Harrisburg, PA

Mile 4811

We are staying the night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. What a cool town! Check out the events that lead us here:

Well, we tried to get an early start. After making what we thought were quick stops at PetSmart and the grocery store, we finally got going in the right direction after 10am. We got off Interstate 95 just for change of scenery before we crossed into Delaware at about 11:40am. That was probably a mistake because we lost a lot of time and didn't really see anything interesting in return. Got back on I-95 and drove through the city of Wilmington. We didn't stop though and couldn't see much of the city from the Interstate. Probably got that backwards. Should have stayed on the freeway until Wilmington, then gotten off to see the city.



We hit the Pennsylvania state line less than an hour later and quickly came upon the city of Philadelphia. We headed straight to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Not to see art since dogs aren't allowed inside, but to run up the front steps. Why? For the cinematically impaired, those are the very same steps that Sylvester Stallone ran up in the famous scene in "Rocky." Cue the music: "Gonna Fly Now." If you remember, in "Rocky III," a bronze statue of Rocky was placed at the top of these steps and was given to the city of Philadelphia as a gift from Stallone after filming had completed. The statue triggered a furious debate in the city over whether the statue was indeed "art" or just a movie prop. Afterall, this was the Phildelphia Museum of Art. As a result, the statue was moved several times over the years, sometimes returning to the top of the steps for another appearance in "Rocky V" and the Tom Hanks movie, "Philadelphia." As a compromise, the statue now sits at the bottom of the steps off to the right. Judging from the line we had to stand in to take a picture, more people probably visit the statue than the museum. We also witnessed dozens of people mimicking Rocky's famous run up the front steps too. Of course, most of them turned around and walked back down instead of going into the museum. Strike a blow for pop culture over art.

After that, we tried to go see the Liberty Bell. But it is protected inside a building so we had to settle for looking at it through a rather small window. And there was a VERY long line to get in to see it anyway. Looked like at least an hour wait.


Disappointed, we pressed north to New Jersey crossing the stateline at about 3pm. Our destination, the state capitol of Trenton, was probably the northernmost and easternmost point of the trip at mile 4591. We'll have to verify that later. Trenton seemed to be a pretty quiet city.


Trenton sits right on the stateline, so we crossed back into Pennsylvania continued working our way back westward. We stopped for gas at a little town called Devon and realized that we were just a couple of miles from Valley Forge. By this time it was almost 5pm and we were only 150 miles from where we had started. The New Jersey trip required us to backtrack. But it was so close and a signigicant landmark, so we went. This is an example of one of our accidental detours. Valley Forge, now a National Historical Park, is where George Washington's Continental Army endured an extremely harsh winter during the Revolutionary War to battle the British who held Philadelphia. As a result, the British departure from Philadelphia was considered key to the subsequent success of the Army and Revolution. Little history lesson there. The National Memorial Arch recognizes the sacrifices of the officers and soldiers of the Continental Army during that time.



After that we headed straight to Harrisburg, hurrying to beat the sunset so that we could get a shot of the state capitol building. We discovered that we had shown up on the night of a local jazz festival. The streets were packed and the city was bustling! Not sure if this town is always like this, but it was a pleaseant surprise. We also discovered (another accidental detour) that the town of Hershey, as in the chocolate, was only 15 miles away. But we decided that we liked Harrisburg so much that we wanted to spend the night there. So we made it to Hershey's Chocolate World with just enough daylight to get a photograph. Incidentally, the town did not smell like chocolate, at least not on this day. After that, we returned to walk the streets of Harrisburg. The town was so vibrant, with packed restaurants and bars, and people walking the crowded streets. Very nice!

Although we hadn't traveled very far from our starting point, is was full day. So we called it a night after that.