States & Provinces visited on this segment: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
Dates: Saturday, August 4 to Wednesday, August 8
Miles Driven: 642 (9022 total to date)
Summary: We headed to Springfield Saturday morning. We were glad to leave the campground that we had stayed at. It was easily the worst overall place we had stayed at. It was hot and humid Friday, and our “30A” electric service that the campground advertised did not work. As soon as we turned on our air conditioning (which should draw less than 15A), it tripped the breaker in the trailer because the voltage was so low. After reading the campground rules, we noticed it said no air conditioners or electric heaters allowed (probably because they knew their electric service could only support charging batteries). We spent a hot night the night without AC. The road to get into the campground was very rough, but the road to get to the dump station was impossible to traverse. The dump station road was shaped like a “V”, with the center at least 12” lower than the sides. It was covered with rocks ranging in diameter from 4-8” (with a few larger ones), and was fairly steep, with tight corners and lots of trees next to the road. It would be a great road for trying out your new high clearance 4x4, but not something I was going to try and take the trailer down. So, we headed down the road without emptying our holding tanks and without a good nights sleep. We drove into Springfield and went to the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden in the morning, and then we all got much needed haircuts before continuing our journey westward. We headed back down into Connecticut, drove across New York and part of New Jersey. We spent the night near Hope, New Jersey, near the border with Pennsylvania.
The next morning we headed down to Easton and went to the Crayola Factory to see how Crayons are made. In addition to the crayon making demonstration and information on the history of Crayola there were a lot of art activities for the kids to do that they enjoyed. We then headed further south to Washington Crossing which is where Washington led the continental army across the Delaware River on Christmas night to surprise the British at Trenton and secure one of the first significant victories of the revolutionary war. We went through the visitor center on the PA side of the river and then walked across the bridge to the New Jersey side of the river and to the park on the east bank of the river. Much easier to cross the river on a bridge than to row across an ice chocked river at night! After leaving Washington Crossing we headed to a campground in Unionville which is about 1 hour west of Philadelphia. We spent the next 4 nights in Unionville.
On Monday we drove to Valley Forge where Washington and the continental army spent the winter of 1777-78. A couple of original structures remain at Valley Forge, including Washington’s headquarters. There is a very informative visitor center, and there are recreations of the simple cabins that the soldiers built and spent the winter in. 12 soldiers built and lived in each cabin – 4 sets of triple bunks. We drove several miles around the roads in the park to the different sites and saw a lot of deer, including several fawns. We went back to the campground early and did laundry while the kids went swimming.
On Tuesday we took the train into Philadelphia for the day. We went to the Independence Visitor Center, the Liberty Bell Center, took guided tours of Independence Hall and Congress Hall, and went to Benjamin Franklin Post Office and Museum along with Betsy Ross House and other sites. We learned a lot about the time of the revolutionary war as well as the early years of the republic when Philadelphia was the capital. We had dinner in Philadelphia and then took the train back out to the suburbs where our campsite was.
On Wednesday we drove west to Lancaster, in the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country. We toured an 1805 house that used to be part of an Amish farm. The guide was very knowledgeable and educated us on the beliefs and practices of the Amish and Mennonites. After lunch and going to an Amish farmer’s market we drove up to Hershey. We took the chocolate factory tour and marveled at the myriad of chocolate products available for sale in the gift shop. After finding our way out of the gift shop (it was the size of a large department store) we headed back towards Lancaster and had dinner before heading back to our camp. Along the way we passed many Amish farms and numerous Amish buggy’s driving along the roads.
Other notes: The campground in Unionville was our favorite so far. It was quiet, the staff was very friendly, and everything actually worked! We normally dread doing laundry as most campgrounds only have a couple of washers/dryers, and a lot of times they don’t work very well or you have to wait for them to be available. This campground had 6 washers and 6 dryers that looked brand new and they all worked. They were all empty so we did 5 loads of laundry at once and were done in 1 ½ hours versus the normal laundry ordeal that takes several hours or has to be spread across multiple days.
Next up: Friends and relatives in Ohio
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