Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


 
Thursday, March 29, 2001
Ohio
Lordstown
William McKinley National Birthplace Memorial
Kahunaville

At precisely 9:03 am, we began our 2001 spring break family trip.  Odometer on our BMW X5 was 22,503 miles. The sky was overcast. The thermometer was measuring 39 degrees; quite balmy considering the infinitely long Michigan winter we had endured.

At 9:07 am, Michelle asked with a grin, “are we there yet?”

 After a lengthy bit of driving, (12 miles) we decided to stop and eat, so we pulled into the local Battle Creek Burger King.

We soon settled in for the trip; kids watching DVDs with headphones in the back seat and Mom and Dad jazzin’ with Harry Connick, Jr. on the car stereo.

In the blink of an eye, we were through Indiana and took our first “state sign” picture. Only five miles into the Ohio Turnpike, we spotted our first Ohio State Trooper. Tam blasted right by him at ten over the speed limit ... as if she were invisible. 


We cruised eastbound along the turnpike while we sang along to TV theme songs like Secret Squirrel, The Newlywed Game, and Family Affair. The flat farmland of western Ohio gave way to hilly undulations as we crossed the Vermillion River.  One large barn beside the highway boasted a large outline of the state of Ohio. The text on the sign stated “Celebrating Ohio’s Bicentennial 1803 – 2003”.

Soon, we were passing through the urban cities of Lorain, Elyria, Berea, and Strongsville – on the periphery of Cleveland. Nearing Youngstown, I noticed an exit sign for “Lordstown”. This name is synonymous with General Motors. Indeed, as we approached the exit, we could see a massive manufacturing plant emerging through the trees. It was huge! The largest single automotive facility I had ever seen!

In 1964, General Motors Corporation broke ground in Mahoning County, Ohio for the purpose of building an auto assembly plant. By 1966, the plant was producing its first car model – the popular 1966 Chevy Impala. Two years later, GM built a Fisher Body metal fabrication plant and a van assembly plant adjoining the original facilities. Plant volume was approaching 400,000 cars per year. These were the good years for Lordstown.

In 1970, the 8,000 employees were focusing on its new project – the soon-to-be-infamous Chevrolet Vega. So much for the good ol’ days! Soon GM was forced to build a separate facility to repair the cars before they went out to dealers. Unions also staged several walkouts and wildcat strikes. In 1982, GM laid off 6,000 Lordstown employees. The last twenty years have been characterized by productivity declines, union improprieties, and continuous strike threats. Lordstown is now staring at a complete shutdown in 2003 as the newer and less union-influenced Saturn plants in Tennessee usurp greater shares of assembly volume. This would prove devastating to the area as more than 12,000 employees would lose their jobs.

Our hotel exit (#223 Niles) had a sign that stated “McKinley Birthplace”. After checking in, we drove to Niles in search of this landmark. We passed through some very rough, down-trodden neighborhoods. In the town center, there was a massive marble building of Greek classic architecture. This was the William McKinley National Birthplace Memorial. Built in 1915, the building housed the village public library, an auditorium, and a museum honoring the hometown hero and martyr.

On January 29, 1843, William McKinley was born in a small home in downtown Niles. After distinguished service in the Civil War, McKinley began a well-known career as a lawyer and local politician. After a short stint in the U.S. Congress, he returned home and eventually became Governor of Ohio. This was an important stepping-stone in a successful run for the Presidency of the United States in 1896. Shortly after beginning his second term, on September 6, 1901, McKinley was assassinated at the Pan American Exposition by a political anarchist from Cleveland. Eight days after being shot, William McKinley died from gangrenous infections of the stomach and pancreas. He chose to be buried in Canton, Ohio (his wife’s hometown). This is a fact not easily forgotten … or forgiven … by the tiny village of Niles.

 Frank, an employee of the public library and museum cheerfully gave us a tour of their McKinley memorabilia. I asked if the birthplace home was available for tours. He said that, unfortunately, the home burned down in 1937 but that the community was working to rebuild a replica at some point in the future.
 

 We ate dinner at Kahunaville at the local shopping mall and returned to our hotel room to watch the TV show Survivor and settle in for the night.


 Friday, March 30, 2001
Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh
Fallingwater
Kentuck Knob
Allegheny Mountains
Gettysburg

 We awoke to cold gray skies. The ground had been saturated with rain and beads of water ran off the car as we repacked it for another day of adventure.


After a quick breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we headed east toward Pennsylvania. Almost immediately after entering the state, the terrain changed from rolling hills to mountainous ... the western slopes of the Appalachians.  Tam and I noted that the turnpike seemed narrower and often had no shoulders, seemingly so that the highway could more easily cut through the hillsides. We passed through one section where there had been a rockslide onto the highway and crews were clearing it up.

 We crossed over a large, beautiful valley (the Allegheny River valley) and soon passed through the suburbs of Pittsburgh. The clouds were rolling in, even heavier and darker than before. They were now covering the tops of the mountains.

 When we exited the turnpike at Donegal, it was spitting rain. We wandered south on route 381, deeper and deeper into the wooded wilderness speckled with small villages with names like Normalville and Pine Slope.  Just south of Mill Run, we arrived at our destination ... Fallingwater.

 Fallingwater is the Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece that is considered by the American Institute of Architects to be the greatest feat of residential architecture ever built.

Edgar Kaufman, a Pittsburgh area department store magnate, wanted to build a summer cottage on his family land along the Youghiogheny River. In 1935, he asked Wright to create a design whereby the family could have a view of a beautiful waterfall that graced the property.  Wright, almost seventy years old, and considered by some to be past his prime, threw Kaufman a curveball by designing a home to be cantilevered above the falls with the river running beneath it. Kaufman immediately recognized the brilliance of Wright’s plan and gave the green light.  The project, like most of Wright’s, was an engineering nightmare and came in almost four hundred percent over budget. But what evolved was a masterwork that stood the world on its ear. In fact, the home was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 1938, before it was even completed.


 The recognition that Wright received from this project marked the beginning of the renaissance of his architectural career. He would soon design the Johnson Wax Building, Wingspread, and a concept for mass-produced homes that he called “Usonian” homes.

In 1964, Edgar Kaufman Jr donated the home to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and it was opened to the public for tours.

Fallingwater itself is now almost seventy years old and is beginning to show its age. The concrete fascia is cracking in places and the roof continually leaks, like most Wright homes. In recent years, however, a more serious problem has developed; the entire main floor section has begun to sag by more than five inches; requiring the use of massive steel members to hold it up from underneath. The long-term remedy of this situation will cost millions and millions of dollars.

 

 Still, the home remains spectacular in every way. Laura and Michelle were so impressed that they asked to have a waterfall in their bedroom.

_____


There is another Frank Lloyd Wright home just around the corner, less than five miles away. This Usonian home was located two thousand feet above sea level on the top of a hill named Kentuck Knob.



The home, also named Kentuck Knob, represents a refinement of the many principles of organic architecture explored by Wright throughout his career.  Designed in 1953 for the I. N. Hagan family, the home was constructed completely by local craftsmen - very unusual with Wright projects. It was built on a hexagonal grid, and constructed entirely of tidewater red Cyprus and native fieldstone.

In 1986, Mrs. Hagan sold the home to the Lord and Lady Palumbo of London, England. Lord Palumbo sat in the House of Lords of the British Parliament. He would add this home to his stable of important works of architecture, including Mies Van Der Rohes’ all-glass Farnsworth House.

As we toured the home, we noticed literally hundreds of personal photos of the Lords’ family. There were also photos of him with Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana. Dozens of rare mementos and pieces of fine art were littered throughout the house. I asked if the owners came here very often and the tour guide told us that, in fact, the Lord and Lady were arriving that afternoon to stay for the week.

Soon, we were back in the car and headed west on the turnpike. Laura was anxious to go through a tunnel and asked about it every two and a half minutes. Then, just after a long sigh from Laura, we came around a corner and the Allegheny Tunnel swung into view. Laura jumped for joy. If she only knew how many tons of rock were above us, she might have acted differently, perhaps more like Michelle, who had a death grip on the front seat until we passed through and were out of harm’s way.

The foggy conditions enhanced the effect of the mountains that surrounded us. They would pass in and out of view in shadowy silhouettes on the horizon.

We serpentined along beautiful hills and valleys, often seeing small villages sprinkled on the hillsides with white church spires standing out amongst the still-dormant trees.

All this beauty out the window while Austin Powers was fighting crime in the back seat DVD theater.

Our caravan headed southeast on U.S. 30, the Lincoln Highway, toward Chambersburg. We climbed our last major mountain and crossed Tuscarora Summit (2,123 feet). Looking east, there was flat land as far as we could see. Just beyond Chambersburg, we crossed a sliver of the Michaux State Forest. Along the highway, there was an inconspicuous “pedestrian crossing” sign. This was no ordinary crossing, however, as a small historic marker noted that we were intersecting with the famous “Appalachian Trail” that extended from Georgia to New Hampshire.

It was dusk as were stampeded into Gettysburg by way of the Chambersburg Pike and across McPherson Ridge. This was the same road that the Confederates entered town and skirmished with the arriving Union forces on July 1, 1863. We were immediately struck by the sight of dozens of monuments dispersed haphazardly in the open fields beyond the split rail fences – ominous features on the twilight horizon.


 The Farnsworth Hotel was our first stop where the four of us hurriedly signed up for the evening candle light “Ghost Tour” along Baltimore Street. Our guide began the tour by telling us that no matter where we stood, we were standing where somebody died during the great Battle of Gettysburg. He said that there are “pockets” of haunted spirits here in Gettysburg. One might be walking along then suddenly feel the pain, fear, or hopelessness of a young soldier.

We strolled along the back streets and alleyways of Gettysburg on a brisk and damp evening. The vapors of our breath mixed with the vapors of Civil war ghosts.  A high school soccer field became an imaginary battlefield as the gas lamps and moonlight illuminated fence posts and hedgerows.

Many of the buildings we passed on Baltimore Street featured small bronze “Civil War Building” plaques, signifying that they were built prior to the battle. By the end of the first day of conflict, the Confederates had commandeered most of these buildings in the town proper. The Farnsworth House was no exception. It was a two and one half story brick building between Seminary and Cemetery Ridges. The southern face of the house was entirely brick with the exception of one very small garrison window from which Confederate sharpshooters took aim at the Union troops one hundred yards away. The building was scarred by more than one hundred fifty bullet pockmarks from Federals returning the fire.

Back in the car, we followed Baltimore Street out of town. An eerie moonlit night sky traced the silhouettes of cannons and horseback warriors, sending chills down my spine. We had mistakenly wandered too far south of town and onto the battlefield. We turned back toward town and our hotel.

The Gettysburg Hotel on Lincoln Square would serve as our accommodations for the night, just as it did for Ulysses Grant, Henry Ford, Carl Sandburg, and Daniel Webster. In the 1950s, while President Eisenhower was convalescing from his heart attack, the hotel served as the Presidential National Operations Center.


 Our room overlooked the town square. From our bed, we could see across the street and into the room at Wills House where Lincoln stayed and finished the Gettysburg Address.

A thunderstorm rolled in the distance and I imagined that they were the guns of Gettysburg. I had great anticipation of what we would see the following day. I am sure that it was not the same kind of anticipation that the troops felt on the first night of battle on that hot July night.


 Saturday, March 31, 2001
The Gettysburg Hotel
Wills House
Gettysburg National Battlefield
Lancaster
Philadelphia

By the morning of the second day (July 2, 1863), the battle lines were drawn up in two sweeping arcs. The main portions of both armies were nearly a mile apart on two parallel ridges; Union forces on Cemetery Ridge facing Confederate forces on Seminary Ridge to the west.

I awoke at 6:00 a.m. to the sound of tour busses queuing up in front of our hotel. A light, spitty drizzle created a sheen on the sidewalks and streets. By the time Laura and I went outside for an early morning walk, however, the rain had stopped and the skies were clearing.

We walked across the square to the Wills House, a white-painted brick building where Abraham Lincoln stayed as a guest on November 18, 1963. It was here, in a second story bedroom, where Lincoln finished his Gettysburg Address. He also greeted the townspeople by leaning out his window and talking to them briefly. That window is now demarcated with red, white, and blue bunting.


 The four of us ate breakfast around the corner at the Lincoln Diner. Laura and I had “French toast a la Lincoln,” made with thick slices of homemade bread.

At 9:00 a.m., we were at the Gettysburg National Battlefield Visitor Center where we studied the electric map to gain a better understanding of the three-day battle.

We took the auto tour, guided by a two CD audio program. It provided an excellent soundtrack to what we were about to see.


 Starting at McPherson Ridge, where the engagement began on the afternoon of July 1, 1963, we learned that one of the first casualties was John F. Reynolds, a union Major General. He was the highest-ranking officer killed in the three-day conflict. Shot in the back of the neck by confederate sharpshooters, he was dead before he hit the ground where he fell off his horse.
    

Also on the northwest edge of town is a lovely old stone house that Lee commandeered as his headquarters. It remains there today, as a privately run museum and kitschy gift shop.

From there, we drove southward, down Seminary Ridge. For more than three miles, the Confederate forces set up their artillery along this line. Surprisingly, it was hard to see much of a “ridge.” Most of it was defined by a tree line on the continuously downward sloping fields that started at the real high ground along Cemetery Ridge (the Union line).


 As we progressed down Seminary Ridge there were hundreds of massive granite markers, all of varying shapes and designs. These markers designated where different state regiments and battalions were located during key points of the battle. They were randomly sprinkled throughout the battlefield, in open fields, on ridgelines, in the woods, beside creek beds.

 Among the largest of these markers was a massive granite and bronze sculpture designed by Gutson Borglum and dedicated to the men of North Carolina. These troops were among those that took part in Pickett’s Charge. In fact, they made the greatest sacrifice of any state on this battlefield; one out of every four confederates killed there was a North Carolinian.

A little further south along Seminary Ridge was the monument to the troops of Northern Virginia. At the top of this monument was a huge bronze statue of Robert E. Lee atop Traveler, his trusty steed. He was staring across the fields toward the Bloody Angle and the copse of trees ... the focus of Pickett’s Charge nearly a mile away. It was from here that Lee made the fateful decision to send 12,000 troops across that gently sloping plain in hopes of splitting the Union Army.


 There was also a marker, at the edge of the woods, one hundred yards away, where Lee met what was left of his retreating army after the disaster, weeping as he told them, “it was all my fault.”

Further south along Seminary Ridge were the placements of General Longstreet’s men.


Just behind these positions and down the hill was a farm, undistinguished from any other that we could see in those Pennsylvania hills, except that there were 50 large pine trees lining the driveway. This was the home of General and President Dwight David Eisenhower.

Our tour looped gradually northward and we drove between Big Round Top and Little Round Top, two small hills that marked the southern end of the Gettysburg battlefield.

 

 Little Round Top was actually more important than its larger brother because it was closer to the field of battle and the top was clear of trees, making it an important artillery position. It wasn’t until the end of day two that both sides suddenly realized the importance of this position. General Warren, the Union army’s chief engineer arrived at the summit and immediately recognized that the entire Union position was untenable without control of Little Round Top. Both armies clamored up opposite sides of the hill, the Union army arriving only seconds before the Confederates. The fiercest fighting took place on the southern slope between Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain’s 20th Maine Regiment and the confederates 15th Alabamian. The confederates drove the Maine men from their positions five times. Five times the 20th Maine fought their way back again. Forty thousand rounds of were fired here in ninety minutes. Running out of ammunition, and with more than one third of his troops killed, Chamberlain launched a fixed-bayonet assault and plunged down the hillside. The confederates were taken by surprise. Many dropped their weapons and ran. Chamberlain had secured the vulnerable southern flank of the Union army.

 

 At the foot of Little Round Top was a natural collection of large boulders that provided dozens of nooks and crannies in which to hide and sharp shoot. This area was called Devil’s Den. It traded hands several times during the battle and the blood ran from there into Plum Creek, turning it red.


Michelle and Laura ran, jumped, and played among these giant boulders. They, like the other kids running about, saw this simply as a great playground. Most parents stood back, knowing what had transpired there and slightly amused at the incongruity of it all.  Some gallant people decided to have a picnic there.

Just over the hill, there was an open field known as the Wheatfield (spelled with a capital 'W' out of respect). This was one of the bloodiest sections of the battlefield. It exchanged hands six times in one day. The bodies lay so thick that it was said you could walk across the field and never touch the ground. The wheat was cut down to the earth in the hail of bullets that flew back and forth.

It was in the Wheatfield that Colonel Harrison Jeffords, a leader of the 4th Michigan Infantry Regiment, had seen his flag bearer shot down. He picked up the flag and carried it himself until his arm was blown off. He picked up the flag again with his other arm and continued marching across the field. A few moments later he was shot dead.

We proceeded through the Peach Orchard, the Trostle farm, and northward along Cemetery Ridge all bathed in a warm afternoon sun.


On the high point of the ridge there was a small “copse of trees.” This marked the center of the Union position and where the line turned back toward Culp’s Hill. Standing here, I could look back toward Seminary Ridge and see clearly the General Lee monument on the edge of the trees a mile away.

It was here, that the Civil War and world history was changed forever

At 3:00 p.m., on July 3, 1863, General George Pickett led 12,500 confederate troops across this field in a futile and desperate charge into the brunt of the Union line. With mortars exploding all around them and gunfire slicing them to shreds, the charge continued. Military scholars have described it as both beautiful and tragic! The confederates actually crossed the low stone wall of the union line where it became hand to hand fighting. Confederate General Lewis Armistead shouted as he waded into a sea of blue, “give ‘em the cold steel boys.” And then he was killed instantly in the Bloody Angle. Hundreds of men died each minute of the hand-to-hand struggle. But soon, the union line closed in and swallowed what was left. The tattered remains of Pickett’s troops retreated. The charge, the battle, and … for the most part, the war was over.


Michelle and Laura wandered about, trying to understand what happened. But they seemed more interested in climbing the low rock wall than stand  in reverence.

Laura looked around at the wet, sloppy ground and said, “no wonder they call this the Muddy Angle.”

We all went to the National Cemetery. The clouds were completely gone and a warm sun reflected off of the neatly lined rows of military markers.  Among these dead, on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the world’s greatest addresses.  In less than three minutes and with only 269 words, he immortalized the great cause of the war and gave meaning to definition of liberty.  It was a defining moment in world history.

The sun shone brightly now as the Olin caravan headed east on the Lincoln Highway toward York and destinations east.  The drive to Philadelphia took us through the Amish country of Lancaster.

 The kids listened to rap music in the back seat while we drove through Amish towns with names like Blue Ball, Bird in Hand, and Intercourse.  Actually, the area looked similar to farmland in Ohio, except that the farms were slightly more modest and more bunched together.

We ate dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen at the King of Prussia Mall on the outskirts of Philadelphia. At about 9:00 pm we checked into the Omni Hotel about one hundred yards from the Birthplace of Liberty.

We would have to “spring forward” an hour to Daylight Savings Time. Yet, when we woke up, we would leap backward more than two hundred years in American history.


 Sunday, April 1, 2001
Independence National Historical Park
Liberty Bell
Independence Hall
Betsy Ross House
The Old Original Bookbinders

We slept in until 8:00 am. What a blessing!

A very short walk, less than a block from the Omni, and we arrived at Independence National Historical Park ... “The Birthplace of Our Nation.”

There were very few tourists on this cool Sunday morning, except for two busloads of Chinese people.

We entered the Liberty Bell exhibit and were able to walk right up to it. There were so few people there that the National Park Service even allowed us to cross the ropes and see it up close.  That we did! In fact, I took an incredible picture of Laura standing there ... with her hand on the bell.


 The Liberty Bell was originally cast in England in 1751 and sent to Philadelphia where it cracked during testing and was recast here two years later. During the war, the bell was spirited away to Allentown, sixty miles west of Philadelphia, to prevent it from falling into British hands. The bell cracked again over many years of use and was rung for the last time for Washington’s Birthday in 1846.

Up close, the Liberty Bell looked the same as the thousands of images we had seen in books and magazines.  The characteristic crack stood out clearly, but a closer inspection revealed a secondary hairline crack that continued from the top of the visible crack all the way to the top of the bell.

It was with much curiosity that I watched Chinese tourists line up for pictures with our symbol of freedom and liberty. I wondered if they understood the meaning of the relic, or whether they saw it simply as a tourist attraction.

Down the mall from the Liberty Bell pavilion was Independence Hall ... known as the “Cradle of Liberty”. The structure was being renovated and new cobblestone was being laid around it. The building was constructed between 1732 and 1756, and served during those years as the Pennsylvania State House. However, its place in history was assured when it served as the meeting hall for the Second Continental Congress from 1775 to 1787. It was here that two of the Charters of Liberty, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, were drafted.


Standing in the main meeting room, it was possible to imagine the brain trust of our nation ... Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, Monroe, and Washington hammering out the future of our great country.


Adjacent to Independence Hall was Congress Hall, location of the United States Congress from 1790 to 1800.  The Bill of Rights was drafted in this, less-well-known location.  Washington’s second inauguration also took place there in 1793, as well as John Adams inauguration in 1797. 


A few steps away was Carpenter’s Hall, where the First Continental Congress convened in 1774.  The building was being restored and is closed to tours.

 Philadelphia’s most famous resident, Ben Franklin, lived a few blocks away.  He had established several successful printing and newspaper businesses before he was twenty-five years old.  He also helped launch the first fire insurance company, street lighting and paving, the local militia, and Philadelphia’s first hospital.  The remains of his home are on display as archeological digs.  Around the corner is Ben Franklin’s grave, located beside the passing sidewalk where pedestrians toss coins onto his marble slab.

Philadelphia is also the birthplace of the American flag.  Betsy Ross lived nearby in a small brick house with a gabled roof. Her flag hung proudly above the front door. Useless trivia: her full name was Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashbourn Claypoole because she outlived three husbands. It is doubtful that she actually designed the famous flag ... but why argue with legend?  We toured the narrow three-story structure, Michelle doing a running videotape documentary. Betsy was buried with her third husband in the courtyard alongside the house. We respectfully visited her gift shop and dribbled ice cream cones on her marker, in typical Olin fashion, before departing. 


We made the all-important eleven block trek to the Philadelphia Hard Rock Café for lunch and then burned off the veggie burgers by hiking back to Independence Park. Fulfilling a promise to Laura, we took a carriage ride through the old town portion of Philadelphia. We rode wrapped in blankets against the brisk wind chill.

For dinner, the four of us walked to the Old Original Bookbinders restaurant. It has been a fixture in Philadelphia since 1865. I have great memories of an Olin family trip there in the early 1970’s.  Tam was worried about dress code so I called and the lady said it was very casual, no reservations required either. We arrived at 6:00pm and the restaurant was full and busy. Tam saw one guy in a suit and said, “See, I told you it was too fancy for us!” She didn’t notice the other ninety percent of the patrons wearing sweatshirts and jeans.  There was a customer in the corner wearing a tuxedo, however. Glad Tam didn't see him.


 Our waiters’ name was Wells. He was great. He tied on the kids lobster bibs and told them that 'state law' required them to wear them. I loved it! When our meals came, he noticed that the kids’ lobsters were each one claw short and brought out another lobster “on the house”.

The walls of the restaurant were covered with photos of celebrities and politicians with the owners. We were not disappointed on this night. Two tables away was veteran NBA basketball superstar, and new starting center for the Philadelphia 76ers, Dikembe Mutumbo. He had just arrived in town in a trade from the Atlanta Hawks. As he got up to leave, the owners popped out of the kitchen and took a picture him for their wall.

I asked Wells if he had served any celebrities. He said yes, and told us several fun stories of his encounters.  He had served Timothy Dalton, Tony Bennett, and Mark McGuire. He said that McGuire tipped him $500.00.  Wells also told us some great Jimmy Buffett stories.

This Bookbinders experience was memorable! The food was wonderful.  The service was superb. The celebrity sighting put the icing on the cake.


Back at the hotel, Michelle and Laura went for a swim. Afterward, we settled in and made plans for the next day.


Monday, April 2, 2001
New Jersey
Maryland
Baltimore Aquarium
Washington D.C.
Evening Limousine Tour of Washington

Looking out the hotel window, we wanted to go back to bed. Dark, gray, heavy clouds hung low. Rain fell on the miserable people rushing to work under their umbrellas. We hurriedly got moving, because we had a long way to go and a short time to get there.


We sloshed to the nearby coffee and donut shop where we enjoyed a quick breakfast while we confirmed the day’s plans.

Our first stop today was the United States Mint. This Philadelphia location was the oldest and largest of four minting facilities in the United States. The others were located in Denver, San Francisco, and Fort Knox.

On April 2, 1792, under President George Washington, an act of congress provided for a national coinage and the establishment of the United States Mint. We were there on the U.S. Mint’s 209th birthday!

The facility was a massive concrete structure covering an entire city block.  Only one row of windows on the fourth floor made it look menacing. We took the self-guided tour and were able to watch silver and copper discs being pressed into money. The silver discs were being made into the special quarters in the “Fifty State Quarters” program. Each state featured a unique design on the reverse of each quarter.

The pennies were being pumped out at a rate of 18 million per day. Each one headed for a different parking lot near you.

Also, at this facility was a special minting operation for Congressional and military gold medals and awards.

The tour passed through a gift shop where they sell proof sets of coins, t-shirts, books, and mementos. We could not buy anything, however, because an employee had forgotten to go to the bank and get change for the cash registers. Imagine that! They are making money on the other side of the wall and had no change in the gift shop!! Something seemed hilariously serendipitous about that.

We stepped outside to discover that the rain clouds had parted and it was becoming another beautiful day.

We returned to the hotel, loaded the car, and headed east across the Ben Franklin Bridge into New Jersey. This was another new state for the kids but the “Welcome to New Jersey” sign was stuck behind a giant Budweiser billboard on the other side of the freeway. Typical New Jersey.


Tam drove through New Jersey and Delaware. Before long, we were sprinting into Maryland and pushing hard for a Baltimore Aquarium appointment. We had timed tickets for 12:30pm. Tam drove like a maniac and we got there on time despite the fact that it was opening day for the Baltimore Orioles at nearby Camden Yards. Part of the festivities, however, was an outdoor concert by a great Beatles revival group called "The Return" at the Hard Rock Café adjacent to the aquarium. Better yet, the original Beatles Magical Mystery Tour bus was being given away as part of a HRC promotion. I was in heaven.  
 

 Being the great father figure that I am, I spent the majority of time at the aquarium and looked at fish with my kids. Actually, they had a cool seahorse exhibit and the rainforest was fun.




By the time we left the aquarium, the party at the Hard Rock was over and Paul McCartney was packing the gear into his van.

The Olin journey continued south toward our nation’s capital via the Baltimore–Washington parkway. Once inside the district, we drove down New York Avenue. Here, the kids got to see the seamier side of Washington D.C., including a body that was draped over a brick wall. We couldn’t tell if he was dead or passed out, and we didn’t stay to find out.

After circling around our hotel several times due to wrong-way one-way streets, we pulled into the J.W. Marriott hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue.

After a few minutes of raiding the room mini-bar, we walked two blocks to the White House to take some family pictures. As I set up my tripod and camera, I noticed two armed guys in black combat outfits on the roof of the White House looking through high-powered binoculars at my set-up procedure. I hurriedly took our pictures and scrammed. 

 

 At 6:00pm our limousine driver, David Marshall, picked us up for a sunset tour of Washington. As it turned out, David was an attaché for President Reagan and a director for the Small Business Administration in the 1980s.  He now gave executive tours for VIPs.  A few weeks before us, he gave the same tour to Julie Andrews.

His first stop was a cheesy Chinese Restaurant at 610 F Street in Chinatown. He pointed out that this residence belonged to Mary Surratt in 1865, and was the place where John Wilkes Booth planned Lincoln’s assassination. This was going to be no ordinary tour!

Next, he showed us the newly renovated Union Station. He even took us inside where he spoke Chinese to the lady serving Bourbon Chicken Chow Mien in the station restaurant and got her to give us free samples.


 A gorgeous sunset facilitated fabulous photography opportunities at the Capitol and Supreme Court buildings.  The Jefferson Memorial was equally beautiful bathed in the warm sunlight and flowering cherry blossoms.  However, the thirty busloads of teenage kids running around took some of the romance out of it.


 The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, newly opened, was a well-designed park-like layout made of giant granite slabs on which his more famous quotes are etched. Placed throughout were large bronze statuary of key moments of his presidency; a man sitting beside a radio listening to a fireside chat, and a breadline of downtrodden. At the center of the memorial was the controversial sculpture of FDR covered in a cloak and sitting in a chair. The cloak conveniently obscured the tiny wheels on his chair. This sculpture raised the ire of handicapped people who felt that his disability had been downplayed.

Water was used artfully throughout the memorial to signify power, strength, or calm. The memorial was inspiring.  Tasteful. Powerful. Well done. 

Not far away, the Lincoln Memorial glowed brightly on the Potomac. The powerful image of Lincoln staring down from his chair intimidated and quieted even the rowdiest of teenagers. There was a higher degree of respect and reverence at this memorial than anywhere else in Washington.

Michelle and Laura stood still before Lincoln. They could certainly understand the importance of this great monument. They very quietly and reverently walked ... slowly and reverently mind you ... to the Lincoln Memorial gift shop, where they very reverently purchased post cards, pencil erasers, and Lincoln key rings.

Reluctantly, we retreated down the stairs and scurried north to the Vietnam War Memorial. Candles glowed in the still evening air; lit by family and friends of those who perished in the war. Dozens of people stood quietly reading the illuminated 59,000 names listed on the wall. 

It was after ten o’clock when we finished our evening tour and we headed back to the hotel to prepare for another big day.


Tuesday, April 3, 2001
National Archives
Museum of Natural History
Museum of American History
National Air and Space Museum

Put your track shoes on!  We’ve got a big day in front of us!

We thought that we would start with Ford’s Theatre because it was nearby and opened an hour earlier than the Smithsonian Museums. When we got there, a crowd of more than a thousand people was waiting in line.  No kidding! The line went around the block, turned the corner and went on for two more blocks. Time for plan “B”.

We marched two blocks to the National Archives and waited twenty minutes for it to open. It was there that Laura chose to throw a fit – here on the steps of the National Archives. That was until a huge African-American guard stepped out, Parris Island style, with his hat tilted severely forward and chinstrap on tight, and laid into the crowd for eight minutes ... Silence! No flash cameras inside! No gum inside! In-depth security check! Single file only! When we passed by him, however, I could see a twinkle in his eye. Still, the contents of the National Archives truly demand such a high level of respect. Of all the tourist sites I had visited, only three commanded such a high degree of reverence ... the National Archives, The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier, and The USS Arizona Memorial.

The giant entry doors were covered in leather. Once inside, we were frisked by security, all of our possessions scanned, and waited in line (single file, of course) to see the Charters of Our Nation: The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Almost unnoticed over on the side was an original pristine copy of the 1297 Magna Carta. Its calligraphy was bright and beautiful with wax seal intact. Most visitors did not know what it was.

Having seen the Charters before, I was well-aware of their decrepit condition.  Other visitors viewing the documents were generally in shock at their faded state.

I attempted to take a picture inside, and even though I tried to disengage my flash, it went off.  POW!!  When my camera clicked, ten armed guards were on me faster than you could say the word “strobe”. I apologized profusely and put the camera away faster than you could say 'John Hancock'.


 The archives also provided a select display of other priceless documents: a letter from Abraham Lincoln to Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Edison’s patent for the light bulb, and FDR’s war speech. My personal favorite was a script written for President Nixon in case there was an Apollo 11 moon disaster.

Michelle and Laura knew that these documents were important and recognized them instantly. They were equally impressed by the massive amount of security surrounding them.

The four of us pounded across the street to the Museum of Natural History. Laura could almost smell the Hope diamond. A museum employee had to clean off the display case with Windex and a towel to get all of Laura’s fingerprints off of it.


 We made a cursory walk-through of the insect, skeleton, and dinosaur exhibits. We did stop to watch the IMAX film “Ocean Oasis”. Actually, this museum did not get the attention it deserved but, by God, we were going to maintain our schedule if it killed us!!

 We quickly moved on to the Museum of American History.  The whole thing was becoming a blur. I do remember seeing a statue of George Washington (half-naked), the Star Spangled Banner flag (under restoration), and Mr. Roger’s sweater.  In addition, there was a special “American Presidency” exhibit that featured many important and rare items: Washington’s military uniform, Jefferson’s desk on which he wrote the Declaration of Independence, Lincoln’s stovepipe hat and personal effects from the night of his assassination, Teddy Roosevelt’s teddy bear, and Bill Clinton’s saxophone.

 


 We were really dragging now, but we still had to do the National Air and Space Museum. We trudged across the mall and stared at airplane after airplane with glazed over eyes. The kids got a little charge by touching a moon rock – wooooooo! I was surprised by the kids’ lack of interest in the Air and Space Museum. I think that maybe we were all “fried” from touring five museums in five hours. However, things got exciting again when we entered the Air and Space Museum gift shop.

 

 Walking back toward the hotel, we all shared some of Laura’s freeze-dried ice cream. It tasted like a six year old marshmallow.

The crowd was still gigantic in front of Ford’s Theatre, so we went into the Washington DC Hard Rock Café next door to rest our feet and have some refreshments. We all sat at the super-sized piano bar sipping root beer floats. After about a half an hour recharging our batteries, we stepped out to find the entire crowd was gone.  We walked right into the theatre and listened to the National Park Service tour guide tell a packed theatre about the fateful night of April 14, 1865.


Tours were no longer permitted of the opera box where Lincoln was shot, like I remembered it when I was there last, so we took pictures of the box from the stage.

 The Petersen House next door, where Lincoln died, was also closed for restoration, so without getting the full Lincoln Assassination experience, we called it a day. Despite everything that we did, and the miles walked (an estimated 10 to 12 miles), the kids whipped on their swimsuits and ran downstairs for some exercise.

Later, we went outside to grab a bite and got caught up in some protesters waving signs and handing out pamphlets. They were demonstrating against actor 'Brady Bunch' Barry Williams and a local production of The Sound of Music. Several people had huge signs that read, “Greg Brady is a SCAB!” They began chanting a profane version of the Brady Bunch theme song, and our kids chimed in. It was hard to imagine Greg Brady as a threat to any serious actor’s livelihood.

We continued four blocks to the HRC and were turned back by a two-hour wait. The ESPN Zone had a ninety-minute wait. Planet Hollywood had over an hour wait, as did TGIFridays.  So we went back to the hotel, ate, and went to bed. My throbbing legs were grateful.


Wednesday, April 4, 2001
The National Zoo
Arlington Cemetery

This was Laura’s big day. The first thing on our agenda was a trip to the National Zoo. After a quick room service breakfast, we headed for Metro Center and the subway ride out to the park. The DC Metro system was so good that everyone felt totally safe and enjoyed the ten-minute ride.


 We walked several blocks from the nearest station in bright sunshine toward the zoo gates. Tam and I noticed Laura walking faster and faster.  When the gates came into view, Laura broke into a dead run. And once inside the zoo, Laura started running toward the giant panda exhibit. Once we arrived, a zookeeper began to prepare the outdoor panda display area. She set out new bamboo branches and two small bags of fruits. The giant pandas were then released into two separate outdoor gardens. The pandas are kept in separate quarters for their own safety, when the zookeepers aren’t trying to mate them. The growing crowds pointed and yelped with excitement at the starkly black and white creatures. Tian Tian, the male panda, stepped right up and began to eat in front of the onlookers. Mei Xiang, the female, was more coy, hiding behind the pines and rolling in the tall grass.


 The rest of the zoo was like any other: an anemic-looking tiger, the stealth lion, the missing zebras, the bored bears, and the neurotic gorilla.

The bat cave was wonderful therapy for me. I was brave, considering that there was a three-inch glass wall between two hundred “flying rats” and me.

Predictably, the highlight for the kids was the “gift shop”. Laura had been saving her money all vacation for this moment. She walked out with another stuffed animal. The panda was too expensive, so she went for the brown bear. We walked by the lounging kangaroos on the way out and looked for a spot to have lunch.

Jandara, a nearby Thai restaurant, was excellent. Laura had fried rice.  Michelle ate Thai lo mien. Tam had the weight watcher salad. I had the jandara curry noodles.

We hopped the subway through Metro Center to Arlington Cemetery. We rode the tourmobile to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Just as we arrived, a changing of the guard ceremony was beginning and we witnessed what I consider one of the most powerful and moving ceremonies on American soil.  Laura and Michelle watched with rapt attention; the sleek Third Infantry guards in perfectly creased uniform, honor guard patch on the sleeve, immaculately shined shoes, and super-cool sunglasses.


 Behind the Tomb of the Unknowns was a monument to the space shuttle Challenger astronauts. 

As we walked slowly down to the Kennedy graves, we read the names on the markers and it slowly sunk into all of us that we, on some future date, would be here again, to handle family business. Moments of personal reflection for each of us. Tam talked to the aide at the visitors’ desk to confirm qualifications for internment here and the projected filled capacity date. The cemetery would reach total capacity sometime around the year 2025.

 We walked back to the Metro and headed back toward the hotel.  Once again the Hard Rock was packed but the ESPN Zone was available and we enjoyed a fun dinner and two hours playing arcade games.  Laura rode the horserace game at least twenty times and Michelle climbed sixty feet in two minutes on a rock climb machine, making her one of the top two climbers that day.


 Four very sore and stiff people walked past the Brady Bunch protesters once again and collapsed in the room … until the kids whipped on their swimsuits headed off for the pool.


Thursday, April 5, 2001
Virginia
John Ball House
Old Ball Family Burial Ground
Richmond
Charlottesville

My intention was that I would take the family past the north portico of the White House, so we could see it more up-close than from the Pennsylvania Avenue side.

I turned right out of the Marriott driveway and began looking for a left turn intersection. I drove for more than ten blocks before I could make the left turn. Now I was a mile north of the White House and needed to head south but four one-way northbound streets forced me to go too far west. I finally found a southbound lane but I made the mistake of turning back east too soon, so I had to do it all over again. Now, the kids were whining and Tam asked if she could drive. I had lost my bravado years ago ... and just told everyone to shut up. I did finally get the family to see the north side of the White House but, by then, everyone was so angry, they refused to look. Yeah, we can get like that.  Then I got stuck trying to get out of there. We went past the north portico of the White House three more times before I found the bridge to Arlington and our next destination ... the John Ball House.

John Ball was the first resident of Arlington, Virginia. He owned a farm not far from what is now Arlington National Cemetery. We drove into a small residential neighborhood, found 3rd street and the home. It was a modest white clapboard house. It looked like any other on the block except that it had a historical sign in front proclaiming it to be “The John Ball House”. The sign said that the home was originally a one-story structure and that another floor was later added by its second owner. Tam stood with pride beside the sign and posed for pictures by the family homestead.


 The Ball family cemetery was a short distance away in a small plot tucked behind a plumbing business.  The old original headstones had been piled in a corner but a single new large granite marker stood in the center of the plot, listing all of the names of those interred there.  It was disappointing that the original markers were gone but we were pleased that someone was thoughtful enough to produce the new marker.



Tam was getting excited and wanted to go back to the John Ball grave so we drove back to his house and found the marker in a side yard of the local public library. Here again, the headstones had been piled up in a corner so that the lawn mower guy could cut the yard easier. The marker in the corner said simply, “John Ball died 1766”.

All of this was just a primer for Tam.  We dropped her off at the State Library of Virginia in Richmond where she continued her genealogical research.  The kids and I spent the next three hours driving around the seedier parts of Richmond, giving them some cultural exposure.

Just before picking up Tam, we briefly stopped at the Museum of the Confederacy, which includes the actual capital building used during the Civil War. The museum was located directly behind the Medical College of Virginia.

 We arrived at Beck and George’s house at five o’clock.  George greeted us warmly and soon Beck arrived from work. We were quickly on our way to look at some property that George and Beck were thinking of buying. It was an eleven-acre site, heavily treed, and sloping down toward a creek. The property looked fine and would be a good site for the Cunninghams, although their potential neighbors "the mosquitoes" looked to be a potential problem.

We all ate Chinese food at a local restaurant and headed back to their house. I learned about wireless PC hookups from George while Laura learned how to shoot a paintball gun from her cousin Tom.  April and Michelle disappeared upstairs.

At 8pm, we all flopped in front of the TV set to watch the latest episode of “Survivor”. George controlled the remote and flipped to WWF wrestling during commercials.

We left at 9pm and drove an hour to our next accommodations at the Omni hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia. This was one of the best hotels on the trip: outstanding rooms, clean and fresh, TV with Internet, fresh cookies beside the bed, a well-stocked mini bar … all of the things that the Olins need and want!


Friday, April 6, 2001
Monticello
Ash Lawn
Shenandoah Valley
West Virginia
Charleston

After a quick but comfortable night’s sleep, we pulled ourselves out of bed for one last day of touring. Gray skies threatened as we packed up and headed for Monticello ... The Home Of Thomas Jefferson.

Arriving at the hilltop visitor center, we were told that it would be 70 to 80 minutes before we would tour the house. We were given timed tickets and told to be in line at that time.  Initially frustrating, the wait was used productively at a well-stocked gift shop as well as walking Mr. Jefferson’s vegetable garden and gravesite.

Thomas Jefferson requested that his epitaph enumerate what he considered his three greatest accomplishments: Author of the Declaration of Independence and the statute of the state of Virginia, and Founder of the University of Virginia. This was written on a modest obelisk in the family burial ground.


 Thomas Jefferson named his home “Monticello” (Italian for “little mountain”). He described this home as his “essay in architecture”. Jefferson began building the structure in 1768 and continued refining it for more than forty years. Some of the changes were larger than others. For example; in 1789 after returning from France, he completely redesigned the house.

Monticello is full of the modern innovations of its day. He placed a two-way clock above the doorway and strung the weights in the corners. The weights moved past wall markers that signified each day of the week. He designed two custom-made wine bottle dumb waiters to bring wines up from his below ground cellars. He built special French doors with under floor gear mechanisms that enabled them to close together. He utilized skylights in several rooms, a rarity in the nineteenth century.

 

 Not only was the house itself of great importance, but so were many of the items inside. Jefferson was a terrific collector of the scientific and cultural.  He would display mastodon bones and American Indian artifacts on tables in his entrance hall. Many of these were items obtained by Lewis and Clark during their expeditions. On the walls were maps of undiscovered territories of the world.

In the parlor were furnishings acquired at various times in Jefferson’s life in England, France, as well as Philadelphia. Fifty-seven works of art adorned the walls of this room. Paintings of religious importance were hung beside those featuring his friends Washington, Franklin, Adams, Madison, and Lafayette.

Inside Jefferson’s “sanctum sanctorum” (his private quarters) were his bedchamber, cabinet, greenhouse, and book room. His visitors rarely saw this area of his home. The bedchamber was built into a wall between two rooms so that Jefferson could get out of either side. His bedroom also featured a vaulted ceiling with very rare skylights.  An extremely narrow and private staircase led to a room above the bed which served as a storage closet.

 The cabinet was his working office, and was comprised of his desk, chair, and writing tools. He employed several conveniences, including a polygraph handwriting copy machine and self designed bookstand.

The book room contained 6,700 volumes ranging from poetry to philosophy to politics. After selling all of his books to the government for a much needed $23,950, he acquired another 1,000 titles in his retirement.  Jefferson was well-known for saying, “I cannot live without books”.

Thomas Jefferson passed away in his bed at Monticello on July 4, 1826, exactly fifty years to the day of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.  He also died virtually broke, owing $100,000 to creditors.



Monticello changed hands twice before eventually being purchased by the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in 1923.

Monticello is the only home in America on the World Heritage List, a compilation of international treasures that includes the pyramids in Egypt and the Great Wall of China.

Having seen two masterpieces of residential architecture on this trip, each beautiful but vastly different, I found it impossible to pick a favorite.  Tam was tremendously impressed, and in the glow of having seen it for the first time, she leaned toward Monticello.
_____

 Only two and a half miles away was Ash Lawn, the home of James Monroe.  Jefferson, Monroe, and James Madison became lifelong friends in their many years of public service. All three of these men, in their later years, lived within thirty miles of each other in the Charlottesville area.


Monroe purchased Ash Lawn in 1793 at Jefferson’s urging. In fact, Jefferson selected the Monroe home site and sent gardeners from Monticello to start orchards. In November of 1799, Monroe and his wife Elizabeth Kortright moved to Ash Lawn. For the next quarter century, the Monroes entertained their friends and enjoyed country living. Even though they planned to retire to Ash Lawn, their finances and poor health forced the sale of their “cabin castle”.

The College of William and Mary purchased and operates the 535-acre estate.

James Monroe held more offices than any other U.S. President: Senator, Minister to France, England, and Spain, Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State, Secretary of War, and fifth President of the United States. As President Jefferson’s special envoy, Monroe negotiated the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Monroe’s 1823 message to Congress became known as the Monroe Doctrine and helped form the cornerstone of America’s foreign policy.

James Monroe died on July 4, 1831.  Three of America’s first five Presidents died on the fourth of July.

 We arrived at the Ash Lawn parking lot and found very few tourists.  Indeed, the home is far more modest than Jefferson’s gem on the hill … but the tour prices were the same.

Our tour guide was very provincial, a bit patronizing, and extraordinarily irritating. She focused on nothing substantial about Monroe or his life but spent the entirety of the tour explaining things like ... the symmetry of place settings, how women applied makeup in the 1700s, floral arranging, using bundt cakes as centerpieces, and French wood block wall paper design.  It was like we were on a tour with Christopher Lowell!!


 After almost an hour spent looking at two rooms (the ladies drawing room and dining room) we were finally filing out the door into Monroe’s personal library when a lady tourist inquired about some flowers in a vase, “Is this quince?” ... and the tour guide gleefully went on a lengthy diatribe about the color variations of quince. It was your basic nightmare. The tour guide then reiterated that there was no time to discuss “details” of President Monroe. And then she pointed to the kitchen for another in-depth examination of bundt cake pans. Hello? What's going on here?? We were on the wrong tour ...

Tam and I looked at each other, grabbed the kids, and bailed out of the house without being seen. Good timing.  As we piled into the car, the rain began to pour.

For the next four hours, we splashed through the foothills of Virginia and into the Appalachian Mountains. At the West Virginia border, the temperature was 73 degrees and humidity was approaching 100 percent. By the time we reached Beckley (after driving in monsoon rains) the temperature had dropped to 61 degrees. A dense fog layer was forming in the river valleys, making the gorgeous mountain drive even more dramatic and dreamlike.

We spent the night at the Charleston, West Virginia Marriott Hotel where we were given a complimentary upgrade to the Presidential Suite. We spread out and enjoyed room service pizza and an in-room movie.

While cruising the Internet on our traveling laptop computer, I read the top news story of the day: A deranged 26-year-old man had attacked the Liberty Bell with a hammer. He made several small dents on the rear of the bell, but after further investigation by National Park Service curators, there was no major damage. The news story mentioned that a new display case was being built to provide bulletproof protection for the bell ... and that it would, forevermore, be inaccessible to tourists. 

 Four days prior, Laura was standing next to, and holding onto, our famous Liberty Bell.


Saturday, April 7, 2001
Ohio River
Original Bob Evans Restaurant
Columbus

Another fabulous morning. We headed west on I-64 out of Charleston and turned north at Nitro and followed the Kanawha River toward Gallipolis, Ohio.  The terrain, although hilly, was not as rugged as that which we crossed the day before. By the time we traversed the Ohio River, the land had become gently rolling.

We stopped for lunch in Rio Grande, at the birthplace of Bob Evans Farms restaurants. The farm itself, next to the restaurant was not yet open, but the General Store and antiques shop were open. We ate breakfast for lunch – sausage gravy and biscuits (a Bob Evan’s specialty), flapjacks, and bacon. Man, it was good!! It was a near-thrill to eat where it all began. 


Behind the restaurant was the original home of Bob and Jewel Evans. Called the “Homestead”, it was an inn and stagecoach stop in the 1800s. It was here that Bob invited countless guests to enjoy his homemade sausage.  Today it is on the National Register of Historic Places.

We cruised through Chillicothe, where we saw a Civil War reenactment going on beside the freeway. At 70 mph, we saw one cannon shot and that was about it.

 It is a darned good thing that Columbus, Ohio was built in the middle of nowhere, because it had grown twenty miles in all directions since Tam and I lived there two decades ago. 

We checked into our Residence Inn hotel room. It had a two-story loft. The place was a bit beat up, but freshly painted. We flopped on the sofa and watched the Masters golf tournament.

Our college friends, Betty and Drew Dangel came over with their daughter Kate. It was great to visit with them, we hadn't seen them in fifteen years. Hilarity ensued as Drew and Tom recalled the good old days. Glad we stopped.

Tam and I slept in the loft, but not without a major protest from the kids.

  
Sunday, April 8, 2001
Breakfast at White Castle
Drive Home

It had been ten days since our trip began, when the air was cold and there was a trace of snow on the ground. As we packed up to return home, the temperature was 80 degrees. Packing wasn’t easy, however, due to the acquisitions made during the trip.

At 9:54am on Sunday morning, we stopped at White Castle Hamburgers and bought twenty-four sliders for the long drive home. They were all eaten before we got to Delaware, Ohio. Tam said she would have preferred a Danish but she ate two gut bombs anyway. No vacation is complete without a stop at White Castle! The car smelled terrible for the rest of the drive home.


 As we cruised home, I asked the kids what part of the trip was their favorite. Michelle said, “instant messaging on the internet”, Laura said, “shopping”.  

 Ok. Two thousand miles for nothing.

Michelle chimed in, saying that Gettysburg was actually her favorite place. Laura’s was the Lincoln Memorial. Monticello was the highlight for both Tam and me.


Video Footage From the Olin family
Spirit Of America Trip