry standard.

The lighthouse generally had one keeper and two assistants.  They, and their families, lived on site.  

For a time, the main lighthouse keeper was a woman.

The lighthouse was automated in 1936 eliminating the need for keepers to be permanently in residence.

In 1992 the lighthouse was transferred from the Coast Guard to the State of New Jersey.   Restoration and visitor operations are done by a non-profit group formed for that purpose.

On the lighthouse grounds, we also saw the Monomoy Life Saving Boat.  Its era was from the late 1800s to the 1930s and was operated by US Lifesaving Service and early Coast Guard.

The boat is 26 feet in length from the late 1800s-1930s.  The “Monomoy” Class rescue boats originated in New England and were regularly used in Cape May area Life Saving Stations.  They typically weighed over 2,000 Ibs. and allowed for eight rowers to sit in four pairs side-by-side.   A coxswain steered from the stern.

After all those steps up and down the tower and up and down the lighthouse, we were ready for an early dinner.   We took the advice of the tower docent and went to an Italian restaurant away from the tourist areas.  He had also told us there was nearby liquor store to BYOB. We had seen that advertised a few places on the eastern seaboard and it seemed very odd to us.  We weren’t sure if that meant that the restaurants didn’t have their own bar service.

We found the restaurant and Randy went to buy a bottle of chianti while I went in to get a table.  I was a little embarrassed to see they did offer wine on the menu.  When I apologized that Randy was buying a bottle, the restaurant owner was not offended in the least.   He said when people BYOB it removes his responsibility for how much a patron drinks. That was an interesting perspective.

We enjoyed our bottle of chianti and our delicious dinner! The best meals we had on this trip seemed to be Italian!

We were in Cape May in May 2024.

Next Up:  More Cape May, a delightful place!

As we had taken the early ferry from Delaware, we arrived in Cape May mid morning.  We had hours before we could check into our historic Bed & Breakfast.

We thought we would begin with a trolley tour.  It departed from the historic square area an hour later so we walked around a bit first.

We came upon the bell from the SS Cape May.  The ship was built in 1943 and served in World War II. It later served in peacetime commerce and was retired in 1969.  The ship’s bell was presented to the city in 1974.

We boarded the trolley and began a tour of Cape May, our nation’s oldest seaside resort.  It was used as a summer escape as early as the 1700s.   Residents in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington were flocking there from the early 1800s. Back then the town was more accessible by water than by land

The number of pilgrim era descendants in Cape May is second only to Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In 1851 there were three casinos in Cape May.  When a woman from New Orleans won $1,000,000, they banned women. 

Our tour was an interesting description of the Victorian houses and residents. This house was built for $1800.

This is the Inn at Cape May. Both Wallis Simpson and Estée Lauder liked to give parties at the inn.

The use of shingles as siding was invented in Cape May.  We’ve seen that weathered gray shingle look on both coasts. 

This house was once owned by the Stetson family.  The new owners found lots of hats in boxes when they moved in.  They threw them out.

This yellow house was built by the brother of Norman Rockwell.

In 1878 a fire destroyed 40 acres on the west side of Cape May.   The fire started in a hotel.  The Pinkerton Agency investigated but could not determine who was at fault.  No one was ever charged.

After the fire, some smaller “summer homes” were built instead of rebuilding the large mansions and hotels. These eight cottages were built for a total of $50,000.  

We walked by them several times and liked to notice the subtle differences.

Cape May was named a National Historic City in 1976 based on the number of Victorian homes. Cape May buildings have the most original stained glass of any city in the US. 

At the end of our tour, it was time to find our lodgings.

We stayed at The Bedford Inn, one of the top five Bed and Breakfasts in Cape May.  Victorian Bed and Breakfasts and boutique hotels are far more common in Cape May than chain hotels.

Built in 1883, the Bedford Inn features 10 guest rooms with period antiques. 

It is described as a “mother-daughter” house, side-by-side front doors that open to parallel stair- cases and separate living quarters.  Once a family home, it was converted to apartments, then a bed-and-breakfast.  A passage- way was opened to join the two homes to become one.   The subtle exterior is more representative of the Victorian style than the bright colors often seen.

The interior has dark woods, ornately furnishings, gilded mirrors, floral carpets, and vintage lighting.

There was one bedroom on the ground floor and it was ours.  That was a nice thing when we didn’t have to carry our suitcases upstairs but not so great when people sat outside our window talking well into the evening.

One morning, we visited with sisters who meet at the Bedford Inn yearly. They have developed a delightful routine of breakfast at the inn, relaxing, ice cream for lunch, reading, wine at 3:00 and then dinner at one of Cape May’s many wonderful restaurants.   What is possibly better than that?

Overall, it was a delightful stay. 

We were in Cape May in May 2024

Next Up: More Cape May

PS  Blog Post #400

I interrupt our trip to the East Coast to make note of this, our 400th blog post.  Have you been with us since the beginning?  

Randy started, named, and wrote the first few posts himself as we were preparing to sell our home and possessions in Boise and launch our full time RV adventure.   

I wrote us through our RV life from the summer of 2014 to the summer of 2018 when our plans were derailed by health issues.  

I continued to write as we chose to leave the RV, and the road, and remain in the Phoenix area.  Since the summer of 2019, our posts have highlighted our adventures living in Arizona and our travels in the US and internationally.  At this point, I still enjoy writing so plan to keep on.  

I tried to determine a list of the most read posts over the years.  I sometimes look at the stats and reports and always see that there have been readings of What’s Under the Lake?.   I assume it must have been tagged by the town, state park or tourist site in Cascade, Idaho because that post has had over 1700 views.  The post was fine,  but it was not that much better than the rest!

Other posts that have been read repeatedly are No Body Contact With the Water and Our “Problems” With Antelope Canyon…

The post that we have read again and again is Elko’s Last Blog.  Randy read it everyday for a whole year after we lost our boy.  Many of you may remember it too.  His people loved him and he knew it every day.

Whenever you joined us, and whatever your favorite post might be, thanks for coming along!

Delaware was another new state for us.  The Welcome to Delaware sign along the highway was small and gone before I was prepared to take a picture.  

There was a visually interesting bridge.  The Indian River Inlet Bridge (officially called the Charles W. Cullen bridge) was built in 2011.  It is the fifth bridge built to span the river.  The first, made of wood, was built in 1934. A concrete and steel replacement was completed in 1940 but collapsed due to ice flows and wind in 1948.  The 1952 replacement held up until the epic Nor’Easter storm in 1962 leveled much of the area.  In 1965 a steel girder bridge was built and declared structurally deficient in 1989. It was maintained until 2005. Whew!  That was a lot to learn when I just wondered about the name of the cool bridge!

We knew we were at our destination when we saw the water tower sign for Rehoboth Beach.  Water tower signs were commonplace along the outer banks and in eastern seaboard towns.

The plan for the day was to enjoy the Rehoboth boardwalk but it was a windy cold day.  

The next thought was to go to the First State National Historic Park but their visitor center was closed for renovations.  In the video on the park website, I learned that Swedish immigrants came to the region in 1638 near present day Wilmington.   They named their settlement Fort Christina after the young Queen in their homeland.  The Dutch took over this region and then the English did the same.  

From the beginning, Delaware included peoples of different origins and religions, It was unique in those respects.  The lands came under the jurisdiction of William Penn who worked well with the indigenous peoples. Those efforts waned under future leaders.  

In 1776, a local resolution was passed to separate not just from Great Britain but also from Pennsylvania. This action formed the state of Delaware.

In 1787,  Delaware became the first state to ratify the new US Constitution.

Years later, when Delaware was in position to be the last needed state to give women the right to vote by ratifying the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, they rejected the measure. Two months later, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment, ensuring that the right to vote could not be denied based on gender. 

This was the wall behind the desk as we registered into our Rehoboth Beach hotel.  

The Delaware Blue Hen, the official bird of Delaware, is a strain of American gamecock. It is not a chicken.

We had a miserable weather afternoon in Rehoboth Beach.  It was the only day on our trip (full of marginal weather) that we gave up and enjoyed being warm and dry inside. Somehow I neglected to take pictures from our really great hotel room overlooking the stormy ocean. 

The next morning we boarded the ferry in Lewes, Delaware.

Randy drove our rental car onto the Cape May-Lewes Ferry.

The journey to New Jersey was 17 miles across and took 85 minutes.  It was pretty delightful. 

The ferry has transported 45 million passengers since 1964.

We were in Delaware in May, 2024.

Next Up:  We spend a few days in Cape May, New Jersey.

I read a book as a child that stayed with me.  I wasn’t a horse girl so I’m not sure why a book about horses made a lasting impression.

Misty of Chincoteague was written by Marguerite Henry and published in 1938.  It was a Newberry Honor Winner in 1948.  I probably read it around 1968.  There have been 165 editions published.  

Over the years, when I heard reference to the wild horses of Assateague, the memory of this book would resurface. When we decided to visit this area, seeing the wild horses on Assateague became part of the itinerary.

The origin of the horses, as explained in the book, is that horses were freed, or stranded, or marooned, on the island when a Spanish ship went down hundreds of years ago.  Over time, they became wild and adapted to a harsh landscape.

The more verifiable history is that 300 years ago, settlers on the mainland placed their animals on the island to pasture.  This allowed owners to avoid paying the grazing tax that would have been due if they kept their horses on the eastern shore of the mainland. (The horses roaming the island are descended from those original horses with DNA introduced from others over the centuries.) Again, over time, they became wild and adapted to a harsh landscape.

Native American’s used to visit the island known as Assateague.

In later years it had periods of tourist development that ebbed and flowed.  A massive development called Ocean Beach was in the process of selling almost 6000 lots when a Great Nor’Easter hit in the spring of 1962.  As only thirty lots had been built and everything in the region was leveled after the three day storm, Ocean Beach was abandoned. 

The epic storm set the stage for President Lyndon Johnson to declare Assateague Island a National Seashore in 1965.

We visited the Assateague National Seashore Visitor Center.

Assateague is a 37 miles long barrier island. It is the outermost point of the eastern United States.  The island is divided into the Maryland portion (Assateague) managed by the state of Maryland and the National Park Service and the southern half, managed by the state of Virginia.

The southern horse population is owned and managed by the  Chincoteague Fire Department.  They have a spring roundup where water cowboys round up  the horses to swim to Chincoteague for auction.  This helps to manage the population and create income for the fire department. Following the sale, the adult horses are then led to swim back to the main island.  The July 2024 version of the event is the 99th in history.  (The pony swim and round-up is the major plot line of the book I read so many years ago.)

We visited the north side of the island, and saw the horses managed by the NPS.  These horses are left to be wild with minimal human involvement.   

Of course, the horses can decide to come to civilization whenever they want.

The exception to human initiated involvement is to control when mares are able to be pregnant.  This is done by vaccinating selected mares by rifle dart.  This restricts the number of pregnancies each mare experiences. Fewer pregnancies in the herd keeps the mares healthier, the gene pool less saturated, and the herd size at a level the island can maintain.

This practice of supplying vaccines to selected mares was unproven when it was introduced more than 30 years ago but has proven very successful. The practice has been replicated in other places.

We went to Assateague twice, once in the evening and again the following morning.  We saw several groups of horses each time.

We learned that the Assateague horses appear bloated because they eat so much salty sea grass.  This necessitates them drinking a lot of freshwater available in island pools.

Walkways were constructed to assist in viewing.

There are many signs and reminders to stay back from all wildlife, including the horses.

In the visitor center bookstore, they sold the 60th Anniversary Edition of the book I read so long ago.  I bought it and read it again. That was coming full circle!

The visit, and re-reading the book, were both worthwhile. But, I’m still not a horse girl!

We were on Assateague in May 2024.

Next Up: Delaware – a new state for us

The Harriet Tubman National Historic Site is one of many commemorating her along routes of the Underground Railroad.  

This site is a combined effort between the National Park Service and Maryland State Parks.

The girl who would become Harriet Tubman was born on the eastern shore of Maryland in 1822. Her childhood name was Araminta Ross.  She was born of people who were enslaved, the middle of nine children.

Araminta witnessed her older sisters being sold away and was haunted by the memory. Every time a white man came to the farm, they wondered who might be next.

At age six, the man who owned her began hiring her out to others.  One farmer had her hunting muskrats.  She suffered beatings as a child and the scars were evident throughout her life. 

As a young teen Araminta was hit in the head by an iron weight.  The weight was thrown at an enslaved young man but hit her.  Her skull was broken and she was still expected to do her work in the field. Araminta recovered over the next months but suffered from epilepsy and headaches throughout her life.  She felt her injury opened a direct connection to God that she relied on throughout her life.

“Minty” married a free black man named John Tubman.  In 1840, half of the blacks in Dorchester County, Maryland were free. 

Araminta changed her name to Harriet.  A short time later, learning that she was about to be sold, Harriet decided to run.   She had a strong reserve, physical strength and belief that God meant her to be free.

Harriet made it to Pennsylvania. Instead of going further north and enjoying her new freedom, she chose to go back and help family members, and others, escape to freedom.

It devastated Harriet that her husband John chose to stay in Maryland.  She “dropped him out of her heart” and went on.

Harriet returned to Maryland at least a dozen times, over a decade, and directly rescued 70 people as a conductor along the Underground Railroad.  Free blacks and sympathetic whites helped escaping enslaved people.  

Harriet never lost a passenger on the underground railroad.

When the Civil War began, Harriet worked as a nurse, a spy, and a soldier for the Union.

She eventually settled in New York and assisted with the Women’s suffrage movement.  Harriet Tubman died at age 85 in 1913.

In 1944, the SS Harriet Tubman was launched as a Liberty Warship in WWII, the first ship named after a black woman.

Harriet Tubman was honored with postage stamps in 1975 and 1995.

The Harriet Tubman $20 is set to be released in 2030.  The US $20 bill is the most used bill in the world.

We were at the Harriet Tubman National Historic Site in May 2024.

Next Up: A childhood memory revisited

We visited Antietam National Battlefield which consisted of driving a self guided tour around the battlefield, the visitor center and the national cemetery. There are paths to walk along the driving route but as we were there for only an afternoon, our time was mostly spent on the driving route and visitor center.

Eighteen months into the Civil War, neither side could assume victory.  The confederacy, under General Robert E. Lee had been fighting well in Virginia.  He decided to cross the Potomac River into Maryland in September 1862.   This was his significant foray into lands occupied by the US Army.   He hoped to move through Maryland into Pennsylvania.

Lee’s Maryland Campaign resulted in four battles:  Harpers Ferry on September 13-15, South Mountain on September 14 and Antietam on September 17.   (The fourth battle, in Shepherdstown, happened while the Confederate soldiers were in retreat after Antietam.)

A US Army soldier found a copy of Lee’s plan of operations on September 13, 1862 which allowed General McClelland to arrange his armies.   Instead of returning to Virginia, Lee decided to make a stand at Sharpsburg, Maryland near Antietam Creek.

Confederate soldiers waited through the night around Dunker’s Church.

Clara Barton followed the army to battlefields to offer medical assistance.

At dawn on September, 17, 1862, US Army soldiers crossed Antietam Creek to engage Lee’s soldiers.  

Some of the earliest and deadliest fighting took place in this cornfield. The cornfield changed hands several times throughout the day.  

The fighting moved into the east and west woods.  (On this day we saw only a red tail hawk in the west woods.)

The open terrain benefited both armies as cannon fire could be set upon the opposite side.

Over 500 cannon (yes, the plural form of cannon is cannon) were in operation on the battle.

By late morning, the fighting shifted to Sunken Road, later named “Bloody Lane.”  It was the scene of a three hour stalemate.

US Army General Burnside took the lower bridge and Union troops crossed Antietam Creek.  This action made the confederacy retreat towards Sharpsburg.

By evening, battle lines had not changed substantially.  Of the 100,000 soldiers who fought, nearly 23,000 were killed, wounded or missing.

The Battle of Antietam was the single bloodiest date on American soil. Each man symbol represents 50 real men, including those who were killed, injured and missing.

On September 18, Lee retreated back into Virginia.  As significant as the number of casualties were, the defeat also denied Lee a victory on northern soil.  

The 1200 residents of Sharpsburg generally hid from the horrors of the battle. However, they were still left with damage to their homes and farms.  They were left with bodies, artillery  and ammunition in their fields.

This was the Mumma Farm.  The family fled to safety prior to the battle and the house was occupied by confederate soldiers.  It was burned by the confederacy to avoid federal sharpshooters using the site.  That was the only act of willful destruction to the Sharpsburg community by either side.  

Later, when the federal government was reimbursing people for property damage, it declined to reimburse The Mumma family for their loss as it was deliberate damage by the confederacy. The family rebuilt the farm.

Five days after the Battle of Antietam, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, expanding the Union’s purpose from reunification to include the abolishment of slavery.

Although the writing is not visible in the picture, this monument is for Clara Barton. She, with her staff of 30, did what they could to assist the injured and dying.  They were in this area for three days before moving on to the next battlefield.

There were a number of monuments to specific people or to groups of soldiers who fought in the Battle of Antietam. Nearly all represent Union people or companies as the south did not have the funds to do so after the war.

This monument is from The State of New York commemorating their soldiers.

This one is to commemorate Marylanders who fought.

At the visitor center, we saw this sculpture made of battlefield remnants of bullets, buttons, belt plates and more. It is not known for sure who the artist was, but he is assumed to be from Sharpsburg.

The docent at the visitor center wanted us to remember three things from our visit to Antietam National Battlefield. First, that people lived in the area before and after the battle.  Second, it was the single deadliest day on US soil.  Finally, the results of the battle denied Lee his northern victory, ultimately denying the confederacy international recognition and support which might have altered the outcome.

The Maryland Legislature created the Antietam National Cemetery with the intention to bury both the union and confederate dead there as a sign of unification.   It was the first land protected at the battlefield site.

However, lasting bitterness, and the south’s inability to fund burials for their soldiers, led to it only be used for Union soldiers.   Other cemeteries in the area hold confederate remains. More recently, soldiers and veterans of other warsincluding WWI and WWII, have been buried at Antietam National Cemetery.  Sadly, and not surprising, African American remains were segregated.

We were at Antietam National Battlefield in May 2024.

Next Up – Harriet Tubman