Day 34 - Hail to Thee, Proud Delaware

July 10 - We got back on the road Thursday morning, bound for a return visit to the Wilsons in Chester, VA. I left my Phillies cap there on the way down. Allen offered its return in exchange for beer. With the unspoken promise of a night's lodging and a meal, this seemed like a no-brainer to me.

En route we drove through Delaware. In particular, I wanted to see what the University of Delaware looked like. I graduated there in 1976 and haven't often (ever?) been back since I left the Delaware Valley for South Carolina in January 1977.

The quad where my dorm was located, and the adjoining academic quad were essentially unchanged, but otherwise I could hardly recognize anyplace for all the new construction. Main Street was still the commercial district, but as you'd expect, all the business names had changed in the intervening 32 years, and many old buildings had been torn down and replaced. I saw a poster for the Deer Park Tavern, notorious watering hole for underaged drinkers in my time at the U of D, but didn't see the tavern itself.

The basketball arena and football stadium on South Campus were also easy to spot. Delaware's basketball team has produced no legends or reasons to upgrade the arena. Delaware Stadium exhibited one change--the field was named after legendary coach Tubby Raymond, who led the Fighting Blue Hen football teams through the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s. He was also the father of Dave Raymond who was at Delaware the same time as me. He went on to fame as the first Phillie Phanatic, the greatest mascot in sports, as I've mentioned at least twice before.

Kallie drove when we left Newark, giving her the privilege of driving over Delaware's greatest physical landmark, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, affectionately known as the "Big Ditch". The bridge was under construction, but Kallie held herself together well driving on a narrow lane with pylons on one side and a concrete barrier on the other.

Later I drove across the large and much more impressive Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which connects the Delmarva (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, get it?) peninsula to the mainland. The remaining trip through Maryland and Virginia was uneventful. We found some Yuengling Beer (brewed in Pottsville, PA) in a convenience store in Chester and were ready to go.

After dinner we watched History Channel shows about car crashes and the history of ice cream. The youngsters (now there's an old-fashioned word) went to see Will Smith in Hancock. Later on we switched to Baseball Tonight and watched Ryan Howard hit two home runs vs. the Cardinals. The Phillies won the afternoon game 4-1, and the series with the Cards two games to one.

Tomorrow the Wilsons board a plane for Florida and we continue south by CRV to Myrtle Beach, SC for a couple days on the beach.

Day Eleven - Birdlands

Though I had many opportunities to take this picture, photo credit to http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfgamchick/2479829530/)

Birds (and to a lesser extent pandas) were the theme of our Tuesday. We got up relatively early and went to the National Zoo in Washington, DC. We drove as far as Greenbelt, MD and then took the train into the city. This all by ourselves as Vanessa had to work. She did provide good directions. The weather was beautiful all day and evening.

As usual, we had to eat as soon as we reached our destination. We had a nice lunch at a Thai restaurant on Connecticut Avenue. My plan for seeing the zoo worked perfectly for about an hour and a half. Walking the short "Asia Trail" near the entrance gave us a look at the famous giant pandas, Tien Tien, Mei Zhing and their baby. Nearby was the birdhouse, where I took dozens of pictures of exotic birds from all over the world. In a return visit to the pandas we saw them wake up and eat popsicles. There I made a tactical error after hearing a report that the red panda (whose habitat near the giant panda was being renovated) had been relocated to the small mammal house. I asked Kallie if that was nearby. Pretty close, she said. It was at least a half-mile downhill, which meant another half-mile walk uphill to get back to the zoo exit, and then another mile or so walk from the exit to our train station. I enjoyed seeing the red panda, though I couldn't get much of a picture because of the crush of youngsters against the glass and the nervous "head down" pacing of the animal.

At about 3:45 p.m. I slumped into my seat on the Red Line train. We arrived back at Vanessa's in Columbia promptly at 5 p.m., our intention all along as the caravan for Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore was scheduled to leave at about 5:45 p.m.

The game between the Orioles and the Houston Astros started at 7:05. We took our seats in the lower stands just as the first pitch was thrown. The game was an exciting back-and-forth affair with three home runs, innumerable pitching changes and arguments by both teams about ball and strike calls on the same batter. It was also "Wild Bill Hagy" Night in honor of a dedicated fan who'd passed away. We arrived a little too late to get a Hagy #34 t-shirt.

The medium-sized crowd seemed a little subdued until the Orioles' game-winning rally in the bottom of the eighth. They stood and cheered on the 3-2 pitch that third baseman Melvin Mora, 0-4 to that point, drove to right-center field for a two-run double that gave the Orioles their winning 6-5 margin. In the Astros' ninth, the fans stood throughout the final at bat, a strikeout by Astros centerfielder Michael Bourn.

All around the stadiums are signs saying "This Is Birdland." Erin and I developed a "Birdland" game to amuse Kallie. When she least expected we showed our claws and cawed loudly right in her face. She recoiled in fright every time. The oriole is not a very scary bird, but no matter.

Traffic between Baltimore and Columbia is a lot better than the Washington Beltway so we had little trouble getting home.

Check out more pictures from the day at www.photoblog.com/dadlak

Today we leave our wonderful hosts in Columbia for my sister's house in West Chester, PA. Our tentative plan is to see the historical sights in downtown Philadelphia on Thursday.

On To Day 12

Day Nine - Father's Day in DC

June 15 - I got to choose the itinerary for Father's Day. We'd already decided to go to All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington DC in the morning. Perhaps a little on the morose side was my choice of the Holocaust Museum as the afternoon activity. No matter--the crew went along happily and I got lots of Father's Day hugs and well wishes along the way.

The whole junket isn't worth a Google map. We (Vanessa) drove into the city and in a kind of UU miracle, she found a street parking space less than two blocks from the church. The unrestricted parking spot was about two long blocks from the subway entrance, so we left the CRV there all day while we went to the museum. Two ministers and a 35-member group called the Jubilee Singers combined to present an exciting worship service. All Souls Unitarian is on a campaign to make its congregation a model of mulitracial and multicultural (primarily as regards sexual orientation) acceptance and cooperation. Their dynamic leadership and congregation makes me believe they can do it.

The Washington subway system makes no accomodations for weekend sightseers. On top of a reduced weekend schedule, our trains to the Mall were delayed for track maintenance. We also messed up buying our tickets, putting them all on one card. The turnstiles wouldn't allow the same card to be used multiple times in succession. A ticket agent helped us sort that problem out.

We arrived at the Holocaust museum at about 1 p.m. and ate a quick lunch in the museum cafe, strangely a vegetarian restaurant. I probably should have gone for the hot dog from the vendor rather than the veggie panini. Going to the museum and lunch required three passes through the metal detector. Yuk!

By 2 p.m. we were in the main museum exhibit--organized in a timeline from the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany in 1933 to the formation of the State of Israel in 1948. What came in between was a sobering commentary on humankind. I spent about three hours watching every film, reading every word and looking at every picture and exhibit. The rest of my family wasn't quite so thorough and finished at least an hour ahead of me, which gave them time for a quick visit to the Washington Monument.

The actions of Nazi Germany in the name of racial purity were appalling. The response of most of the rest of the world was none too inspiring, except for the eventual defeat of Hitler by the Allied forces. Many countries turned away Jewish refugees from Germany, both prior to the Holocaust, and again once it had begun. Anti-semitism was at its most virulent in Germany, but doing its own insidious work in other countries as well. The morning's church service and the afternoon's museum exhibit displayed stark contrast between the power of love and acceptance and the destructive nature of hatred and intolerance.

After church we headed to Silver Spring, MD for an outdoor dinner. The weather was beautiful all day. The Austin Grill mostly made good on their claim to "authentic Tex-Mex". Back in Columbia for the evening, we watched Tiger Woods get into the US Open playoff and the LSU Tigers lose their College World Series opener while we played pool.

For pictures from the day, please go to www.photoblog.com/dadlak. Thanks for visiting.

And Happy Father's Day to my dad and to all other dads out there!

On To Day Ten

Day Eight - East Coast Corridor

We start our run up the East Coast corridor today with a short jaunt to Columbia, MD. Here's the Google map of the route, with a stop at our old Richmond house along the way. There's a lot of urban interstate driving on this route, including about 30 miles on the Washington DC Beltway. I don't think Kallie will be doing much driving today. Maybe in Columbia.

Chester to Richmond

Richmond to Columbia, MD

Check out my photoblog for pictures from the day. www.photoblog.com/dadlak

We had a fun morning at the Wilsons', sitting and chatting on the sun porch, enjoying a big home-cooked lunch and tossing frisbees around on our way to the car. Allen and I played a homemade version of frisbee golf incessantly during our time together in Orangeburg, SC. The year of 1986 was essentially an extended tournament interrupted by work and sleep (and sports on TV). Kallie called a shot into the pool. Unfortunately, the frisbee sank, putting us down to one.

We drove through Richmond on our way to Columbia, MD and looked at our old house (significantly expanded by the current owner) and the hospital where Kallie was born. We hardly recognized any other landmarks or roads. Without Sac we would have really been lost.

The trip from Richmond to Columbia featured (and not in a positive way) the infamous Capital Beltway. We averaged about 20 mph for a stretch of about 30 miles from just south of DC to the reconnection with I-95 just south of Columbia. I was amazed at the volume of traffic at 5 p.m. on a Saturday. You'd think that a few people would be home with the their families or on the golf course, but everyone seemed to be on the highway.

On To Day Nine