From the Observation Deck

A few years ago I became fascinated with the NASA moon program—from the mercury launches all the way through to the end of the Apollo program. Voyages and discovery continued beyond that of course, but it was that 60’s era that got my attention.

I watched the movie “The Right Stuff” which was entertaining. But it was the HBO series “From the Earth to the Moon,” hosted by Tom Hanks that was not only entertaining but very informative. I found out things about the Gemini and Apollo missions that go way beyond the first moon landing. What struck me as special were things such as companies who got contracts to build vehicles had to create the tools to make the vehicles. Nothing was easy or had been done before. These were truly innovative Americans. And to get all the big and little parts made, hundreds of thousands of Americans were put to work. Each person’s part was vital to the well being of the astronauts and the success of the mission.

Don’t you wish we had some common goal and lofty mission that would bring us all together, put thousands of people to work, and give people something to be proud of? Can you imagine being inspired to do something great, not because it’s easy but because it’s hard? Are we made of that kind of stuff today? If it could be done again in my lifetime, I’d be in awe.

As it is, we are celebrating the 40^th anniversary of the first moon landing this week. And to give away my age, I’m posting a photo of my brother and me just hours before Neil and Buzz made one giant leap for all of us. (By the way, my Dad, the guy who would kill me if I ever turned around while driving to take a picture, took this of my brother and me in the back of the station wagon while on a road trip, July 20, 1969.)

I wanted to write a bit about Pennsylvania as part of the travel portion of this show (blog). I’ll mainly cover the southeastern part of the state since that is where I grew up and really the only part of the state I care about. It’s also the prettiest and host to the best town around—the city of brotherly love—Philly.

Pennsylvania is home to peoples that descended from the Scots Irish, Germans, and Dutch (for the most part). Nowadays we just call everyone hard working, loyal, down-to-earth good people. That is except when their sport’s team is losing in which case you should just quickly leave the stadium. The Amish live in nearby Lancaster County and I’m not sure if they are Eagles fans or not.

Chester County is where I grew up and it borders Delaware County. The town I grew up in is called Chadds Ford (surrounded by Kennett Square, Unionville, and West Chester). The best part about Chadds Ford is a local eating establishment called Hanks Place. It’s a small diner where local artist, Andrew Wyeth, used to hang out. I actually saw him in there once. We got excited one year when it looked like Hank was expanding. It turned out he just added a covered walkway to the front door so you wouldn’t get wet while waiting for a table.

The countryside is beautiful and full of back roads that would make any teenager’s parent think twice about handing over the keys—although for some reason mine didn’t have a problem with it. We were surrounded by farms—the dairy and horse variety. There were also a lot of mushroom houses. Yup, Kennett Square is the mushroom capital of the world folks.

Along with the winding roads and one lane bridges, you had to get used to the smells. On my way home last weekend I knew I was getting close when that ol’ familiar smell—what was it again…oh yeah, manure—hit me. In high school when the wind was blowing west, the dairy farm down road made running sprints during lacrosse practice a challenge.

And I can’t do a post about Pennsylvania without mentioning the animals. Deer, fox, dogs, you name it will jump out at you. Although it’s happening a lot here in Virginia as well. My neighbor told me yesterday a deer almost ran her over as she was walking—yes walking—back from the metro station.

Don’t let the smells or animals scare you. There are lots of great things to do in the area and here are a few.

• Longwood Gardens—these famous botanical gardens are a must-see. Beautiful flowers, plants, and trees (especially with the lights at Christmas) dot the landscape.
• Brandywine Battle Field—this is an historical battlefield where the British kicked our butts before the boys headed on over to Valley Forge. We may have lost the battle, but…
• Brandywine River Museum—see the wonderful works of art from painters such as Andrew Wyeth.
• Chadds Ford Winery—I can’t vouch for the wine but hey, we used to have a ski area in Chadds Ford so who knows what these crazy Pennsylvanians are capable of?
• QVC Studio tour—tell my friend Mike I sent you.

Here are some photos I took near my parent’s house.

First—congratulations to my friends Steve and Sandy who took the plunge, tied the knot, exchanged vows, got hitched, gave up their freedom, etc., etc., in other words, got married this last weekend.

The wedding took place in the town where I grew up so it was nice going back home and seeing old friends again. On Friday I drove to Pennsylvania, dropped the dog off at the rent’s house and headed on over to the rehearsal dinner. After some yummy food and drinks and lots of laughs over fun toasts, we headed on out to Buckley’s Tavern. In this area of the country, bars are called Taverns and there are only about two within a half hour of my folk’s house. My friends made me laugh so hard I actually hurt myself.

On my way home I dodged a couple of deer and a fox and managed not to drive my SUV into a tree. I’ll talk about the back roads of Chester County in another post but let’s just say when you’re not used to the one-lane bridges you’ve got to be on your toes.

So that brings us to Saturday. I slept in, ran some errands, had a lovely lunch with old friends who weren’t going to the wedding, then ran over to the Mendenhall Inn to check in. This place brought back memories. As a kid I went to church across the road and as a teenager was in a serious car wreck in front of the Inn. Okay, time for new memories.

The service was lovely and we all drove back to the Inn (not a Tavern this time) for the reception where we got to eat freshly cooked, very yummy crab cakes. More fun toasts, laughing, dancing, stories, and catching up takes us to the “after party.”

Let me begin by saying that the bartender was really up-tight and went a bit too far when he called for security because of the duck thing. The patron was in fact a trouble-maker but the decapitation of the wooden duck was an accident and it could have happened to any of us. (Not me of course, I just take the photos of all the incriminating stuff.) So party-pooper barkeep closed down early and forced us to go hang out with the security guard on the porch. Thankfully the bride and groom gave us goody bags with little bottles of wine and snacks to get us to that two a.m. hour when we finally called it quits.

That brings us to the wedding breakfast. This is where the parents of the newly married couple are still all smiles and the rest of us dutifully and sincerely thank them for the free booze—I mean the lovely dinner and dancing—through bleary and bloodshot eyes. I got to see baby Bubba for the first time which was really nice. But when my friend Amy made him cry I knew it was time to make a hasty retreat.

The drive back to the parent’s house to pick up the dog involved a skirmish with some pugs and another deer. (I kid you not. See photo below.) On my way back to Virginia, I was tempted to stop at the Herr’s factory for a tour but decided to skip it on this trip.

Finally, I must say, the best part of the whole wedding was the time spent with some of the kindest, funniest, loyal, awesome friends a gal could ever have. Blessings to Sandy and Steve and may you live long, loving, pug-free lives together.